Title: Better When It Hurts
Author: Skye Warren
Series: Stripped #2
Publication Date: June 4, 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Five years ago we lived in the same house. He was the ultimate bad boy. And my foster brother.
Now he's back. Tougher, harder, meaner. All of it aimed at me, because I was the one who sent him away. It's payback time. He wants his pound of flesh, and I am helpless to say no.
Excerpt:
The whistle of a belt coming off follows me into
Blue’s bedroom. My breath stutters in my chest. I hear the threat of the
movement, the speed and power behind it. It’s more than a man getting
undressed.
There’s a hundred ways a belt can be used to hurt
me. I know them well.
I turn my head to the side, addressing him but
showing deference too. It’s an instinct now. It’s survival. “What are you going
to do with that?”
“I’d rather show you,” he says, approaching me,
prowling around me.
I don’t want him to hit me with that belt. Not
because I can’t take the pain. I know I can, because I’ve done it before. I
don’t want him to hit me because I might start hating him.
“Wait,” I say.
He doesn’t wait. One hand takes my wrist. Standing
behind me, he leans close. “What do you think I’ll do with this? Make your
pretty skin all red? Make you cry?”
I tense, twisting my arm. It only hurts me, and
I’m still held tight. “Don’t.”
“I’m going to do both of those things before we’re
done here, Lola.” He pauses, loosening his grip slightly. “But I’m not going to
whip you with this.”
There’s only a second where I can feel relieved
before I feel him drawing my other hand behind me. It’s a mistake to relax
around him. Whatever I’m thinking, he’s doing something different. However much
I brace myself, it’s still going to hurt.
He wraps the soft leather around my wrists,
binding them together behind my back. It pushes my breasts out in front of me.
Cool air brushes over my skin, tightening my nipples.
There’s weakness in this pose, being held, being
open.
And there’s strength too, the pride of being
wanted, the power of desire.
“On your knees,” he says so softly I almost don’t
hear him.
I don’t know what he’s thinking. Whether he sees
me as an object he can use or as an enemy he can conquer. I’m a little off
balance, lilting to the side as I sink to the carpet. His hands cup my arms,
helping me down, guiding my gently. It feels more like worship than anger, more
like kindness than cruelty.
At least until the sharp sound of his zipper rips
through the air.
His voice follows. “Candy doesn’t think I’ll hurt
you.”
I shiver at the foreboding underneath the words.
“Yes.”
He undresses slowly, methodically, exposing rough
skin and dark hair and a thick, jutting cock.
I have seen his cock before, but only in the dark,
holding it in my fist while I jerked him off, shadows and motion. Now I see the
skin like the dark side of a peach, almost the color of a bruise. I see the
curve of a vein underneath. I see the head of his cock, fat and proud and
already glistening at the tip.
I see everything clearly because the saturated
late-afternoon light still streams through his window. Our hours are all
backward and twisted. Where another woman would do this at midnight, would
expose her shame to the moon, mine comes open at five o’clock.
“She thinks you’re safe with me because I protect
the other girls.” He approaches me, his cock near my face, his eyes looking
down on me. “I even protect you.”
I choke out the words. “Because only you get to
touch me.”
He nods approvingly. Candy doesn’t understand, he
means. I understand. He’s showing me that we’re together on this, like some
perverted joint mission where I agree to be hurt. And haven’t I? I showed up
here of my own free will. Maybe I do want what’s coming to me.
****************
Books in the Stripped series
½. Tough Love (prequel)
1. Love the Way You Lie
2. Better When It Hurts
3. Pretty When You Cry
Praise for the Stripped series by Skye Warren:
"It's gritty, edgy, and sexy, served to you in the well-written, absorbing style that Skye is so talented at delivering. I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the Stripped series." - Shameless Book Club
"A jagged, layered and enthralling adventure that weaves darkness and light with precision and purpose." - the lusty literate
"It's dark, mysterious, sexy, and I loved every page of it! There were twists and turns that I never saw coming! I love when an author is able to keep me guessing until the very end of the book." - Book Fancy Book Blog
"Love The Way You Lie was heartwarming, exhilarating and tantalizing with just the right tinge of darkness." - Warhawke's Vault
About Skye Warren:
Skye Warren is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of dark romantic fiction. Her books are raw, sexual and perversely romantic.
Hosted by:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave your comments below.