by Solace Ames
The Submission Gift
By Solace Ames
Newlyweds Jay and Adriana had a happy marriage and a spectacular sex life—until tragedy struck. Wounded in a car accident, Jay spent a year recuperating while Adriana worked overtime as a chef to pay their bills. Though he’s made nearly a full recovery, some aspects of their intimate play will never be the same. It’s a small price to pay, all things considered.
But when a long struggle with the insurance company results in an overdue payout, Jay has a plan. He’ll take some of it and hire a high-end rent boy who specializes in sexual dominance. Not for him, but as a gift for Adriana, for taking care of him for the past twelve months.
Paul is the handsome stranger they choose...and the one who changes everything. What starts out as a onetime session to fulfill a fantasy turns into something bigger than all of them. But when the money runs out and Paul’s dangerous past resurfaces, the sacrifices required to stay together may end up tearing them apart...
100,000 words
Dear Reader,
I know many of you have been waiting for the next installment of New York Times bestselling author Marie Force’s thrilling romantic suspense series. Fatal Jeopardy is finally here, and Nick and Sam are as good as ever!
But that’s not all the great storytelling we have in store for you with the March releases. This month, we introduce debut author Matt Sheehan and a book that had the Carina Press acquisitions team in hysterics. Be sure to check out Helmut Saves the World, in which there’s magic, fistfights and one-liners with the best, most handsome and, of course, humble detective Helmut Haase and his apathetic sidekick Shamus O’Sheagan.
If you’ve been longing for a great historical romance, we’ve got two this month. Juliana Ross finishes up her erotic Improper trilogy. In Improper Proposals, a lonely young widow learns to live—and love—again as she and her ambitious publisher, the most captivating man she has ever met, work on a forbidden guide to sexual pleasure. It’s An Heir of Uncertainty by Alyssa Everett and it’s also the answer to Colonel Win Vaughan’s prayers when he learns he’s the heir to the newly deceased Earl of Radbourne—but the beginning of a deadly mystery when he arrives to claim his inheritance, only to discover that the earl’s lovely widow is carrying a child who could displace him.
If you’re looking for something hot, with an unusual hero, Solace Ames releases erotic romance The Submission Gift this month. A young husband offers his wife an unusual gift—to fulfill a fantasy she’d always set aside. But what starts out as a onetime session becomes something precious shared between three—one of them a male escort. Solace Ames brings something new to this story and if you love erotic romance, you’ll want to check this out.
Also in the hot category is Up in Knots by Gillian Archer. Still bruised over the death of her boyfriend two years ago, Kyla Grant is determined to get back into the kinky dating scene, and bad-boy top Sawyer is just the man to help her. Joining Gillian, Juliana and Solace in the erotic romance category, Nico Rosso’s Slam Dance with the Devil, from his Demon Rock series, brings entertainment to a new level. Wild rock star Kent Gaol’s dark past goes back even further than private investigator Nona Harris could’ve imagined, and one night onstage surprises them both by slamming her into his supernatural world.
March shapes up to be a good one for erotic romances because Emily Ryan-Davis brings us the follow-up to Ménage on 34th Street, which she coauthored with Elise Logan. In this next installment, Dial M for Ménage, it’s a new year and a new way of life for Katrina Holland, who started 2014 by waking up with two men in her bed. Now, she, Owen and Hunter struggle to define, and redefine, their relationships with one another after the first rush of newness fades.
Paranormal romance author Lorenda Christensen follows up her funny, entertaining Never Deal with Dragons with the next in the series, Dancing with Dragons. If Carol Jenski knows anything, it’s fashion—and it’s in fashion to consort with dragons, even though they’ve coexisted with humans since WWIII. Still, she would never have agreed to take part in a plot against them. Now a dragon lord has called for her head, her boyfriend is MIA and she’s been abandoned in a foreign country.
Stacy Gail’s paranormal romance miniseries, The Earth Angels, comes to an exciting conclusion in Dangerous Angel, where the heroes and heroines from all the previous books combine their efforts to avert a demonic apocalypse. In Kathleen Collins’s Death’s Daughter, Realm Walker Juliana Norris hunts a serial killer targeting Altered children while an enemy from her past closes in.
This month we have two titles in the science-fiction genre. First, join the adventure At Star’s End! A galactic treasure hunter and an astro-archaeologist race across the galaxy in pursuit of the last remaining fragment of da Vinci’s Mona Lisa in this space opera romance from Anna Hackett.
And we’re pleased to welcome T.D. Wilson with his debut, The Epherium Chronicles: Embrace. Set in the mid-twenty-second century, Embrace is the first book of an exciting new space opera series where Earth’s newest warship, the Armstrong, must make contact with fledgling colonies in nearby solar systems amid the threat of an alien attack.
If you’re ready for a cozy mystery to keep you guessing as to whodunit, look no further than Julie Anne Lindsey’s latest release. Most islanders celebrate the reprieve of summer tourism with cider, mums and cocoa, but sharks, birders and a possible serial killer seem intent on ruining autumn for Patience when Murder Comes Ashore.
