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The story begins in 2011. Journo Chloe Harmon starts a new job in London and meets photographer Cai Matthews, a younger man with talents beyond Chloe’s comprehension. Not only is he talented, he’s trapped by a mystery from the past he’s been bound by. He has NO WAY OUT. He cannot turn a corner without his every move being recorded by his ever-watchful aunt, Jennifer Matthews, a world-famous fashion editor with vast amounts of power at her fingertips.
Cai may be trapped. However, Chloe chases Cai even when he leaves the country because she has a few life experiences under her belt which have made her tougher than she seems. UNBIND is where the story begins and UNFURL is where it continues…
Chloe knows there was a death. It has been painted so many different ways already and there are still other ways of painting it yet. There are questions to be answered and the story gets darker as Cai and Chloe try to make a life together…
In the concluding part of the trilogy, UNLEASH, the story drags Chloe’s best friend Kayla Tate into the fray. Chloe and Kay have known each other for decades, since they started school. They’ve come in and out of each other’s lives but have always been there for one another when it’s counted. UNLEASH sees Kay face up to a lot of truths about herself, her friends and the man she loves. It’s a conclusion to the trilogy which gives answers to all the questions and brings two people Chloe loves together, at last.
Sarah Lynch has written for as long as she can remember. Writing was always going to be the job she did and after working in journalism, the birth of her first child encouraged her to finally take up her pen and try her hand at creative writing instead.
As S. M. Lynch, she pens science-fiction, and her UNITY series is currently in the process of being re-edited. As Sarah Michelle Lynch, she pens erotic romance, sometimes with thrilling, psychological elements added in. Her characters are real, add depth to beefy, mind-bending stories and ask questions of her readers she is too afraid to answer herself.
Sarah holds a degree in English from The University of Hull and now works as a proofreader and editor.
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April 2014
I HEARD IT from a friend of mine sitting in the ‘congregation’ at Jennifer Matthews’ memorial: Cai Matthews broke down in the middle of Carl Sorensen’s eulogy and couldn’t be comforted—in fact his whole body seemed to be shaking and not only did his wife look worried, but Carl did too. I was in South London shopping for necklaces at the time but after hearing the news, I couldn’t concentrate and abandoned my work-based trip to head back to the Elle offices in Soho. There I got short shrift from colleagues when asked if I knew what was going on and I said, “How the hell would I know? I haven’t seen them yet.”
I got back to my desk and after sitting twiddling my thumbs for long enough to know I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything else all day, I told my boss Kendra ‘Kensey’ Lindsey I was leaving for the day.
“To get the exclusive?” she asked in her husky Scouse accent as she sat at her wide, white desk, littered with proofs, layouts and post-its. I knew she would sign off most of it without even really checking things through.
“Don’t joke, Kendra,” I fired back, disgusted.
Her poker-straight blonde hair perfection, her pale features made up in nude tones—if only she wasn’t wearing some awful, lime-green monstrosity. The woman couldn’t dress for shit though people excused her as ‘subversive’ or ‘trend-setting’.
Bull—shit.
“You work for us, not them.”
I took a seat in the chair opposite hers. It was absurd of her thinking I would squeal so easily. Time to pull her down a peg or two. Faced with someone trying to cut down my friends, I could turn nastier than any animal caught in a trap.
“There’s no exclusive here,” I assured her, “just a man who lost a relative. Plus the last time I checked, there was no us and them. Chloe left Frame two years ago to work for Chanel and Cai’s got more influence outside the fashion world than you could ever hope to earn. Clearly you’re barking up the wrong tree if you think you can persuade me to not only betray my friends but cross such powerful people, too.”
She tapped the end of her pilot pen against her teeth. “I have it on authority there’s something about that family, something like a mystery, and they don’t want anyone to find out.”
“What authority?”
This confrontation had been coming a while, I supposed. Most of the time she and I didn’t talk. In fact I despised her, but a job was a job.
“That would be telling.”
“Well, I’ll be visiting Chloe directly after here but I won’t be coming back with any kind of exclusive for you.” Yes, I have a way in and you don’t. Stick that in your cauldron and smoke it.
She turned her chair sideways so all I could see was her profile. Tipping her head back, she folded her arms. “Ever since you came here from the higher echelons of Empire, you’ve never not judged yourself better than us. You obviously have no loyalty.”
