Callie and Theo, New Year’s Eve

I’m catching up on year-end admin stuff today but I wanted to share with you an excerpt from Five Nights of Yes, Ma’am between Callie and Theo and how they are spending New Year’s Eve together. Writing as Mercy Denton, Five Nights of Yes, Ma’am is one of two books I published this year but this book means a lot to me and I love how much readers have connected to this story.
I hope 2026 brings you amazing reads and all your heart desires.

 

From Chapter 15, FIVE NIGHTS OF YES, MA’AM by Mercy Denton
To see how the story started buy Five Nights of Yes, Ma’am here: https://books2read.com/u/baJ66y

 

My vagina still tingles from the orgasms I had while pegging Wolfie.
I’m blown away by how he dove in, fully accepting this was happening, and offered me his unfiltered trust.
But that’s this gentle, kind man.
He doesn’t play games.
His actions have shown me he means what he says… so why do I feel this fractured?
I don’t want to hurt him, and my track record with past relationships would say that there is no way this ends without heartbreak.
He’s curled up on his side, looking all adorable and sleepy, and after the performance he just gave me back there, he definitely deserves his rest.
I reach for my phone, scrolling through messages I missed. Aunt Millie sent me pics of Daphne at dinner with the kids.
My heart twists, happy for my sister.
For all these months, Daphne getting healthy and things going back to normal is all I wanted.
Then why do I feel like I’m losing my mind, now that it’s happening?
Needing to do something, I grab the cleaning supplies under the sink and march into the bathroom.
From the hall closet, I grab a toy cleaner from my stock.
My hand shakes as I detach the dildo from the harness, remembering how Theo felt beneath me.
His sexy back, flexing, as shivers rippled through his muscles, the clench of his ass, the movements pressing against my clit… I shake off the memory and concentrate on cleaning the toys.
That task finished, I gather all the debris in the bathroom, including the kids’ toys, and throw it all in a basket.
Then I spray down the shower and tub, spray down the sink and the mirror.
Under the bathroom sink, I find toilet bowl cleaner and then spray it furiously until the toilet is covered with foam.
I grab a clean sponge and start scrubbing.
It’s ridiculous, but hot tears are stinging my eyes.
There is no reason why I should be crying right now. I had the best sex of my life, like I do every time with Theo.
The fumes make my nostrils hurt.
“Callista?” Theo leans against the doorway, his arms crossed in front of his chest, his cock half hard.
“Hey.” I glance up from my scrubbing.
“I think you have covered every surface with some type of cleaner.” His lips are upturned in a wry smile.
“Wanted to be thorough.” I cough and can’t stop coughing.
Theo steps into the bathroom, holds out his hand. “I’ll finish here.”
“You don’t have to.” But I put my hand in his. He grabs it, helps me to my feet and walks me out of the room, his hand presses on my back, he guides me to the kitchen and gets me a glass of water.
I drink until the scent of the cleansers is dislodged. “Thanks.”
“Is there a reason why you’re scrubbing the heck out of the bathroom on New Year’s Eve?” His grey eyes glint with amusement.
It makes me want to kiss him.
So I step into his space, put my hand on his bare chest and kiss him and nibble his lower lip, making him groan.
“Something to do.” I mumble.
“Sorry I fell asleep on you.”
“You needed rest. That was quite a workout.” I run my fingers over the bite mark on his shoulder, watching him flinch, yet he leans into me, his breath hitching.
I press harder, feeling the tense ripples of his muscles under my touch.
“Yes, it was.” His strong hands slide down to my waist, pulling me against his chest. I let him embrace me, melting against him.
He so good, and I press my face into his warm skin, he breathes a soft groan.
“What is bothering you?” He rubs little circles on my back, easing more of my tension. I could brush him off and tell him nothing.
That’d be the easy way out.
But this boy has given me so much vulnerability and shown me so much strength, that I can’t help but give him the same in return.
Even if I don’t like the thoughts in my head.
“Guess I’m feeling on the cusp. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I want Daphne to come back and be healthy and resume her life again, but now that we’re close to that… I’m happy, really, but it feels…”
“It’s that unknown feeling?”
I glance up at his face and see no judgement, just calm acceptance. “Yes. I don’t like that feeling.”
“Because that means you’re not in control.” He brushes a thumb along my jaw with such tenderness, I want to weep.
“I’m not that great at cleaning.”
His mouth twitches. “I know that about you. I think I should go clean it up before the chemicals decide to react or something.”
“I think that’s a very good idea,” I brush my hand along his pecs, just because I want to touch him.
“Did you think this is how we’d spend New Year’s, with me cleaning your bathroom?” He grins and gives me a little butt shimmy.
