Carrot & Corriander -a new spankalicious book by Ashe Barker

I am delighted to host Ashe Barker here today, whose new spankalicious book Carrot & Coriander is just out!

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First of all, what a joy it is to be here on Renee Rose’s blog. Thank you Renee for inviting me over to snuggle up with some of your own wonderful stories. I have to say, if it were possible to leave mucky thumbprints all over a kindle – and please, no smutty jokes if you can restrain yourself - then mine would be a scandal whenever Renee’s stories are up on the screen. Which is quite often, in fact.

Ahem, right, moving on… I thought it would be nice today to give a bit of a shout out for my latest release, Carrot and Coriander. This quickie read has nothing much to do with cooking despite the title and deliciously foody cover, but still manages to be tasty and suitably hot.

Carrot and Coriander started life as a short story, intended for Totally Bound’s Paramour collection. But it grew too big for its boots, so to speak. I tried editing it back to the required word count, but couldn’t arrive at a shorter version I actually liked. So I gave that up, instead developing the background and characters a little further. I submitted it as a novella and wrote something else for Paramour.

Here’s the blurb:

Rachel is drawn to the sexy young gardener offering to do odd jobs around her neighbourhood, no reasonable offer refused. She soon dreams up something for him to do at the bottom of her garden, and the view from her window is much improved as he works outside.

Callum can feel her gaze on him, can sense her fascination, but he has very particular requirements and he’s not at all sure his taste runs to middle aged freelance accountants, and a single mother at that.

However their attraction to each other is powerful, and as Callum starts to recognise the signals of willing submission which Rachel unconsciously gives off, he knows he must have her. Their passionate encounters liberate Rachel, unlocking her desires and demanding her surrender, while challenging all her inhibitions.

But when she learns the secrets of her sexy young lover’s misspent youth, can she get past her pre-conceived certainties to find a way for them to move on – together. Or was their new-found happiness doomed from the start?

Opposites attract, but are some differences just too deep to overcome?

And an excerpt… I thought the first spanking scene from the story might be nice, given the company we’re in.

He kept up the pressure for a few seconds then released her. He bent his head to lick the tender spot, and Rachel purred. Actually purred. His balls tightened, her response was so—perfect. Absolutely fucking perfect. Which brought him nicely to the next item on his agenda.
“Now, I want you to lay your gorgeous body across my knees, and I’m going to spank your sweet little arse.” He reached down with his free hand to pat her buttock. “We need this to be a nice shade of pink, I think. Then, I just might fuck you all over again.”
He could feel her startled gaze on his face but he didn’t lift his eyes from her engorged nipple, trailing his fingertips lightly over it as he waited for her to respond. To move. To protest. Whatever. He knew she’d do it. It was just a question of how long she’d take to work up to it, to overcome her mental hurdles, and give herself over to him.
Not long at all as it turned out. Just a few seconds later, with a murmured, “Yes, alright,” she was shifting awkwardly into position. He could tell it wasn’t easy, her hands still bound, but she managed to place herself as he wanted her. And she lay still, waiting. Wordless.
Callum caressed the firm flesh of her buttocks, admiring, enjoying. He slipped his fingers between her legs, which parted instinctively. Her submissive instincts were driving her now, totally, and he loved it. He intended to take very, very good care of her. Because in that moment he knew he never wanted her submitting to any other Dom. She was his, he’d discovered her, drawn out her innate nature, and he intended to develop and treasure that nature from now on. If she’d let him. He needed to get this right.
Her body jerked under the first hard slap, on her right buttock. He waited a few seconds, then landed the next, on her left buttock this time. The next two landed on the backs of her thighs, first the right, then the left. Then he stopped to gently massage the throbbing skin.
“Tell me when you’re ready for more.”
A few seconds passed as he smoothed the hurt away, then, “More, please. I’m ready.”
The next stroke was hard. Deliberately so. She cried out. He waited a few seconds, then delivered another, just as hard. He noticed her bound hands clenching and unclenching in the small of her back, and placed his own palm over them. Her fingers curled around his, and she calmed. He slapped her bottom twice more, each time drawing a whimper of pain from her and leaving vivid red hand prints on her flesh. He was aware she was close to her limit, sensed it. Two more firm, hard strokes, and he knew this was enough. For now. He lifted her, carefully, gently, laid her face down beside him on the bed. His hands were tender, compassionate, as he once more smoothed the sting from her smarting skin. Then he lifted her hips, nudged her knees forward so she was crouching on all fours.
This time when he entered her, he was slow, easy, infinitely patient as her now almost exhausted body stretched to accept his length again. She’d needed to be fucked, hard and fast and a little bit rough before. Now she needed exquisite handling. He was keenly aware that she needed him to be tender and kind, recognising her inexperience, her delicacy, her mental, emotional and physical fragility. And Callum knew that how he treated her now, in these crucial moments, would set the tone for all their tomorrows. And he wanted so many tomorrows with Rachel.
He deftly untied her wrists and drew her arms above her head. He laced his own fingers
through hers as he continued to ease his shaft in and out of her pussy, slowly, as if he feared she might crumble under him if he moved suddenly. Her panting moans, her whispered “Please…” told him what he needed to do now. He slipped his hand under her to flick and stroke her clit.
Her panting grew more rapid, more shallow—then her breath was released in one long keening moan and she came. She tightened around him, her body shivered under him, and he kissed the nape of her neck. She collapsed forward onto the bed, utterly spent. Two more quick thrusts, and he was there too, draped over her, his nose buried in her hair.
He withdrew from her, disposed of the condom, then rolled up close to her again. He pulled her smooth back against his chest, tucked her still pink bottom into his groin where his softening cock could nestle close, and tightened his arms around her. Moments later, they were both asleep.

If you want to read on, Carrot and Coriander is out now and available from Totally Bound. You can also pick it up from Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com Barnes and Noble All Romance Sony

More about me:

Until 2010 I was a director of a regeneration company in Leeds, in the UK, before becoming convinced there must be more to life. I left to work as an independent consultant, and still do some of that though most of my time is now spent writing. At last I’ve been able to realise my dream of writing erotic romance myself. I’ve been an avid reader of fiction for many years, erotic and other genres, and I still love reading historical and contemporary romances – the hotter the better. But now I have a good excuse for my guilty pleasure – research.

In my own writing I usually draw on settings and anecdotes from my own experience to lend colour, detail and realism to my plots and characters. An incident here, a chance remark there, a bizarre event or quirky character, any of these can spark a story idea. But ultimately my tales of love, challenge, resilience and compassion are the conjurings of my own lurid and smutty imagination.

When not writing – which is not very often these days - my time is divided between my role as resident taxi driver for my teenage daughter, and caring for a menagerie of dogs, rabbits, tortoises.  And most recently a very grumpy cockatiel.  I’m a rural parish councillor, and I’m passionate about evolving rural traditions and values to suit twenty first century lifestyles.

I’ve completed my fourth trilogy in the Black Combe ‘family’ which is due for release later this year to join the titles already out there. I have a short story in Totally Bound’s Paramour collection and another in the Jolly Rogered collection which is due for publication in July 2014. I have a pile of story ideas still to work through, and keep thinking of new ones at the most unlikely moments, so you can expect to see a lot more sexy, sassy stuff from me.

Contact me:

I love to hear from readers and feedback is always welcome.  You can find me on my blog, and on the Totally Bound site. I’m on Facebook, twitter and Pinterest, and on Goodreads too. And there’s also my author page on Amazon