The sizzling conclusion of the Struck by Lightning trilogy! The
story that began with the RT Award-winning Slow
Surrender finally brings us
all satisfaction. James has finally pushed Karina beyond her limit–not her
limit for kinky sex play, but for his extreme secrecy. She has had enough and
breaks things off.
But James won’t give up on Karina and he will do whatever it
takes to get her back. He’s ready to share his deepest, darkest secrets, but is
Karina ready to hear them? When James is blackmailed by an unscrupulous music
industry executive, he must give in to unreasonable demands or risk exposure of
his and Karina’s secret sex life… a sex life that keeps getting hotter!
Will Karina and James’s love be strong enough to withstand the
many obstacles being thrown their way?
Book Excerpt:
James's eyes were serious, even
as his face and body were relaxed and languid post-orgasm. “Did I convince you
to give me another chance?”
I considered. “You at least
earned the chance to tell me what I don’t know.”
He took my hand in his, like
he had so many times before. This time he kissed my fingertips, his eyes
closing as he did. “I have a lot to tell you. More than any single
interrogation might reveal.”
I squeezed his hand. “I
shouldn’t have to interrogate you for the answers.”
He sucked in a breath. “No. Of
course you shouldn’t. There’s so much I need to tell you if you’re really going
to get to know me.” He reached up and traced the curve of my cheek with his
fingertip. “Yet I feel like you know me better than anyone.”
“I do know you,” I said. “I
just don’t know the facts about you.”
His gaze shied away from mine.
“Many of the facts are sordid.”
“Says the man who put a
six-inch dildo into me and walked me around the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”
“I mean much more sordid than
that.” Now his face had completely clouded over.
“I want to know, James. I need
to know. I have a right to, if we’re going to be together.”
He nodded, though his eyes
were closed. “I know. I agree. That still doesn’t make it easy for me to open
up.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Except
during sex.”
“As you well know. Were you
serious about what you said before? I would sincerely give you a piece of my
past for every time you give me…” He kissed my fingertips again. “Anything.
Sex. Your body. Your submission.”
Even though we’d just had sex,
I felt a thrill go through my loins. “I wasn’t suggesting it lightly.”
“I want to be sure. Sometimes
we say things in the heat of passion that seem less than wise afterward.”
“But sometimes we get
inspired.” This could be the perfect solution, I realized. “I know the time
you’re the most open is when we have sex. That’s the time your answers will be
the best. Of course, if we do this, I could still revoke my forgiveness at any
time.”
“Of course. Just as you can
revoke your consent at any time. I understand, Karina. It’s the Thousand and
One Nights, only this time I’m Scheherazade, telling the stories.”
I touched his face with my
fingers, feeling like a weight was slowly lifting from my back. Maybe we were
going to make this work after all. The fact that he was willing to try so hard
made a huge difference in how I felt. And I wanted him. The part of me that had
been needing him and pining for him all summer was quelled by the knowledge we
could do this.
I sat up and discovered I’d
been lying on something. In the dim light I could still recognize what it was.
“These look a lot like a pair of panties I used to have.”
“That’s because they are.”
“You’ve been carrying around
my underwear?” I turned to look at him.
Lying beside me on the pillow,
he wore a familiar expression: serene and a bit bemused. “You left them in the
limo once. Did you think I’d throw them away?”
“I never really thought about
it before.”
“If I left a pair of my
underwear behind with you, what would you do?”
“Yeah, I see your point. I’ve
got a handkerchief of yours I keep in the—”
His expression changed
suddenly, his eyes widening and his lips parting in slight surprise. “That’s
it, isn’t it?”
I felt myself blush even
though I wasn’t keeping anything a secret. “Um, partly anyway. My roommate—”
“I know. I met her at the spa
that day. Becky. She knew the Lord’s Ladies.”
“Yeah. And she got one of the
handkerchiefs you threw from the stage at Madison Square Garden. It matched one
I got from you.”
To my surprise, James smiled.
He sat up and kissed me softly. “If I believed in fate, I’d say that was a
sign. What are the odds?”
“And are they better or worse
than the odds of being struck by lightning?”
His smile turned into a laugh.
“Was that a pun?” In a flash he pulled my legs onto his lap, spanking me playfully
several times. I couldn’t help it, it was like being ambushed by tickling. I
kicked and giggled and shrieked.
I wriggled free, hug-tackled
him, and ended up on top of him in the center of the bed, kissing him all over
his face. “I’m still mad at you, you know.”
“If you say so,” he said. “By
the way, I agree with your mother. This is a nice
dress.”
“She bought it for me today.
She wants to meet you.”
“What have you told her about
me?”
“That you’re rich and
good-looking which is what she cares about most. My sister wants to meet you,
too. They know you’re an art world type but that’s all.” I was coming to my
senses a little, now that the intense pleasure of the orgasm was receding and
the play-spanking had woken me up. “And if you’d really put the rock star stuff
behind you, that’d be all they need to know. But that sounds like a big if.”
“A very big if.” He nodded
slowly, his face sobering again into his usual mask.
That would not do. The biggest
question he still hadn’t answered for me was the story of Ferrara Huntington.
It was the biggest thing that I thought could still be a deal-breaker and send
me out of here a single woman. I leaned down and nuzzled his neck, as if the
subject were closed for now. He smelled delicious, igniting all my cravings
again. I nibbled behind his ear. He arched under me, his cock not yet ready to
harden again, but the rest of him responding just fine. He pulled me down
beside him, kissing me back and exploring my neck with his mouth.
Hadn’t we just finished having
sex? I felt my insides melting again though, my desire rising like a tide.
Maybe my body felt we should make up for lost time.
Making out was nice and I
enjoyed the feeling that we were in no hurry. When had we ever done this,
kissed for the sake of kissing? I lost track of time. Minutes ticked by in my
haze of affection, pleasure, and relief. Yes. We needed this kind of
connection, too. Affection, exploring each other, letting chemistry take over.
My hands roamed his back, his
sides, his hips, until one of them strayed between his legs and I sucked in a
breath as I met the scorching hot stiffness there.
There was no reason to wait.
There was so much we had to talk about. “You’re ready for more?” I teased.
“With you, Karina, I always am.”
Cecilia Tan is "simply one of the most
important writers, editors, and innovators in contemporary American erotic
literature," according to Susie Bright. Her BDSM romance novel Slow
Surrender (Hachette/Forever, 2013) won the RT Reviewers Choice Award
in Erotic Romance.
Tan is the author of many books, including the ground-breaking
erotic short story collections Black Feathers (HarperCollins), White
Flames (Running Press), and Edge Plays (Circlet
Press), and the erotic romances Slow Surrender, Slow Seduction, and Slow
Satisfaction (Hachette/Forever), The Prince's Boy (Circlet
Press), The Hot Streak (Riverdale Avenue Books), and the Magic
University series (Riverdale Avenue Books). Her short stories have
appeared in Ms. Magazine, Nerve, Best American Erotica, Asimov's
Science Fiction, and tons of other places. She was inducted into the
Saints & Sinners Hall of Fame for GLBT writers in 2010, was a recipient of
the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Leather Association in 2004,
and won the inaugural Rose & Bay Awards for Best Fiction in 2010 for her
crowdfunded web fiction serial Daron's Guitar Chronicles.
She lives in the Boston area with her lifelong partner Corwin
and three cats.
Find out more at www.ceciliatan.com
1 comments:
Thank you for hosting the book release day event. - Kathleen Anderson, PUYB Tour Coord.
Post a Comment