Synopsis
Lex Talionis (n.)- The law of retaliation, whereby a punishment resembles the offense committed in kind and degree.
Two wrongs. One right. He met her under the worst circumstances. She was still married. To the man who'd stolen from his company. But none of that would matter, because Chase would have her. At any cost.
To Chase Blaine, it really was that simple. Douglas Colton had stolen millions from Chase’s company. He had to pay. Chase had every intention of cornering the bastard and making sure he ended up in jail.
Then he came face-to-face with Douglas’s wife, Aria. One look at her changed all his plans, warping them into a much darker and perverse plot to get his revenge.
He would offer Douglas his freedom...in exchange for a single date with his wife.
To a man like Chase, a man that hadn’t truly felt emotions in a long time, Aria’s presence soon became more addicting than a drug. A problem considering that she might never forgive him for blackmailing her, despite the fact that at times she seems just as unwillingly fascinated by him as he is by her.
Genre Erotica/ Contemporary Romance
Series Retaliations #1
Publication Date February 14th 2014
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Excerpt #1
Chase’s hands shot up, and he cupped her face between his large palms. The feel of his skin kick started her entire system. She gasped as air rushed through her windpipe. His scent made her throat close right back up.
Her body throbbed.
Painfully.
He pulled her closer, eliminating the last bit of space between them. “Tell me the real reason why.” He took deep breaths, his face tilted toward hers. His eyes probed hers.
Too deep. She couldn’t focus passed that stare—his scent.
“Aria.”
“Chase, I…” She pressed her hands to his chest. She had to push him away. Now.
She couldn’t. Everything inside her was shaken. Everything about her was fluctuating wildly, realigning in ways she couldn’t understand. Her atoms seemed to tremble.
For him. Her body was liquefying for him.
Chase cupped the back of her neck with one hand. His thumb stroked her. The sensation barreled through every nerve ending in her body.
“I wish I was strong enough, Aria. I fucking do,” he mumbled, voice gone hoarse.
Aria didn’t have a chance to ask him what he meant.
He leaned down. For a split second, she was convinced he was going to kiss her.
And she wanted it so fucking bad. Her entire body opened up, softening in preparation for that kiss.
Chase stopped an inch away from her lips, eyes heavy-lidded as he focused on her mouth. He was panting.
She couldn’t think. His full lips were right there. All she had to do was lean up on her toes. Less than an inch and she would know if he tasted as good as he smelled. If those lips felt as good as—
Chase tilted his head and pressed his cheek against hers. He nuzzled her, his jaw sliding across her own with the movement.
Aria stared over his shoulder, trapped by—what? Arousal? Confusion? Disappointment?
Oh God.
He let loose a deep groan that stole all the sensation from her legs. With a gasp, she clutched at his shoulders.
“So warm. Soft,” he whispered, so low she almost didn’t hear him.
Against her God damned will, she felt her focus zero in and become all about him. She had to extricate herself. Get away. But her body wasn’t obeying; her nails had become claws determined to keep him right where he was.
No, Aria. You have to stop this. You have to.
She didn’t want to. She wanted more. More of his scent, his smooth cheek pressed to hers, more of him. His lips. His—
“Ch–Chase.” She pushed at his shoulders. Her attempts were pathetic. Her body wanted, with a desperation it had never wanted with before, and it was determined to have. “I… I…”
Chase’s hand tightened around the back of her neck, holding her still so that he could murmur right up against her cheek. “Aria.”
Fuck. The feel of his lips. His breath.
The freaking way he kept saying her name!
“You have yet to answer my question.” His bottom lip slid across her skin and his tongue touched her as he spoke.
That’s because I can’t, you jackass. Oh, if only those words would leave her mouth.
She had no idea what the answer to his question was. All she knew right then was the feel of his tongue as it flicked her skin. The feeling palpated across her flesh, sliced through the layers, and slid in deep.
She fisted his blazer, feeling faint. Suddenly, he backed her up, driving her right into the wall behind her. Aria felt her back hit the wall; she expected him to press that large, sculpted body of his into her right after.
God help her, she wanted him to.
He didn’t, remaining inches away from her, with those lips still pressed to her cheek.
“You want me to answer the question for you, Aria?”
Dread raced through her at his low, heated question. She knew that whatever he was going to say, it would hit her too hard, too deep, and way too truthfully.
“I’m going to tell you what I think.”
Please don’t. She knew right then how obvious her body’s reaction was. It was too God damned obvious.
“I think,” Chase paused, brushing her skin lightly with his lips.
Aria shook her head, choking on everything he was and everything he was making her fucking want.
“You feel this between us, Aria.” He kissed her cheek one more time, lingering just enough to drive her wild. “As wrong as everything has been so far… You. Feel. This.”
Chase pulled away from her and stormed down the hall.
The sound of the door slamming open and closed reverberated through Aria, mixing with the maelstrom churning in her body.
She sagged against the wall.
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Excerpt #2
Hearing that he was going to kiss her swarmed through Aria and attacked her most basic, most primal of instincts.
