I’m honored to be hosting the wonderful and talented Ashe Barker today.  She has a new release out and I was drawn to it when I read the blurb, but after hearing more about why Ashe choose to write this story, I can’t wait to read it.  I love that she is tackling a rather heavy topic (my fans know I’m known to do that myself).    When I was getting more information for this post, Ashe was kind enough to answer what compelled her to write the story. Here is her answer in her words.
Spirit was inspired in part by the plight of homeless young people who we see on the streets of all our major cities, anywhere in the world. That’s a harsh, unforgiving existence, especially for young people, and I often wonder what their stories are. I suspect many of them are pretty dire. Spirit charts the journey made by one courageous young woman, and the help she receives from an unlikely source. It’s a sexy story, naturally, would I write anything else? But in among the kink the issues at the heart of Spirit are serious ones and I hope I’ve done them justice too.
spirit cover
Blurb:
When Matthew Logan offers a homeless young woman a bed for a few nights, he expects the girl to eat, sleep, recover from the flu, and then move on. Instead, in no time at all eighteen-year-old Beth Harte has captured his affections completely. Though Matt wants only to protect her and has no intention of sleeping with her, Beth has other ideas, and she proves to be very persuasive.
But after Beth is attacked by a friend of Matt’s and subsequently learns for the first time that Matt is an experienced dominant, she is unable to separate the man she is growing to care about from her hateful memories of previous exploitation. Confused and frightened, she runs away.
Almost six years pass before Matt sees Beth again, and in that time his vulnerable little waif has reinvented herself as an artist. Now she has a stunning proposition for him and his environmental engineering company: to collaborate on a project fusing art and science to promote one of the most prestigious sporting events in the world. But when Matt demands to know what went wrong before, she tells him the truth, both about her childhood and about his friend’s actions.
Matt is determined to make Beth’s abusers pay for their crimes, but he’s also not about to let her run away from him again. Can Beth bring herself to trust Matt despite her fears and give him the chance to love her and show her the pleasures of being his submissive, or will the wounds of her past keep her from trusting anyone ever again?
Publisher’s Note: Spirit is an erotic romance novel that includes spankings, sexual scenes, anal play, BDSM content, and more. If such material offends you, please don’t buy this book.
Here’s a sexy excerpt, to whet your appetite.
He dumps his mug on the bedside table and props himself over me, leaning on one elbow. “So, how shall we amuse ourselves for the next hour or so? Any ideas?”
I make a show of considering hard, then offer him a bright smile. “Scrabble. We could play Scrabble. Or perhaps Cluedo.”
He answers me with a wicked grin. “Cluedo I think. So where was the crime committed? In the bedroom, with a rope. Or perhaps in the hallway with a candlestick. Are you into bondage or wax play at all, Beth?”
“I…what?”
“Sorry, bad joke. Maybe a game of hide and seek then? I’d be particularly keen to find what it is you’re hiding under here.” He whips the duvet back and I squeal. He pounces, and in seconds I’m pinned under him, my thighs spread wide as he holds me still for the few moments it takes to grab a condom and sheath himself.
He enters me without further preamble. I sigh and arch up towards him, loving the sensation of fullness as he drives his cock deep, then holds the position, the head of his dick rammed up hard against my cervix. I reach for him, linking my fingers at the back of his neck.
“Matt, that feels so good, so…oh.”
I chew on my lower lip as he withdraws and enters me again, but only a couple of inches this time, just the head and part of his shaft. He sets up a fast rhythm, teasing me as I instinctively seek greater penetration, more depth. He withholds his length, his leer one of a man who knows what he is about.
“Please, Matt. More, I need all of it.”
“Greedy girl. You need to be patient, to wait until it’s your turn. You’ve already come twice this morning.”
“So have you. I… aagh”
He drives his cock forward, hard and deep, stretching me. I squeeze around him, wriggling my hips to increase the friction.
“So eager. I like that about you Beth. Would you like me to fuck you harder perhaps?”
“Yes, yes, yes!”
“Did I hear a ‘please’ there?”
“Yes please!”
“Good girl, so polite. Just for that…” He shifts his angle of entry just a little, but enough to ensure the head of his cock slides along my inner front wall with each stroke, caressing my most sensitive spot. It’s a trick I had no notion of until Christmas Day, when he gave me the first of what I hope could be many more lessons in the siting of my erogenous zones. Certainly, he is well-versed in the exact location, hitting that special spot every time, his accuracy unerring.
My orgasm starts, coiling and unfurling deep inside, then surging to flood my senses. I let out a soft gasp as my pussy spasms.
Matt is attuned to every sound and quiver, and slides his fingers between us to circle and stroke my clit. His touch is light, but enough. Just enough, he knows what I need better than I do myself. While I’m squirming under him, vocalising half-formed pleas and desperate urgings his deft caress ends my torment beautifully. This is the final impetus to send me spinning, my world filled momentarily with white light as my climax seizes me, then hurls me into free fall.
With a low growl, Matt drives his cock into me, fucking me hard as I convulse and tighten, his erection a solid, demanding, giving presence within me. He pauses as my orgasm wanes, then his cock twitches hard. He drops his face down into the hollow between my shoulder and neck, and groans. I squeeze him harder, my actions deliberate this time as I seek to increase his pleasure. He grinds his hips and loops his arm under my knee to lift my leg and gain deeper penetration.
I bite back a yelp as he drives deeper, impossibly stretched now but loving it still. His entire body stiffens, then that familiar hot wash as his semen pumps into the condom.
“Fuck, Beth, so good, so fucking tight. Love it…”
“Mmm, me too. Do we have to stop?”
He nibbles my neck, sending delicious tingles through my already overworked nervous system. “For couple of minutes at least. I’m only human.”
“Yes, I know. And elderly too. Do you dribble when you eat?”
“You know well enough how to make me dribble I suspect.” He withdraws his cock and rolls onto his back. “You know, for a girl who doesn’t even pay rent you’re very lippy all of a sudden.”
I snuggle up against his side, one leg draped across his hip. “I will pay rent. When I get a job.”
“Fair enough. For now could you earn your keep by passing me my coffee?”
*****
You can grab a copy of Spirit from wherever you like to buy your ebooks
Spirit Buy Links
Amazon US
Amazon UK
More about Ashe Barker
I’ve been writing seriously for about two years but I’ve been an avid reader for as long as I can remember, erotic and other genres. I love reading historical and contemporary romances in all pairings – the hotter the better. But now I have a good excuse for my guilty pleasure – research.
My stories are often set in the north of England where I live but I draw inspiration from all over. 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.
On the rare occasions I’m not writing 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 too.
My other titles are many and varied, and include the ‘Black Combe’ trilogies, The Dark Side, Sure Mastery, The Hardest Word and A Richness of Swallows, all set in the atmospheric moorland of West Yorkshire or Cumbria and with a strong BDSM theme. My stand alone novels are The Three Rs, Chameleon, Red Skye at Night, and Faith but this list grows all the time. The Widow Is Mine is a full length medieval erotic romance which I wrote for The Conquered Brides collection. I’ve also written several short stories, including Re-Awakening, a raunchy pirate tale, Right of Salvage, and a MM story, Bodywork, which was included in the Amazon best-selling collection Brit Boys on Boys. You can find all my stories on my author page on Amazon.
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 from me.
I love to hear from readers. You can find me on my blog, and I’m on Facebook, and twitter too. And more recently on Tsu