by Nikki Sloane
So if I lost my head as I seemed to do around him, I’d have to calm down and speak to him like a fucking adult, or . . .? The image of me bent over his lap, his hand preparing to strike my bare ass, sent a shiver of pleasure through me. Only, he wouldn’t give me what I wanted as negative reinforcement, would he? Maybe he’d withhold his kink instead.
“I like this,” I said finally. Who was I kidding? I fucking loved it, but tried to keep my cool. This agreement was a fail-safe. If I lost my damn mind, it at least required him to stick around long enough to punish me. It all but bound us together and forced me to be rational.
“Is it retroactive?” I asked, nervous.
Surprise darted through his eyes, like he hadn’t thought about it. “We’ve both made mistakes. I think we should start fresh.”
“Oh.” A new wave of relief surged in me. “Good.” I stared at the neat type, my gaze tracing the last line and blurring a little with tears I blinked back. Enough crying, even if they were happy tears. My voice was thick with emotion. “Thank you for this.”
I’d never seen him look so surprised. It might have been silly to thank him for drafting a contract, but it meant so much more than the words on the paper. Our first agreement had been about sex, but this one was about love.
His voice was uneven. “I’m sorry it took me so long to present it to you.”
It wasn’t a marriage proposal, but he’d taken a leap and put himself out there with the last line. It made sense why he’d hesitated. “What changed your mind?”
“Changed my mind?”
“I mean, what made you decide to forgive me?”
He smiled like I was talking nonsense. “I love you, Ruby. There’s nothing that’s going to change that.” There was more emotion on his face than ever before. His eyes filled with longing. “It’s always been you.”
My heart threatened to explode and I put a hand over it, shielding him in case it happened.
Kyle wasn’t finished, either. “I wish I could go back in time, kiss you outside your apartment at Randhurst, and get this thing we have right the first time. But as long as you sign my offer, it doesn’t matter. We’re together now.”
It was a miracle I was still functioning. His words had rendered me a useless mess of emotion. I sat perfectly still, worried if I moved in the slightest I’d break down and they’d spill out.
His gaze landed on the contract before me, and concern overtook his expression. Was he worried I hadn’t moved? How I hadn’t signed? “Do you . . . have questions?”
“Just one.” My voice was a ghost. “And it’s important.”
He drew in a preparing breath. “Go for it.”
“Do you,” I said, drawing it out, “have a pen?”
He moved like a flash of lightning, producing one from his interior pocket, and a smile broke so large on my face, my cheeks hurt. I scribbled my name on the signature line, just below where he’d already signed, and stared at it as the ink dried.
Two signatures on one sheet of paper. I’d seen hundreds of contracts during law school and my career, but there’d never been a more beautiful agreement than the one in my hands, and certainly not one that ever made me this happy.
Thank You
As always, thank you to my husband. With your support, I was able to follow my dreams, and perhaps one day these dirty books will be so successful I can return the favor. I love you vastly more than any hero I’ve created. You know all their best parts I stole from you, anyway.
To my beta readers, Joscelyn Freeman Fussell, Andrea Lefkowitz, Rebecca Nebel, Nikki Terrill, and V. I got lost writing this book, and not in a good way. You guys pulled me back on track, not just with your notes, but with your unwavering support. Plus, you put up with my weekly lies of, “I’m going to send it to you tonight!” for over a month. When I turned in the first draft, I hated it and wasn’t sure it could be saved. But you did it. I feel like this book is just as much yours as it is mine, and I hope you’re as proud as I am of the result. Cock and balls, 4ever!
An extra special thank you to Andrea for answering my random legal question at strange hours, and for all the extra work you put in to help save Kyle and Ruby. I can’t express how much it meant to me, because saying it was a lot isn’t close to accurate.
To my editor Lori Whitwam. You are amazing. Thank you for continuing to work with me, even when I can’t get my shit together. This is our sixth book as a team, so I suspect you’re used to it by now. (I just realized six books, that’s bananas!) Hopefully there are many more to come!
To my publicist Heather Roberts. Thank you for championing my work, for going above and beyond, and for being my friend.
To the readers and bloggers who enjoyed my work enough to share it with others. I am so honored, and incredibly grateful.
…and to you, reader, right now. Yeah, you! Thank you for reading. You’re awesome.
the blindfold club
THREE SIMPLE RULES (Book 1)
I would do anything for my dream job. Now I have to.
In order to save my skin at the office, I’m forced to sell it at an exclusive and illegal blindfold club. He paid thousands of dollars for one night to own me, but when my blindfold comes off, I want more. More nights, more rules, and more from this unavailable and uncompromising man.
Rule number one, no questions. Rule number two, no lies. But, rule number three? That’s the hardest one to obey.
THREE HARD LESSONS (Book 2)
I am the woman men pay thousands of dollars to sleep with. I do what I love and what I’m so very good at.
Then he walks in and drops $30,000. He wants to talk. And kiss. And take me home.
In a single night, this man turns everything upside-down and has me breaking every rule I’ve lived by to keep men at a distance. I’m about to learn some lessons the hard way.
Don’t tease him. Don’t give him boundaries. And don’t think you get a choice in who you love.
ONE MORE RULE (Novella 2.5)
One week back in Chicago to witness our best friends get married. One hot night to help them celebrate. And one rule for the bride and groom to obey: no more sex until the wedding.
After the evening Dominic and I have planned, who will break first?
THREE LITTLE MISTAKES (Book 3)
I sell sex, sin, and pleasure, but it isn’t just my business, it’s my entire life. I get off on the power of controlling it all.
She’s the one woman I can’t have.
She threatens everything, and yet I can’t stay away. There’s a beautiful, sexual creature inside this timid girl that’s desperate to claw its way out. I’m going to set it free, even if it brings my empire tumbling down.
I have to believe she’ll be worth all the little mistakes I’ve made.
THREE DIRTY SECRETS (Book 4)
No man can own me. I negotiate sex for money at an illicit blindfold club, but my body is not for sale. I don’t submit and I don’t surrender.
Until I meet him. This beautiful artist’s tattoo now covers the scar of the worst mistake of my life.
Being with him could expose everything I’ve been hiding, and although there’s so much at stake, I can’t stop myself. The battle for control between us is too hot, too powerful to resist.
With all my dirty secrets, what’s going to happen when he forces me to come clean?
about nikki sloane
Nikki Sloane landed in graphic design after her careers as a waitress, a screenwriter, and a ballroom dance instructor fell through. For eight years she worked for a design firm in that extremely tall, black, and tiered building in Chicago that went through an unfortunate name change during her time there. Now she lives in Kentucky and manages a team of graphic artists. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America, is married with two sons, writes both romantic suspense (under the name Karyn Lawrence) and dirty books, and couldn’t be any happier.
Find her on the web: www.NikkiSloane.com
Find her on Facebook: Author Nikk
i Sloane
Contact her on Twitter: @AuthorNSloane
Send her an email: [email protected]
Want to talk with other fans of the Blindfold Club? Join the private Facebook group! This isn’t a street team and you won’t be asked to do anything. The group is a fun spot to hangout, discuss books (Nikki’s or other hot reads), and share pics of man candy: Nikki’s Naughty Nymphs.
copyright
Text copyright © 2016 by Nikki Sloane
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
