Make Me Burn

"Play it safe." Antiques buyer Kaya Cordova needs the ancient Philippino copperplate she's just lost at a private auction, but she has six-foot-something of sexy, mysterious male standing in her way. Spurred on by her boss and a promise of a fat bonus check, she decides to try to talk him into selling it to her. Unfortunately, she has no idea what she's in for. Tall, blond, built like a god and sinfully rich, Jestin Draig looks all-American, but appearances can be deceiving. He has a dark secret that will force Kaya to quit bowing to the master of fear and accept him as her new Master. He may give her everything she desires, but at a great price…

Previously published as Dragons and Dungeons

SAMPLE
She felt his gaze on her as she hesitantly approached the same piece of equipment she’d touched earlier. It was tall and reminded her of stocks, or a cross. “What’s this one for?” When he touched her shoulder, she shuddered, but not because she was scared. She was far from frightened.

“A slave would stand either facing the wall or this way,” he eased her around until she was facing him and her chest was pressed against his solid bulk. “Would you like to try it?” At her silent response, a wide-eyed head-nod, he lifted her right arm and wrapped the strap around it then did the same with her left. “As you see, the slave is now powerless to stop me from giving her any sort of pleasure I might like to. Like this.” With no warning whatsoever, he tipped his head and slanted his mouth over hers. His lips feathered soft kisses on each corner of her mouth before hardening, making her heart skip a few beats and stealing her breath. When she opened her mouth to draw in a gulp of much needed air, his tongue dipped inside to stroke hers.

Instantly she found herself dizzy and weak with need. Her pussy throbbed with each pounding beat of her heart. Her knees softened. Her body tensed. And her self-control snapped. Just like that, she realized she would sleep with him. Tonight.

His kiss was hot and demanding and thorough and she quickly lost herself in it, in his flavor, in his spicy, masculine scent, and in the emotions they stirred in her. She felt such joy, such hunger, such need to relinquish all control to him, body and mind. The feelings swirled round and round inside her until they were all mixed up and she couldn’t tell what was what anymore.

His tongue stroked hers, twisted, thrust, tasted. Drowning in swelling need, she met his fire with her own heat, silently pleading with him to take her. Her arms still tied out to the sides, leaving her hands useless yet itching to touch him, to pull him closer, she groaned in agony into their joined mouths.

She was going, going, gone. Her heart was pounding so hard, it was bound to leap from her chest. Her lungs were screaming for air she didn’t have the ability to draw in. Just when she thought she’d die, he broke the kiss and pulled those wonderful lips, that magical tongue from her.

And she thought she’d known what agony was!

In those seconds, while she struggled to keep herself vertical, she thought back to all the times she’d done the safe thing, stuck her toe in the water to test it rather than just suck it up and dive in. What had her playing-it-safe, take-no-risks attitude gotten her? Had it spared her any pain? Maybe a little. Had it also stolen her chance to find even fleeting bits of happiness? Of experiencing everything life had to offer—both good and bad?

It had! Her fears had been more powerful bindings than anything she’d find in a dungeon. They’d made her a prisoner. They’d caged her more effectively than any cement walls, or bars, or cell ever could.

It was time to break free, take a chance, live life. It was Jestin who had helped her see that.