Today we have the lovely Ashe Barker visiting us!
We're in for a treat!
Hi, and thank you for inviting me over today to chat about
the re-release of The Dark Side. This
series was my first attempt to write anything more steamy than a birthday card
and I was delighted with it. I’ll always be proud of how well the books did and
the fabulous reviews they received. I am eternally grateful to Totally Bound
for accepting them and for taking a chance on the unpublished rookie I was back
then.
So, if it ain’t broke, why mend it?
As I wrote The Dark
Side I had no idea if anyone but me would ever read the books. I knew next
to nothing about the world of publishing or professional writing, so although my
editor did a fabulous job of making the books fit to be seen among decent folk
(or should that be indecent folk?) there were always aspects of the story I
felt could be improved. There were scenes I thought about writing but left out,
and ways in which I believed the connection between Nathan and Eva could be
deepened.
The re-release was a rare opportunity to have my time again and
complete the job.
There’s new content in each of the three books, but I won’t
spoil it by saying exactly what. Suffice it to say we see yet another quirk in
Eva’s already complex nature, and aspects of Nathan which I hope will endear
him to readers even more. He’s a hard Dom, stern, demanding and insanely sexy.
We lose none of that, but the additional content helps to bring out his caring
nature a little more.
There’s also a whole new epilogue to conclude the story.
This picks up a loose end which always bothered me so I feel the series is
better rounded now.
Even if you grabbed your copy of The Dark Side first time around this
version has been re-edited, with new content, new scenes, and an epilogue.
Enter my Rafflecopter for a chance to win ALL THREE BOOKs in the series.
The competition ends on 1 May.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
PLUS PRIZES!
Series Blurb
The Dark Side trilogy charts the sensual journey of academic musician Eva
Byrne as she struggles to overcome painful shyness, sexual inhibition and
personal tragedy. Lonely, unsophisticated, desperately seeking love and
approval, Eva is easy prey for sensual and experienced Nathan Darke.
He wants her submission, and he knows how to go
about getting it. Eva is quickly caught up by the whirlwind of his effortless
seduction, though she has her own reasons for agreeing to join him in his world
of pain and pleasure, on the dark side.
Inexplicably fascinated and at the same time
totally frustrated by his new submissive, Nathan is increasingly drawn to her
as she opens up in his hands and he realises there is much, much more to his
latest playmate than he ever could have imagined.
The Dark Side charts the turbulent relationship
between Eva and Nathan as their mutual fascination builds. They both discover
what surrender truly means as together they explore the fragile bonds of
desire, trust, risk and reward, and the destructive power of betrayal.
Excerpt - Darkening (Book 1)
He breaks the kiss to start nibbling his way down
my neck. As if not finding the angle to his liking, he suddenly, effortlessly
lifts me from the chair, turns and lays me down with my bare back flat on the
table top. He holds both of my wrists in one hand, pinning them to the table
above my head and, standing between my legs, leans over to look down at me,
stroking his other hand the length of my body from neck to waist.
“Beautiful… Holy fuck, so lovely,” he murmurs
before he leans down to take my right nipple between his lips.
I squeal, the shock jolting through me even though
I had sensed what he was about to do. His body weight and his hand around my
wrists hold me in place as he continues his work. The sensation is everywhere,
starting at my nipple, which is now painfully engorged. The tingling pulses
radiate out through my whole body, connecting as if by some sort of internal
electric current to that spot between my legs, which is now drenched. It feels
exquisite, acute, intense, forbidden and overwhelming. I arch my back, pushing
my breasts toward his mouth, his tongue, his teeth, this source of ecstatic
pleasure.
One or two ill-fated fumblings from other students
when I was a teenager at university did nothing to prepare me for this. I have
never, ever felt anything remotely like this before. I might have read about
it, known the theoretical possibility was out there, somewhere. Happening to
other women—women who were attractive and had lush, sexy bodies and soft, wavy
hair. But this is here, now, happening to me.
