Laid Bare with Flair Contest Day Six!
Jul
8
2009

Today’s prize comes via the fabulous Beth Kery!

Sweet Restraint
Publisher: Berkley Heat
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: July 7, 2009
Format: Trade Paperback

This time, he’ll never let her go…

Chicago Special Agent Shane Dominic was in love with Laura Vasquez until the day she left him and married another man. Thirteen years may have passed, but Laura’s never disappeared from his fantasies, or destroyed his desire to learn the truth about why she left him. When her husband, the criminal mastermind behind an international ring of thieves, is murdered, Shane knows this is his one last, desperate chance to learn Laura’s secrets. And he’s not above using their scorching hot passion for one another and a little domination to do it.

One look at Shane, and Laura’s own memories come back to haunt her. Her feelings run deep, but she’d never divulge her secrets—a desperate vow that’s compromised when Shane stuns her by taking her as his captive to a secluded cabin. Here, she will finally belong to him, be subjected to his every torturously erotic whim, and be forced to trust him with a shocking truth she’s hidden for so long—one that will expose them to a danger closing in on the both of them.

Excerpt

When he returned downstairs he found her in the kitchen leaning against the counter, the steam beginning to rise off a tea pot on the stove behind her. She studied him with those exotic, slightly slanted green eyes that still occasionally haunted his dreams… although with less and less frequency, thank God.

She’d removed her long wool coat and wore an ivory colored, soft-looking sweater and jeans beneath it. Her dark brown hair hung loose around her shoulders. He could just make out a chain on the side of her neck but the pendant hung beneath her loose sweater. Other than that glimpse of gold she wore no jewelry. She didn’t wear a trace of make-up.

Not that she required either.

He set the manila folder he’d found upstairs on the counter. The small bedroom where he’d found it appeared to be solely occupied by Laura. A surprisingly sparse amount of Huey’s clothing and personal items were in the master bedroom suite. The majority of his personal items were in the basement. Shane tried to ignore his satisfaction at the evidence of their separate existences within the house. Lots of married couples slept apart after thirteen years, after all.

He flipped open the manila folder, revealing dozens of travel brochures to exotic locations.

“Planning on going somewhere sometime soon?”

Irritation and something else—was it embarrassment?—flashed across her impassive face. She shut the folder quickly.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but the answer is ‘no.’ I just like to…think about getting away.” Her gaze flicked up to meet his. “You know how Chicago is in the winter time.”

“Yeah, the snow in Banff, Calgary looks like it’d be much more relaxing than Chicago snow,” Shane deadpanned, referring to one of the brochures he’d seen. She merely turned away without responding in typical, infuriating Laura-fashion. “Were you in bed? When they called earlier about Huey?” he asked, thinking of the unmade bed he’d seen in her room.

“Yes. I hadn’t fallen asleep yet though. I had a show at my gallery this evening. It went well, but I was exhausted from all the preparation. I was in bed by ten.”

“What time did you leave your gallery?”

“I had a wine and cheese party for the showing. It started at six thirty. I locked up at around nine-thirty.”

He nodded his head slowly. She straightened from her leaning position, obviously sensing the tension that suddenly seemed to thicken the air between them.

“I thought you said you weren’t here to interrogate me.”

“I asked. You answered. Some people call that conversation. Don’t you think you could use something stronger than tea?” he asked, glancing pointedly at the teapot when it started to whistle.

“Huey has a bar downstairs if you’d care for something stronger.”

He frowned as he watched her pour the hot water into two mugs. He’d rather drink the probably foul tasting herbal tea she prepared than take a sip of Huey May’s premium party-time liquor.

She hesitated when she turned around to hand him the tea. “Would you…would you like to sit down in the living room?”

He nodded once and followed her into the subtly lit living room. She sat in an upholstered chair and he took a seat on the couch. When he glanced up after sipping his tea, trying to hide his grimace at the bitter taste, he noticed the queer expression on her face as she studied him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, the cup still an inch from his lips.

“I just recalled that Joey told me that you were going to be married earlier this year. I suppose by now congratulations are long overdue.”

He set down the tea on the coffee table in front of him. “Joey and you talk about me?”

She started in surprise at the question. “Not much. Occasionally. Why?”

He shrugged. “He and I never discuss you. Ever. He seems to think you’re a taboo topic where I’m concerned.”

“I see,” she said after a pause. He watched as she took a sip of the tea, momentarily mesmerized by the sensual movement of her throat as she swallowed. “Just like family, isn’t it? Never to talk out loud about their ugly secrets?”

