From Sanctum with Love
Masters and Mercenaries, Book 10
By Lexi Blake
Coming February 23, 2015
Kai and Kori finally have their own book! The sadist finally meets his match in a strong, independent masochist. The funny thing about that was Kai didn't know his assistant, the woman he was drawn to, was a masochist because she hid those desires from him. Like the other Masters and Mercenaries books, there is a mystery and mission in this book and it is personal to Kai. I ended up reading this book in one sitting because I was so hooked into it. I both loved and hated it because of the missing team member of McKay-Taggert. The next book was set up to deal with that issue and finally bring it to a close, so I am now dying for it. I hope Lexi Blake writes fast and gets the next story out sooner than anticipated. This gets another 5 star rating from me as I impatiently await the 11th book.
Psychologist Kai Ferguson has had his eye on
Kori Williamson for a long time. His assistant is everything he’s ever wanted
in a partner—smart, caring, witty, and a bit of a masochist. More than a little,
actually, but that’s the problem. Kori won’t admit her own desires. She’s
afraid of him and what he has to offer. Luckily for her, helping patients face
their fears is one of his specialties.
Kori knows she wants Kai. Her boss is the
most amazing man she’s ever met. She’s also smart enough to stay away from him.
Having been down this road before, she knows it only leads to heartache. She’s
just found a place where she can belong. Another failed relationship is the
last thing she needs. It’s better to guard her heart and let Kai think she’s frightened
of his dark, dominant nature.
When Kai is recruited for an operation with
McKay-Taggart, everything is turned upside down. Kai’s brother, international
superstar Jared Johns, is in town and Kai must juggle his family issues along
with a desperate hunt for a serial killer. The investigation throws Kori and Kai
together, and they quickly discover the chemistry between them is undeniable.
But even if their newfound love can survive his secrets and her lies, it may
not be enough to save them both from a killer’s twisted obsession.
Pre-order:
About
Lexi:
NY Times and USA Today
bestselling author Lexi Blake lives in North Texas with her husband, three
kids, and the laziest rescue dog in the world. She began writing at a young
age, concentrating on plays and journalism. It wasn't until she started writing
romance and urban fantasy that she found the stories of her heart. She likes to
find humor in the strangest places and believes in happy endings no matter how
odd the couple, threesome, or foursome may seem.
EXCERPTS
EXCERPT
1
Kori heard some movement and then
felt the whoosh of air caress her skin right before something thin and hard
thwacked against her flesh. A gasp made her chest pulse as pure fire licked
over her backside.
“This is a cane,” Kai explained.
“It’s bamboo, nice and not too flexible. It leaves a mark if you apply enough
force.” He brought it down on her again, this time on her thighs. Again, she
struggled for breath. “Are you bored now, Kori?”
“No, Sir.” She barely managed to
get the words out of her mouth.
“Excellent, then we’re making
headway.” The cane came down again and again. “Where are we on the stoplight?”
“Green.” She didn’t even
hesitate. The pain was doing its job, heating her up and making her soft. Each
strike of the cane lit her up and then brought her back down, sinking deeper
and deeper into that soft, fuzzy place of submission.
“Now we’re getting some truth.”
He kept up his punishing pace. “She didn’t take her time trying to find a way
out of what she didn’t want to say.”
“Why would she lie?” Jared asked.
“That’s a good question.” The
blows continued, making her ache as Kai spoke. “I suspect she didn’t want
anyone here to know that she’s a naughty masochist who can’t get off without a
little bite of pain. Or a big one. She hasn’t accepted her nature. Or she has
and expects that no one else will.”
“I accepted my nature a long time
ago,” she managed to say.
The caning stopped and suddenly
Kai’s boots were in view again. He dropped to one knee, that hard hand in her
hair again. “Then tell me why.”
She couldn’t tell him. It was too
much. “I’m yellow now, Kai. Don’t make me safe word out over an explanation I’m
not ready to give.”
“Fine.” His hand moved from her
hair down, skimming over her skin until his fingertips found her breast. Kai
Ferguson was touching her breast. God, he was cupping her and she couldn’t
breathe. “How about I put a scenario forth and you think about it for a few
days. I think the reason you didn’t mention your utterly beautiful and sexy
inclinations is me. You didn’t want me to know because you were perfectly aware
that I’m the only one here who can possibly give you what you need. You knew
that once I found out, I wouldn’t be able to help myself because you’re the
only one who can do the same for me, baby. Do you know how fucking good I feel
right now? How good this makes me feel?”