“Yet you promoted me, funny that, isn’t it? But… you’re right, I have no loyalty,” I told her straight, my hands resting on the arms of my spinning chair, “but actually, I don’t think I’m above you, I know I am. For a start, I don’t bitch about every member of staff in this place behind their back and when I arrive in the morning and head for the coffee machine, I ask others around me if they want one too. I don’t make my assistant remake my drinks until I get the kind of high only an egotistical maniac does from exerting their power over others.” I watched her face turn scornful. “Also, you spreading it across the desk every night has been more than noted by the security guys and they’re not exactly silent about what they’ve seen on CCTV.”
She cackled, so proud of herself.
“I only ended up here after receiving a random email from Klaus Häuser, who suggested I drop his name. He used to be friends with my friend Chloe—though I’ve always wondered what the crack is with that man, picking up girls like Chloe, no morals or scruples—yet the world rewards him anyway.”
She sneered; she knew what she was. This ‘authority’ she talked of was no doubt him. “Why make apologies when nobody else does, either?”
“That’s the kind of antediluvian attitude I’d expect from someone worse off than you, not a woman given the world. So what is the downside of having this job, hun? What does he make you do in exchange… maybe, taking it up the butt? Does he do your paperwork and bully people into doing what you say? I just don’t get how you survive when you’re full of nothing but hot air.”
I was on a roll but I’d had it with this woman.
“You can clear your desk, Kayla,” she spat, trying not to show I was getting to her.
I’m just not done yet. “The nature of all this… it makes me wonder now. It does make me wonder about a few things, especially you and Klaus and your need to know about what’s going on with Chloe and Cai. Seems to me I’m stuck in the middle of a shit storm of lies, backstabbing and revenge, if the rumours about yours and Jennifer’s feud is anything to go by.”
Kendra swaggered, “She just never liked me. I don’t know why. She just wanted to be queen of everything, that woman.”
I stood and looked down on her. “You’ll give me a good redundancy package otherwise I’ll sell what I know about you to some tabloid and we all know how much they’re willing to pay.”
She stood with her hands on the desk and lowered her eyes to mine like she might pounce across and rip my hair out. Six foot, she towered over me but I could take her. She snarled, “You wouldn’t dare.”
“I’ve had other offers and I’ve built relationships with other magazines and companies. I don’t have anything to lose if I leave and everything to gain. I don’t care if you threaten me, I can do as I please. So, you’ll do me a favour and let me go with a nice exit package and I will keep your disgusting manners and your filthy fucking habits to myself.”
She gritted her teeth, “We’ll see about all this, we’ll see.”
“I guess we will,” I smiled, and left her office.
***
THE pretty nanny, Teri opened the door of Chloe’s Notting Hill mansion to let me inside and I had to shake off my hatred of Kendra and prepare myself for whatever drama Cai Matthews had created this time. The man was a menace. If only Chloe didn’t love him so much, I would have told her to escape to some colony and never come back. Trouble brewed around the Matthews’ clan like flies round shit.
I shook off my bag and coat in the hallway and quickly asked her, “What’s going on, then?”
“He seems calm now, actually,” she said with surprise in her eyes, “they have a guest, some tall man. Very dishy.”
“Oh?”
“Carl somebody.”
Shit.
I’d only ever seen him in pictures but I knew he was absolutely devastating.
“Tea, Kayla?”
“Err, yeah, I suppose,” I replied.
While she went into the kitchen to boil the kettle, I stood in the hall thinking about how to approach this. I knew myself and I knew, if he was even more beautiful in real life, I was about to make a total fool of myself. It was how I coped in these sorts of situations.
I took the door handle and thought, nothing for it.
I crashed into the room, all action, no thought. If I let myself think, I’d say something totally fucking stupid.
I looked between everyone in the room and let my eyes glance at Carl, who sat with his legs crossed, briefly looking up under his brow at me.
Shit, my heart is pounding like a motherfucker now. Can he see it kicking into gear?
The man exuded sex, grace and eligibility and I’d only had a glance so far!
When my eyes landed on Cai, Christ, I knew the man was broken. He was totally broken. He looked worn out, his eyes sunken, his olive skin pallid and wan.
What’s going on here? I asked myself.
I perched myself next to Chloe, holding out my arms. She rushed into my embrace and grabbed me tight, letting me know this was bad. She was suffering and she didn’t know how to comfort him. Cai, in a corner of the sectional seating by himself, looked like he was in a world of his own.