He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “Joey was never ashamed of you. You’re the one who kept the secrets Laura. And not the Vasquez family’s—Huey Mays’ secrets.”

She just stared at him, as calm and enigmatic as the sphinx. Years of frustration, fury and thwarted desire bubbled up to the surface. He found himself engaging in a full-fledged offensive when he’d never even planned for battle.

“You realize, don’t you, that your husband and his little gang represented everything that your father hated? All the government corruption, the selfish grappling for power and money at the expense of the people—all of those things he wrote about in his books…What he lived for to defeat?” Shane prodded, referring to Laura’s father who had been a Cuban political dissident. Shane had liked and respected Richard Vasquez enormously and he’d always sensed the regard had been mutual.

When Laura’s father was finally released from a Cuban prison he’d fled to the United States where he’d eventually become a respected professor at the University of Chicago. He’d published extensively on the topic of the crushing effect of corrupt government and dictatorships on the human psyche and spirit.

“And how could his daughter have turned around and married the devil? Is that what you’re thinking, Shane?”

Her quiet voice infuriated him even further.

“How his daughter could have bedded down with him, sold her soul to him, bent over for him or any one of his greasy pals whenever he demanded it. Yeah, I’ll bet your father’d love to know the answer to that if he were still alive. I know I’d give my left nut to hear that explanation myself—not that I’m holding out for any substantial answers. The only thing I warrant is that crap you fed me thirteen years ago after you married Huey about your undying love for your saintly husband.”

She set down her mug stiffly. “What are you talking about?”

“Electronic surveillance, Laura.”

“You had this house bugged?”

He shook his head in mixed frustration and disgust when he saw the last vestiges of color drain out of her face.

“That’s right. We were lawfully intercepting Huey’s phone and internet conversations for almost a year, but he was careful about what he revealed. He was a suspicious guy, your husband. I finally convinced a federal judge that wiretaps weren’t enough. We got a court order to listen in on his little playpen downstairs. It never paid off in regard to the case in the way that I’d hoped. It took an ex-jewel and fur thief who also just happened to be a Chicago cop for a period of time—a little weasel who’s in the witness protection program—in order to get the names, written documents and details that we needed to pin Huey. Everything about how they would use police computers to track jewelry, fur and rare coin salesmen’s car rental and hotel information, all the dirt on their little extortion ring…how they took regular payments from known criminals in return for keeping silent about their rackets.

“So the bugs down in your basement didn’t pay off in the way I’d hoped,” Shane continued, “but the agents who got assigned the monitoring detail weren’t complaining much even though it’s usually a shit job that nobody wants.” He leaned forward intently. Despite his intense anger, he kept his voice low although he couldn’t dull the bitter edge of his sarcasm. “Especially when Huey threw one of his little sex parties for his friends. You know about those parties. Don’t you Laura?”

She just stared at him, her silence and coldness sending his fury near the boiling point.

He stood up abruptly and grabbed her shoulders. She didn’t resist him when he pulled her up. He pressed her to him, crushing her full breasts into his lower chest, the sensation of her distended nipples making his cock harden with amazing alacrity. Her scent—soap mixing with the once-familiar underlying odor of sweet, succulent woman—entered his nostrils, sending him further into a spinning chaos of desire and rage.

He leaned down and spoke in a soft, vibrating voice just inches away from her parted lips.

“Nothing to say, Laura? Always so controlled. But you weren’t so silent down in the basement entertaining Huey and his friends, were you? You screamed and moaned and begged like a good little whore while they took their turns with you, double-teamed you—whatever Huey demanded of you, you did. Yeah, your father would have been so proud to know about his daughter’s generous hospitality to her husband’s friends.”

Her green eyes flashed. “How do you know it was me?”

He gave a harsh bark of laughter. “Let’s see—what was my first clue? Oh yeah—That’s right Laura, suck him nice and deep like a good little wife. Show him how nice we treat our guests.”

He blinked in shock when she slapped his cheek, the evidence of her crumbling façade shattering his own brittle control once and for all. He grabbed the wrist of the offending hand and twisted it behind her back, pressing her tighter against him in the process. She cried out in surprise and discomfort.

“Is this how you like it, Laura?” he growled. Their eyes met briefly, her startled stare searing right through his shattered defenses. “How could you do it? How could you let those assholes touch you? You’re mine.”

He saw eyes go wide but he didn’t give her a chance to respond to his totally irrational proclamation before he covered her mouth with his own.

