by Ashe, Karina
My legs are slick with desire. I’m back in front of all those people again at the Guchenberg. I’m imagining he’s out there, that he can hear my voice. I’m singing all the words I’m afraid to admit just for him.
My cunt is so fucking sore I want to slip my hands beneath my skirt and start to touch myself. Instead I walk into the room, humming and trying not to cry. I’m trying so hard to love David. It would be so easy to love David. He would never hurt me, and I never want to hurt him. He’s perfect in every way I’ve always wanted.
So why do I keep sinking back into the dark?
My body aches where that stranger filled me, and nothing—not the sound of rain, the sound of honking, or the sound of my own breath—can bring me back to reality. It only creates an ambiance of distance and longing that consumes me.
I almost laugh. God, I’m pathetic. I should really throw away all his letters, not keep them under the bed like a freak. It’s not like I don’t have most of them memorized anyway.
I walk over to the piano and rest my fingers on the keys. I’m not good at playing piano, not like David or anyone who’s spent years practicing, but I’m alright. I shut my eyes, humming louder as I move my hands over the keys.
Something rustles behind me. I yelp as I turn to find someone sitting in the chair across from me.
I glance down, embarrassed. “Sorry, I didn’t see you. I’ll go.” I step towards the door.
“Laura.”
I stop. I can’t breathe.
It's him.
What are you doing here? How the hell did you get in? Where have you been? There are a thousand questions I should ask, but I can’t say a single thing because and all my aching and longing comes back. It fills me so much that I can’t move—can’t do anything but stupidly search for that face I know I won’t find in the dark.
He doesn’t move either. Instead he asks, voice soft and cruel, “Did you have fun tonight?”
End of Book 2.
Book 3, TAKE ME IN THE DARK, is available now!
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HE'S NOT WHO I THOUGHT HE WAS.
It's too late to turn back. There's nowhere to run. But despite the danger, I can't tell you that if I had a chance to go back in time and change everything that I would. Because despite everything that's happened, I still want him.
Other Books by Karina Ashe
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Click here for a list of all Karina's books on Amazon.com!
DEAR SOLDIER
A Stand Alone BBW Holiday Contemporary Romance
To her I wasn’t billionaire Ian Keller, prodigal son and heir to one of the South’s largest real estate empires. No, to her I was just a soldier. And she thinks that to me she was just a woman, but she couldn’t be more wrong.
Now I’m back home and ready to face the sins of my past and reclaim my future, but none of my sacrifices will be worth it if she isn’t by my side.
There’s just one obstacle standing in my way. She thinks I’ve shared everything about myself in my letters, but I’ve been keeping a secret from her. A very big, very important secret.
And when this secret comes to light, both of our lives will change forever.
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Excerpt
Her bottom lip trembles as I brush my thumb against it.
““I’m used to knowing what I want and going after it. I never doubted myself until I joined the military. And after all the shit I saw, I thought I would be incapable of ever doubting myself again until I met you.”
She finally looks up at me. “What do you mean?”
I don’t want to say it, but I know I have to. I’ll lose her if I don’t. “You make me remember things I didn’t want to remember, and feel things I didn’t want to feel. It’s…hard sometimes. But it’s worth it, too.”
Her eyes narrow in on my lips, losing focus. There’s more I want to say, but it’s still too soon and I’ll fuck it up anyway. I can barely think with her in my arms.
I tuck her hair behind her ears. “Ever since your first letter—”
She smiles. “Not the first one you liar.”
Alright, she had me there. “Fine. I think it was the tenth or something.”
“That’s more like it.”
I take a deep breath and lean in. She sobers, noticing the change in my demeanor.
“Ever since your tenth letter, you’ve been the only girl I wanted. So yeah, I want you to be strong, especially when I can’t be.”
Her grip on my biceps tightens. “Okay.”
I lean in slowly until our lips almost touch, intentionally driving her crazy, but not nearly as crazy as she’s driving me.
“I mean it,” I whisper. “No more running and no more of this one kiss bullshit. Because once I start kissing you, I’m not gonna stop. There is no fade to black in this fairy tale, Lily. This is about me and you and all the dirty things you wanted to do but were too afraid to write in your letters.”
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DEAR SOLDIER is available now from Amazon!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0106R403Y
ONE DATE
The Hawkins Brothers, Book 1
One date - one chance to have her.
Marcus Hawkins has a problem - he needs a date. His solution happens to be standing right in front of him. Curvy Leah Frane has been driving him to distraction since the day she became his assistant.
Now is his chance to do something about it.
Leah is coerced into the date by her sexy, gorgeous boss - a man she wants so badly she can taste it. He only sees her as his super-efficient assistant - when he sees her at all.