I feel the hard table beneath my shoulder blades as
I writhe under his skilled lips, his expert tongue and teeth, desperate for
more. And he knows what he is about—he knows what I need and he has more for
me. Opening his mouth wider, he takes more of my breast in and sucks hard,
first one side then the other. He slides his free hand, palm up, between my
shoulders and the table to raise me up, giving him easier access with his
mouth, his tongue, his teeth. Gently grazing my now helplessly sensitized
nipples with his teeth, he suckles me relentlessly, nipping slightly harder,
just enough to hurt, maybe—I’m not sure where pain ends and pleasure begins
now. What does it matter, anyway? He can do whatever he wants to me as long as
he doesn’t stop.
He is no longer holding my wrists—he has no need to
because I’m lying boneless under him, spread across his kitchen table, pleading
wordlessly for…for what? More? Less? The ecstatic pleasure tinged with a hint
of pain is so intense now that I can only moan, ride the waves of sensation
pulsing from my breasts out through my fingers and toes, each wave bigger,
heavier, more compelling than the one before until I am writhing with need.
“I can’t. Please, it’s too much…” Is that me? Or someone else whimpering
nearby?
“Yes, you can, you are. Don’t fight it, sweetheart,
come for me. Now. Come now.” His words—insistent, soft and low, seductive—are
breathed into my ear before he returns to my breasts, nibbling and sucking
mercilessly, building the tension, increasing the sensations coursing through
every part of me, winding me tighter and tighter until I burst, screaming out
loud as fireworks explode in my head, my groin, everywhere as the earth shifts
beneath me. My inner core clenches violently, the wetness surely flooding
across the table. I feel I am falling, floating as the tension is released and
I hear myself moan in delighted satisfaction, drifting back down toward
reality.
Me, the girl who can’t bear to be touched.
Somehow—God only knows how it happened—I have just spent the last ten minutes
spread out half naked on Nathan Darke’s kitchen table, his hands and mouth all
over me until I totally lost control, and he watched me thrashing about in the
throes of my very first orgasm, right in front of him. Christ! How wonderful, how intimate. How unlike me. And he’s
achieved all this without so much as a button of his coming undone.
Excerpt - Darker (Book 2)
We continue to stroll in the direction of the
waterfront once more, and arrive back at Nathan’s apartment around midnight. As
soon as the lift doors close he is on me, kissing me, exploring my mouth with
his tongue while pulling my shirt from my pants. Deftly undoing the buttons,
before I know it he has my hands caught behind my back, tangled in the sleeves.
Lifting his head to glance appreciatively at my new, pink lacy bra he cups my
breasts, squeezing gently, lowering his head to kiss the mounds visible above
the lace. “So sweet, Eva, so pretty,” he breathes, and I vaguely wonder if he
means my underwear or my body. Who cares? He flicks open the front fastening of
my bra to bare my breasts for his ministrations. With his mouth and clever
fingers my nipples are brought to swollen, aching hardness before the lift
arrives at the penthouse, and the doors glide open.
It’s only when he takes my elbow to tug me forward
into the apartment that I realize my hands are effectively tied behind my back,
still caught up in my discarded blouse. I wriggle, trying to free myself so I
can kiss him back, hold him, but he smiles down, knowingly. I realize he’s done
this on purpose. And that he won’t free me until he’s good and ready. After
dropping a light kiss on my lips, he opens the door to the apartment and
gestures for me to enter before him.
Once inside, Nathan leaves me standing, topless, in
the middle of his living room as he goes over to the fridge. Pulling out a
chilled bottle of wine he quickly uncorks it and pours one glass. Strolling
back toward me, the glass in his right hand, his eyes are on my breasts,
admiring, lustful. I realize my usual inhibitions might be diminishing, but
have not yet disappeared as I wish I was better endowed, curvier. Nathan
doesn’t seem to mind, though, as with his free left hand he cups and massages
my breast whilst he reaches with his right hand, still holding the glass, to
curl it behind my neck. He pulls me close, kissing my ear, nibbling the lobe
before dropping his face to my neck.
“Christ, Eva, you are a beautiful sight. Perfect.