“I’m a lucky woman,” I press a kiss to his lips. He kisses me back, with one of those growly noises, and then I can’t help it. I pull his head closer, slam my lips against his, deepening the kiss, tasting every inch of his mouth. His cock rises between us.
“Later,” I give him a quick little pat as he heads toward the bathroom.
“Yes, Ma’am, I can’t wait.”
I laugh, and the sadness I was feeling lifts away.
That’s one of my favourite things about Theo: the boy makes me laugh.
I change into a comfy pair of leggings and a sweater and pause by the bathroom to admire Theo’s strong arms flexing as he wipes down all the surfaces. “There, that’s done.”
“Thank you, boy. It looks great.”
A knock sounds on my door. I had almost forgotten about the food I had ordered.
“How’s it going out there?” I ask, taking the bags from Allie’s brother.
“The rain is starting to change to freezing, but the tips have been good tonight. I’m not complaining!”
I pay for the food, close the door with my foot, and take the bags to the table.
“That smells amazing.”
“Wait until you try it.”
We unpack the food, exchanging smiles with each other as we plate. “You would be with your brothers if you weren’t here?”
“Yeah, but I talked to them all earlier. Noel isn’t at Evan’s. I’m not the only brother missing.”
“Try this.” I lift chopsticks to his mouth, feeding him a bite of the spicy shrimp.
His eyes water, but the sound of pleasure he makes has me reaching out to squeeze his ass.
“That’s good.”
“We’re full of hidden gems in this small town.” We bring the food into the living room and sit down together on the floor.
I feed him again, my arm brushes against his, and a rush of desire coils deep inside me, fueled by the heat of his gaze on me.
“Do you feel like you should be there with them?” I shift slightly, ignoring the building ache between my thighs. Later.
“No. When Noel had just lost his wife, we all stayed close, but he seems to be in a better place now. Last time I spoke with Noel, I brushed off his accusation that there was anything between us. Not because I want to hide you…”
“You told Hunter about me.”
“Yes, I’m closest to Hunter. I guess I wanted Noel’s focus on helping with the legal stuff for Shel’s not on our relationship. Maybe I just wanted to keep it to myself. But I did tell my parents.”
The sly smile he gives pulls at my heart.
“Yeah?”
“Yes. They’re happy that I found a relationship. I told Jayden and Alex, they’re the senior members of my team.”
“I don’t have to worry about a work wife?” I tease, brushing my fingertips along his arm.
He blushes, shaking his head. “No. Jayden is very happy with her wife. She thinks it’s about time I had a relationship instead of—”
“What?”
Theo shrugs. “Casual dates that don’t last,” he leans his head on my shoulder, and I slide my palm on his leg.
“I think we can both leave that behind going into the New Year.”
“Oh yes, Ma’am.”
I kiss him, tasting chili on his lips. My hand taps his half-hard cock. “It’s going to be a very good year.”
We seal the words with a long, sweet kiss.
My pussy is throbbing, wanting more.
I kiss him until my lips are swollen. I pull him to his feet, leave him standing there, and then I stride over to the armchair. I toss my clothes off, sit and spread my legs.
The heat of his eyes on me makes my clit throb. I pop a leg on each armchair and drag my finger through my clit.
“This is what you do to me. Show me how much you want to be inside of me, Wolfie.”
“Yes, Ma’am!” He basically jumps across the room, kneels between my legs, his hands resting on top of my shins. He parts my labia with a cool, gentle touch.
“Hands behind your back.”
His grey eyes are smoky with desire as he meets mine. He laces his hands behind his back.
The way he obeys makes me so pleased. So turned on by his submission.
“Anything for you, Ma’am.” His voice is deep, husky, and I lift my hips off the chair in response.
He presses his nose to my seam. I can’t help but moan at the first stroke of his tongue. It’s methodical, so gentle I want to climb out of my skin.
I grab his hair. “Pick up the pace, Wolfie.”
His laughter sends vibrations hitting my clit. But he gets on with it, sucking, lapping, licking, driving me wild with every tease, every pull of his tongue.
“Boy!” My muscles tense like a bow, waiting to be set free, the pleasure hums through my body. He takes my clit in his mouth, sucks hard.
I’m damn close. I want this orgasm so much, but I press my legs against his face and with my fingers still entwined in his hair, I pull up.
The boy takes direction well, because he lets go of my clit but keeps lapping.
“More! I’m almost there!”
My legs are shaking against his face.
Oh my God, I’m so close to coming, the vibrations build up even more, tingles flare across my skin as my need grows and as he works his tongue, it feels like liquid lightning up my core.
“Theo, Theo, Theo!” I gasp out his name as the orgasm pulls me under, sizzling pleasure swimming through my veins. I’m floating in space, nothing matters except this wave that I’m riding. I lean my head back in the chair.