“Well now, I didn’t expect this, tea and biscuits, eh?” I said throwing my head back on a loud tut, reaching for humour, because humour always worked. “Cai, when she’s breastfeeding, you know she only eats packs of donuts!”
Not a speck of reaction from Cai.
I dared not look at Carl again, I might have come on the spot, but I could see him staring at me and it made me feel so uneasy.
“You’re such a bitch!” Chloe scolded me.
“Me? A bitch? I’m just looking out for you. So what’s been going on?” I was breathless because a huge, beautiful man sat opposite me and I wanted to stare back at him, too. However, I was there to help my friends, not jump the dishy American.
“You can’t just march in here like you own the show! We’ve been doing fine thanks,” she exclaimed, gesturing subtly to Carl.
You’re here to help Cai, you’re here to help Cai! I had to remind myself. I’d witnessed his meltdowns before and they were ugly, but this one seemed serious.
“Hmm, whatever, now let me see those big blues, Cai Matthews. Let me see them,” I asked clearly. He lifted his chin slowly and looked up. I could tell he was in pain, the kind you can’t express through words. “You finally snapped then, boy? Can’t say it surprises me, I’m just surprised you held out so long. Must be a tough one, you.”
He smiled a little so I pushed on, ignoring the elephant in the room, “Listen to me. Okay? I’ve got her so while I’m holding her, she’s okay, she’s safe with me. Now listen. I have some training in this area…” I’ve had several years’ worth of counselling, “…and what I want you to do is tell us the problem, how ever big or small, and we’ll all deal with it right here and now, we can all deal with it. I’ve got her, nothing bad will happen, because believe me this bitch ain’t as strong as me. Now, c’mon. Let it go, Cai. Just tell us the problem.”
Cai shook his head and removed his suit jacket, running his hands up and down his cheeks. “I feel like I need a drink.”
“Never solved a thing,” Carl said, and oh god, his voice made my nipples hard. In my bondage top and jeans, I felt contained and trapped. I wished I’d worn heels, not my big, clopping steam punk boots.
Keep your hat—or more importantly—your knickers on.
I agreed with Carl, trying not to look at his eyes for too long, turning my focus back on Cai. “Too true. How about you just try some deep breaths, from your diaphragm. Few deeps breaths. I could be doing with some fucking tea though people, the K.T. here be thirsty after three tubes and Kensey fucking me up.”
While Cai took some deep breaths, Chloe frowned and asked, “What? How?”
“The woman is a fucking bitch. She was all like, ‘You go get the exclusive from Chloe,’ and I was all like, ‘No sodding chance, luv,’ so then she was like, ‘Oh like that is it? Well I know where your loyalty lies Kayla,’ so then I told her to swivel on her stick and eat it. The shagged out old bag.” Not those words exactly, though that’s how it was in my head!
Chloe giggled but it was Carl’s reaction that astonished me. He covered his face with his hands and his laugh, so deep and throaty, turned me on even more.
It made me ecstatically happy to have made him laugh. My heart picked up even more pace and my eyes and his finally met for a stretch longer than a glance.
Hazel. He had hazel eyes.
I think that was the moment I fell…
In my latest book UNLEASH, which I’m now almost finished editing, the heroine Kayla Tate has spent years finding sexual relationships largely unfulfilling. Well, until she meets THE ONE. He just happens to be a DOMINANT.
I’m not talking about fantasy BDSM, I’m talking about the BDSM that real couples in real life engage in. Perhaps I am opening a can of worms (considering BDSM in itself is about fantasy in some respect), but I guess what I’m going to try to explain is how my latest research has informed UNLEASH, a book featuring a healthy, not to mention sustainable, dom/sub relationship.
This article is difficult to write because there’s a lot about the book I don’t want to reveal. However I’ve been told to write blogs about what I feel passionate about and portraying BDSM as something couples do not to inflict pain on one another, but to express their love and trust, is something I feel very passionate about.
Coincidentally, this article presented itself to me this morning and when I read it, I was nodding along a bit: http://hustlerhollywoodstores.com/4-things-you-need-to-know-before-you-try-bdsm/
If you’re an author you can probably relate to this: sometimes during the writing of a book, you come across all sorts of articles or stories in conversation and they kind of make you realise you’re on the right track with an angle—sometimes a real-life titbit of information may just add to or embellish something you’ve already written. It may be fate that we come across coincidental articles/books/films/documentaries or it might be we find ourselves gravitating towards certain topics because the story we’re working on is absorbing our minds so much, we sink ourselves into anything vaguely resembling the issues our current WIP (work in progress) deals with.