Exquisite.” He kisses me again before sipping the wine.
“Would you like a drink, Eva?”
I nod. “Yes, please. But you’ll have to hold the
glass.” I roll my shoulders to indicate my bound hands.
He smiles. “Ah, yes, anything to be of service,
Miss Byrne.”
He lifts the glass to my lips, tipping a little of
the crisp chilled liquid into my mouth before immediately following it in with
his tongue, tasting the wine before it disappears down my throat.
“I do like to share, Miss Byrne,” he murmurs before
taking another sip himself. This time, though, he catches my mouth in a deep,
open-mouthed kiss, letting the liquid pour from his tongue onto mine. It feels
sensuous, intimate, delicious. I moan, swallow quickly in surprised
contentment.
Darkest (Book 3)
“I just… I’ve never done anything
like this before. It feels sort of… Well, as if I shouldn’t be doing it. On my
own, that is.”
“Ah,
but it’s the forbidden that makes it so much fun. Lie back and enjoy, Miss
Byrne. Let me help you…”
“I
wish you were here.” My voice is small, thready, needy. I miss him so much.
His
tone is low, gentle, caressing. “I will be. Soon. But I’m with you now in
spirit, sweetheart. So, tell me what you’re doing at this moment.”
“I’m
lying on my bed, talking to you.”
“Smart-ass.
I think you’re taking advantage of the situation. If I was there you’d be lying
across my knees, and your bottom would be smarting for that little wisecrack.”
“Ah,
yes. I’m sorry.”
“I
think you mean you’re sorry, Sir.
Okay, now, are you lying on your back?”
“Yes.”
“Can
you put your phone on speaker and leave it on the pillow next to you? You’ll
need both hands free for this.”
With
a gulp I shove any embarrassment into a far corner of my mind and decide to go
for it, go with it. I push a few buttons and lay the phone beside my head.
“Okay, I’ve done that.”
“Open
your legs wide and look at yourself in the mirror on your wardrobe.”
“What!
I…”
“Do
it, Eva.” His tone is firm, the command one to be obeyed. So I do it. I obey.
I
hadn’t even realized how strategically placed my wardrobe was, but as I lie
there, my thighs spread wide, I can see the lips of my vagina, still gloriously
naked following the Brazilian wax, glistening with my own juices. Just waiting
to be touched, and stroked, waiting to be gently opened to slide a smooth, warm
dildo inside me. Oh. Wow.
“Tell
me what you see, Eva.” The voice is soft now, a seductive whisper brushing my
ear.
“I
can see—me. All of me.”
“Tell
me exactly what you see. Use any words you want.”
“I
see my—my vagina. And my clitoris. They’re very pink.”
“That’s
good. Your slick, pink little cunt is one of the most beautiful things I’ve
ever seen. And are you wet, Eva?”
“I,
I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Find
out for me now, love. Slide your hand down there. Stroke your cunt just like I
would if I was there with you. Tell me if you’re wet.”
Despite
what’s happening, despite my willing participation, I am still a little shocked
by the crude language. This is explicit, even by Nathan’s standards. And it
makes me hot as hell. He thinks I’m beautiful. There. God!
Watching
every movement in the mirror I slide my hand along my stomach, trailing my
fingertips across my lower abdomen to gently, lightly probe between my legs. I
deliberately skip over my clitoris, although I can clearly see that hot, needy
little nub starting to swell. Instead I run my fingers around the entrance to
my vagina, and gently dip the very end of my middle finger inside.
“I,
yes, Nathan. I’m wet. And, oh my God, this feels so—decadent. I can’t believe
I’m doing this. Talking to you like this. About this.”
“Decadent?
I like that, Eva. And does it feel good?”
“Yes,”
I whisper. “So good.”
Buy Links
Book 1 -Darkening
Darkening is FREE at Totally Bound and
All Romance until 30 April 2016
Book 2 - Darker
Book 3 - Darkest
Social Media Links and Newsletter sign-up
Newsletter Sign-Up
www.ashebarker.com
Amazon
google.com/+AsheBarker
Facebook
Twitter
