Title: The Gilded Cuff
Author: Lauren Smith
Series: Surrender Series Book 1
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Genre: Contemporary
Every passion has its
price . . .
Journalist Sophie
Ryder has been following Emery Lockwood’s story since she was a little girl.
There has always been something in his haunted eyes that she couldn’t resist
and now, when she’s certain he holds the key to solving a string of
kidnappings, she’ll do anything to speak to him. Even if it means venturing
deep into the seductive world of the Gilded Cuff, a luxurious BDSM club on Long
Island’s Gold Coast and Emery’s personal playground.
From the moment Sophie
enters his shadowy, sensual domain, Emery Lockwood knows this tantalizing new
little sub was meant to belong to him. However, Sophie wants more from Emery
than just pleasure . . . she wants his past. And that is something he isn’t
willing to give—no matter who is asking. But every moment he spends with
Sophie, Emery feels his control slipping and he knows it’s only a matter of
time before he surrenders to her heart, body, and soul.
About Lauren Smith:
 |
| Lauren Smith, Author |
Amazon best-selling author Lauren Smith is an attorney by day,
author by night, who pens adventurous and edgy romance stories by the light of
her smart phone flashlight app. She’s a native Oklahoman who lives with her
three pets—a feisty chinchilla, sophisticated cat and dapper little schnauzer.
She's won multiple awards in several romance subgenres including being an
Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award Quarter-Finalist and a Semi-Finalist for
the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award.
Excerpt:
Emery held still, didn’t make a sound or move until she opened
her eyes. When she did finally look up at him, he dropped his head a few
inches, his nose touching hers, nuzzling her cheek.
“I’m not like other men, Sophie. Scars are a sign of strength,
survival. Someday you’ll be brave enough to show me, and I’ll prove you have
nothing to be ashamed of. Now, I am willing to accept the deal you proposed.
Are you willing in return?”
She bit her lip. It had been her idea; she had to see it
through. She wanted to see it through, even if it scared the living daylights
out of her.
“Yes. I’ll do it. Your story, my submission.”
He kissed her with raw possession, his mouth showing her how
wicked it would be between them. Wild, dark, and completely free. She wanted
that more than anything, the freedom to let go, to give in to the erotic dreams
she’d spent years ignoring but never had felt safe enough to give in to before.
His kiss broke down every barrier, obliterated every part of herself she tried
to hide. Sophie lifted her chin, offering him her mouth, pleading for him.
Emery drew a quick breath, eyes widening before his lashes fell to half-mast,
his gaze drawn to her lips.
When he took her lips, he dominated her with the depth of his
claiming. She breathed him in, like drawing the first heavy breath upon waking
from a thousand-year sleep. Sophie came alive in that single moment. The woman
she’d been all these years since losing Rachel, the scared little girl fighting
against the evils in the world, was gone. In her place was the woman she’d
always wanted to be, a woman not afraid to live her life. She couldn’t shut
this man out like she had her other friends or her family. No. He demanded she
give in to him. Electric tingles pulsed outward from the places they touched,
setting her senses on fire, fogging her mind. His kiss consumed her—enveloping
her until she was lost, set adrift in a haze of desire, longing, and aching.
She felt his mouth tremble against hers; he seemed to strain to
keep his possession under control, to bank the fires of his passion. His tongue
slipped between her lips, thrusting in time with the rocking of his hips
against hers in tiny circles. He gave up his control and took her over. His
body weighed hers down, his hips rocking into hers. He could have done anything
to her in that moment, and she’d have agreed to it. Sophie’s inner muscles
clenched, empty and wet, yearning for him, but it was his kiss that was her
downfall—almost brutal with craving, as though he was a thirsty man savoring
his first sip of water from her mouth. All his focus, all his energy seemed to
be on her, on her lips.
He tore his mouth from hers, panting roughly. He cursed savagely
and withdrew his hands from her body. She blinked in surprise when she realized
his hot hands had slid up her outer thighs beneath the mini-skirt. Her chest
heaved, her breasts dangerously close to escaping the confines of her corset.
Emery’s eyes slowly tracked down from her mouth to her breasts. With a rakish
grin he pressed his mouth lightly on the tops of the creamy swells, his tongue
darting out as he licked and nibbled a path back up to her lips. He paused,
then feathered his lips at the corner of her mouth and brushed his nose against
hers playfully.
Sophie whimpered at the loss when he finally drew his head back.
It felt like good-bye, but that was foolish; she’d only just met him and agreed
to surrender to him. They couldn’t be done.
Emery sighed, his breath uneven against her temple. His body
stiffened above hers.
“Go home, Sophie. Forget me, this place. Let it be a peculiar
dream, nothing more. I’m not the man for you.” His voice was harsh.
“No,” she whispered fiercely, but she wasn’t as sure of herself
as she had been. She’d expected a spanking, some rough kissing. She hadn’t
expected to feel so vulnerable and exposed by a man taking control of her body
and owning her completely in a mere few minutes.
“You think you can really survive this lifestyle for even one
minute? You’re vanilla, sweetheart. You wouldn’t ever let me tie you up and
take you the thousand ways I’d like to. You’d cry when my hand came down on
your ass in punishment. You’re not ready for this.”
She shook her head, furiously fighting off the swell of tears as
her throat constricted. He and he alone had offered her what her secret dreams
and longings had called for night after night. The phantom lovers that had
tormented her to the brink of violent need in her dreams could never compare to
the very real and very heavy weight of his body on hers at that moment. The
devastation of that perfect kiss couldn’t be undone. The story could wait…but
the need…the desperation to feel alive again…she couldn’t let go of
that, not yet.
“No. Take me home with you.” She paused, calculating each word.
“Please, Sir.” She was begging. There was no doubt about it for either
of them, and as shocked as she was by her own impulse to beg, she prayed he’d
let her go with him.
Emery’s lips twisted into a crooked smile. For a moment, she saw
the boy in him, the one he’d been before his world had been utterly destroyed.
The child wasn’t gone, wasn’t dead. Buried yes, but not dead. He threaded a
hand through his hair and remained silent for moment. Shadows of doubt and
indecision danced across his face before he finally replied.
“How can I resist?” Emery lifted himself and hauled her to her
feet.
Sophie winced. Her back was bruised after lying on the stone
floor beneath him. She hadn’t minded at the time—her body had been distracted
by a thousand other things. But now her shoulder blades and hips screamed in
protest. Emery took her into his arms, rubbing her back, massaging it with
knowing hands.
“Come, I’ll summon my driver.”
“Okay.” She tried to remain calm. She was going home with Emery
Lockwood. One of the richest men in America
Ten Fun Facts about the
Author:
1) I'd love to learn to speak Russian
2) I've studied abroad in the following
countries: France England Spain China
3) I took 12 years of French.
4) I wrote my first story in 3rd grade.
5) I read the Hound of the Baskervilles in 4th
grade and it actually gave me nightmares.
6) I have attended midnight release parties for books 4-7
of the Harry Potter series.
7) I have three pets, a black schnauzer, a cat
and a chinchilla
8) I have petted a baby panda
9) My grandfather (my father's father) helped
engineer the Keystone Damn in Oklahoma
10) My grandfather (my mother's
father) lived in a log cabin in rural Nebraska
