The Heart of the Deal
Business, Bondage, Discipline and Desire
MF and FF BDSM Romantic Erotica (Triple X rated)
78,000 words
Smashwords and Amazon KDP
ISBN (Smashwords): 9780463811948
ASIN: B07SJY8PTC
Flawed But Fascinating
A romance novel only works if your readers like and can identify with your characters. On the other hand, perfect characters end up being boring. This puts the author in a dilemma. She needs to create heroines and heroes with realistic flaws. At the same time, those flaws can’t be so extreme that they turn the reader off. Furthermore, the developing relationship must somehow transform the characters so their defects become less of an obstacle to their love. A story is both more believable and more enjoyable if the characters learn and grow along the way to their happy ending.
In The Heart of the Deal, Ruby and Rick have a lot to learn. Although they are both smart, talented, self-confident and ambitious, they’re also blatant opportunists, ready to exploit any weakness they find in a rival. When it comes to sex, both have a predatory streak. Indeed, the two have quite similar personalities, so it’s not surprising they’re attracted to one another. Yet their blindness to their own weaknesses almost scuttles their relationship.
As the novel progresses, Ruby begins to understand how much her passion for dominance has cost her. She becomes softer and less brittle, more open and compassionate. Meanwhile, Rick recognizes and regrets his cavalier attitude toward women. He wants Ruby enough to give up everything for her.
Some readers might not like Rick and Ruby. They’re not your classic romance hero and heroine. Their behavior isn’t always admirable. They’re definitely flawed – but I think they’re fascinating.
Tag line
All’s fair in lust and business
Blurb
Ruby Maxwell Chen, lovely and ruthless CEO of a huge British business empire, has no qualms about playing dirty – very dirty. She’s happy to use sex to help her close a deal, especially when she’s the one on top. Ruby loves the game, and she expects to win. When she encounters the oddly charismatic American entrepreneur Rick Martell, though, she wonders if she hasn’t met her match.
Note: This book was previously published under the titles Ruby’s Rules and Nasty Business. It has been re-edited, revised and updated for this release.
Buy Links
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Amazon US
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Hop on over to Beyond Romance and leave a comment to enter the Giveaway for a chance to win a free ebook copy of The Heart of the Deal, a free copy of BDSM romance Damned If You Do, or a $10 bookstore gift certificate
Excerpt (Rated X)
We are in a taxi now, in the semi-private darkness, and his hands are all over me. I don’t worry about the driver. What is there that a London cabbie has not seen? I teeter between enjoyment and terror. Oh, I want this stranger, but surely, it must be on my terms.
He brings my hand down between his thighs, and I feel triumph. Finally, he is erect, he wants me. He unzips his trousers and releases his cock. “I’d like you to suck me,” he says. There is a trace of irony in his voice. “Assuming that you are feeling generous, of course.”
I hate him, his overwhelming sensuality, his casual superiority. Normally, I will not perform fellatio. I find it degrading and subservient. But his engorged penis gleams in the transient street light, infinitely attractive. Saliva gathers in my mouth at the prospect. I am actually hungry to swallow his rod.
He is watching me as the passing lights first illumine me, then throw me into shadow. He feels my hesitation. “Go on,” he says. “You know you want to.”
Recklessness and desire. This is only a one-night stand. I should follow my heart, body, whatever. I straddle him as he lies back on the bench seat, arrogantly thrusting my arse in his face. No kneeling before my master, not for me. His penis bobs in front of me, inviting, almost taunting.
I decide to taunt him in return. I begin with the lightest of touches, just a tease; the tip of my tongue on the sensitive knob. I am rewarded by a faint moan. His swollen member twitches, nearly hitting me in the face. Carefully, I trace the ridge below the bulb, delighting in the smoothness, and the tension underneath.
His cock strains toward me, seeming to beg for the warm depths of my mouth. But I continue to tease, licking, nipping, tracing the veined length of him with my tongue, but not letting him into me.
I feel his fingers between my legs, and realize that he has decided to tease me in retaliation. So be it. I am grateful for any touch there. The more I sample his cock with my tongue, the more I want to feel that swollen bulk deep in my sex. It is not the longest, nor the thickest, nor the hardest cock I have ever encountered. But like its owner, it practically glows with some kind of sexual energy. I can feel the vibrations when I bring my lips close to kiss the tip. Still, though, I resist the urge to engulf him, to feast on him until he cannot bear the pleasure. That is what he wants, I know, and for that, he will just have to wait.
“Come on, Ruby,” he says, his voice husky, persuasive. “Don’t be shy. I know that you’ve sucked cock before. Open up!”
It does not register; the fact that he knows my name. Hardly surprising, because at that moment I am impaled. Until now, the most delicate, fleeting caresses, making my body scream for more. Now, suddenly, there is something hard and smooth in my cunt, sliding in and out of my slippery cleft and bringing a scream to my lips, despite my determination to remain in control.
He takes advantage of my gaping mouth. As I gasp for breath, struggling to comprehend and control my reactions, his rigid penis slips between my lips. Silk over granite. Hot blood pulsing. A tremor takes me as he thrusts simultaneously, deep in my throat, deep in my sex. I am skewered on these two points of pleasure.
About Lisabet
Lisabet Sarai became addicted to words at an early age. She began reading when she was four. She wrote her first story at five years old and her first poem at seven. Since then, she has written plays, tutorials, scholarly articles, marketing brochures, software specifications, self-help books, press releases, a five-hundred page dissertation, and lots of erotica and erotic romance – nearly one hundred titles, and counting, in nearly every sub-genre—paranormal, scifi, ménage, BDSM, GLBT, and more. Regardless of the genre, every one of her stories illustrates her motto: Imagination is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
You’ll find information and excerpts from all Lisabet’s books on her website (http://www.lisabetsarai.com/books.html), along with more than fifty free stories and lots more. At her blog Beyond Romance (http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com), she shares her philosophy and her news and hosts lots of other great authors. She’s also on Goodreads and finally, on Twitter.
Gale Stanley grew up in Philadelphia PA. She was the kid who always had her nose in a book, her head in the clouds, and her hands on a pad and pencil.
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