Dark Desire by Lauren Smith (an ebook reader txt) 📗

“The United Nations votes soon on the new human trafficking proposal, and they have asked me to come back to advocate for it, but I feel it’s not enough. There’s so much more to be done, isn’t there?” She felt that she had been given a new lease on life, a new chance to begin again where so many others could not, and she believed that came with the responsibility to help others.

“Only if you wish to, Elena. No one demands it of you. You began the change, and if you want, that is enough.” He continued to stroke her skin in soothing patterns that always seemed to draw the tension out of her body.

“I wish to keep going, to keep fighting.” She gazed up at him. “But only if you are by my side. Do you want to stay with me? I mean, Nicholas, Maxim, and Leo are going back to Russia for a while, and I didn’t know if you’d want to go with them . . .” The last thing she wanted to sound was desperate for him to stay.

“They won’t stay long. Leo is going to see to the sale of my properties there and ship my possessions here. I spoke to Royce about houses on the Gold Coast on Long Island, and I believe there are several places worth looking at. I thought that after we’re bored of making love in every little inn along the coast, we could go and tour a few of these American palaces.”

His smile deepened, and a hint of a dimple peeped out of one cheek.

“Really?” Her heart gave a wild flutter. “You want to move to Long Island?”

He rolled his eyes. “Of course. I want to move wherever you are, and for the moment, that would be Long Island.”

She curled her arms around his neck, pulling him down into a slow kiss as she thanked him without words. Then he moved back a little and sat up.

“Stay there,” he said before he disappeared belowdecks. When he came back up, he held out one hand, a small black box in the center of his palm.

“What’s this?” She took the box warily, but he was still beaming at her.

“Last week, I spoke with your father. Even though he agreed I didn’t need his permission, I still wished for his blessing.” He chuckled. “I’m far too bound by tradition not to ask.”

With trembling fingers, she opened the box. A simple engagement ring with a marquise-cut pale-blue gem stared back at her.

“It’s alexandrite. The official gemstone of Imperial Russia. The stone changes color depending on how the light hits it.”

Even now, the gemstone changed color as she removed it from the box. Dimitri took the ring and grasped the fingers of her left hand with great tenderness.

“Tell me that you will marry me.”

It sounded more like an order than a request, and she couldn’t help but giggle.

“You’re always telling me what to do.” She kissed the corner of his mouth, and he let out a sigh as he cupped the back of her head and claimed her mouth, leaving her momentarily forgetting what they’d been talking about.

“Will you?” he asked this time.

“I will,” she said with a smile and watched him slip the ring over her finger. “But I believe you had better kiss me again, just in case I need further convincing.”

“That is one order I will let you give me for the rest of our lives, kiska.”

She curled her arms around his neck as he pulled her onto his lap. Their mouths met in a kiss that she would tell her daughters and granddaughters about someday. It lasted longer and burned hotter than any star in the sky. It was a thing of fairy tales made real. If loving Dimitri had taught her anything, it was that love, real love, was a permanence of mind, heart, and soul.

Love was hope. Love was a rebellion. Love left no room for hate or fear.

Love was unstoppable.

Thank you so much for reading Dark Desire. If this story touched you, please consider leaving a review on the store where you purchased it. Want to know more about what happens to Hans and Cody? Be sure to stay tuned for their stories as the Surrender series continues! And if you were intrigued by the trio of Russian hotties, Maxim, Leo and Nicholas, then I’m excited to say they will also have stories in their own series!

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If you haven’t read the first three books in the Surrender Series, turn the page to read the first 3 chapters of The Gilded Cuff, the story of Emery Lockwood, the reclusive billionaire who falls for a journalist with a tragic past to match his own.

The Gilded Cuff

Chapter 1

Emery Lockwood and Fenn Lockwood, eight-year-old twin sons of Elliot and Miranda Lockwood, were abducted from their family residence on Long Island between seven and eight p.m. The kidnapping occurred during a summer party hosted by the Lockwoods.

—New York Times, June 10, 1990

Long Island, New York

This is absolutely the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.

Sophie Ryder tugged the hem of her short skirt down over her legs a few more inches. It was still way too high. But she couldn’t have worn something modest, per her usual style. Not at an elite underground BDSM club on Long Island’s Gold Coast. Sophie had never been to any club before, let alone one like this. She’d had to borrow the black mini-skirt and the red lace-up corset from her friend Hayden Thorne, who was a member of the club and knew what she should wear.

The Gilded Cuff. It was the place for those who enjoyed their kink and could afford to pay.

Sophie sighed. A journalist’s salary wasn’t enough to afford anything like what the people around her wore, and she was definitely feeling less sexy in her practical black flats with a bit of sparkle on the tips. Sensuality