Anyway, I was glad when I read the above article because it’s all stuff I’ve got down in UNLEASH and hopefully, the book will deliver you an account of how, why, where and what couples do when they engage in BDSM. Nevertheless, it’s not a book filled with page after page of scenes in a dungeon. In fact there’s only one scene in a dungeon! The book is an existential one, so the personality traits of the characters themselves are more important; their preferences and their lifestyles outside the bedroom surmount the sex. Rather than give you a rundown of tools and appropriate clothing, I’ve put you in the minds of two people who are kinky—and what made and still makes them kinky.
UNLEASH is a complex book I’ve had a lot of headaches with because as well as portraying BDSM right (people who practice BDSM aren’t always abused, but sometimes BDSM is actually a wonderful way for the abused to feel safe and heal if nurtured properly), I’ve also got a web of lies to undo and a few more than two characters to get right. I’ve got four characters. Two couples. While one of the couples is more casually kinky (Cai and Chloe, who are occasional spankers, not dom/sub as such), the other couple on the flip side only know how to express their true selves through BDSM. The dom/sub duo in UNLEASH still enjoy normal sex but for some reason, BDSM just gives them a tad more freedom to be themselves. So with lies to uncover, back stories to tell and characters to build, the sex isn’t the focus but it’s there bubbling under the surface and I really hope UNLEASH just shows how in real life, men and women come to participate and engage in healthy, beautiful BDSM relationships.
Here’s just a few of the interesting points of view I’ve come across in my research:
Perhaps I am treading a fine line putting a previously raped woman in a BDSM relationship with a Daddy Dom. Or maybe the abused woman finds empowerment and freedom in submitting. The difference being, with her dom she always has a choice and in actual fact, she’s the one very much in charge. Perhaps BDSM gives her freedom and escape from who she is outside the dungeon? Like I said though, the BDSM aspect of this book is just a small part, though pivotal to the whole. The plot is the central player in my books and the sex is just an added bonus! So, why do we keep writing books about sex? I guess because erotic books tell us so much about human nature…
Check out these titles by SML: https://sarahmichellelynch.wordpress.com/buy-books/
So. I have been reading LOAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDS of fashion magazines and online articles as research for this book I have in progress, Unleash, the last in the Sub Rosa series. The first two books deal more with the mystery at the heart of this story but the third and final book juggles how the fashion world works—so, what talented writers, editors, designers and photographers etc have to overcome to get where they want to be.
The Sub Rosa trilogy is fashion-based but it is about much more, too. There was one ‘fashion’ article I wedged into the first instalment, Unbind that I wrote very quickly. It came naturally to write it but that was only after reading many, many an article, trying to get an image of how Chloe would present her story in just a few words.
The magazine Chloe works for is called Frame but it is loosely based on Vogue. I hasten to add, very loosely! These books are not The Devil Wears Prada, NADA! In Unbind, you can read Chloe’s article approximately 70% of the way into the novel. It’s called Mind Over Body and the last few words of the article read thus:
Give some purpose to the hurt you suffered because if there wasn’t any grand scheme for the mark thrust upon you, there might still be something you could do to help someone else who didn’t have a choice. Another story springs free, yet I save that for another day…
The other story that springs free is Kayla Tate’s story which will feature in part three, Unleash. It’s only really in the past few weeks that I allowed myself to finally believe I could pull off another trilogy! The third book is from a totally different POV and I told myself trilogies don’t normally happen like this—however I’ve since learned that Kayla is integral to Chloe’s story and so this series without her would be no series at all. Kayla’s relationship with her body is quite an interesting one and one I’ve not written about yet, but you’ll have to read the book…
We all have shit days
We all sometimes feel fat, spotty, thin, empty, greasy, grimy, ugly, too much of this, not enough of that. We all have those days where you feel shit. Nobody is immune. I am no supermodel nor am I a size ten, I range from a 12-16 depending on what shop I go in, what time of the month it is or whether I’ve just had a baby or not! However, despite not being stick-thin, I absolutely love fashion! I love it. (By the way I recently got told that if you tell someone they are too thin, it’s like telling someone they’re too fat. It’s the same apparently.) I loved it when Adele featured on the front cover of Vogue. I love it when supermodels do, too. I have read fashion magazines since I started school, so that’s about 20 years now. I didn’t read them thinking, Oh my god I need to be that thin! I didn’t think like that and why? Because I had a solid grounding from my parents. Yes, the modelling industry does have unhealthy aspects, but I still love it and long ago, I accepted I am happy as a healthy 12-16 (I know, LOL) but when I was a 10 I was unhappy, unfed, looked ill and felt ill – I am just naturally curvy and tall at 5’9’’ so when I’ve dieted in the past, people knew straight away because a sack of skin doesn’t look good on me. I accept fashion isn’t real life and like fiction, it is whatever you make of it. Jamie Dornan recently said modelling “was a bit silly” or something along those lines, but I bet he’s not complaining now he’s got himself a certain part! 😉
I’ve met more than a few men who say they really aren’t bothered by measurements and don’t notice whether the lady in their life drops 10 pounds or gains 10 pounds. It’s just not an issue for the average man. Loads of celebrities have done the whole big weight-loss thing and have written afterwards that their husbands didn’t fancy them any more or any less, because what they fancied in the first place was the person. At the end of the day, how we feel starts from inside and being healthy mentally and physically is something we all strive for—though for some it is harder. For some people, it just is harder. Full stop.