Anne Marie Becker returns with another suspenseful installment in her romantic suspense series. In Dark Deeds, SSAM security expert Becca Haney is hiding a past that could hurt her ex-lover, NYPD detective Diego Sandoval—but the true threat comes from a “fan” whose conscience urges him to kill.
Coming next month: contemporary romance Taken with You from New York Times bestselling author Shannon Stacey. Also, sports week and six irresistible sports romances!
Here’s wishing you a wonderful month of books you love, remember and recommend.
Happy reading!
~Angela James
Executive Editor, Carina Press
Acknowledgments
Thank you to April L’Orange, Heloise Belleau, and Suleikha Snyder for their invaluable feedback as I wrote this, my first solo novel. Thank you to my wonderful family, who have inspired and supported me in uncountable ways. Thank you to Lou Reed, who taught me that no kinds of love are better than others.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Epilogue
Chapter One
Trapped on the line and well into an exhausting double shift, Adriana dreamed of taking a bathroom break, jumping up on the toilet, kicking out the window and tumbling forward into a world of freedom and fresh air.
Jay would be waiting for her in the all
ey next to Sapore. He’d be smiling behind the wheel of a BMW coupe, ready to scoop her up and drive them off into the sunset. No, scratch that, he’d want something more virtuous, like a Prius. But he’d still look good leaning out of it, and the sunset would glow like fire.
A harried waiter skimmed by. “Thirty-two needs the prime rib up to well-done,” he said, the words speed-slurred. She slotted that into her brain’s task-bank as she whisked béchamel sauce with her left hand and plated a veal marsala with her right. “And your husband’s here.”
Her hand almost slipped off the whisk, but she was a damn steady chef and didn’t miss a beat. It’s all right. He’s been leaving the apartment for weeks. “Tell him to come by the window, fifteen minutes,” she told the waiter, kitchen-curt with no pleases. He nodded on his way out the door.
The dinner rush hit a lull. Adriana stepped back from emergency duties and made sure the line cooks had everything they needed. She followed up with table thirty-two’s waitress and confirmed they were happy with the prime rib. And then she darted to the window and beamed at Jay and leaned over the gleaming metal counter and kissed him awkwardly but deeply. He smelled like citrus body wash, delicious and clean.
“I’m so proud of you,” he said, then bit his lip and smiled. It was the kind of smile that made a double shift seem like a minor inconvenience. Jay was on the mend, and when she went home everything would be beautiful. “The food here is fantastic. Is it okay that I came? I texted you, but I figured you might be too busy to check.”
“No, it’s cool. I’m glad you finally got to see the place. Did you have a nice swim?”
He nodded. He was wearing a beige button-up shirt under a camel-colored vest. The fact that he was well enough to dress up again filled her with hope and joy. Jay really was amazingly good-looking, as though he’d stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine, and the best part was that he didn’t act like it was important—he just wore what made him happy when he looked in the mirror.
“Eduardo’s going to drop me off at home,” he said. “Can you recommend a dessert? And I love you.” He must have picked up the rise in motion and noise behind her, all the signs of an approaching work-storm.
“The tiramisu. Love you too. I’ll see you soon.” When she kissed him goodbye, oh God, the taste of his lips—she forgot how greasy and sweaty and tired she was. Two years married and whatever came at them, it only kept getting better. She turned back to the kitchen’s steaming hell and plunged into the thick of things.
Terry the headwaiter was pulling napkins not too far from the counter, so she made a quick stop next to him. “Any way you can comp my husband’s table? It’s not a huge deal, if—”
“Sure, honey. What does he look like?”
“One of those gay Mexicans on twenty-four,” said Steve, the other sous chef and the bane of her existence. “¡Mucho sexo en mi culo!” He stuck a bottle of rémoulade sauce between his legs and pumped the spout while rolling his eyes.
“Fuckhead,” Adriana hissed, and stalked off. Steve pretended what he did was just the usual thuggish hazing shit that always went on in kitchens, but she knew better. She’d gone to culinary school and gotten a sous chef job too young for his liking, but above all else, she didn’t have a penis.
Through the rest of the night she fought her natural inclination to stay as far away from Steve as possible. She couldn’t let him see how much he affected her. At least she wouldn’t be obliged to go out drinking with the back-of-the-house crew tonight, since everyone knew she’d worked a double. She wouldn’t have to see Steve’s leering face or his crappy neck tattoos or listen to his line cook buddies laugh like coked-out hyenas at his douchebag jokes.
She’d taken off her hat and was getting ready to slip out the back when Terry caught her. “I comped him. He’s not gay, he’s just metro. And I should know. Eduardo, on the other hand...”
“Eduardo’s got a husband,” she said, shaking her finger at him. “Can you believe Steve?”
“Hate him hate him hate him. Haaaate.”
“Thanks for the comp, Terry. See you tomorrow.”
She drove away from Sapore in her little ten-year-old Mazda, still keyed up and buzzing from the adrenaline. Halfway home, her blood chemicals fizzled out and left her limp and nauseous, almost falling asleep at the stoplights. She made it home without crashing and staggered up the stairs.
