Sunday Snippet: Undercover by Lauren Dane + giveaway

One of my favorite authors is Lauren Dane. When I discovered her she had a very long back list and I was determined to read it all. I’ve gone from series to series buying and reading her amazing stories. Her Federation/Phantom Corps is one of my favorites of hers. So I’m super excited to share a snippet from the first book in the series Undercover. Lauren is also sponsoring a giveaway of this book, just tell us what it is about Lauren’s books that you love.

Showtime, Sera. Sliding her palms down the silk of the dress, she walked into the main room, waiting for them to notice. It didn’t take long.

Brandt turned to her, lips slightly parted in surprise. “Where’s my drink, darling?” she purred, wearing a sexy smile.

His smile in return was enough to make her stomach flutter. “Don’t you look lovely.” He approached her with predator-like grace. Stopping just shy of touching her, he reached out, his hand cupping the back of her neck and pulled her to his body. She let herself fall into him, the cushion of soft to hard. Lush lips passed over her own gently, just a brush, before letting her go.

“Do you still enjoy ale, Sera?” Ash interrupted, voice brusque.

Shaking off the spell of Brandt’s touch, she turned and nodded as she took the tall glass Ash handed her. She took a few deep swallows to try and get past that kiss.

“Nicely done, Sera. That’s a beautiful color on you,” Brandt murmured, his hand sliding around her waist, cupping her hip possessively.

“Thank you. It’s nice to know I’m not entirely rusty after years of uniforms and smelling like gun oil.”

The sexual tension between them thickened. Her breath caught as his tongue darted out to catch a drop of ale on her lip, sending shivers from nipples to her pussy. “You’re not rusty at all,” he murmured, lips just barely touching hers.

“And dinner is here. I’m starved,” Ash all but growled as he pushed past them both to the low table where the food had been placed. He plopped down on a pillow and looked up at the two of them, annoyance clear on his face.

Brandt propelled her to the table with a guiding hand at the small of her back. He nodded to the pillows at his feet and she slowly got to her knees. Warm, lethargic desire rolled through her at the familiarity of the movement. It’d been a very long time since she’d knelt before any man.

One of Brandt’s hands caressed the side of her face and neck for a moment before he sank down next to her. Sera realized she might be able to lose herself in the role, to accept her need to be sexually submissive within the context of the person she’d have to be while on assignment.

Whether she could find her way back later was something else entirely.

“Oh, look, your favorite.” Sera picked up a small meat roll stuffed with greens and brushed it over Brandt’s lips. He opened, nipping her fingers as he took it into his mouth.

Brandt found himself utterly charmed by Sera. He laughed at her playful nature as she fed him and stole bits from his plate and even Ash’s a few times. The depth of his attraction for her crashed into his system. Seeing her on her knees there the moment before he sat down next to her, the power of it, of those deep blue eyes blinking up at him, made his cock so hard he’d winced every time he’d moved. It’d nearly brought him to his own knees.

But it was complicated and would only continue to get more so. She used to be Ash’s woman. He still loved her. And Brandt loved and respected his friend very much. More than that, Sera carried wounds from her break-up with Ash and Brandt didn’t want to hurt her. And they were all three on a team together.

He had no idea how he’d get through the next weeks with her posing as his concubine. But he looked forward to it anyway.

In truth, he’d dallied here and there but he’d never actually had a full-time relationship with a woman. The dynamics were far different, more complicated even as he found himself fascinated and drawn in by the beginnings of just that sort of thing with Sera.

He wanted what he shouldn’t want. But that didn’t stop him from wanting it.

Sera’s heart raced at Brandt’s touches. At the warmth of his skin and his elemental scent. His hair caught the light just right and glints of blue were shot through the ebony strands. His lips had been soft and juicy and hinted at what was to come.

She should not want him. It was totally unlike her, which was so very odd. For a very long time she’d simply turned off that part of herself. After Ash, there’d been a dark time when she’d loosed all her anchors and found herself in places she hoped to never return. Part of her had been relieved by the absence of such a powerful bond.

Afterward though, once she’d decided to live again, she had relationships here and there and enjoyed sex on occasion. But she never craved being topped by any of them. It was as if her time with Ash had been so special, so perfect that when it ended so horribly, it killed her desire for submission. But there on her knees, the heat of Brandt at one side and Ash’s hard, arrogant body just to the other side, she began to lose hold on caution and let herself examine the possibilities.

She should be far more worried about the next weeks in Brandt’s bed but desire began to trump caution. The way he’d touched her as she’d knelt before him…she knew their sex play would turn rough and hard-edged and the knowledge thrilled through her system.

Which made her think about Ash and the way he stared at her with hungry eyes. He’d be touching her too. She knew he’d push it as far as he could when they got to Nondal and it panicked her. Not so much because she couldn’t take it, but that she craved it and had never stopped. Ash had been a part of her for a very long time and even after she’d left, he’d kept part of her heart. Hells, most of her heart. That’s why she’d never been able to get rid of the tattoo on her hip.

Despite loving him still, she couldn’t trust him. She couldn’t trust herself or the way she felt when he’d dominated her. He’d been her drug, her lover, her friend, her master in the bedroom. No one had ever made her feel that way since.

Until she’d gotten to her knees and looked up at Brandt.

 

And Ash wanted. He wanted Sera with a depth of longing that twisted his gut. When she’d gotten to her knees before Brandt, he’d bitten his lip so hard he tasted the metallic tang of blood.

His memories of his time with Sera had kept him company for the last ten years. But time had softened the ache. Seeing her there like that sent it racing through him with a depth of clarity and longing he hadn’t felt since the first weeks after she’d left. The dull pain of her absence in his life was now sharp edged. The hunger for her was near desperation and he knew he’d do whatever it took to get her back.

Watching Brandt slowly begin to seduce her to his power and will had fascinated Ash. He wasn’t jealous. He’d expected to be. He just wanted the scenario to include him. Even though Brandt had topped him several times, watching him dominate Sera was a totally different feeling. Bittersweet. It made Ash hot and hard and filled with need. He’d begun to envision a threesome with the two of them topping Sera but sharing their lives as equals in every way. The thought pleased him.  And he planned to move heaven and terra to make it happen. It would happen.

A sexy debut exploring an erotic future universe of passion, danger, and deceit…

On the battleground or in the bedroom, one woman and two men fight for dominance in a bold, new, and excitingly different direction in erotica…

As a lieutenant of the Federation military, Sera Ayers is accustomed to giving orders, not taking them. Now she must obey the one man she can’t stand-and can’t stop thinking about.

With the enemy Imperialists gaining ground, a covert team is assembled by Ash Walker. Ten years before, Sera had lovingly submitted to Ash’s dominance in the bedroom. But when he was forced into a political marriage, she refused to play mistress. His marriage now over, Ash wants Sera on his team-and back in his bed.

The third team member, Brandt Pela, has an elegance to match Ash’s savage sexuality. And when their undercover plan requires Sera to pose as Brandt’s lover, it ignites a passion among the three of them more dangerous than their mission.