“Have a warm cup of cocoa or a frosty beverage handy as you savor two novellas which explore the sweet and dirty sides of BDSM.” –Victoria, Two Lips Reviews
“The author has clearly done her research…which makes the stories that much more real. Fans who like a BDSM twist to their happily ever after should be completely satisfied.” –Romantic Times
“Will make your toes curl.” –Romance Reviews Today
“Wonderfully stimulating, titillating.” –Night Owl Romance
Embrace your most illicit desires…
“Baring It All”
From her relationships and her home life to her job as a dog trainer, Michelle Gray is too often the obedient one. So when she crosses paths with Ro Kaliph, the owner of an S&M nightclub, she decides to take a few lessons in being more dominant — but discovers instead that surrendering to Ro’s every command brings her the most intense, satisfying pleasure.
“Forbidden Heat”
Workaholic Nora Sabine has finally made time for a vacation with her fiance. And she’s pleasantly surprised to learn the B&B where they’ll be staying is actually a Bondage & Breakfast. Indulging in every blissful sexual punishment, Nora can’t seem to get enough. But when she meets the inn’s owner, Sylvester, he takes her over the edge as he introduces her to a fantasy world where ecstasy has no boundaries…
Excerpt from Sweet and Dirty:
“How are you feeling?”
Nora considered. “Healthy. Recovering. Slightly buzzed. You’re very polite.”
“Politeness is desirable.” Sylvester sounded amused. It pulled her away from her head-tilted review of his book spines. “Common courtesy goes a long way toward avoiding misunderstandings and preserving people’s feelings. Would you like to talk?”
“Yes, please.” She strode back to her chair and folded herself into it with a sigh at how comfortable it was. She smiled at him, more relaxed than she should probably feel. Just being in his presence was at once stimulating and soothing. At the moment she didn’t care to examine the pleasant new feeling too closely, but after all she’d been through in the past hour she appreciated it greatly.
He looked at her without expression. “Just because sexual conventions are freer here at the B&B doesn’t mean social conventions aren’t used.” He placed his own glass of wine gracefully opposite hers. “Your Ryan’s actions appalled me.”
“Me, too. That checklist. He made me sound like a perverted slut.”
“That’s not what I found appalling.” Sylvester smiled at her for the first time. “I don’t judge peoples’ kinks. Even when I don’t share them.”
“Such as golden showers?”
“A fine example.” He sobered, stared at her seriously. “What do you want from the next three days? You expected something quite different, I realize that. It’s my hope you don’t wish to leave.”
She felt her heart leap, a little. Sylvester didn’t want her to leave. “Well, that’s good. Because I don’t want to leave.” She thought about it. “I honestly don’t. I find this environment very interesting. Foreign in the extreme, but interesting. The slaves bowing to Mistress Kiana, for example. And those two women – Black and White. Ryan’s in for a wild ride, isn’t he.”
She searched herself for jealousy but didn’t find it. She wondered what that meant. Maybe she was still in shock.
“You’re not involved in the local BDSM community.” It wasn’t a question. “But you’re curious. Okay. Let’s find out what sort of things interest you.”
“What are you, some kind of…” Pimp, she was going to say, but that didn’t sound right. Or polite. “Facilitator?” she finished.
His raised eyebrow let her know he’d tracked her thought. “I bring together like-minded people, and make sure no one gets hurt. I host the party. I had this property built on twenty-one secluded acres to create a big retreat center that’s sex-positive but not sleazy. Guests are usually friends of friends in the local leather and fetish community, free spirits – I don’t have the inclination to host an overnight just for some businessman who wants to check in for a spanking. I enjoy watching. I like the diversity. But now it’s your turn to talk. What are your fantasies, Nora?”
“Well, you get right to the point don’t you.” And yet she felt the warm glow in her belly expand to heat her nether regions as well. The way he looked at her, as if he knew her dirtiest secret, made her hot as hell.
But she wasn’t going to repeat the mistake of telling someone her biggest fantasy.
“I’m curious about bondage.” There, that wasn’t so hard. But she felt her face heat with embarrassment for admitting it out loud like that.
“Giving or receiving?”
“Receiving… maybe a little giving too.” It could be interesting to have someone all tied up and at her mercy. Maybe someone like Sylvester. She gave him a flirtatious smile.
His expression didn’t change. “What else?”
“Um. I heard flogging could be sort of fun. And being blindfolded. And, uh, nipple clamps.”
“What else?”
She blinked. “I’m not sure there is anything.” Except the Chase & Capture rape fantasy specter she couldn’t evict from her mind. The very idea of something so violent was abhorrent, and yet, just knowing it existed as one of the possible fantasies made her wet.
“This is fun,” she told him, admitting that much at least.
“Negotiating is supposed to be.”
“We’re negotiating?” Her breath came faster.
“That’s what it’s called in the scene when you discuss play limits.”
“Oh.”
He stared hard at her. “Let’s go down a checklist of things, the way you normally would have before you arrived. You can tell me a number between one and five to indicate how you feel about that activity: one means no way, five means it’s a wild turn-on for you. Are you ready?”