Suddenly, it was all about him. How good he smelled, and the heat coming off him. Add that to the fact that she knew damned well how attractive he was, and how weak she was against it.
To her chagrin, her hands had gone right back to fisting his blazer. When she couldn’t stop herself from licking her lips, Chase gave a low groan. Chagrin morphed right back to self-loathing. The man in front of her had forced his way into her life. In the eyes of the law, she was still married, never mind that her husband hadn’t touched her in months.
None of that mattered in the face of how much she hungered for him or how deep that hunger went.
She knew that, soon, nothing would matter. Nothing except tasting him. Experiencing him. There was no denying that part of her—a very large one—was ready to beg him to take her mouth. Take it hard. Fast. Like no one ever had before. She’d only ever been with Douglas and, physically speaking, Chase was just so much more.
“Give me this, Aria. Open your eyes so I can kiss you. Let me see if it’ll be as good between us as I think it’s going to be.”
For some reason, knowing that she wasn’t alone in her lapse of reason made her head spin. Her heart beat as if it’d just received a fresh infusion of alcohol. No. She was more than drunk. This went beyond any sort of high. A single push of her heart was all it took for the madness to spread.
She needed those lips. God, she needed that kiss he was about to give her and she needed it right the fuck then.
Her eyelids fluttered open. The blue in his eyes consumed her entire vision.
The first brush of his lips against hers was atomic. A vicious nuclear mushroom went off inside her, breaking apart everything that made her female and scattering the pieces.
His lips were softer than she’d thought they’d be. So damn full. She wanted to bite his bottom one. Feel it ghost across one of her hardened nipples.
Aria choked on a moan.
Chase pulled away and let his head fall back. She watched as his powerful neck tensed up. The sound that left him was… God, that sound. She was going to let me him take her. The way her pussy contracted from the agony of wanting him left her with no other option.
She wanted that big, beautiful man between her legs. Deep inside her, his lips on every inch of skin she offered.
He lowered his head and the expression on his face made her lips part. An accusation. A sexy, hungry accusation combined with his almost black eyes.
Fuck.
She sympathized with him. Her expression was probably a perfect replica of his right then.
You. You did this to me.
His hands trailed down her back. They wrapped around her waist, spanning it, and all she could think about was arching and feeling every inch of him.
Every. Inch.
Was he hard for her?
Chase’s stare remained focused on her mouth. His tongue trailed along his bottom lip, wetting it, right before he bit it.
She couldn’t stop herself from whimpering and doing the same.
“God, Aria.” He gripped her neck and held her still. Bared his teeth. His tongue peeked out to wet his lip again as he lowered his head, and she knew: this time, he was going to give it to her. All of it. Whatever it was.
She pushed her way out of his grip, surprising them both.
He froze, his almost wild stare following her.
Her nerves, atoms, her damn skin, it all screeched with fury. Trembling, she reached behind her, grabbing the doorknob.
Chase snapped out of it as soon as he realized what she was doing. “Aria.”
“I… I can’t. Chase, I can’t. I have to go.” She flung the door open and all but stumbled out of it.
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About the Author
N. Isabelle Blanco was born in Queens, NY (USA). At the age of three, due to an odd fascination with studying her mother's handwriting, she began to read and write. By the time she'd reached kindergarten, she had an extensive vocabulary and her obsession with words began to bleed into every aspect of her life.
An avid reader in her teens, her fascination with Japanese anime eventually led her to the universe of fan fiction, which became her on-again, off-again hobby for the next ten years. During that time she amassed a following of fans that, by her own admission, she would never be able to live without. It was those fans who encouraged her to step beyond the fan fiction realm and try her talent in the publishing world.
N. Isabelle Blanco now has three novellas and two full-length novels under her belt, and spends her days working as an author, web programmer, marketer, and graphic designer. That is when she isn't handling her "spawn", as she calls her son, and brainstorming with him about his future career as a comic book illustrator.
Connect with N. Isabelle Blanco!
Shannon's Review
This book is a great read. It is a complete page turner. I
couldn’t put the book down. It was an up and down emotional coaster ride. I
LOVED every minute of it.
Aria is a women in a struggling marriage that needs a way
out. Her husband is a piece of crap, and that is saying it nicely. He does
nothing for her. I mean what husband steals money from his business only to
still have no money? What husband also considers giving into the demands of his
boss just to save his ass, Douglas that is who. Yep I didn’t like him. I mean
man up and take care of your family. Aria deserved so much better than that.
She also needs to stop second guessing herself. I was yelling the entire book
for her to just do it.
Chase is a gorgeous. He is an ass though. What he wants is
what he gets. He doesn’t back down. Now him offering the deal with Douglas was
completely wrong of him. But between you and me, if I was Aria and I knew my
marriage was in shambles I would go for it. Just saying. But I believe there is
more to Chase than we saw in this book. You will find out his past but you don’t
get to see exactly how much it truly does affect him. I am hoping that we get
more of his back story in the next book.
I am giving this book 4.5 hearts. This is a must read.
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