Author: Sarah Castille
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Date of Publication: April 4, 2017
My sweet, sexy Penny has a dark side.
Just like me.
I will have her. And then I will lose
her, and suffer a lifetime of regret.
Rampage.
Everyone loves him. He is Redemption's top heavyweight fighter and the biggest
gossip in the gym. But he isn't the teddy bear everyone thinks he is. He's
hiding a dark secret-and he hates himself for it.
Twice a week,
Rampage transforms into Master Jack, a notorious dom only the most hard-core
submissives will play with. How can he-a Southern gentleman, bred to respect
and protect women-want to dominate them?
But Penny
Worthington wants him. Beneath her pearls, kitten heels, and prim British
exterior beats a tortured heart...Master Jack is the only one who can set her
free.
PRE-ORDER LINKS:
Enjoy this excerpt:
Jack “Rampage” Caldwell is the first MMA
fighter I created for the Redemption series, and even when I first brought this
Southern gentleman to life, I knew he had a secret. But Penny has a dark
secret, too. After Jack discovers what she hides from the world, he makes her
promise to come to him if she needs him. But trust doesn’t come easily for
Penny. She breaks her promise, never expecting that Jack will find out. But, of
course, he does…and crossing a sadist is never a good idea!
“I’ll call you back.
Jack is here.”
Cora sucks in a sharp
breath. “I’ll see you at class tonight. I can hardly wait to hear all about
it.”
I end the call and
swallow past the lump in my throat. It’s only been three days, and yet it feels
like I haven’t seen Jack in forever. He’s wearing a white T-shirt that clings
to his taut, muscle-ridged abdomen, and worn jeans that ride low on his narrow
hips.
“What are you doing
here?” I ask, trying to keep my gaze above his belt.
He pins me with a
direct stare, his eyes fierce and hard. I feel like he’s trying to see into my
soul, but my heart is pounding so hard I’m not sure enough oxygen is getting to
my brain to make any sense of what’s going on.
“Jack?”
His gaze rakes over my
body, lingering on my thighs as if he can see beneath my skirt. He tenses, and
his eyes narrow. If I didn’t know X-ray vision was impossible, I would swear he
knows I broke my promise.
“Are you alone?”
“Yes.” My pulse kicks
up a notch. “Everyone’s out for the rest of the afternoon.”
He takes a step toward
me, and the hair on the back of my neck stands on end.
A thrill of fear
shoots through me, and sweat beads on my forehead. What if he knows? Or
suspects? What will he do?
“Now.” His deep,
commanding Dom voice ripples through me, fanning the flames of my desire. Do I
trust Jack enough to lock myself in the office with him, especially when I know
what is coming? Do I trust myself?
I brush past him and
lock the front door.
“Your office,” he
snaps after I return.
I jump at his sharp
tone and scramble out of his way as he brushes past me and through my office
door, a lithe and powerful animal herding its prey.
“What’s going on?”
“Stand in front of the
desk.” He gestures to the big oak desk Amanda and I refinished when we first
moved into the building.
Puzzled, I do as he
asks, my breath catching in my throat when he closes and locks the door behind
him.
“Jack?”
He gives me his back
as he draws the curtains at the side of my office. “Don’t move.”
A sting of
disappointment hits me in the chest. Has he come to reject me all over again?
Does he want to make sure I understand there is nothing between us? It
shouldn’t bother me because I got the message the other night. I’m nothing.
Nothing special. Nothing extraordinary. Not worth his time, especially since
he’s on the cusp of fame. I’m just his pal. Plain old quirky Pen. But he
doesn’t have to be so cold.
Worthless, no-good piece of shit.
No. No. No. My fingers tighten on the lip of the desk. I haven’t even started to
heal from last night. I don’t need the past intruding on the present.
Jack leans against the
door across from me, thick arms folded over his massive chest.
“Lift your skirt.”
Shock steals my breath
away, and all I can do is stare.
“What?”
“You heard me. Lift
your skirt. Now.”
Bang. Bang. Bang. My heart thuds frantically against my ribs.
Adrenaline pounds through my veins, and I feel a rush of heat between my legs.
He knows. I can see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice…
“Why?” I whisper,
stalling. And why is this turning me on?
“You know why,” he
snaps. “You didn’t keep your promise.”
I smooth my hands over
my cream skirt, silky underneath with a cotton macramé overlay, pressing it
tight against my thighs. “It doesn’t matter if I kept it or not. We’re not in
the club. There’s nothing between us. You made that clear the other night.”
“I fucked up the other
night.” He shifts his stance. “I’m not good for you, Pen. You need to be with
someone normal. A nice guy who’s going to treat you right and doesn’t want to
hurt you.”
My hand fists on my
thigh. “I don’t like nice guys. They don’t understand me. They’re too gentle.
My life is about pain. Emotional and physical pain. It’s what I know, what I
understand, what I need.”
“So you hurt
yourself?”
“I didn’t—”
He cuts me off with a
scowl. “Don’t lie to me.” He pauses, and his voice takes on a deeper, cutting
edge. “Show me.”
My mouth goes dry at
his abrupt command, and I fiddle with the edge of my skirt, at once indignant
that he would try to boss me around and aroused that he did.
“What if I did?” I say
defiantly. “There’s nothing you can do about it.”
His corded throat
tightens when he swallows, and he fixes me with a level stare. “I’ll give you
what you need.”
All the air leaves my
lungs in a rush, and I feel a disconcerting wetness between my thighs. “You
wouldn’t dare. I’m at work.”
“Try me.”
Electricity sparks in
the air between us, and a curious mix of fear and arousal courses through my
veins. Stiffening my spine, I curl my fingers under the edge of my skirt and
draw it slowly, painfully slowly up my thighs. Jack stills. His eyes flick down
and then back up again. He licks his lips, and his eyes darken.
I have awakened the
beast.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Author Links:
PRAISE for Sarah Castille's Redemption series:
"Powerful. Gritty. And sexy beyond belief. Sarah is a true master!"-Opal Carew, New York Times bestselling author of His to Claim
"Hilarious, hot and occasionally heartbreaking. I loved it! " - Maryse's Book Blog on Against the Ropes
"Castille's follow-up to the excellent Against the Ropes doesn't pull its punches." - Publishers Weekly, starred review for In Your Corner
"Emotionally charged, amazingly sexy, and flat out fantastic."-Fresh Fiction on Full Contact
The Clairvoyants: I made it about halfway through before I gave up. I had a few days were I didn't get to listen to the audiobook and when I finally got back to it, I found I didn't care what happened to the characters. Nor could I really remember what was going on. They were pretty forgettable.