“Who would I be… playing… with?”
“That depends on your answers. And their wishes too.”
His calm, aloof demeanor both set her at ease and excited her. She thought of the other men at the dinner table, evaluating them. Master Andre seemed cute. Mage was still a mystery. Little Peter seemed harmless. Sylvester attracted her the most. “I guess I’m ready.” She returned his stare, feeling bold.
“Spanking.”
“Okay.”
He waited.
“Oh. Four?”
“Tickling.”
“Three.”
“Branding.”
She cringed. “One!”
“Electrical torture.”
“Isn’t that the same as branding?”
Sylvester shook his head. “Not at all. For example, Mage has an elaborate muscle stimulation kit, with attachments I’d never seen before. And he has an astonishing number of other electrical toys. It can be quite sensual.”
“Do you know this from personal experience?”
“We’re not discussing me right now. A number, please?”
Her curiosity spiked again. Damn but this conversation was making her want to try everything… with him. “Four.”
“Threesome.”
She considered. “One. Well… maybe. Two guys, maybe a three.”
“Feathers, fur, food.”
“Four.”
“Hair pulling.”
“That doesn’t sound fun. Two.”
“You’d be surprised. Role playing.”
”It depends.” In her fantasy, the man stalked her then had his way with her. Should she tell him that? She felt tempted, then pushed the fantasy back underground where it belonged. “Could you give me an example?”
“Doctor/nurse. Teacher/student. Boss/secretary. Torturer/prisoner.” He looked at her. “Predator/prey.”
“Could you explain that last one?”
He was quiet for so long she wasn’t sure he heard her. Then, “Consensual nonconsent. One of the most common role-playing fantasies for women is to be taken against their will.”
The air in the room seemed to turn electric, plucking at her nipples, teasing her intimately until she felt short of breath. She tried to hide her reaction. “Yes, I’ve heard that’s a common one.”
“Give it a number.”
“I… can’t.”
His stare burned her. “You can’t? I think you can.” He gave her a fierce smile, showing teeth. “Is it being kidnapped and used as a sex toy? Or, chased and brought down and brutally fucked? Maybe a date rape, or a home break-in, or a cruel ravishing while tied to a pirate ship’s mast.”
Her mouth went dry. She wanted to dash from the room, and yet she sat rooted, unable to even look away. She felt her eyes widen and her nipples stand erect, no doubt clearly outlined under the tissue-thin material of her dress. She tried to remember how to be the cool-headed, knowledgeable person she was at work.
People consulted her, looked up to her for her experience, her capable management, her enthusiasm for researching anything she didn’t know. But nothing she’d encountered in the workplace or elsewhere prepared her for this sensation of willing helplessness under his gaze. He was talking her language. If he wasn’t careful, she’d… she’d what? Beg him to rape her?
To calm herself, she reached for her glass of wine. “I’m not sure that’s….” To her horror, her hand was shaking. She set the wine down abruptly.
”Some men have the same violent desires, Nora. To take, to dominate a struggling victim. As a fantasy only. Nothing here happens that isn’t consensual. You’re safe, I promise.”
He looked off into the distance. Then, “Some men mistakenly believe a woman doesn’t care who stars in her fantasy. Of course she does.”
He referred to Ryan. He believed she was still affected by Ryan’s foul trick on her, she realized with relief. He had no idea what dirty thoughts played in her mind.
Or did he?
She went on the offensive. “Do you have those fantasies, Sylvester?”
“We aren’t talking about me.”
“We’re talking about fantasies. You’re explaining them so well. Do you dream of torturing your helpless victim, then spreading her legs and plowing her, defiling her as she struggles underneath you? Do you fantasize about stalking a woman, capturing her and forcing her to perform degrading acts on your filthy body? Does it do it for you, having a woman naked and whimpering while you press her up against the slick walls of her shower, begging you stop and crying when push your big cock up between her legs?” Oh god, talking about it was getting her way too hot. She decided to throw caution to the winds. “Do you want to force me, right now?”
More praise for Sweet and Dirty
“The heat sizzles off the page. You will definitely want to crank the AC up while reading these.” -Romance Junkies
“Sometimes our darkest fantasies have a way of manipulating our everyday lives, and Nora learns this lesson all too well. I love how her awakening to the world of BDSM enlightens her to what is truly important and real in her life and in her relationships…This is a hard book to put down, so I suggest finding a comfy place to crash for a few hours of unadulterated reading pleasure.” -Coffee Time Romance & More
“Overall, Sweet and Dirty is entertaining, arousing, and will not insult your intelligence.” – Lisabet Sarai, Erotica Revealed
“Christina Crooks has written a racy and adventurous anthology that is not for the faint of heart. It is a well written book which does include some BDSM that can be a little wicked! These are certainly not the typical romances and the heroines both explore their sexuality in a way that is freeing and exciting!” -Bookaholics Romance Book Club
Sweet and Dirty
Kensington Publishing
January 2010
ISBN
978-0-7582-3873-3
0-7582-3873-8
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