First BOOK Friday-- Skylar Kade

It's First BOOK Friday!  For the next few months, we're going to highlight the first book from each of the Nine Naughties.  Sometimes people find us further down our backlist, sometimes readers think they're picking up our first book when really it's number 3 or so, sometimes our first book was so long ago even we've forgotten!  (just kidding... it's true that you never forget your first!).  So we thought it would be fun to revisit the books that started it all for each of us!


This month we're featuring the first book from Skylar Kade, Maison Domine.


A note from Skylar:

My first book was Maison Domine, published with Samhain in 2009. The original intent for this novella was writing something start to finish. I'd set out to write Urban Fantasy, then realized I knew nothing about plot and characterization, not to mention that my hero and heroine kept falling into bed together. To work from the ground up, I decided to write a very simple story of Dom meets sub. Laurie Rauch at Samhain contracted this book for her Binding Ties anthology with Natasha Moore and Jenna Ives.

Blurb: 

Organic chemist Lara Brunner is at loose ends. Since childhood, her life has been focused on work and achieving success in her field. Only now, weeks away from her tenure review, she realizes she’s pushed herself too far. Casting about for a way to release her stress-crazed body from career tension, she visits a BDSM retreat, hoping a weekend of sexual submission will do the trick.

Inducting her into the lifestyle is her at-work nemesis—Jaxon Greene. But the sinful intent she encounters in Jaxon’s sexy eyes makes her heart race with desire…and fear. Gorgeous men like him don’t go for zaftig academics like her. Once the fantasy weekend is over and real life returns, he’ll forget all about her.

Jaxon is blindsided by his intense attraction to Lara. The more time he spends with her, the stronger their invisible bonds become. Bonds that are stronger and more permanent than any knot he can tie. He’s not normally into converting vanilla women to his lifestyle, but something makes him want to cast his inhibitions aside and claim her for his own.

First, though, he has to free her from preconceived notions of proper sex…and love.

Excerpt:

Jax was glad Maison Domine had an opening for the weekend. He desperately needed to get away from life for a bit. He loved teaching, seeing his students grow to love a work of literature, or a movie, or seeing the flash of insight cross their faces. But, at the same time, he was overwhelmed by his obligations. His agent was making noises about him writing another book or working on another script. Greedy bastard.

When Kat mentioned there was a shy new submissive coming this weekend, and asked if he would show her the ropes, pun intended, Jax jumped at the chance. He loved introducing newbies to the BDSM world. It suited his purposes, as he had no interest in a full-time submissive. He still got to play, but there were no messy emotional entanglements to deal with. After the Jenny fiasco, that was the last thing he wanted.

Evidently this new woman had been referred by one of the regulars, and from what the regular had told Kat, she was total submissive material, but had trouble giving up control. Jax had been so eager to meet this new sub, he had barely thrown his weekend bag into his room before coming down to the meet and greet.

He stepped into the cozy game room, eyes searching for Kat. Finding her in a stunning red dress, as usual, he took two steps towards her before being distracted by coughing. Whoever it was sounded like she was ill or choking. Jaxon spun to see who was making the racket, and his eyes settled upon a lush figure with her back to him. She wore a bright red top, but it was the creamy expanse of skin exposed between her short black skirt and knee-high boots that tempted him most. Hoping to dash to her rescue, Jax reached the woman right after Katrina. She had stopped coughing, and he could hear a melodic voice arguing with Kat.

“I think I should go to my room, Kat. I’m obviously too tired to chew, much less meet a room full of people.” Jax could tell the woman was embarrassed by the attention.

“No, no, don’t be silly. Inhaled a piece of flaky dough, did you? I do it all the time.” Katrina looked over the woman’s shoulder at him. “Jax, would you grab a glass of water from the end of the table? Bring it over for Lara, and let me properly introduce you two.”

Jax saw the woman, Lara, tense when Kat called out to him. He guessed she didn’t want another person witnessing her supposedly embarrassing moment.

“Excuse me,” he started. “Would you like a glass of…” He couldn’t remember how to finish the sentence.

The woman was Lara Brunner, the uptight chemist he had to share a classroom with. But she wasn’t in a stuffy suit, and her hair wasn’t scraped back from her face. Instead, it fell in soft waves around her face, and her clothes. Wow.

“Dr. Brunner. How nice to see you again.” Jax knew his tone was less than enthusiastic, but he couldn’t bear to reveal how torn he was upon seeing her here, not to mention how very surprised he was to find she was into the scene.

“Jaxon, I mean, Professor Greene. I didn’t expect to see you here. Not that it’s not pleasant to see you, but it is surprising. Shit. First I choke, and then I stick my foot in my mouth. I’ll shut up now.” She flushed again prettily. How he wanted to put color there, to make her breath catch like it had when she was stumbling out her greeting. Except he wanted to do it while making her submit to him, and only him. It was something Jaxon hadn’t felt in years.

“Oh, great, you two have already met! Jax, this is our new submissive, the one I was hoping you could work with this weekend.” Kat grinned, obviously pleased with herself. Jaxon groaned silently. He had planned to say a brief hello and make small talk before hiding in his room for the weekend to avoid the torture of this temptingly unbound version of Lara Brunner.

Lara shook her head. “Kat, I’m sure Prof…I mean, Jaxon…has better things to do than baby-sit me this weekend. I’ll just sit back quietly. You know, watch and learn. No tutor, or trainer, required. Or maybe I’ll relax in my room and read one of the novels I brought. I don’t want to inconvenience anyone.”

Jaxon snorted. “Watching won’t give you a near-enough idea of what it is to submit, to completely give over control to someone you trust. It’s a high, as much of one as it is for a Dominant to be trusted to that extent. Besides, most of the scenes at Maison Domine are private. And it won’t be an inconvenience.” He’d be damned if anyone else would introduce her to this world. Although sex was not a mandatory part of any scene, play was always an incredibly intimate thing. The idea of another man touching her, playing with her, clawed at his insides.

He took a step towards her, the rest of the room fading into the background. Like a dance, she followed, moving backwards a pace. Step, step, shuffle, and he had her against the wall. Jax wanted to give her a quick demonstration of watching versus doing.

“What…what are you doing?” Lara’s tongue flicked out to moisten her bottom lip. Her lips had never looked more kissable. Not to mention, her fiery personality turned him on. She certainly wasn’t a weak-willed yes woman like other submissives he’d trained. All of his good intentions fled and he gave up on the teachable moment.

He pressed her up against the wall, and tilted her face to meet his gaze head on. “This is how it starts. I can see the signs…the flutter of your pulse right here.” His finger trailed from her chin down to her neck, and Lara released a barely suppressed shiver. “Your eyes dilating in anticipation, excitement, and a slight hint of fear. You are, after all, putting your body and mind completely in my hands. Giving up your tightly-held control.” He wrapped his hand ever so gently around her neck, putting enough pressure for her to walk the edge between certain safety and the gray space of what if most submissives thrived on.

“Who…do you think…you are?” she managed to whisper in between shorts gasps for breath. Jax knew she would be beautifully submissive. She walked the edge of pain, of fear, of arousal perfectly. A flash of panic from the loss of control made her blue eyes light up until they almost glowed with intensity.

“I’m your new Trainer. And you, Lara, are mine…for the weekend.”

Add it to your library here!