The year is 1883. Eduard van De Lier is a Dutchman overseeing a spice plantation on the island of Java, in the South Pacific. His obsessive attraction to dark-skinned men is just one of his many secrets. His wife Marien knows of his indiscretions, but as she's content with their Colonial lifestyle, she stays silent. Until a former lover of Eduard's shows up in their parlor with thoughts of blackmail. Reza was a crewman on the ship that brought the van De Liers to Java. During the passage, Eduard spent many a night in the younger man's arms. Two years have passed, and the last person Eduard expects to find in his drawing room is Reza, a letter in hand that could destroy the life he and Marien lead. Seeing him again ignites Eduard's lust for his first dark lover. He hopes to retrieve the letter, either through seduction or subterfuge, and the longer Reza eludes him, the more his desire grows. But they're on shaky ground, and before things can heat up between them, their world explodes -- literally -- when the unstable island of Krakatoa erupts.

All Shook Up

But Joey just looks at me with eyes that can melt the hardest of hearts, and I’ve never been able to tell him no. “Please?”


That’s all it takes, and I know I’m going to be straightening up downstairs the minute they walk out the door. I don’t even have to say it, he knows me too well—knows he’s won by my exasperated sigh. “Thanks, Brian. I really appreciate it.”


I think maybe that’s all he has to say because he steps down one riser, but that’s as far as he goes. I sense him watching me again and look up from my suitcase. “Aren’t you guys leaving now?”


Joey frowns at me. “It feels like you just got here,” he says softly. “And you’re going home already?”


“I’m just packing up some stuff.”


Chapter 38