Fashion is linked to the mood of the time, like the skirt. They say the length of a skirt shortens more, the worse off the economy is, because obviously we need a bit more cheering up. In times of austerity, some designers have had to get more creative and deal with what they’ve got—like creating dresses and outfits from garbage. I try to read and absorb as much as I can when I’m writing a book because I am a former journalist and I can’t shake off that side of myself. I write to represent people, to speak for them, and I want to be honest and truthful in what I say. Some say when they read a book they don’t want reality but I say, when I was growing up I used to love reading books where I could imagine the characters out there somewhere, living their lives. Personally I need an edge of believability in my work for me to take it seriously. So the fashion of here and now in terms of books (I mean with regards to what instantly flies off shelves) seems to be erotic romance. But with so many people writing erotica, erotic romance or romantic erotica—you now need something else to make you stand out! Which is why I jumped on the bandwagon of writing romantic thrillers.
Fashions change and so do tastes
Yes, women love sex in their books. It helps. I know erotica has saved some marriages and I have massive respect for that. I think whatever empowers and makes women happy is great, I really do. Whatever floats your boat. Some people told me there was too much sex in my first erotic novel A Fine Profession and maybe there was, or maybe that person or person’s tastes just weren’t catered to. A lot of other people argued the story was the strongest aspect so maybe people were reading different books? Which is another thing—we can never please everyone with what we write. A lot of people genuinely believe A Fine Profession is based on my own experiences but it really isn’t. I never spanked men in hotel rooms although I have held a whip and I do like corsets. However I know a couple of people who are like Lottie and when it came to putting the book out, I decided I would be happy if the words within helped just one person. Luckily the book helped many. If people think I am Lottie, it means they actually believed she’s real—which was what I set out to do. Lottie has an acute case of low self-esteem.
I’m the eldest of three sisters and I have a younger brother too. My youngest sister is a pear shape and has men salivating over her ass, my middle sister is athletic and I’m hourglass. We’re all different. Two of us are big-chested (one of those is my brother, by the way—he won’t care if I say that) and one of us was so happy when she was breastfeeding because she finally had boobs. We’re all different but any body issues we’ve ever had haven’t been picked up by images in the media. It’s just biology.
A lot of men and women have struggles with their bodies for deep, psychological reasons that are buried deeper than we imagine. You only have to read A Fine Profession to realise that. There isn’t a chart for how we feel inside and no sexual partner can fix it. Most of the research for my books is already in my head—because I’ve spent so many years logging so many different people’s tales. Never one to shirk, I’ve also spent a lot of time writing about men’s issues too, such as Noah’s in A Fine Pursuit and Cai’s in Unfurl.
So, I’ve read a lot of magazines as part of my research of Unleash. A lot of articles. The heroine Kayla Tate is an up and coming jewellery designer and she’s worked for Elle, too. Her experiences and impressions of the fashion world are genuine and she’s a humble, talented and yet quietly opinionated woman.
I have never had so much fun researching a book because Kayla is such a multi-dimensional woman and the heavy metal she loves, well, I won’t tell you what I had to do to find out about that!
Let’s say, she’s not an ordinary woman and it’s been difficult picking a partner for her who’s worthy!
Unleash remains a work in progress…
The bane of my life at the moment seems to be trying to find a happy medium between writing and interacting with readers – not to mention all the other stuff!
