Title: A Little Harmless Submission
Author: Melissa Schroeder
Series: Harmless Series
Genre: Contemporary (BDSM)
Synopsis: For a tough as nails Dom hunting a sadistic serial killer is nothing compared to losing his heart.
Rome Carino is hunting a predator. One who likes to hurt submissives and the most popular BDSM club’s patrons are being targeted. With each fresh kill, he gets more brazen. Rome knows he just needs one little break, but before he can make headway, the FBI shows up. Worse, the uptight, buttoned-down Special Agent Maria Callahan suggests a plan that is dangerous, but worth it because it might just catch the killer. If Rome can keep his mind on the case and off the beautiful FBI agent, he’ll be just fine.
Maria is still trying to step out of her legendary father’s shadow and knows just how to do it. Luring the killer by posing as Rome’s new sub seems like a good idea. That is, until undercover becomes real life and she finds herself tangled up with a man who amazes and scares her at the same time. Her growing attraction to the Honolulu Police Detective is a little too much to handle. Even knowing that, she can’t help falling in love with the tough Dom and losing herself in the games they play in the bedroom.
Rome is overwhelmed by his need for Maria. He has never had a sub respond to him the way she does and no matter what he does, he feels himself slipping off that cliff into love. As their relationship starts to unfold, he realizes that he will do anything to win her heart, to convince her to become his sub for a lifetime. But before he can do anything, the killer turns his attention on Rome and the one thing he holds dear: Maria.
Review: Read this book. That’s my recommendation. 😀 Melissa Schroeder wonderfully combines suspense, BDSM (in this case predominantly spanking) and a love story with a cast of supporting characters from previous books in her Harmless Series.
This was my first Melissa Schroeder book and I’m looking forward to reading lots more, especially about Romeo ‘Rome’ Carino’s friends.
If you’ve ever read erotica or BDSM, you may have realised that not everyone can combine a good story with good sex. Sometimes the book is all about how many sexual positions or situations the characters can find themselves in, at the expense of any ‘connection’ or insight.
Not so at all with Melissa Schroeder. As Rome combines his skills as a police officer in the US State of Hawaii with Maria’s skills as an FBI agent to track down a serial killer that’s targeting submissive women who frequent BDSM clubs across the country, they find themselves sharing an immediate connection and attraction to each other.
This book wasn’t full of “Yes Sir” and “No Sir” dialogue, which may have been partially because the book at the beginning of Rome’s and Maria’s relationship, but there was a definite Dom/Sub relationship in the bedroom. This was balanced by their working and ‘public’ lives, in which both of them were stronger in different situations.
This meant the BDSM aspect of their lives was just that, a fun, ‘hawt’ aspect of their lives but not the be-all and end-all of “A Little Harmless Submission.”
For all of the above, I gave Melissa Schroeder an A+.
Grade: A+
**Note: Heather has also reviewed this book and you can find her review here.
Excerpt: “Somehow Rome inserted himself into the space beside her.
“I was wondering if the lady would like to dance?”
(Maria) turned toward him, and the impact was even more powerful than before. A blast of heat surged through her entire body. Her lips started to tingle as she remembered the way he had kissed her the night before.
“Sure,” she said without looking away from him. She shoved her glass at Ashton as Rome took her hand and led her onto the dance floor. Even though it was cool in the club, she felt her body start to warm, being so close to him. Rome let off so much heat. He stopped and pulled her closer as a slow song started. Damn, she wasn’t prepared for the impact of having his entire body against hers.
He leaned down, his lips against her temple. “Got yourself quite a little harem there.”
She tried to adjust to the fact that she was this close to him again. The rumble of his chest as he spoke had her shivering. Maria knew he could probably feel her hardened nipples.
It took a second for the irritation in his voice to reach her. She pulled her head from his shoulder and looked up at him. He wasn’t looking at her. He was looking out over the crowd.
“That was the plan, wasn’t it?”
He grumbled something, and his chest rumbled against her again. With the music so loud, she couldn’t make out what he said.
Before she could ask, he said “Ashton isn’t the killer.”
She blinked at the change in topic. “Shouldn’t we wait to talk about that? Maybe you should ask me my name? Or act like you want to be dancing with me? You’ve barely looked at me.”
He glanced down at her, then back out at the crowd again. The hand on the small of her back pressed her closer. She could feel his erection then. Every thought in her brain seemed to fizzle away.
“If I look down at you, I might not be able to control myself.”
She scoffed at that. “Yeah right, Carino, why don’t you pull my other leg? I know your type, and you are all about control. Hell, you practice BDSM, so don’t think I don’t know a Dom like you is into control.”
His jaw flexed slightly. If she hadn’t been watching him, she would have missed it. It was definitely his one big tell.
“I can’t.”
For a second, she wasn’t sure she heard him correctly. “What?”
He sighed, aggravation filling the sound. Why was that sexy to her? She knew she was pushing him, pressing buttons.
That thought made her wiggle her hips ever so slightly, causing her stomach to move against his erection more. He growled, and she smiled.
He slipped his hands down to her hips and tried to hold her still. “Stop that.”
“Watcha gonna do?”
She was surprised by the teasing sound in her voice but she couldn’t help it. He brought it out in her.
He looked down at her, his hazel eyes dark with lust.
“Stop. Or maybe I can take you into one of the rooms and show you just how it feels to publicly submit.”
Heat rushed through her at the image he brought up…but Maria knew she would never be able to do it, and that would go above and beyond the call of duty but dammit, it sounded utterly delicious. She licked her lower lip.
“Jesus,” he muttered. He slipped his hand up her back to her head then pressed it closer, forcing her to settle it against his shoulder. “We can’t leave right now. So stop looking at me like that.”