He drank from her furiously. Pain vibrated through his flesh. Not the discomfort of a wound or an injury, but the raw, searing pain that came from exposing a desire that had long been denied.

At that moment he needed Laura Vasquez just like he needed to breathe.

Later he wouldn’t be able to say at what point she stopped struggling, precisely when her tongue began to tangle with his, or when her hands rose to caress his neck and her fingers delved through his hair. She pressed against him almost frantically, the abrupt appearance of her need shocking him…and nearly blinding him with lust.

The sensation of the hard centers of her breasts pressing against his chest, the feminine softness between her thighs rubbing subtly against his hard cock, the incredible silkiness of her skin, all combined to form a powerful ward against logic.

Order Sweet Restraint

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Today’s question: Who’s your favorite edgy hero? Not a run of the mill nice guy, but a bad boy, a man with a dark past?

I’ll choose a winner from the comments tomorrow at noon pacific! Good luck, everyone and don’t forget winners have three days to claim prizes or I’ll re-draw.

100 comments to “Laid Bare with Flair Contest Day Six!”

  1. Cheryl McInnis
    July 8th, 2009 at 3:14 am · Link

    I don’t think anybody writes edgy heroes better than Anne Stuart- her boys are beyond bad!
    My favorite would probably be Peter Jensen from Cold as Ice, with Richard Tiernan from Nightfall a close second (OMG, Richard had me guessing if he were merely bad or downright evil right up until the end!) 😯



  2. Heather
    July 8th, 2009 at 3:20 am · Link

    Acheron from the Sherrilyn Kenyon
    Dark Hunter series is one hot edgy hero



  3. Zarifina
    July 8th, 2009 at 4:03 am · Link

    I’ll have to go with Carlos Rivera from L.A Banks “Vampire Huntress” series. Carlos was a drug dealer, a vampire, and a heartless killer for at least 6 of the 13 books in the series.



  4. Erica B.
    July 8th, 2009 at 4:13 am · Link

    I agree with Heather. Acheron is definitely #1. In fact I would have to say all the DH, WH, and DreamHunters, basically all the male main characters, are the edgy hero type. Although if I had to pick a second favorite, it would be Dmitri Sandovsky from the Nocturne City series by Cailtin Kittredge. 😀



  5. Beverly G.
    July 8th, 2009 at 4:41 am · Link

    one fav edgy hero yano there r a few who come to mind Jimmy sanducci from dooms day can wait by Lori Handland another one i have to say is Sheriff Sam Sheridan in Kiss of Darkness by Jennifer St. Giles and last but not least in gennita lows Big Bad Wolf the super sexy Killian “nick” Langley

    i like heros with a dark past so i cant chose just one i could list more and more



  6. Joy Roach
    July 8th, 2009 at 4:53 am · Link

    Edgy heroes are the best kind. My two faves are Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Zarek and J.R. Ward’s Zsadist.



  7. Heather P
    July 8th, 2009 at 5:11 am · Link

    I would have to say Wraith from Larissa Ione’s Demonica series as my favorite edgy hero.



  8. Chris
    July 8th, 2009 at 5:15 am · Link

    Hmm. Acheron doesn’t seem like a true bad boy to me. Now, Zsadist from the BDB…



  9. Sue
    July 8th, 2009 at 5:16 am · Link

    Bad Boys are HOT !!! just when you think the are going to do something wrong…they do something VERY right !!!! 😀

    My fav is Jean-Claude from the Anita Blake stories by Laurell Hamilton. You just gotta love this Vamp!!!!



  10. Melissa Conatser
    July 8th, 2009 at 5:21 am · Link

    I’ll have to go with Zsadist.



  11. Jennifer
    July 8th, 2009 at 5:31 am · Link

    My favorite hero is Eric from the Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris. He’s not a typical hero, and the only person he’s really nice to is Sookie, but I would love to have a guy like him in my life. Even if he had to take a lil sip from me now and then!



  12. Amy Mowers
    July 8th, 2009 at 5:38 am · Link

    I think that mine is a toss up between Jack from Wicked Ties by Shayla Black adn Damon Roche from Sweet Persuaision by Maya Banks. Now, Damon is not really anyone’s hero adn he does not have a dark past, but I love the bad boy side of him. I really go for the domaint alpha males. And I am really interested in figuring out who some of the above mentioned heros are from the other comments!

    Thanks!

    amy m



  13. Crystal B.
    July 8th, 2009 at 5:45 am · Link

    My choice would be JR Ward’s Zsadist.



