Taige Crenshaw Birthday Bash with Lisabet Sarai!

 

A Deeper Need 

By Lisabet Sarai

First of all, let me say: Happy Birthday, Taige! Thanks for inviting me to your party!

Would you like a birthday spanking? ;^)

I want to talk about one of my favorite topics today, namely dominance and submission, sometimes called BDSM or (in the BDSM community itself) power exchange. With the success of FSOG, power exchange stories have become wildly popular, but I've been writing BDSM since my first book, Raw Silk, was published in 1999. My own fascination with the topic is personal rather than market-driven; some of the most intense and meaningful sexual experiences I have ever had occurred in the context of a power exchange relationship. Those experiences changed me forever.

As a practicing submissive, I find that erotic romance (including the all-too-famous trilogy) sometimes treats BDSM rather superficially. Fundamentally, BDSM is not about doing things: spanking, whipping, bondage, forced exhibitionism, or whatever. Power exchange is more a state of being, an ongoing psychic connection between the top and bottom which amplifies sensation and emotion regardless of who is doing what to whom. I know there are some subs who seek pain for its own sake, but I have a deeper need: the need to totally surrender to a powerful other, to trust him (or her) not just with my body but with my spirit. For me, BDSM is transformational and healing, more about devotion and respect, honesty and intimacy, than about pain or even pleasure. Meanwhile, in order to feel whole, a true dominant requires the sub's willing acquiescence to being controlled and used. Complementary needs, complementary fantasies – like pieces of a puzzle, each partner in the power exchange completes the other.

In my new novella Challenge to Him, part of the Tied to the Billionaire Anthology, Andrew and Olivia come from different worlds, but each recognizes that the other can provide the fulfillment for which they hunger. Although they are strangers, their first encounter brings a level of mutual satisfaction of which they'd only dreamed. For these characters, dominance and submission is not a game or a choice. It's part of who they are.

Like me.

 

Challenge to Him by Lisabet Sarai

All the wealth in the world can’t buy willing surrender.

Andrew MacIntyre, heir to a vast empire of railroads, mines and mills, is the second or third richest man in America, and by far the most eligible bachelor among the society folk summering in Newport, Rhode Island. His mother has filled their opulent mansion with marriageable daughters of bankers and industrialists, but Andrew knows none of these callow young women can satisfy his perverse sexual needs. No respectable girl would ever consent to being bound and beaten, to serving and obeying him the way he craves. His money gives him the freedom to purchase anything except his heart’s desire—a submissive partner to share his life.

Independent, progressive and well-educated, labour activist Olivia Alcott has dedicated herself to improving the lot of the workers who toil in the factories that have made Andrew and his class so wealthy. The strike she organises triggers a confrontation between her and the handsome billionaire. Although their disparate backgrounds and values make them natural foes, something stronger draws them to one another—an intuitive recognition of complementary fantasies. Andrew offers Olivia a bargain—better working conditions for the mill staff, in return for a weekend of her unquestioning obedience. Olivia will help him deflect the attentions of the potential mates assembled by his mother, as well as providing more intimate services. Given Olivia’s origins, a more enduring relationship appears impossible—but Andrew is not the sort to give up something he wants.

Excerpt (R)

She wore one of the delicate silk camisoles Andrew had selected for her as they’d passed through the town. Nothing else. The other garments he’d chosen hung in the rosewood wardrobe, all but the ball gown, which would be delivered, the dressmaker had promised, by Saturday noon.

Cocktails would be served at seven, Andrew had told her, and dinner at eight. In the meantime, he’d instructed her to await him here, in her current state of undress.

She’d never even considered disobeying.

Fingers entwined upon her lap, she breathed deeply in a struggle to calm her racing heart. Her nipples knotted against the silk, aching for stimulation. Her sex was as moist as the humid summer afternoon, her juices perhaps staining the pale green satin beneath her bare bottom. No matter. Andrew MacIntyre could afford to replace it.