It's just one date. What could possibly happen?
For the 18+ crowd, due to steamy love scene.
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Excerpt
Marcus waited for her just outside the door. So, no escaping. Not yet.
She opened her mouth to say something, and froze, startled by the way he studied her. Like he was seeing her for the first time. He ran one hand through his hair, tousling the rare neat style, leaving him even more devastating. His hair always reminded Leah of raven's wings - so black it had blue highlights. She forced herself to stop staring at his long, graceful fingers, to stop staring at him.
"Damn me," he whispered. "Screw the rules." He grabbed her hand, dragging her across the wide, crowded foyer.
Rules? What was he talking about?
She didn't have time to think about his cryptic statement as he pulled her down an empty hallway, stopping at the far end of a side exhibit. Oh, God - she was alone with him, only the prehistoric dioramas as witnesses.
"Marcus-"
"Finally." He pinned her to the wall, his hands braced on either side of her, and leaned in until his breath warmed her lips. "I never thought you'd say my name."
He shocked the breath out of her when he slipped one arm around her waist, hauled her forward and kissed her.
She dropped her clutch and grabbed the lapels of his perfect tux, moaning when his tongue traced the curve of her lower lip before slipping inside and driving her crazy. Her tongue warred with his, her body straining to get closer. She wanted to remember this kiss forever, since she expected him to come to his senses any second now and remember who she was.
Instead he hiked her up and trapped her between his body and the wall, rocking his impressive erection against her. The kiss turned raw, and she arched into him, every inch on fire. God--the things he could do with his mouth. She never wanted the kiss to end.
Her hands freed his lapel and moved up, into his hair, her fingers tangling in the silky length. He growled, and his hand moved - under her gown, sliding up her leg until he gripped her ass. With a gasp she tried to pull out of the kiss, mortified.
"No," he whispered. "You're perfect. God, you feel so good." He held her in place and ground himself against her, his breathing ragged. "I need to
touch you, Leah."
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ONE DATE is available now from Amazon.com!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZGVM8GC
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The second book in the Hawkins Brothers series, ONE NIGHT, is also available!
RELUCTANT BILLIONAIRES: DEREK AND LAUREN
Curvy billionaire heiress Lauren Daniels has broken free and purchased a small home away from her protective father and interfering mother. Added benefit to the new digs: No one in the modest neighborhood knows about her connection to the family fortune, so she can finally trust that the people she meets like her for something other than her money or her father’s influence.
Derek Holmes has a landscaping business and is halfway to earning his first billion after leaving his father’s company and designating his own billion dollar trust fund inheritance for charity. Tired of dating spoiled rich brats and gold diggers, he keeps his success under wraps in a low-key trailer office..
When Lauren calls Derek for a landscaping estimate, they both think they’ve finally found someone who may be truly interested in the person, not the dollar signs. She’s drawn to his muscular laborer’s body, and he’s knocked out with her curves. Under the covers, the two secret billionaires are generating lots of heat, but will the truth about their pasts pour an icy water bucket on their budding romance?
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Excerpt
Derek walked around the side of the house and unlatched the gate in the wooden fence to get a view of the rear. A few long steps and he turned the corner to land on the back patio where he got a sizeable rear view that he wasn’t expecting.
Bent over and completely unaware of his presence was a robust woman clad only in a two-piece bathing suit with a hose in one hand and a scrub brush in the other. Derek watched while she alternated bending over to scrub the patio surface with brush and standing to rinse the washed area with the hose.
He shook his head. The woman was barely making a dent in the job. She did mention that she had just bought the place, and he guessed it might be her first home. Although he couldn’t see her face, she seemed young. He noticed her full bottom had a nice round curve, as did her hips. Her pale skin was smooth and firm, and if he had to guess from his current view, he’d estimate her age at somewhere in her late twenties.
He cleared his throat and started to say something to indicate his presence, but she jumped sky high before he got any words out. She spun around, hose going full blast, and showered him with a spray of water.
“Whoa!” Derek jumped back, out of her range, but not fast enough. The front of his shirt took a direct hit.
“Oh! Oh!” The woman dropped the hose in surprise. The nozzle hit the ground with the spout turned upward, and the stream shot back her way, soaking her.
“Aaach!” Flustered, she attempted to grab the head and turn off the flow. But instead of moving out of the steady stream and picking up the nozzle, she leaned in to reach for it. The water hit her in the face, but she persevered and finally was able to grab the hose bib and turn it off.
She stood, soaked from head to toe, and glared at Derek. “Who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?”