His hot mouth is still on my pussy, licking me with short strokes that make me tremble.
“Come here, boy.” My tone is gravelly. I guide Theo’s hard cock, loving his whimper as I put his dick exactly where I want it, right in my pussy.
The chair shifts below us.
“I think it’ll hold us.”
“I don’t know.” Theo brushes his warm lips against my cheek.
“Do you doubt me?” His eyes widen at my change of tone, but I have a relentless desire for what’s between us to be real. I want all the evidence I can soak in to squash the doubts in my head once and for all.
“I would never doubt you, Callista.” He rubs his lips against my cheek. I believe him with my whole heart.
I want this man so much that it hurts. I want to take care of him and treasure him and eat food with him on my living room floor every day.
“Good.”
“The structural integrity of this chair from the seventies, however,” Theo snuggles against my neck, setting off a new wave of heat that arrows to my pussy.
I laugh. “It’s probably from the fifties, actually.”
“I think we’re good though.”
“Oh boy, we are very good,” I purr against his ear. I slide my hands down his waist, drawing him tight against me, feeling the heat of him as I line him up.
When he’s hit the right spot, I rise, slowly at first, and lower myself with deliberate control on his iron cock.
His groan is all guttural, making me want more.
“You stay right there and let me do the work. I’m taking what I want.”
And I do, pushing myself up and down, claiming control.
“Yes, Ma’am,” he grits out through clenched teeth.
The ache is delicious as I rise on his cock again, the sensation almost unbearable.
The stretch burns as I slam down again and fuck, I don’t want this to end.
I love teasing him. I love rubbing my pussy against his cock. I love how tense he is, as if he’s holding his breath, not wanting to disappoint me.
His brows furrow, his muscles strain with the effort it is taking for him not to move, and that’s pleasing me, coating my veins with approval.
I grind myself on his throbbing cock, and this is exactly how I want it.
“Your cock feels amazing. I love watching how the tip of your cock disappears into my pussy.”
He lets out a low moan. His eyes are hazy, and I laugh and kiss him.
As my lips meet his, he responds instantly, all that pent-up passion erupting as his lips crash into mine, fierce and unrelenting. I rock forward, digging into his shoulders, and slam myself down on his cock/
“Oh, fuck, Ma’am!” He closes his eyes, and I thrust my hips forward.
“Take me, Theo. Show me how much you want me.”
His eyes open, and they gaze at me with such love and need and want, I lose my breath. His cock moves in me, slow at first as he thrusts deep, then he lifts me up, shifts me forward, and he’s pumping into me, so powerfully I feel stretched to my limit.
It’s exactly what I want. I snake my hand to his neck, feeling the pulse of his heartbeat beneath my fingers as I give it a firm squeeze.
He might be fucking me, but every inch of him inside me is at my command, every movement controlled by my touch.
Our moans collide, hot and breathy, filling the air as we rock together. The chair creaks under us. Every thrust of his cock makes me burn for him, sending my pleasure soaring.
“Deeper, Wolfie! Harder!”
He grunts, thrusting deeper, sweat slick on his chest.
I’m going to explode. “Now Theo! Come in me right now!”
He pants against my ear, thrusts once more, so hard the chair vibrates under us. “Callista! You’re beautiful!”
His eyes close tightly, his body tensing as he lets out his release. I clench around his softening cock, feeling him jerk beneath me, a whimper escaping his lips.
“Good boy, Wolfie.” I kiss chin, his ear, under his eyes, his jawline. He drops his head to my chest, sighing like a contented wolf.
The chair squeaks at that moment.
Theo untangles himself, lifts me up just in time, because the back leg of the chair breaks off.
“It almost held,” Theo grins.
“It was so worth it,” I laugh, and catching sight of the time, I sling an arm around him. “We’re just in time for the countdown.”
Theo grabs his phone from the corner of the coffee table and finds the ball drop feed.
“Here we go.” He nuzzles against me, placing his chin in the crook of my clavicle.
“Five.” My voice breaks on the word.
“Four.” He holds my hand.
“Three.” We say together.
“Two,” Theo whispers.
“One!” I lift his chin to mine, kiss him.
He drops his phone, wraps his arms around me and we sway together, our lips fused.
My cheek is wet with tears when I break off the kiss, but I wipe them away with the back of my hand. Theo glances away, pretending he doesn’t notice.
I start to gather the plates, and Theo chips in and silently we clean the space. After the dishes are in the sink, I press the palm of my hand to his ass and push him towards the bedroom.
“Let’s start the New Year how I intend to spend it… with you in my bed.”
Theo shimmies his hips, making me laugh, and we tumble onto the bed.
“Happy New Year, Callista,” Theo says.
“Happy New Year, boy.”
I don’t know what this year is going to bring, but I know I don’t want it to be without him.

