It's been far too long since I've checked in here. But I wanted to give you a sample of WITHOUT RESTRAINT, my August book from Berkley Sensation. Look for it August 4. It's available for pre-order at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
By the way, this excerpt is NOT for people under 21. If that is you, please go take a look at this cat video. :)
The first novel in the explosive new Southern Shield series from New York Times
bestselling author Angela Knight explores the intoxicating games
between a female cop and a Navy SEAL—and the killer instincts of a
secret enemy watching every move they make.
Atlanta deputy Alexis Rogers and Navy SEAL Frank Murphy know all about power and restraint, necessary force, and pushing their limits. When they meet in the darkness of a BDSM club, their skills are put to use. With each successive night comes a new adrenaline rush, and while they’re falling into something perilously close to love, their games are still too private, too extreme, and too daring ever to be exposed.
But their intimate lives are upended when a fellow deputy of Alex’s is killed. It’s not a tragic hazard of the job. It’s cold-blooded murder. And he’s not the last to be taken out. Now Alex and Frank have found themselves more vulnerable than ever—and exposed to a killer with a twisted vendetta who turns desire into the most dangerous sensation of all.
Atlanta deputy Alexis Rogers and Navy SEAL Frank Murphy know all about power and restraint, necessary force, and pushing their limits. When they meet in the darkness of a BDSM club, their skills are put to use. With each successive night comes a new adrenaline rush, and while they’re falling into something perilously close to love, their games are still too private, too extreme, and too daring ever to be exposed.
But their intimate lives are upended when a fellow deputy of Alex’s is killed. It’s not a tragic hazard of the job. It’s cold-blooded murder. And he’s not the last to be taken out. Now Alex and Frank have found themselves more vulnerable than ever—and exposed to a killer with a twisted vendetta who turns desire into the most dangerous sensation of all.
###
As Frank stared in stunned hunger, she balanced on first
one foot, then the other to slip off the fuck-me heels. “I want you to prove
you can master me. Two out of three falls.”
It wasn’t that unusual for a sub to undress at a BDSM
party; half the women here weren’t wearing a stitch. But Frank hadn’t expected
Alex to strip before they’d even finished negotiating.
He watched hungrily as she rolled the stockings down the
sleek muscle of thigh and calf. However he’d thought their first scene would
go, this wasn’t it. “Two out of three falls? Are you suggesting some kind of
fight?” He didn’t fight women. Not if he could help it anyway; sometimes the
women had other ideas.
“More like a practice bout. No punches, kicks, or choke
holds—you’d kill me.” Alex sounded utterly matter-of-fact about the whole
thing. “Just joint locks and throws. And pins. Loser taps out of the hold.” She
looked up from rolling the other stocking down her calf. She’d bent almost
double to do it, making him imagine all the erotic possibilities of a sub that
flexible. “Unless you don’t want to.”
His cock lengthened, on the verge of escaping his
waistband. Frank ignored its dicky demands; he needed to know exactly what she
intended. “So you’re not talking about me actually hitting you? Because there’s
a big difference between flogging somebody with a deerskin cat and punching her
with my fist.”
She snorted. “I have no interest in trading punches with
you, Frank. You’re too far out of my weight class.”
“Yeah, I am. What do I get if I win?” When
he won was more like it; not only was he a SEAL, he outweighed her by a hundred
pounds of muscle. She didn’t have a prayer.
Alex grinned at him as if reading his mind and shifted her
weight, calling attention to those lush female curves. “What do you want?”
“You.” He showed his teeth and let the hunger show.
She smiled. “If you win, you get me.” When his head tilted
in question, she clarified. “Sex. With a condom. However you want it.”
His smile broadened, and he started pulling off his boots. “I’ll
win.”
“Maybe. I don’t intend to make it easy.”
“Good.” After dropping his socks into his boots, he stood,
barefoot. And looked down at her from his seven-inch height advantage. Her eyes
drifted down his bare torso to the fly of his jeans, which bulged from the
pressure of his erection. “Dicks are
off-limits,” he added quickly.
“Well, not completely, I hope.” Alex glanced around before
he could come up with a suitably suggestive response. “Let’s put the mats out.”
Bending, she grabbed one of them to pull it into position in the center of the
room. The sight of her round, perfect ass as she bent made his mouth go dry.
Dragging his attention back to business with an effort, he caught the other mat
and wrestled the bulky thing around beside the first one.
Frank straightened as she stepped onto the padded surface,
falling into an easy crouch that did interesting things to her breasts. He
moved to face her, his attention on those pale globes. Her nipples looked as
pink and tempting as candy.
“What’s your safeword?” He referred to the emergency code a
sub used to let the Dom know something had gone wrong during the scene, whether
physically or mentally.
“Red for stop, yellow for slow down. Green for okay.” The
stoplight system was commonly used because it was so easy to remember. “Stop,”
ironically, was the one word that was never used, mostly because some subs
liked to scream it when what they really meant was “Keep going!”
When he hesitated, Alex smirked. “We going to go, or are
you just going to stand there looking sexy?” She crouched like a knife fighter.
“Oh, we’re going.” Frank felt a hot smile spread across his
face. He’d heard of a lot of inventive ways to play BDSM
games, but this was a variant he’d never tried.
Eyeing her tempting curves, he lunged, meaning to trip her
and pin her to the mat. Shouldn’t take long, he assured his
impatient cock.
