Eight darkly erotic and horrifically delicious stories guaranteed to give you shivers, in more ways than one! In 'The Ride, ' Annabelle hitches a ride from a stranger in a small town, where every day is the same. She longs for adventure and is looking to get out to find it...but it turns out that, even in the backwoods, nothing is as it seems after all... In 'The Gingerbread Man, ' Lindy runs into an unexpected snow storm on the way to her fiance's on Christmas Eve, but will the charming, kindly gentleman who comes to her rescue turn out to be more saccharine than sweet? In 'The Laundry Chute, ' an old-fashioned laundry chute in a big, rambling farm house proves deadly for a group of young, adventurous boys... In 'Advent Calendar, ' Jay is a player-a typical college student with one thing on his mind-and that doesn't change when he meets Betsy. He wants nothing more than to take her five ways from Sunday, and Betsy doesn't seem to object. Still, the more time he spends with her, the more she seems to affect him... When she gives him a homemade advent calendar for Christmas, Jay discovers the real meaning of the phrase, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." In 'The Velvet Choker, ' Lydia has heard the stories from her co-workers about the house at the apex of two dead end roads, but the young immigrant housekeeper isn't scared easily. Working for the strange and reserved jewelry maker Hugo Kauffman pays well, and for that, she's willing to overlook his eccentricities. But when Lydia finds a black, velvet choker in a box she's been forbidden from opening, her life is changed forever, and she finds herself suddenly bound to the strange and eccentric old man who runs the household. Will the introduction and interest of the new, young portrait painter save her from her plight? In 'Pumpkin Eater, ' she doesn't know how long she's been with Belch, the strange man who grows giant pumpkins...she doesn't even remember her own name... But when a kind police officer comes to buy a pumpkin from their patch, Beth begins to remember. Sheriff Will Walker's instincts tell him that something is wrong, but he can't quite put his finger on what. Will he be able to figure out the mystery in time? All of the stories included: Silent Night, Mercy, The Velvet Choker, Pumpkin Eater, The Ride, Advent Calender, The Laundry Chute, The Gingerbread Man and a BONUS STORY: Hunting Season co-authored with horror/thriller author Blake Crouch! (Warnings: This title contains graphic language, sex and elements of horror.) EXCERPT: God, she smells incredible! Whatever the hell perfume she was wearing was intoxicating, and I dipped my nose into the swell of her cleavage where it was stronger. "You smell great," I murmured against her neck. She giggled, and I winced. Note to self-don't make her giggle! "Pheromones..." The feel of her breath in my ear made my cock jump. "What?" I tilted my head to look at her. "Never heard of pheromones? Just chemicals we give off...love scents. It's like an aphrodisiac. Careful, you could fall in love with me," she teased. "You've got a love scent, all right," I agreed, kissing her, harder, digging for that tiny tongue again and finding it. She moaned against my mouth, responding to my thumbs rubbing over her hard nipples. They were pale pink and puffy. She had a true blonde's coloring, and I judged that Miss Clairol only gave her natural hues a shine, although I wouldn't know that for sure until I had her panties down. Her hand went for my crotch, but I grabbed her wrist, twisting her arm behind her and kissing her toward my room. Whether it was the beer or the cold, my dick wasn't responding quite fully yet, and nothing killed things quicker than a girl who thought you couldn't get it up for her. No matter what you said, they made it all about them.