continue the story here

Happy Release Day!

Flame For Always is out now and available on all retailers!

I hope you love Ella and Zee’s story. It’s the last book in the Bandit Brothers Series and I am so thrilled to share it with you! If you’ve been with me from the very beginnng or if you are new to my world, thank you for hanging with me.

Flame For Always is now available

A sizzling BDSM romance where desire and trust are tested like never before

For decades, serving as Zee’s submissive has given Ella Ridell peace, purpose, and fulfillment.

She can’t imagine living any other way. Together, they’ve built a thriving life and community as owners of Club Bandit, a private BDSM club.

But when Zee takes on a new job and danger follows them home, Ella finds herself questioning the balance they’ve always shared.

Can she say yes to the new roles life demands or will the foundation of their love be tested like never before?

Flame for Always is the deeply sensual finale of the Bandit Brothers Series, a celebration of a love that burns hotter with age, a love that always endures.

Buy Flame For Always 
https://books2read.com/flameforalways

 

Bare and Frosty

At least that’s how it looks around here. For the last few weeks, I’ve been overhauling my website and I figured it’s past time for an update on the blog. I don’t mind this bare minimum look, that’s my goal for the next few months heading into the new year –

Okay, aesthetics aren’t my thing, clearly but I like to think that I have become better at graphics since 2021.

And yes, as a reader, I prefer less clutter on the screen, but I am not my reader (thankfully) and I realize I need to jazz this space up a little and at the very least, put new  “Here’s my book” pages up. I’ll get to it.

-not the full year, just the first handful of months. I have re-arranged my universe to take time to play with a new series. Because when one series ends… that’s what happens.
Something new.
And I’m really excited to dive in.

I’m starting to get lured in by this new world.

I wrote the Bandit Brothers Series because they were books I wanted to read:
Characters not new to kink. 
Emotional story lines. 
Side of suspense that made you turn the page.
Canadian settings. 

It’s been immensely fun and quite a ride.

This time, I’m writing the books I need… maybe I can draw in things from that fictional world into my own, like:

Coming home to lick your wounds. 
Soft place to land. 
Second chances. 
By the sea. 
An old flame still flickering… 
The group that has your back. 
A place that welcomes you, even though all you wanted was to leave… 
Small town. Away from the city.

Stuff like that…

But before I dive into the new world, Mercy’s Sinful Delights has a hold on me.
I go to bed thinking about Hunter, Cyrus and Delaney and then I wake-up thinking about them and I don’t know if I have had characters that are so utterly demanding and loud before, not quite like this. There is something about this trio and they are demanding to have their story told.

So in-between making merry and bright, I am scrambling down words, with the clock in the background… And this is why the Sinful Delights Series is currently out of kU. I don’t have an exact release date for the final book in the Sinful Delights Series (oh, and you know, other writerly business things also made the decision to leave kU with these books).

Five Days of Christmas Spice is still free for a little bit longer, on all retailers here: https://books2read.com/FiveDaysOfChristmasSpice and you can pre-order Flame For Always here: https://books2read.com/flameforalways

One of the things I love about writing is how it is an escape to create another reality but there are also other ways I bring this into my life.
This past October, my Mate and I watched the current Great British Baking Show and we are hooked on the Game of Wool: Britain’s Best Knitter and we eat copious amounts of snacks while doing it.
Sometimes your joy is pretending to be pensioners in Tottenham.


Five Nights of Yes, Ma’am is out now!

Happy release day, Theo and Callie! 

I am so thrilled to share Five Nights of Yes, Ma’am with my readers! I hope you enjoy it!

THEO
I’ve spent many nights craving the sweet bliss of surrender, but after my last relationship, I swore I’d never let myself be that vulnerable again.
The wounds are still fresh.
I’d be a fool to hand over my heart—or anything else—again.
Callie.
One look at her, and my cravings don’t just return; they take over.
She makes me ache to kneel.
To serve.
To be hers.
She says the timing is wrong, that her life is too complicated, and that she can only give me flirty texts and whispered fantasies.
I’ll take anything she gives me and do everything she commands.

