Every now and then we all of need a little tough love or a few stern words or a heavy hand to steer us in the right direction or keep us on the straight and narrow. Although the treatment might be a little harsher than some people appreciate, the blow is softened because its grounded in love.
So this week, my fellow authors and I were tasked with finding an excerpt that would best exemplify TOUGH LOVE for WHAT’S THE SCENARIO WEDNESDAY. The excerpt I’ve chosen is from the same interracial erotic romance I used last week, Carnal Moves published by Ellora’s Cave Publishing.
Theme: Tough Love
Setting: Garden District, New Orleans, Louisianna
Scenario: Half-demon GIdeon Scratch has settled into domestic bliss with his human lover Macy Beaumont. Life couldn’t be better! The sex is great and their relationship is honest and open. Well…until, Gideon learns that Macy hasn’t been exactly forthcoming. Not only does he discover she suspects one of his own kind to be the prime suspect in a wave of child kidnappings, but she didn’t come to him for help. To ensure that she does from now own, Gideon decides there’s some tough love needed to ensure she doesn’t do it again.
EXCERPT
“Is that you, Lucy?”
Macy smiled as she walked down the hallway to the kitchen. Other than the bedroom, it had become Gideon’s favorite place in their home. Their home. A warm buzz swept over her. They’d decided to cohabitate over six weeks ago and every day since had been bliss.
As she rounded the corner, a pair of hands shot out. Startled, Macy dropped the shopping bag from Pour Homme she’d carried inside along with the tamarind sugar he’d asked her to pick up from Papa Jacques. Sighing, she allowed him to envelop her in a bear hug and a wallop of a kiss. Geesh, they had on too many clothes.
“How many times do I have to tell you I do not need anything else,” he drawled, pointing out the two bags lying forgotten on the kitchen floor.
Macy pressed her nose into the crook of his neck. I’ve died and gone straight to heaven! “It’s only a cashmere sweater and a couple of pairs of silk boxers,” she mumbled, snuggling closer.
“Cashmere and silk?”
“Mmm…hmm.” Macy hid her smile. While helping her shop for new bed linens, he’d lingered over a set of silk sheets and a cashmere throw. With the household items out of their price range, she’d promised herself she would treat him to a few things of the same ilk compliments of her next paycheck.
“I will accept these gifts this time, but no more. Deal?” He nuzzled his nose into the side of her neck. Pleasing him had such great perks!
“Deal.”
He turned her around and walked her into the kitchen. “How was your day?”
“Same dead ends and another child added to the list. The police haven’t made it official, but his disappearance fits the profile.”
Gideon massaged her shoulders, relieving the kinks caused by a stressful day. “Tante Céline told me.” Macy stiffened. “I was waiting for you to tell me. Why haven’t you?”
His dejected tone filled her with guilt. She didn’t mean to hide anything from him, but it was hard to tell your significant other you suspected one of his own was responsible for the disappearance of almost a dozen children. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Macy pushed away from him, but he stayed her with a hand on her wrist. She looked up at him and as always she was struck by his physical handsomeness. His bronze skin stood out in stark contrast to the whiteness of his white v-neck. And the kitchen’s recessed lighting illuminated the blue highlights in his black hair and the near perfect symmetry of his features. Like always, she found it hard to believe he’d been sired by the devil.
“You have to come to terms with who I am, Mace. I do not hold any fairy tale illusions about the reservations you may still have. I cannot change who I am or the blood that is running through my veins. But I can assure you, I’m nothing like the demon kidnapping those children. What they’re doing is against the laws of order and they will be punished. Demons tempt and manipulate humans. We torture the damned, but we are forbidden from killing the innocent.”
“I wasn’t sure you would help me, especially if it meant fingering one of your own.”
“From now on, come to me for help. I might be ashamed of my heritage, but I would never turn my back on you, even if it meant causing harm to the one who sired me.”
Macy stretched up on tiptoe and kissed the dimple in his chin. “I’m sorry, stud.”
A sensual smile softened the hard set of his lips. “Apology accepted. The next time I won’t be so nice. I will toss you over my knee and spank you.”
“Promises, promises, you—” The rest of her taunts came out in a shriek when Gideon suddenly picked her up and deposited her—face down, ass up—over his knee.
Macy held her breath, every muscle in her body pulled tight as a guitar string. She’d never been spanked past puberty. Of course, Gideon had taken her in every hole and on every available piece of furniture, but they’d never ventured over this particular bridge.
She couldn’t wait!
“Your ass looks like it was stung by bumblebees,” he whispered, his tone deep with lust. Macy rose up on her hands with a startled whimper as he caressed the small of her back and the rise of her buttocks.
“I used to take exception to bootylicious,” she breathed. “But I’ve never heard my butt described quite like that. Is that a compliment or just a polite way to tell me I need to lose weight?”
He gripped her butt cheek, pulled, then let go, shooting heat through her core. His fingers followed, lightly tracing the tender flesh, taunting her to respond. “I don’t want you to lose a single pound.”
“You have the most beautiful heart shaped ass I’ve ever seen,” he whispered as if the twin globes were made of gold. Macy glanced over her shoulder to make sure he wasn’t pulling her leg. His reverent expression said more than any words. Reassured by his accolades, she relaxed against his knee. “It’s so luscious…so mouthwatering…I can’t wait to do this.”
Slap.
“Owww!” Macy balked as his hand smoothed over her buttock, soothing the sting. A small moan slipped past her lips.
I should be humiliated. She wasn’t. Her body buzzed with anticipation.
Without giving her a chance to regroup or even cry mercy, Gideon’s open palm smacked the curved rise of her derriere again.
“Ohhh,” Macy moaned, his stinging slap connecting a little lower this time. Surely she was drowning! A tidal wave of heat was sweeping over her, originating from the hot spot on her bum.
“The way your ass jiggles when I do this turns me on. Why have I never thought of doing this before now?”
Again, he raised his hand and lowered it, harder this time, causing her to jerk and her pussy to bump against his knee. Her shoulders lifted as she inhaled a shaky breath. Warm fluid gushed past her lips to coat her panties and the insides of her thighs.
Who would’ve known spanking could be almost better than sex?
“Have you had enough?” Gideon asked his tone surprisingly even.
Had she had enough? No. The party was just getting started. A conspiratorial smile curving her lips, Macy grabbed the kitchen chair’s cool, metal legs and rocked her hips against his lap, taunting him.
“You’re getting off on this?”
Macy’s nipples prickled at his indrawn breath. She craned her neck to look over her shoulder. He was just as affected. His pupils practically swallowed the golden irises, his high cheekbones were now flushed and his nostrils flared.
“I know you’re calling my bluff, but this…this is an incredible turn-on. And the harder the better—”
Smack.
“Ahh!” Macy gushed. She bowed her head between her arms. Her entire body was on fire, even the tips of her toes.
Smack…smack…smack.
One after the other her punishment fell. Each one deliciously harder than the last, establishing an erotic momentum, a buildup of pressure that had her pitching her hips against him with a single-minded determinedness.
I’m about to lose it! The biting sting of his hand through the thin cotton material of her pencil skirt bore her downward into that familiar realm where she gave up all control and just allowed herself to feel. A euphoric end to what he’d started.
“Spread your legs,” he growled, leveraging her skirt up and over her thighs.
Macy froze. Gideon might have lost his demonic powers, but in some areas he was still deliciously wicked!
She maneuvered her knee to the side, opening her body to him.
Want to read more Carnal Moves? Visit Ellora’s Cave Publishing. Need more TOUGH LOVE? Visit the following author’s blogs/website:
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