Derek was mesmerized. It wasn’t often that a woman left him speechless, but he couldn’t focus on what she was saying. He noticed the outline of her massive breasts and her nipples popping out through the thin fabric of her bathing suit top, like she was a contestant in a wet tee shirt contest.
Derek almost responded to the voice of his little head, which was begging him to untie the bathing suit top for an unobscured look at her heaving chest. He felt the little head poking up for a better view, urging him to bury his face between those beauties.
“Answer me!” she demanded, drawing his attention back to the situation.
Derek forced the big head to take control. “Derek Holmes, Ma’am. I’m here for our appointment about your landscaping work.”
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RELUCTANT BILLIONAIRES is now available from Amazon!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZPISGRG
DRESSED IN YELLOW
“When the time comes, Aiva, you’ll make me an offer I can’t refuse.”
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Any publicity is good publicity, right? But when curvy Aiva, owner of Blooms In Yellow, starts a media ruckus outside her flower shop to increase business, the attention brings all the rats out of hiding.
Namely Daniel, her cousin and the loan shark who funded her startup. A load shark tied to organized crime who is a bit miffed when Aiva starts attracting attention. Like any good rat, he prefers to stay in the dark. The attention also attracts Leon Sudano, billionaire mogul and reformed crime lord. Of course the Sudano's, under his rule, are completely legitimate. And his interested in Aiviana is perfectly innocent...
...only it isn't. He's been watching Aiva for years, waiting patiently to make his first, and last, move. Because when Sudano plays, he plays for keeps. Aiva must balance her pride in being an independent women business owner with her growing attraction for the sexy, powerful Leon who showers her with gifts and attention... and steals her heart.
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Excerpt
“You don’t have to buy me all these presents, you know. Not that I’m complaining.”
“No, I haven’t noticed you complaining.” He smiled at her, taking her hands to draw her to her feet. Wrapping an arm around her waist, his other hand cupped the back of her neck. Her heart began to beat, the way it always did when he fit his body to hers. “I like buying you things. What’s the point of being rich if I can’t spoil my woman?”
“Am I?” she asked softly, hands resting on his shoulders.
His dark brow rose. “Are you what?”
“Your woman.”
Green eyes narrowed. “What kind of question is that?”
“A simple question. You say I’m your woman, but…” Aiva hesitated, her normal bluntness deserting her. And she could feel the heat coloring her cheeks. “We haven’t- I mean-”
His expression cleared. “Ah. Aiva, don’t ever doubt me.”
He pulled her closer, guiding her palm down his body until she was touching him, cupping his hardening length. She inhaled. The heat of him, the pulse of life in his organ awoke an answering yearning. Licking her lips, Aiva stroked gently, feeling something dark and primal rise in her.
Leon swore, hand tightening in her hair. “Damnit, Aiva. That was a bad idea.”
“Why? Why is it a bad idea? Why can’t we just fuck, Leon?”
He jerked, taking a full step back. She didn’t know whether to be flattered or offended that she’d made a grown man, a man who headed a corporation with roots in organized crime, flee from her.
“I made a promise,” he said roughly.
“What?”
He closed his eyes, nearly cringing. “Your father made me promise not to… dishonor you before we were wed.”
“You and my father discussed me and sex?”
He caught her around the waist as she whirled, heading towards the counter where her house phone rested.
“Jesus, don’t call him. He’ll know something is up.”
Aiva twisted in his arms, glaring, not caring that now his cheeks were also tinged with a deeper color.
“You let me go! I am going to call him, and I’m going to give him a piece of my mind! How dare you to discuss my decisions, my life, behind my back like I’m the prize heifer being passed from one goatherd to the other?”
“Think you have your nouns mixed up a bit- hey!” He grabbed the hand she swung at him. “If you swing on me again I’ll put you over my knee!”
For the first time he sounded almost- not quite angry- but serious with her.
“I don’t play those kinds of games with women,” he said, warning. “No hitting, Aiva- I mean it. If I lost my temper I could hurt you.”
She swore at him. Leon lifted her onto the counter, the phone clattering to the floor. They were now eye to eye, green and black locked in a he
ated battle. His hands captured and held her down.
“Be still, Aiva! When we’re married I’ll fuck you every evening. Take this sweet pussy so many ways, so many times you’ll be begging me for time to breathe.”
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DRESSED IN YELLOW is available now from Amazon!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZHJAQ6C
SAVED
A BBW Rockstar Contemporary Romance
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I am just a girl. His assistant, just someone trying to make a name for myself in the industry. So basically I'm a nobody.
So why does he notice me? Why does he take in every inch of my curves with hungry eyes?
Eli can't possibly be in love with the invisible girl. Can he? Will he be the one to save me?
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Available now from Amazon!