Alex stepped to the side, smooth as oiled silk. Before he
could whip around, she seized his wrist, kicked one foot out from under him,
and fell backward, jerking him over. They landed on their backs, Alex at a
right angle to his torso, his captured arm trapped between her strong thighs.
Both hands gripping his wrist, she levered his arm across the fulcrum of her
hips. If she chose, she could easily break his elbow, crippling him
permanently.
And it hurt like a son of a bitch.
He tried to roll toward her, but she had his chest gripped
in her legs. There was no way to reach her in this position, no way to fight
her hold, despite his far greater physical strength. It was a classic Juji Gatame, a combination judo throw and joint lock,
expertly applied.
“What dan black belt are you?”
Despite the painful pressure she was exerting on his elbow, the sensation of
her bare pussy against his trapped arm made his cock jerk.
“Don’t have a black belt,” Alex told him cheerfully. “I’ve
just been studying Krav Maga with Ted for the past five
years.” The deadly fighting style was a hodgepodge of martial arts techniques
from Judo, Karate, and similar fighting systems. Unlike most modern martial
arts, it wasn’t a sport. Israeli commandos had created it for use against
terrorists. If you studied Krav Maga, you weren’t
fucking around.
Alex cranked back on his wrist until the vicious pain
nearly tore a yell from his throat. “Tap out.”
He did, thumping the mat with his free hand despite howls
from his male ego almost as loud as his elbow’s. She released him. As he rolled
to his feet, Alex did the same, meeting his gaze with cool, watchful eyes.
That was when Frank realized this was a test. “Smart.
Better to find out if I’m a hot-tempered prick with twenty people ready to come
running if you scream.”
“Given the towering SEAL thing, yeah. I can handle most
guys, but you’d take me apart.”
That stung. “I don’t hurt women.” Honesty forced him to
add, “Unless they want me to.”
“Sorry, but my last master was an asshat.”
“He the one that demanded you kiss his boots?”
“Among other body parts. I’m afraid I’m not real good at
being anybody’s slave girl.”
Frank unzipped his jeans and stripped them off, freeing his
cock to bob at her. Now as naked as she was, he gave her a slow, hot grin and
gestured for her to come at him. “Let’s find out what you are good at.”
Anything
you want to do, Alex thought, eyes widening.
Naked, he appeared even more powerfully built, between
brawny shoulders, narrow waist, and legs elegant and strong. The thick length
of his cock jutted, its shaft curving upward above the furry, heavy weight of
his balls. Gray eyes glinted at her, hungry and intensely male. His smile shone
white and predatory as he spread muscular arms wide, hands flexed and ready.
Frank had underestimated her once. He wouldn’t be doing that again.
A cautious woman would have hung back, forced him to come
after her. Alex had never been cautious. Sinking into a combat crouch, she
darted in, seeking a grip on his wrist. He knocked her hand aside, pivoting
clear with fluid skill. They circled in a flurry of attacks and blocks,
attempted throws and dodges. She was faster and a bit more agile, but he had
the advantage in reach and strength.
Spotting an opening, he stepped in and hooked a foot behind
her ankle and his arms around her waist. A twist of his hips, and she found
herself flying, held securely in his grip. He hit the ground first, taking the
impact of their landing before rolling over on top of her.
Now she was the one trapped. His long legs coiled around
her calves as he pinned her wrists to the mat. She bucked, writhing against his
hold, but he was too just strong.
Bracing on his knuckles, he reared over her with a hot half
smile. “Tap out.”
His erection pressed into her belly, burning and hard. She
swallowed at the raw eroticism of being helpless, the feral need in his eyes. “Why
should I?”
“So I can put you down again—and fuck you.” Leaning down,
Frank kissed her, his mouth moving over hers in a slow brush of velvet and
heat. His tongue slipped between her lips in an erotic thrust. When he drew
away, his gray eyes gleamed. “Hard and fast and balls deep.”
Alex licked her lips. “Maybe I’ll take you down . . .
and fuck you.”
“Well, as long as one of us gets fucked. Tap out.”
Instead she writhed. Deliberately. Slowly. Mostly to stoke
the heat in that wicked Dom stare, to feel his cock thrust against her belly. “Not
yet. I want to see if I can get loose.”
“You can’t.” He lowered himself on flexing arms until his
mouth hovered a breath above hers. “I’ve got you. You’re mine—if I decide you’re
worth keeping.”
She bared her teeth. Snapped, just short of that taunting
mouth. “You want me to tap out, I’m going to need a hand free to do it.”
He freed one wrist, his gaze challenging. “So tap.”
“Okay.” Quick as a cat, Alex darted a hand between them and
tapped his cock twice. It bounced against her belly, and she wrapped her
fingers around it for a slow, teasing pump. His eyes widened. Glazed, just a
little. “Well?” she breathed. “Think I’m worth keeping?”
Frank growled like a puma, a rumbling note of threat.
Grabbing her hand, he pinned it to the mat and leaned down to seize her nipple
in his mouth. He began to suck, drawing hard, his tongue lapping sensitive
flesh.
Alex moaned at the sweet, swamping lust. “I thought . . .”
she panted, “you wanted to take me down and fuck me?”
“I’ve got you down. Maybe I don’t see any reason to wait on
the fucking.”
I hope you enjoyed it!
Best,
Angela Knight