  14. Pam P
    July 8th, 2009 at 6:04 am · Link

    Jericho Barrons from Moning’s Fever series is very edgy and dark, very mysterious past; also Kenyon’s Zarek.



  15. Mare Fairchild
    July 8th, 2009 at 6:15 am · Link

    Peter Jensen works for me as well. LOL



  16. Sue Brandes
    July 8th, 2009 at 6:16 am · Link

    I also have to say Eric the vampire in the Charlaine Harris books(true blood series). You never are sure what he is going to do or say.



  17. sharon
    July 8th, 2009 at 6:21 am · Link

    My favorite…Connor McCloud or any of Shannon McKenna’s heroes. There’s something super alpha and edgy about those men!



  18. limecello
    July 8th, 2009 at 6:22 am · Link

    Reading through the other comments… 😛 I think I’m not that edgy. My favorite hero is well, I’d say Lorenzo Gage from SEP’s Breathing Room, but he’s *just* edged out by Derek Craven, from Dreaming of You by LK.



  19. Lea
    July 8th, 2009 at 6:35 am · Link

    Hi Lauren:

    Fabulous prize today!

    I would have to say Wraith from “Passion Unleashed”, tortured, dark – totally edgy…

    Have a great day!

    😀
    L



  20. Dana
    July 8th, 2009 at 6:41 am · Link

    Uh…Uh, Crap just finished the excerpt and can’t remember what the heck the question was!

    Steamy ~

    Oh yeah, edgy bad boy. Only one? Hum?

    Zadist from the Black Dagger Brotherhood.



  21. Eva S
    July 8th, 2009 at 7:00 am · Link

    Great excerpt!

    My favorite bad boy is Zadist too… And Wraith if I can have two!



  22. Anne
    July 8th, 2009 at 7:17 am · Link

    #1 Would be Eric from the Sookie Stackhouse series, I like how we’re starting to learn a little about his past in the latest book. #2 is Zsadist.

    Acheron’s past was very bleak, but I feel pity for the character and don’t see him as a bad boy.



  23. Anne
    July 8th, 2009 at 7:21 am · Link

    Before someone else brings it up, I realize Zsadist had an unfortunate past too, but it didn’t get hammered home as much as Acheron’s 600+ page story.



  24. blodeuedd
    July 8th, 2009 at 7:48 am · Link

    I think I will go with Z, cos I just love him.
    he is my dark edgy hero



  25. Ley
    July 8th, 2009 at 8:01 am · Link

    Zsadist (isn’t he a favorite?) and Stryker all the way. :mrgreen:



  26. Jana J. Hanson
    July 8th, 2009 at 8:05 am · Link

    I’ve got to go WAY back and say Rhett Butler.



  27. Lori
    July 8th, 2009 at 8:07 am · Link

    Wow. SO many to choose from. Those dark, tormented guys are so great. I agree that nobody does a dark hero like Anne Stuart. I love Dillon from Into the Fire. Turned so bad, appears so bad, and all stemming from something he did originally for all the right reasons. Sigh. The woman can write controversy for sure.

    And I have to agree also with Connor from Standing in the Shadows. He got me seriously hooked on Shannon McKenna. Wow.

    I love it when a dark, bad boy has good intentions that go wrong, and then he just can’t seem to find his way back, or when he just loves being bad, and isn’t “turned around with the love of a good woman”. That irks my shit in a big way. If he’s bad, let him be bad.



  28. Candy
    July 8th, 2009 at 8:19 am · Link

    I have a thing for Tanya Huff’s Henry Fitzroy. You know he’s bad, you know he’s dangerous, but still, you’d surrender all ….



  29. LaRonda
    July 8th, 2009 at 8:30 am · Link

    I think I’d have to go with Roarke from the In Death series. He’s dark, Irish (love the accent) and only went legit for Eve (imagine a guy loving you THAT much…) but has a seriously dark past. YUM. Of course, there’s Jean-Claude from the Anita Blake series too. Can’t get much darker than a vampire 🙂



  30. Jody F.
    July 8th, 2009 at 8:40 am · Link

    My faves are Zsadist and also Qhuinn from Ward’s BDB.



  31. JP
    July 8th, 2009 at 8:42 am · Link

    Wow, what a great excerpt — win or not, I’m getting this!

    My favorite edgy hero would be Grayson Thane of La Nora’s Born in Ice — former con artist with the “she’s too good for me” chip on his shoulder that Briana Concannon just blasts right off.