Jay met her at the door, handed her a cold bottle of lime soda and held her up when she fell into his arms. “I could start you a bath,” he murmured, his breath warm against her ear.
“I’m just going to take a quick shower before I pass out. But thanks anyway. God, I missed you. I’m so glad you came.”
“You’re my hard-working lady.”
“I smell.”
“Still love you. I’ll start the shower for you, okay?”
She almost jerked away from him then, at the strangeness of being taken care of. God, she’d actually fallen into his arms, put weight on his spine, so fragile and expensively broken.
He’s better. He’s stronger now.
“Yeah. Start me a shower, baby.” She let herself lean against him.
Lightly, though.
* * *
He’d closed the blinds and drawn the curtains, but the light still crept in. Hazy ribbons of filtered California sun lay across Adriana’s sleeping form. When the light edged onto the fine curve of her eyelid, Jay held his hand in the air to shield her with shadow.
Too late. Her eyelashes flickered. She stirred, the dark tangles of her hair slipping across the pillow, and let out a plaintive morning moan.
“Stay in bed for a while.” Jay smoothed the hair away from her face with the back of his hand. But she shook her head and shrugged off the sheets.
He left her and went to the kitchen, which smelled of fresh coffee and tangy grapefruit. He took a deep breath so that the rich air hit his lungs like a drug. He’d never felt more awake than this morning, this moment. The letter from the insurance company lay on the kitchen counter in front of him. He ran his fingers across the ragged edges of its opened envelope. Last night, he could read the good news between the lines of the tortured legal language, but the full meaning had still escaped him. Research and emailed answers cleared everything up; he could tell Adriana they’d won. They didn’t have to be in debt for the rest of their lives. They could pay the surgery bills from the car crash and still have money left over.
There were still places in his body where the pain held on, but he could cope without drugs for now. Some of it was good honest pain—aching muscles from physical therapy and swimming. Climbing out of a year of hell felt absolutely goddamn amazing. He could do so many things for himself...and for Adriana. The possibilities blazed like comets.
They’d have to celebrate. He stroked the letter one last time, then went back to the bedroom.
Adriana sat on the edge of the bed in her nightdress, brushing her hair. The way her body curved toward him was at first accidental then purposeful—he could tell by the smile playing at the corner of her mouth.
“I’ve got some good news, baby.”
She brightened even more. The nightdress was very short, and its thin cotton skimmed just below her waist. His glance flicked down from her dark, awakened eyes to the line where her thighs met. When he looked up into her eyes again, he could feel the blood singing in his veins and his hardness rising. It wasn’t the first time this year he’d been this turned on, but there was a sense of completeness this morning. It was different. And good. Very good. She clearly loved the way he was looking at her.
“Tell me later.” She rolled her shoulders back. The hem rose and so did her high perky little breasts with the light-cocoa nipples—God, he could almost see them through the fabric. “Do you want me to—” she took a deep breath and her voice raised a few notes and went sweetly uneven, “—
do something for you? Or for myself?”
A fantasy jumped fully formed into his mind: having her use his sewing scissors to cut out two little holes in the nightdress just over her nipples. Then she’d wet her fingers in her mouth and play with them. She’d do it and like it.
Unless, of course, she was especially attached to the nightdress.
So wait, the fantasy was kind of risky and definitely complicated, and he really wanted to fuck and come sooner than that, and from the looks of it, so did Adriana. “No,” he said, trying to keep his own voice even and steady. “Lie back on the bed and don’t move.”
She lay down without a second’s hesitation. The hem had settled right at her waist, leaving her naked and marvelously exposed. Her hands by her sides twitched, as if she wanted to either pull the hem down or up all the way. Imagining her frustration, he touched himself, just one slow stroke of his palm against his cock through his pajamas, making sure she saw him. Even though he wasn’t much into controlling—he played these games for her sake, not his own—sometimes he’d sink far enough into her feelings that he’d genuinely enjoy this easiest, most playful level of teasing, denying, restraining.
“Perfect.” He got on his knees, reached under the bed and pulled out their box of toys. He pushed aside the pink vibrator—his own—for the large purple one dedicated entirely to Adriana’s orgasms.
She’d have to know what he was doing, but he tried to make it quick, to make the very abruptness a thrill. He stayed on his knees, leaned onto the bed and reached between her legs, confident this would work for her but sure beyond the shadow of a doubt that it worked for him.
When he eased it into her, she let out a lovely sharp gasp. He saw, studied, adored the coral-pink flesh between the lips of her vulva, sliding smoothly against the vivid purple shaft. Her strong thighs tensed and quivered. She made him hard in every way, his muscles tensing sympathetically with hers.
He made sure the clit extension was exactly where it needed to be, and pushed the switch. Go, he told her silently, and she did, convulsing and clawing at the sheets in familiar ecstasy. He kept a steady hand, and it wasn’t long until she sang out and made a face like crying but with no tears, tortured and beautiful.