CALLIE
One minute, I’m lounging on the beach soaking up the sun and the next, I’m back in my small town, drowning in responsibility.
I don’t have time for love, especially after my last relationship left me broken and guarded.
Yet…Theo is everything I could want: attentive, patient, and willing to please.
But long-distance sexts and a few one-night stands are all I can say yes to, for now.
And this sweet boy deserves so much more.
Still…the way he submits…he’s impossible to resist.

Five Nights of Yes, Ma’am is an instant attraction romance between characters in their thirties determined to see if they can make it work despite the timing.
It’s full of heat, features a female-led power exchange, and ends with a swoony, hard-earned HEA.

Available from Amazon, read in Kindle Unlimited or paperback: https://books2read.com/5nights

 

Five Nights of Yes, Ma'am is out today!

 

The whole length

Well, it’s not the white stuff falling but rain and I’ll take it. Like I said over on Mercy’s instagram, I have a to-do list as long as a monster’s c*ck and by now I’ve drank that first cup of coffee and the next one sat cold.

On today’s agenda is reading through the final edit of Five Nights of Yes, Ma’am, the next Mercy Denton book, book three in the Sinful Delights Series. You can pre-order it here and if you want to be the first to  read it, join the ARC team here.

What’s required to be on my ARC Team?

Read the book, review the book. Don’t steal it!

That’s it.

I don’t care how large your following is because sometimes, size doesn’t matter. Matters when it comes to that to-do list however and I need to keep going.

Hoping your Monday is filled with all the caffeine you need!

 

Flame For Keeps: Chapter 1

Today is release day for Flame For Keeps! I wanted to share the first chapter with you. You can read Flame For Keeps on Kobo Plus or buy from the retailer of your choice here: https://books2read.com/flameforkeeps

 

1 JOSIE 

Chefs don’t get hired in the dining room.

Josie Agosti pushed the words from her bestie out of her mind, even if she knew deep in her bones her friend was right.

She shifted in the scooped modern chair, needing to move to relieve the tension in her body after staying up late packing orders for her catering customers.

Her body was protesting the repetitive movement and too much time standing she’d done last night, but her customers relied on her to come through and she wasn’t going to let them down.

She stopped herself from moving the fork next to the knife. It was off by an inch and looked obscenely out of place in the famed seafood fine dining restaurant.

The crystal lights glowed from above, casting a soft spotlight on the polished wooden tables. The little vase of fresh flowers on each table had a star ornament perfect for the season without being overdone.

The wooden beams above created an openness for all this elegance to fit into giving it strong West Coast vibes and, even though she told herself it doesn’t matter, she’d really like to work here.

This restaurant was the kind of place a reservation needed to be made six months in advance, the kind of place celebrities frequented. The butterflies inside her belly were fluttering with nowhere to go. She couldn’t wait to meet with Executive Chef Gregory McNab and accept the job offer.

That’s what’s going to happen, she told herself, as if thinking it could will it into a reality.

***

When Chef McNabb called her out of the blue for an interview, she couldn’t believe her luck and jumped at the chance.

“But how did he get your number?” Josie asked to her friends.

“Does it matter?” Cecilia asked. “Chef McNabb’s restaurant is super intense, Josie. Do you really want that?”

“You know I do.” Josie brushed off the skeptical looks on her friends faces, they knew that working in this kind of restaurant was her dream.

***

She moved the small vase, taking deep breaths to quell her nerves. Josie took the top of the box off the shortbread cookies she’d brought as she saw the Chef’s balding head emerge from the back of the house.

“Ms. Agosti.” Chef McNabb held out his hand. He glanced at her from head to toe, the scrutiny making her sweat. But she shook his hand and tried to smile.

“Your resume is impressive! Graduate of Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver! Staging in Prince Edward Island.” Chef McNabb reached out and took a shortbread cookie from the box.

“Yes, Chef,” Josie said. “I love working with fresh ingredients and seafood. Both those experiences taught me a lot about using the bounty of the waters and making great plates of food.”

“I see. But not a lot of work experience in the kitchen aside from school?”

“I have a small catering business. I’ve cooked for several local celebrities.” She blushed, thinking of Ares Montague’s light green eyes, his striking angular face, and his curly blond hair.

Her tummy flipped flopped, thinking of the last time she saw Ares and turned down his invitation to dinner.

Again.

“You should be proud of your accomplishments, Ms. Agosti. I saw you perform in my kitchen during your bench test, and I loved how calm you were under pressure.”

Even though Chef McNabb had to leave that night, leaving his head chef in charge, Josie got along with the woman, and she knew she’d impressed Chef Paulson. Chef Paulson had been the first female head chef at the famed restaurant, and Josie looked up to her. To cook under her was a dream come true.

Josie smiled at his praise and hope bubbled up inside her. This was it.

Everything she dreamed about was going to happen.

