Title: Yours To Take
Series: The Connaghers (book 3)
Author: Joely Sue Burkhart
Genre: Contemporary Erotica, BDSM, Menage
Synopsis: The day one of her old clients gunned down a cop, former defense attorney Vicki Connagher lost everything—her passion for justice, and her lover, Detective Elias Reyes. The dead cop’s partner.
Even though she’s following her dream to start her own fashion line, it’s tough with heartache as her only companion. Until she brings Jesse, a wandering street artist, in from a freak Texas snowstorm. His submissive flirting brings out dominant tendencies she never knew she possessed, yet she hesitates to let him take her as far and as hard as she wants to go.
Some homeless junkie in Vicki’s house? Not on Elias’s watch. Pride kept him away, but as long as Jesse is staying in Vicki’s downstairs shop, he’s staying with Vicki. On the couch, but it’s a start.
As the days go by, the three work out an uneasy alliance. But Vicki’s joy at having Elias back in her life is tempered with a growing desire to have it all. Elias in her bed, and Jesse under her command. The only question remaining is if her tough alpha cop is willing to embrace all that she is…
Product Warnings
Explicit sex, BDSM, a tough alpha cop, a reluctant Domme, and a smoldering submissive street artist willing to do anything to belong to her.
Review: Wow. Every review I read before reading Yours To Take myself was right! Joely Sue Burkhart skillfully weaves together the lives of these three very different individuals in a passionate, erotic, genuine way that has you rooting for Jesse, Vicki and Elias to find their own ‘fairytale together.’
The struggle of someone who finds themselves living on the streets is skillfully told without being preachy, helping you to understand Jesse without taking into detail about his daily struggles before moving in with Vicki.
I love how Elias had to find a way to open up to Vicki, especially after thinking a ‘little’ guy like Jesse couldn’t possibly pose a threat.
And Vicki…the woman who never knew she had some of those Connagher traits in her after all. At times vulnerable, at times needing to dominate, she finds an outlet for this and more in her unexpected relationship with two very different men. Oh, and did I mention the sex is ‘hawt’? It is.
Well done Joely Sue Burkhart and I look forward to reading more books by you. This being my first was a great introduction.
Grade: A+
Excerpt: “Bracing herself mentally, she raised her gaze to his face as she walked toward him. (Jessie’s) eyes, so bright, so hot and intense, were made darker and richer by the silk in her hands. Her chest constricted with an answering surge of attraction, deeper and more compelling every time she looked at him. If he’d stop looking at her like that, begging her with his eyes to devour him whole, then maybe she could pretend nothing had changed.
He was just a good guy who’d fallen on hard times. She was just a good Samaritan. He didn’t have to get in the middle of her romantic mess.
Her cheeks burned at the thought. The image of him and Elias both touching her seared her mind, burning her to ash. She’d never once thought about such a thing, but now………………..
Her breath seized up in her throat. She’d dated Elias off and on for months and he’d never told her his feelings. He’d never show such vulnerability. He couldn’t let down his guard long enough.
“I know your heart. No one else has even considered helping me in five years. That’s proof of what kind of woman you are, and I want to belong to you. I’m yours to take, Vicki, if you want me.”…………..
He whispered his fantasies into her ear. “I like sex rough, hard, sweaty, up against a wall, frantic, wherever you’ll take me. I love you in control, taking what you want, demanding I give it up, everything, for you.”
“I can’t take advantage of you like this. It’s wrong. You trusted me—”
He couldn’t help but laugh and shift his hips forward, pressing his erection into her stomach. “How could something that feels this good be wrong?”
She slid her right hand down his back and wrapped her fingers around the waistband of his pants, hauling him tighter against her. “I’m going to hell for this.”
“Then you might as well enjoy me fully.”
Laughing raggedly, she buried her face against his neck. “Hold me, Jesse. Just hold me. It’s been so long.”
Wrapping his arms around her as tightly as she held him, he didn’t ask any questions. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel like he was pushing her to choose him over her cop. But if that son of a bitch had been neglecting her, then Jesse would be more than happy to fulfill her every need.
“I’m going to go upstairs and make some calls, so feel free to help yourself to the laundry, take a nap, whatever you’d like. First thing tomorrow, I want you to see a doctor. Then we’ll go shopping so your baggy pants don’t make me think about how easily they’d fall down, and we’ll go by VCONN and you can meet my brother. Right now, I need…to think. About all this.”…………………….
“You aren’t laughing at me, are you? I kissed him. No, I slammed him up against the wall like you did last night, only instead of splitting his lip open, I damned near bit it off.”
Elias laughed harder. “Did he thank you for it?”
“Yeah, yeah he did. In fact, he begged me to do it again. Why aren’t you pissed?”
“Oh, Vik, I don’t know. It’s not like I have any right to be pissed at you for kissing another man when I haven’t been around in months. Besides, you’re too upset for me to be mad, and he’s not a bad kid. No, he’s a real good-looking kid, a nice tender morsel.” He laughed harder, like one of his buddies had told him the most hilarious joke he’d ever heard. “Making love to you has always been like wrestling a hungry crocodile. Did you shock the hell out of him?”
Stricken, she could barely breathe through the tightness in her chest. “I’m that bad?”
“Aw hell, no, Vicki, you’re that good.” His voice was as tender as she’d ever heard him. “You’re the hottest, sexiest, most passionate woman I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. But you’re not a soft, passive woman in bed, far from it. Half the fun is wrestling you for dominance, and the other half is making sure you enjoy the consolation prize as much as I am. Any smarter man would never have left you simmering all these months. It’s as much my fault as yours that you’re so attracted to Jesse.”
“So you’ll come over tonight? Please?”
He let out a wicked, low laugh that made her blood smolder. “Oh, I don’t know, Vik. Your couch isn’t that comfortable. Besides, you’ve got that hot cabana boy to tend to you now. Why do you need me?”
“I won’t make you sleep on the couch tonight. I swear.”
“We’re going to be loud, babe,” he purred, drawing a rough groan from her. “I’m going to make you scream. We’re going to hit every surface of your bedroom, hell, your whole apartment, and your boy’s going to hear every whimper, thud, curse and shout of release. Are you sure you’re up for that?”
Her nipples were so hard the lace of her bra felt like sandpaper. “Can you come home now?”
Now it was his turn to groan. “I wish I could, but I’ve got a meeting with the lieutenant in five minutes. I expect we’ll go out on a tip this afternoon, so don’t hold dinner for me.”
“Elias, please, you have to come tonight.”
“I will,” he promised. “It might be late, but as soon as we’re done with the bust, I’ll drive straight to you.” He hesitated, an edge coming to his voice. “You know he’s probably loaded with STDs or worse. God only knows what he’s been exposed to in prison, let alone the streets.”
“I know,” she whispered, lying back on her bed. “I’m taking him to the clinic tomorrow. I already made an appointment.”
“You’re serious, then. Jesus, Vik.”
“I know.” She closed her eyes and rubbed her temple with her free hand. “What does this mean for us?”
“Hell if I know. I’d say I should simply take the hint and get the hell out of Dodge, but you’re begging me to come over tonight.”
“I’ve missed you.” Her voice broke but she refused to bitch and moan about the past. Elias had chosen to bail on her. He’d played both judge and jury and blamed her for everything that had gone wrong, but she couldn’t stop loving him. Even when he’s an uncompromising ass. “I don’t want to lose you all over again.”
“But you want him too.”
Her relationship with Elias had always had a lot of failings, but one thing she’d never done was lie to him. “Yeah, I do.”