  32. Anne
    July 8th, 2009 at 8:45 am · Link

    I hadn’t thought of Roark but he is my favorite hero overall. For major dark past I’d have to go with Wraith.



  33. Karen in TN
    July 8th, 2009 at 8:48 am · Link

    Add another vote for Eric in the Stackhouse series!



  34. Natasha A.
    July 8th, 2009 at 8:55 am · Link

    I have such a hard time remembering characters. It is pretty pitiful. BUT as soon as I read Zsadist. From the first moment I read about him…I loved him.



  35. Heather Brewer
    July 8th, 2009 at 9:02 am · Link

    i would have to agree, Zadist would be my bad boy. Great choice.

    I also agree that Acheron is not really that edgy to me.



  36. MichelleK
    July 8th, 2009 at 9:03 am · Link

    Okay so I need to look up this Zsadist guy cause he is getting lots of replies.
    For me, I really liked Texas Ranger Jack Kincaid in Maya Banks “For Her Pleasure”

    I love this contest because I am making notes of all these awesome books.



  37. Adrienne Bentolila
    July 8th, 2009 at 9:08 am · Link

    I like the blonde sheriff guy in sookie stackhouse books. Of course that may have to with the actor who plays him on True Blood. He makes me wiggle in my seat!



  38. Teresa W.
    July 8th, 2009 at 9:09 am · Link

    I’d have to go with Stryker!



  39. Armenia
    July 8th, 2009 at 9:15 am · Link

    Love the excerpt. 😀

    I would have to go with Niol from Cynthia Eden’s MIDNIGHT’S MASTER. 😎



  40. Melissa
    July 8th, 2009 at 9:20 am · Link

    I love all those dark, edgy Alpha heros.
    It’s hard to choose JUST one, but one OF my all time fav’s is John Medina from Linda Howard’s All The Queens Men. And what’s funny about that is that I was SO in lust w/ him way before his book ever actually exsisted, because she did such an awesome job of building up the mystique around him in other books.



  41. Lillie A
    July 8th, 2009 at 9:41 am · Link

    I can’t choose just one! My 2 faves are Zarek from the Dark Hunters and Wraith from Demonica 😈



  42. Mickey M (m-square)
    July 8th, 2009 at 10:07 am · Link

    I thought I was the only one who loved Zsadist, but looks like he has quite a large fan club. My other favorite is Wraith in Larissa Ione’s Demonica series, I just love a reformed bad boy….



  43. Booklover1335
    July 8th, 2009 at 10:09 am · Link

    Most recently I think it would have to be Nathan Malone from Lora Leigh’s Wild Card.

    Being held prisoner for several years, does something to a person and he has to struggle with a lot of baggage before he gets his HEA. I think it was one of my fav reads of 2008 for that very reason.

    I would love to win Sweet Restraint!



  44. Blanche
    July 8th, 2009 at 10:17 am · Link

    Oh I love a bad boy and I have soooooooo many favorites! Choosing just 1…….I’ll say Deke from Shayla Black’s Decadent! :mrgreen:



  45. Lexee
    July 8th, 2009 at 10:39 am · Link

    first would have to be Jacques from dark desire by Christine Feehan. He gets tortured for years in his own way too. His mind will never be the same.
    Second would be nathan malone from wild card by lora leigh.
    lexeetoste at sbcglobal.net



  46. Cathy M
    July 8th, 2009 at 10:43 am · Link

    Roarke is my ultimate favorite, but I also really enjoy the heroes in Shannon McKenna’s books too. Plus I just started reading Nalini Singh’s series and her men are wonderfully edgey with their changeling personalities, and make for some wonderful heroes.



  47. Marjana Kaly
    July 8th, 2009 at 10:47 am · Link

    Hands down, Roarke from the In Death series. I just love it him and Eva is right woman for him 😉



  48. VampFanGirl
    July 8th, 2009 at 10:59 am · Link

    Hmmm…an edgy hero with a dark past. Gawd there are so many delicious tortured heroes out there! How can I pick one?!

    Well, since I’m currently on a binder of all things Nalini Singh, I’ll say that my favorite dark and edgy hero currently is Clay Bennett from ‘Mine To Possess’. That man’s past is soaked in blood and there is no mistaking that it’s shaped him into who he is.

    😉 VampFanGirl



  49. Susan
    July 8th, 2009 at 11:06 am · Link

    I would have to go with Wraith from ‘Passion Unleashed’ by Larissa Ione.

    Terrific excerpt!



  50. bridget3420
    July 8th, 2009 at 11:19 am · Link

    James from Twilight