“Thank-you Chef,” Josie said, smiling so wide her lips hurt. She couldn’t wait for him to make her an offer.

Chef McNabb leaned forward and took another shortbread cookie. “But I can’t offer you a job in my kitchen.”

Her smile faded, and her stomach hit the floor.

The chef chewing her shortbread cookie didn’t meet her eyes.

“Oh.” Josie leaned forward, willing herself not to cry. “But you said you were happy with my work.”

“My kitchen is fast-paced. We have thirty-five tables here and they turn over fast from Thursday to Sunday. We do a special feature each Monday, which brings a crowd in and we rarely have a lull. Maybe you should try a different type of restaurant.”

Her cheeks flamed. On Prince Edward Island, she worked for a celebrity chef, never missing a beat. Her references glowed.

“I kept up on service during the bench test,” Josie said.

“That’s true. Priscilla was thrilled with your work.”

Josie felt a flush climb up her neck. “Then why don’t you think I am a good fit?”

Chef McNabb clasped his hands together. “You kept up during one service, but for example, our Sunday brunch is busy and I have concerns about you keeping up all the time. At this high level, we expect consistency. A lot of young chefs have a problem with speed in the kitchen.”

“I can handle the physicality of being a chef,” Josie said. Her face grew hot and she felt about three apples high.

“As I said, maybe you can try for a different type of restaurant, one that is slower paced.” Chet McNabb grabbed another shortbread cookie. “You know, the back of the house isn’t for everyone. You have a pleasant personality. Have you thought of working on the floor? I could use a good hostess as back-up.”

Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. “As you said, I’ve accomplished a lot. I want to work in fine dining.”

“The workplace is often different from what they tell you in school. If you have a little catering business, I would stick to that.”

Josie twisted her hands into fists under the table. Nope, not going to cry. “Can I ask why you brought me in for an interview? You’re the one who called me.”

Chef McNabb picked up another cookie, broke it in half, crumbs dropping on the table. “Ares Montague gave me your number.”

“Ares?” Josie repeated. Her thoughts came to a halt.

“Yeah, we play in the same monthly charity poker game. I mentioned that I was looking for a chef and he said I should give you a call. He’d consider it a favour.” Chef McNabb gave her a smirk. “It’s nice to think he owes me now.”

Ares. Josie bit her tongue because she didn’t want to scream, not here. She felt humiliated enough.

“It was good to see you again, Ms. Agosti.” Chef McNabb stood, extending his hand.

“Thank you for meeting with me,” Josie said. She put the lid back on her shortbread cookies.

“Do you think I can get the recipe for your shortbread?”

“I’ll email it,” Josie said, her voice wobbling. She stood from the table, turned to Chef McNabb but she couldn’t think of anything to say. She knew she’d think of all the things she could have said as soon as she left but right now, words failed her.

He waved to her, and she exited the restaurant.

Outside in the cool drizzle, she took a few deep breaths, her thoughts crowding her mind, walking as fast as she could, stopping when she caught sight of her limp in a shop’s windows. She only ever saw it when other people did and she hated that. Josie closed her eyes against the wave of anger that threatened to spill tears because she knew this wasn’t worth crying over.

She stopped, pulling her cell out of her bag.

“Did you get the job?” Her best friend, Cecilia Yen’s, high voice made her smile.

“Nope. He had concerns about how I could keep up in his kitchen. A lot of young chefs have a problem with the speed of the kitchen. He wondered if maybe I would find being a hostess more enjoyable because I have a pleasant personality.” Her voice cracked, she couldn’t keep it together. she sniffled a sob and wiped at her face.

“You should sue the fucker, go to the press.”

“No, Cecilla. He didn’t say it,” Josie said. She turned left to where she parked her car.

He wasn’t the first person to use her disability as an excuse. Her cerebral palsy affected how she walked, but it didn’t make her incompetent.

“He all but did. What are you doing tonight?”

“I got to get back to the kitchen. I have food to cook.” She was fortunate she had work, and she needed to keep her customers happy.

“I don’t know how you let it roll off your back.”

“I don’t. It hurts, but I can’t do anything about it.”

“You don’t need him or anyone else, Josie. You have a business.”

“I know.”

It was the same thing her mother said about every interview Josie took. Her mom didn’t understand why she wouldn’t stop trying to get a job in a restaurant when her catering business outgrew her mother’s kitchen and she’d become busy enough to hire an assistant. But she couldn’t help but hold the dream she had of working in a fine dining restaurant.

Her ex-boyfriend, Ethan, told her she couldn’t do it and maybe that’s why she kept taking interviews, she needed to prove him wrong.