Sometimes, as an author, you end up getting so wrapped up in writing or even reading a book, you neglect everything else! It is a common complaint. Sometimes after a drought, when the flood comes, you’ve just got to go with it. You just don’t know when the impulse is going to return. You have to listen to the voices.
There might be one year where you barely write anything and another year where you cannot bloody stop writing! It seems 2015 is the latter for me and I have got stuff coming out of my ears! Only problem is I haven’t got time to be all things to all people – unsurprisingly certain areas of life have to go on the backburner. For me, it always seems to be social networking and chasing reviewers that gets neglected.
HOWEVER….! The current work in progress, which has been an up and downhill journey for me, is now in official first draft status. I honestly didn’t know which way this book was gonna go – it was such a toss-up all the way through. It’s about a journey of discovery that rips the heroine apart and leaves her a different person to the one she started out with.
For once, I’m not dreading the editing of this one. I’m really, really looking forward to it! Kayla Tate has been such a joy to write! I adore her. I don’t know if it is that the last book in a trilogy is always the easiest because you’ve got the big points already covered, but this book has just been one of those where I’ve just had to ride the highs and lows and it’s somehow worked out good in the end – thank all that is good for that!
The story from Unbind and Unfurl continues into Unleash and my, have we some revelations to come…
I’m aiming to give Unleash a tentative June release, but we shall wait and see…
BLURB:I’ll stab you in the heart.
I’m coming for you.
No secret dies.
But you will.
In the concluding part of Chloe and Cai’s tale of frantic, tempestuous, meaningful love…
When news breaks that enigmatic magazine editor Jennifer Matthews is dead, it irks Chloe that Cai refuses to shed even one tear. What she doesn’t know is that he was expecting it, perhaps even, hoping for it.
In this dark, romantic tale of revenge, Cai explodes the deepest, most destructive aspects of his past as he comes to terms with the tragedy at the heart of Jennifer’s downfall. With Chloe’s love and support, he must brave his demons and dodge death to finally end a bitter feud between two damaged families.
**This book is not intended to stand alone and is the second in a three-part series, concluding in UNLEASH – Kayla Tate’s story.**
EXCERPT:“Tell me, when was it the hottest for you? Just now… or some other time?” she asked giggling, running her hands across my chest, nibbling my ear at my side.
“Hmm,” I murmured, stroking her butt, “it’s always hot.”
“No, I wanna know when… when was it the hottest for you, you can be honest.”
I licked the sweat from her neck and thought carefully. “Two times. I’m not sure which wins the contest, we might have to re-run.”
She cackled, her hand squeezing my butt beneath my slack jeans.
“Those two times, then?”
“The first time we ever did it,” I admitted, though that was a one-off I’d always told myself, “maybe, the time you tied me up, licked me all over, sucked my ass and rode me backwards cowgirl.”
She groaned. “Good times. Wanna know my favourites?”
I nodded against her shoulder. “Of course.”
“Well, Barbados… the first night of our honeymoon. I bathed in front of the ocean in that roll-top bath on the terrace, remember?”
“How could I forget?” I chuckled. “I thought someone would see.”
“You wrapped me in a towel afterwards and carried me to bed. You were angry the hotel forgot we didn’t ask for roses, but you lowered me to the roses on the bed anyway. You kissed every inch of me and I remember feeling so full, so womanly, as you worshipped my pregnant body.”
I ran my hands over her breasts and her flat stomach. “I love it when you’re so full and blooming. I love seeing you come alive.”
Her smile was carefree and she was so giggly. “I loved that night, it was the first time I couldn’t control my orgasms, the first time I felt like I really had no control of my body or my love for you. It scared me… but it was wonderful.”
I stared down into her eyes, our noses touching, knowing I would never feel so close to another human being for as long as I lived. “And the other time memorable for you?”
She smiled and held my cheek, one eyebrow cocked dramatically. “The night I tied you up.”
“Ding, ding, ding. I think we have a winner.” I growled in her ear, and asked, “I think it stands out because we haven’t done it since, yeah?”
“Yeah… I didn’t know whether you’d wanna do it again,” she said clawing her hands through my hair.
I laughed, it was ironic! “I was worried you did it that one time to humour me, that you didn’t initiate it again because you didn’t really like it. I thought ’cause that fuck Klaus made you spank him and you didn’t enjoy it, I thought you didn’t really go for that sort of stuff!”