Her entire body hummed with anticipation. He would be here soon, or so he’d promised, and the waiting would be over. She’d wanted this for so very long—long before she’d encountered the masterful young billionaire. They had not spoken openly of what was to come. She hoped she had not misunderstood his intentions. If she had, she’d die of embarrassment—or disappointment.

With her back to the door, she watched the snowy clouds drift and reform into fantastic shapes. Breathe. Relax. Open. She remembered perfectly, despite the years.

The hinges were soundless, but she sensed his presence as soon as he entered, the new aura of power that shimmered in the room. The lock clicked, shielding them from interruption and preventing any possibility of escape. She swallowed hard. The moment of truth had arrived.

He stood before her, silent, and she bowed her head automatically, her eyes on her clasped hands. Still, she knew he was gazing upon her near-nakedness. She felt the weight of his attention like a physical caress.

“Olivia.” With one word, spoken low and sure, he claimed her. Heat rushed to her pussy and the bed cover grew damper.

“Yes, sir?” It felt easy, natural—as though she’d never stopped.

“On your knees, girl.” She slipped to the rug, boneless and loose already, his to command. Did he find her compliance strange? No matter. She had been right about his desires and that was all that mattered.

“We’ll start slowly, this first time. Don’t be afraid.”

Afraid? The only thing that scared her was the intensity of her own dark desires.

“Crawl to me.”

Eyes on the floor, she made her awkward way towards his mesmerising voice, her heart slamming against her ribs and her sex clenching with want. The smooth wood hurt her knees as she left the carpeted area behind. She ignored—no, welcomed—the pain. The brief chemise left her ass uncovered. Delicious shame washed over her as she realised he could clearly see how wet his orders had made her.

“Stop there and kneel up.” He dragged her sole garment over her head and tossed it away, then circled her body, murmuring further instructions close to her ear. “Cross your hands behind you, at the small of your back. That’s right.” The cord he wrapped around her wrists was cool and smooth, possibly even silk. Perhaps he’d switch to rough hemp when he knew her better. He wound the loops halfway up her forearms, in neat rounds that bit ever so slightly into her skin. “Ah yes! Lovely! Tell me, are the bonds too tight?”

“No, sir, they’re fine.” Should she tell him he could tie her much tighter, if it pleased him?

He skimmed his hands over her shoulders and down to her elbows. His fingers were soft, without the calluses of a working man, and oh, so knowing! Shivers danced up her spine. She straightened her back to present her breasts and parted her thighs as she’d been taught. Oceany musk drifted from her soaked pussy. Her taut nipples throbbed with her pulse. Her clit beat in time. The three swollen nubs made a triangle of need, with her consciousness staked between them, stretched and fragile. One touch to any point and she’d shatter.

*****

Tied to the Billionaire is available now at a special VIP discount from Total-E-Bound: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?P_ID=2243

After August 16th you'll also be able to buy it (at regular price) at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance Ebooks, and all your other favorite on-line stores.

 

About Lisabet

Lisabet Sarai became addicted to words at an early age. She began reading when she was four. She wrote her first story at five years old and her first poem at seven. Since then, she has written plays, tutorials, scholarly articles, marketing brochures, software specifications, self-help books, press releases, a five-hundred page dissertation, and lots of erotica and erotic romance – nearly fifty single author titles, plus dozens of short stories in various erotic anthologies, including the Lambda winner Where the Girls Are and the IPPIE Best Erotic Book of 2011, Carnal Machines. Her gay scifi erotic romance Quarantine won a Rainbow Awards 2012 Honorable Mention.

Lisabet has more degrees than anyone would ever need, from prestigious educational institutions who would no doubt be deeply embarrassed by her chosen genre. She has traveled widely and currently lives in Southeast Asia with her indulgent husband and two exceptional felines, where she pursues an alternative career that is completely unrelated to her creative writing.

For more information about Lisabet and her writing, visit her website

(http://www.lisabetsarai.com) or her blog Beyond Romance (http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com)