She thumped her steering wheel with her palm, a wave of anger crashing through her as Chef McNabb’s words registered deeper into her brain. She didn’t need favours.

“I have time to swing by before my shift.”

“Thanks, but I’m okay.” She needed to be alone, to work to drown out her anger.

The fact that Ares did her a favour she didn’t ask for made her blood heat with a simmering rage.

“See you tomorrow night for cat sitting?”

“I’ll be there,” Josie said. As soon as she hung up, her phone buzzed with a text.

[Harper] Hi Josie! I know it’s short notice, but can you bring something by for lunch, for 3pm?

She wanted to deny the request, but Harper was a good friend and the Montagues helped her business grow over the years.

It’s not like she had any good reason to deny it. A lot of her customers asked for on-the-spot lunches and she always had something ready to go.

No problem!

If Ares thought that she needed help, she was going to show him that she didn’t, thank you very much.

Before pulling out of the parking lot to make her way back to the restaurant she rented space in, she called her assistant.

“Hey, Josie. How did Chef Alphahole go?”

Josie grinned. “He’s not…okay, he kind of is. He doesn’t want me.”

“You don’t need him,” Avery said.

“So everyone keeps telling me. I’m on my way back, but I got a last-minute lunch request for Axis Management. Can you put together three lunch bowls? The salmon bowl was a hit last time, so let’s send those.”

“Not a problem.”

“Good. See you in thirty.”

Josie sighed, reached over, and brought up her playlist. With Avery taking care of the delivery, at least she didn’t have to see Ares Montague and could put him out of her mind.

***

Flame For Keeps

A determined woman. A man with a mission. A love worth fighting for.

Josie

With a thriving catering business, Josie Agosti doesn’t have time for love. Especially when it comes to her friend, Ares Montague.

He’s ten years her senior, a billionaire, and CEO of his own company.

She’s disabled and lives with her mother.

Josie has no idea what her friend sees in her but Ares’s determination and focus rivals her own.

Unable to deny the sparks between them any longer, Josie soon discovers the truth about her own limits…and about the man she thought she knew…

Ares

For Ares, loyalty is king in all things. There is no line he won’t cross to keep his brother, and the company they built together safe.

Now that he finally has the woman of his dreams, he’s determined to give her the pleasure and love he knows she deserves.

If only Josie can accept the truth about how far he’ll go to protect those he loves.

When danger threatens to destroy everything they’ve built together, Ares must decide where his loyalty truly lies….

Can Josie accept the darkness that surrounds her? Or will Ares lose more than just his company?

Flame For Keeps is the latest installment of the Bandit Brothers Series and can be read as a standalone. This steamy tale of romance has rope play and a heavy dose of suspense and ends in a HEA.

The thing about help, disability and kink

Those who know me well, think that it’s ironic that I wrote a whole series centering the damsel-in-distress-trope, but the thing is? I love this trope. I’m always trying to up the stakes in the suspense plots, to push the boundaries of realism, to make it even harder for my characters to untangle themselves on the way to the HEA

When it came to writing Ares and Josie, I wanted to make sure that it was the situation that caused her the distress. I wanted to write the story in a way that made it clear Ares was not out to save her from the perceived distress of being disabled.

I needed Josie’s autonomy respected. I needed her to stand up for herself and call people out on the toxic offers of help.

And even though Ares was going to be a forceful part of rescuing Josie, he needed to be the kind of Dom that listens. Actually respects boundaries instead of running them over. He needed to support her, offer that support in a way that could be refused.

It might be Ares’s nature to try and fix things for her, to make her life easier, to offer her help but Josie knows her own mind and just because she’s disabled, doesn’t mean she needs to be saved from her disability.

The thing about putting “help” in a kink setting is that help has to be consented to, even if the character has a disability. The boundary held and respected. When you put offers of help in that kind of setting in shines a light on how helpful help actually is…

Maybe it was my wishing for that (“help” being offered in a way that can always be refused, not with the expectation that it is accepted just because it was given) to be an every day experience that brought this forth – and I’m okay with that.

Flame For Keeps is out tomorrow.

 

candles on beach

 

 

An HEA With A Disability

“It’s simply an accident of birth that I’m not even more important.”- Hyacinth Bucket [Keeping Up Appearances] 

 

This snowy Monday morning, I’m thinking about the accident of birth. About taking chances, even so. Keep going when the chips are down, that kind of thing.

For no reason at all.

This week, with the release of Flame For Keeps, I’m doing something I never thought I’d do.

At one point, I never thought this book would get into the hands of readers and I might have screamed into the void.