She rolled on top and tickled my armpits. “To be honest, I think I knew even back then his intentions weren’t honourable. I think a woman knows these things, Cai, even if sometimes she doesn’t want to admit it.”
“Feminine intuition?” I cocked a brow.
“Something like that,” she admitted, “he was nice, but somehow I dunno, not right.”
I grabbed her ass and kneaded it. “Men are simple in some ways, complex in others. Sometimes a man’s desires can make him feel a little out of control. Like, he can’t concentrate on a thing else. I know my libido sometimes takes precedent… and I’d hump you every chance I got if we didn’t have company, if we didn’t have kids. I suppose when a woman’s in charge and she lets you know it’s okay to be nasty, it’s such a turn on. When she tells you that you’re filthy and bad, dirty and disgusting, but you see it in her eyes that she enjoys that… fuck, just that is making me hard thinking about it. Just you, wearing something racy… something black and tight, a paddle in your hand or something… wanting to strike me. I could probably come on the spot, Chloe. It’s not in me to want to mark you, but I’d love it if you did that to me! Don’t ask me why, but fuck, I just think about it… I think I know why my mother did it to so many men. I think it gave her some outlet when she didn’t want sex, you know?”
She bit my chest, rolling a nipple under her thumb, my arousal steadily climbing. “I want to dominate you again. It’s one of the nights amongst the many amazing nights we’ve had that I’ve thought about a lot since.”
“God, me too. Me too, Chloe. Shall we go online now and order a ton of shit?”
She shook her head, her voice low and warning. “You div. I’m in charge. You’ll do as I say… you’ll do it when I say, how I say, you’ll do as you’re told, and you’ll come on demand for Mistress Chloe.”
eBook purchase: http://mybook.to/unfurl
paperback purchase: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Unfurl-Volume-2-Sub-Rosa/dp/1508778248/
Click cover to buy Book One in the series:
Centuries ago Fabien was thrown from his coven for betraying the queen who had claimed him as hers. Leticia chose him for his sexual prowess and never expected he would fall in love with a pathetic human, something she couldn’t forgive. Cursed to live alone, Fabien harbours a small hope he will one day encounter the reincarnation of his one true love.
One cold Christmas Eve Fabien bites a man who he believes could lead him to the one woman who might break the curse he’s been forced to bear for far too long.
The ancient vampire sets out to woo her in the only way he knows how but unfortunately for Fabien, love proves to be his constant undoing . . .
***
An unconventional, standalone contemporary romance…
Jules waits on a street corner every Saturday hoping something or someone will take the pain away. Nothing ever does.
She once loved the area she inhabits but a heartbreaking event marred its former meaning. She fell out of love and decided to focus on her career as an English teacher.
What she does not realise is that Warrick has been watching her and wants to know why she is always there, stood on that corner. She convinces herself it is the social worker in him that thinks he can save her from the loneliness and despair so evident about her person. Little does she know just what kind of life he has led.
When true love blossoms, neither of them appreciate just how their union is not only going to change their lives, but also shake up a problem at the very heart of their community.
Charlotte “Lottie” Taylor survived childhood cancer and then spent years feeling at odds with who she was and where her life was heading. A chambermaid at a run-of-the-mill hotel chain, she found escape in her imagination and eventually discovered expression in a sideline dominating men.
She spent nights disciplining her “initiates” and delivering a service their wives often ordered on their behalf. What she didn’t expect was to fall in love when a chance encounter put her in the arms of Noah Yeardley, a man with a history as interesting as her own. The only man to ever dominate Lottie, together they explored their fantasies. Yet the fantasy broke down and Lottie was forced to revisit past issues.
Charlotte’s erotic tale is one of sexual awakening and self fulfilment—a human story of making mistakes, learning to love yourself and finding true love with another.
**FEATURING BONUS MATERIAL**
The story continues in A Fine Pursuit, a continuation of the story from Noah’s POV.
***
We should chase away from what we’re scared of, right? Run as fast as we can. Yet some of us seem to veer toward chaos and destruction…
Chloe sees anguish and despair lurking beneath the surface of Cai Matthews, the dark and dangerously handsome freelance photographer she meets on her first day in a new job. She can’t see straight in his presence—blinded by a blistering sexual attraction that has the potential to sweep her clean off her feet.
When Cai disappears from the workplace and doesn’t come back, Chloe tries to find out more about his life but all she knows is he’s set to inherit a ton of money and his aunt runs one of the most famous fashion magazines in the world.