He rolled her nipple between his
thumb and forefinger and twisted with a vicious bite that left her panting.
She squeezed her eyes closed
because she couldn’t look at him, couldn’t see how beautiful he was. “It won’t
work, Kai.”
Another nasty twist got her
squirming. “It’s working right fucking now. Darling girl, your ass is up in the
air and that means I can see how wet your pussy is. Tell me some other Dom here
got you wet and ready.”
“You know I can’t.” She tugged at
her restraints, but they didn’t move. The rope rubbed across her skin, keeping
her here with him. She couldn’t run, and she had to admit she didn’t want to.
She wanted this moment with him. Her pride might make her get up and stride away
but every other part of her begged for what she’d denied herself for so long.
He was the only man here who could give her what she needed. It wasn’t about
who hit the hardest. Any of those other Doms could have adequately provided her
with pain. She needed more. She needed connection, the ebb and flow of pain and
pleasure coming from a man who was there with her.
Her dark shadow lover. Kai.
“I’m not the exhibitionist you
are,” Kai admitted. “And that’s the only reason I’m not fucking you right now,
but we’re going to have a long discussion in the morning about the way this
needs to go. For tonight, I’m going to start the process that will allow you to
remain friends with all those people you lied to. So you are going to give me
everything I want. You’re going to cry for me. You’re going to let go and show
them that you’ll cry for me.”
She shook her head. “You’re
asking too much.”
“It’s cry or come, baby. One or
the other, unless you want to find yourself in Big Tag’s office. Let me show
him I can handle you.”
“I can’t. I haven’t done either
in a very long time.” She hadn’t cried since leaving LA. She couldn’t.
Wouldn’t. She hadn’t come either. Not a man-given orgasm. Her mind worked
overtime. He wasn’t joking about getting called into Big Tag’s office. Whatever
punishment Kai could come up with—nothing would touch Big Tag’s disapproval.
They were all mad at her. It was enough to make her want to run away again.
Except it wasn’t that they wanted
to see her humiliated. This punishment wasn’t about hurting her. It was about
this group of people knowing that someone among them could take care of her.
When she looked at it like that, it didn’t seem like punishment at all. It was
about the Dominants giving a shit.
Morgan hadn’t cared when she’d
lied to him. All he’d wanted was the next bit of work from her. After a while,
he hadn’t cared about her finding subspace or her pent-up sexuality. He’d doled
out the pain like it was bait for his trap. He would give her enough to ensure
she stayed around and did what he needed her to do.
This wasn’t the same thing at
all.
“I don’t want to cry in front of
anyone, Kai.”
“Then
let me show them you can let go in another way.”
EXCERPT
2
“Please gag me, Kai. Please.”
“With pleasure, baby.”
She could hear him moving around
behind her, and when he came back he had a fresh pair of her undies in his
hands.
“Unlike a lot of Doms, I
personally enjoy pretty panties. They make such good gags when we need to keep
our games private. Open. Since you won’t be able to talk through this spanking,
all you have to do to get me to stop is hold up your left hand.”
He was giving her a way to safe
word without speaking. She had to admit that the idea that her friends were
right down the hallway and Kai was about to do dirty things to her aroused her
unbearably. “I can do that.”
“Stand up and ask me to gag you
again. Does my sub need a gag in her mouth so she won’t cry out?”
Her nipples were rigid against
her tank top. “Yes, Sir. I need it.”
“Open your mouth.” His right hand
caught her, forcing her head up. “And I damn straight meant what I said about
stopping me if it’s too much. I know you like it, but I won’t damage you for
anything. Take it.”
He was rough as he shoved the
panties into her mouth. She would never be able to look at those the same way
again. He pressed them, filling her mouth and making her jaw ache. It was the
right side of pain, exactly enough to start up the chemical reaction in her
brain. Some people got runner’s high. She found such peace in this place.
And it was better this time
because she could trust Kai.
Because Kai was the one.
“Back down,” Kai ordered.