When expectations don’t meet reality, it can take a bit to get over it and get on with it and with the release of Flame For Foe, that’s what happened. Readers had asked me for a book about Quinn’s little sister ever since she first appeared in Flame For Two. So I expected the release to go well.

It didn’t.

I got my first ever hate mail about a fictional character. A neurodiverse character, who acted like a neurodiverse human didn’t find the warm reception I thought she would. But I love that book and the readers who love Flame For Foe love it and I write for readers who want my books about power exchange relationships with messy characters and spicy times (my unofficial tagline).

But Flame For Keeps was drafted. If readers didn’t like Flame For Foe…how were they going to react to a book with a disabled FMC? I didn’t have my armor patched up well enough to find out and I needed a break from from the Bandit Brothers world, so I paused all projects though I did go back in and lightly edit a few books and I think there was a cover change in there…

So I launched a pen name and released three books before I went back to the Bandit Brothers world. Because Ares deserves a HEA and Josie has been one of those side characters ever since the series started and their story wouldn’t leave me alone.

“Change her…so she doesn’t have a disability.” went through my mind but I couldn’t. Didn’t want to.

Throughout those cameo appearance Josie shows up with mobility aids…except for in Flame For Foe and she as an internal as to why that is…so to change her from being a disabled character to not just because I was a scaredy cat over it? I couldn’t do it.

Besides, there’s a part of me that needs this character with her disability to be in this series and I kind of love her.

But I never thought I would write a character that shares things in common with myself, in this way.

For over a decade I have written about disability and kink in other places before becoming a romance writer, but this felt too raw, too personal. In writing Josie, I had to separate fact from fiction My own lived experiences from my character’s and in doing so, brought me to confront how inexplicably background, socioeconomic status, molds one’s experience of being disabled.

This might be the book that caused the most self-reflection yet and it was hard to write through it at times.

But Josie gets her HEA, the Bandit Brothers Series has another book and I’m going to keep on writing, despite everything. Many thanks to the readers who have waited for this book and have kept me writing.

flame for keeps

 

Almost Book Release Time!

I was trying to be clever and write, “It’s Beginning to Look Like Book Release Time!” but the titling looked strange on the post and I couldn’t quite pull it off. My coffee is cold and I need another sweater on or a blanket, I’m not picky.

It started snowing properly and hasn’t stopped and I guess that is right on time and also too late so I can’t really complain…but about the cold? I always will.

In the Bandit Brothers world, Josie and Ares’s book is almost out! I can’t wait for readers to read this one.

I hope you love it. This book took a long time to get to you and I am grateful for your patience.

You can pre-order Flame For Keeps  by clicking here: https://books2read.com/flameforkeeps

 

 

 

Ares and Josie

 

 

promo for Flame For Keeps

Two Teasers for this #TeaserTuesday

Is it still fun?

Someone asked me if writing books was still fun now that I have ….10 out.

Yes! 

I mean, not very day is perfect and I wish that my backlist was even bigger because apparently I have decided it’s okay to be literary greedy and I struggle with all the things that I have always struggled with and sometimes when that’s in a pool of my peers it makes me feel like I can’t or shouldn’t be doing this but then a reader reaches out to me and says how much they loved the newest bonus scene or they can’t wait for Ares and Josie’s book or they ask me about being on Mercy’s ARC Team…and then I think of more stories I want to tell and share and write more outlines when I should be editing…

So yes, fun.

On to the teasers! 

You can preorder Flame For Keeps here:

Kobo Canada: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/flame-for-keeps

Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/flame-for-keeps

Amazon US: https://amazon.com/dp/B0CR9DGDQ7

promo for Flame For Keeps
Flame For Keeps is the only book I have written, where there is no power dynamic. There’s kink: rope play and wax play but no outlined power dynamic relationship.
This is when I realized that a lot of the books in the Bandit Brothers Series focus on the D/s/ power exchange and have a side of kink along with a side of suspense.
Though Ares considers himself a Dom, he is definitely not 24-7 because he has to be in control so much, all the time due to the demands of his job and the required energy it takes to be his brother’s keeper, what he wants in a partner is someone he can give to. So I purposely wrote it as two people agreeing to spicy play as part of their relationship…even though Ares tells Josie that he is bossy 🙂 She uses his name, doesn’t call him “sir” and he takes care of her in the green flag ways that tug at your heartstrings …. well, #goals.
Maybe Mercy’s books have influenced me…except my plan for Ares was always to have him be a soft Dom….
In Five Days to Be Mine, Evan is the guy you can take home to mom. This story is spicy and sweet and one of my favourites that I have ever written. Five Days to Be Mine is in KU.
five days to be mine by mercy denton in kinndle unlimiteed