Cai is running from a complicated past he doesn’t like talking about. Gossip columns rage with speculation concerning him and his aunt, who took guardianship of Cai after his parents died.
Conscientious journalist Chloe has a mind for details and once she gains access to his world, Cai realises she could undo every, single dirty little secret that he and his aunt have tried desperately to cover up.
Happy Christmas greetings! Please have a look through my sales and freebies list! They won’t last long. Fabien is free through Christmas Day and Angel Avenue is only free until the end of tomorrow! A Fine Profession and Unbind will be on sale for the rest of the year!
I have a cover for the next book in the SUB ROSA series, UNFURL, and I also have one for the next instalment of Fabien! I have so much to reveal, but all in good time – the new year is when I’ll have time to tell you more about my next projects!
All that’s left for me to say is thank you for reading, it’s been a strange and reflective year, and I currently seem to have caught the “can’t stop writing bug” so I’m working on the last and third book in the SUB ROSA series before I go back and edit UNFURL.
Best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2015!
My journey as a romance writer really began with this book so this week, through Saturday, A Fine Profession is free to download to your Kindles/Kindle Apps or you can even read it on Amazon Cloud now, anytime, anywhere! 😉
Visit this link to be taken to your territory of the Amazon store: http://viewbook.at/B00DVS53JQ
I think this quote pretty much sums up Lottie’s philosophy in A Fine Profession…
“I can remember everything.
That’s my curse, young man.
It’s the greatest curse that’s
ever been inflicted on the
human race: memory.”
Jedediah Leland, Citizen Kane
Does great art have to mirror real life—to be great? If it is an art, but still does this, well… that in itself is great. Right?
Writing Unbind … one of the first things I got into my head was to treat the book as a work of art, which means delving into all the little, tiny nuances of life we forget. However, it is those details that without drawing attention to themselves—make the fabric of our work and our worlds. It’s something that has taken me a long time to master but including the tiny pieces of a world in your work really makes that book work for you… and more importantly, for others too. I read primarily for escapism as do most but that element of realism really does give a book “that edge”.
Dialogue is similarly another thing that is hard to master…
A book begins life as a virtual experience. As an author you first concentrate on the story and plot and work from there. You begin by mapping out the thing as a whole. To make it come alive in the second stage of creation (which is more about the themes and personality of that book) you take the process beyond your own sight of what is happening… to feeling the events through the eyes, ears and scents of your characters. It’s hard to pin down what that MAGIC ingredient is exactly… that thing an author does to draw you under a book’s spell… but when it works, it works. The third and last stage of crafting must bring your characters to life and make them so real… a reader grows to see and feel that character or characters with or without direction from the author.
This all sounds complicated but a good book really does emerge only from a lot of work done behind the scenes, which you the reader or audience never see. Even in the case of some of the bestselling authors out there, you can see which areas they’ve laboured and struggled over. There were maybe sections not easy to write but were nevertheless fundamental to the whole. It’s something we often neglect to consider—a book is not one chapter or one line. It is thousands of words created to evoke a multitude of feelings.
MEMORY, then. Whenever I meet up with old friends, they’ll often say to me, “How do you remember that?” I’ll often remind them of something they had clean forgotten. It may prove no surprise that at school, I struggled with certain subjects that didn’t spark any creativity because I view everything in pictures. It’s probably why people always finish my books and say, “It could be a film,” or, “I see that as a graphic novel one day.” The latter refers to the sci-fi. I thought when I first started out life as a writer—nobody wants to read what Character A had for breakfast that morning. Nobody wants to know that Character B has a bowel problem, either! Ha! These things are true. What the reader does want to know however, is the traits fundamental to your MCs that are essential to the storyline. That is what makes a book a piece of art—it’s only a square of someone’s existence but somehow gives the reader the details needed to imagine and feel the rest. It’s really in the hands of the reader to make books live. It’s really that authors have given you the tools, but you’re the ones sat there doing all the hard work—imagining all those images yourselves through a splendid arrangement of black and white letters on a page or tablet.
My protagonist in Unbind has a vivid memory, too. However, she sees things in archived boxes, a kind of internal filing system. It is this and her whole way of living that ultimately makes her the antithesis to another powerful presence in Unbind.
However, nobody will know what Unbind truly encompasses, not until the last word…
More to come…
Unbind is currently available for pre-order http://mybook.to/Unbind
Sarah Michelle Lynch 