She turned again, placing her
hands down on the bed. She could scream as much as she liked now. For the first
time in forever, she could actually let loose.
“Have I ever told you how
beautiful you are? I like having you gagged because you can’t talk back and
argue with me. Did you think I didn’t notice that every single time I give you
a compliment, you negate it somehow? When I told you that dress was lovely on
you last Monday, you told me you had borrowed it from Sarah and I should see
how she filled it out.” His hand smacked on her ass, fire skimming her skin. “I
don’t care how Sarah fills it out. I care about you. I watch you. I fantasize
about you.”
They were not words she’d ever
expected to hear from him. Not once. She’d dreamed about him, but she’d
convinced herself that nothing could ever happen between them. Tears pricked
her eyes, sweet and pure emotion running through her.
He rained down on her skin, the
soreness from the previous night making every strike more visceral. She groaned
around the gag.
“So that’s a new rule. When I
tell you how pretty you are, you’ll thank me. Maybe if you hear it from me
enough, you’ll start to believe it, though I think you should know that while
you’re gorgeous, it’s not the thing that attracts me to you the most.” Another
long volley where all she could hear was the sound of his hand hitting her
flesh and then the flash of heat that sank into her bones.
Fuck but she felt alive.
“No, what attracted me to you was
the fact that you are the single kindest person I’ve ever met.” He smacked her
on the underside of her ass, making her jump slightly, the sensation so close
to her rapidly moistening pussy. “You try to hide it, but I see you. I see how
you treat people, how you protect them and take care of them. I also see how
you never ask for anything yourself.”
He made her sound like a martyr,
but it wasn’t like she could defend herself. There was nothing to do but take
Kai’s discipline and listen to his words. Over and over her skin lit up and she
took in the pain before shaking it off and letting the sensation change deep
inside her body. Metamorphosis. It was how she always felt when playing. Like
she began as one person and changed somewhere in the middle into someone
else—someone stronger, more at peace.
“I’m going to take care of that
because I’m going to take care of you and you’re going to let me. You’re going
to trust me to take care of you emotionally the way I’m taking care of you
physically. I know that’s hard, but I promise I won’t let you down. After last
night, after the connection we had, I can’t let us go back to what we were.”
She could see that now. How had
she thought for a second that she could breeze back into the office and pretend
nothing had happened between them? What happened the night before was more
meaningful than simple play. They’d needed each other, filled something that
had been missing deep inside.
The pain focused her, helped her
to push aside those voices that always seemed so close to the surface. All her
nasty doubts and self-loathing melted away when tested against Master Kai’s
discipline. She knew so many people who would judge her a freak for needing
this, but she’d learned long ago that smart people accepted who they were, what
they needed.
She needed Kai and in more ways
than one.
Her backside was on fire as he
continued, his rough voice keeping a count. Ten and then fifteen. Twenty and
more. Somehow he knew exactly what to give her to make her ache for more.
“Thirty.” His hand moved over her skin, holding the
heat in as he stroked her flesh. “I don’t want to be finished with this, Kori.”
Neither did she. There was no
reason to hold him off. They’d had years of friendship to build a trust like
nothing she’d known. She wiggled her ass against his hand because she couldn’t
talk and hadn’t been told she could move yet. Rubbing against him was the only
way she had to communicate that she wanted him.
He hauled her up, turning her to
face him. “You know what I want. I believe I told you the first rule I wanted
to change.”
Kisses. He’d claimed he wanted
kisses. He gently pulled the panties out of her mouth, tossing them to the
side. He lowered his mouth to hers, lips pressing down. He didn’t allow her to
control this kiss. His hands sank into her hair and tugged her head back,
giving him full access to her mouth. His tongue plunged deep, rubbing along her
own in a silky glide. He kissed her over and over again, sinking deeper. She
didn’t give a crap that her pants were still around her ankles. All that
mattered was the feel of his lips on hers, the way his hands gripped and
dominated her. There was power in how he held her, how he moved her, and it made
her submissive and willing.
“Please, Kai,” she whispered.
She’d spent years without and it had been all right. She’d survived and not
even thought about sex. Now she couldn’t stand the thought of him not being
inside her. Not one second more. She needed him.
“Tell me you want me.”
“I
want you.”
A loss he can’t forget
