Accidental Gold digger.
Circumstance forced Eden Mercer to sell herself to Dominic Armstrong for half a million dollars and in return she is to play the dutiful wife in public and submit to him completely behind closed doors.
The Tyrant.
Dominic is Ruthless, manipulative and sadistic but Eden is determined not to break under his cruelty. But how does one persevere when in the clutches of a Monster?
“Soon, sweetie, I promise,” he soothed. She moaned softly as he licked her ear, dropped soft warm kisses across her shoulder blades, he moved down her back, a wet tongue and hot mouth traced and kissed each vertebrae, making a slow and steady progress down her spine. It was a torturous progression that boiled the blood in Eden’s veins as she waited in bated anticipation. Breath stilled in her lungs, eyes widening when he drew apart her butt cheeks and ran his tongue down the wet crevice, from clit to the puckered rosebud of her hole and back again. It was undoubtedly one of the most erotic things he’d ever done to her body, and Eden didn’t know how to breathe properly. She gripped the sheets beneath her hands and bit down hard on her bottom lip to keep from screaming.
It was like a shot of adrenaline straight into her vein. It was blood vessels dilating, her heart galloping uncontrollably in her chest, it was gasping for breath when the air she drew in wasn’t enough. He owned her body, ate it like sun ripened peaches and drank the flowing juices of her weeping womanhood with his rapacious tongue. There were fingers there, slipping between the folds to dive deep into her blistering heat, while his thumb worked at her puckered hole, his wicked, wicked mouth showing Eden exactly how very little she knew her of own body. There was nothing but the explicitness of this act, the hyper awareness that made her feel like each inch of her body was struck by lightning, that killed her and gave her life all in one electrifying jolt. He was merciless and perfect, inviting her to shove her hips back and ride his face.
Death was imminent, sweet cataclysmic death seduced her into the gaping, welcoming arms of her orgasm. She plummeted, shattered into delicious little pieces on his tongue and fingers. Recuperating wasn’t in the stars for her as he gripped her hips and plunged into her depths in one long stroke. Pulling her arms and folding them at the small of her back, he held them there with one large hand as he sank in deeper, so deep that it hurt so good. Ass high in the air, face down in the sheets, Eden was at his complete mercy, filled to absolute capacity with his cock, and she whimpered, the vulnerability of her position giving her a sweet high.
“I’m going to beat this pussy, Eden, and you’re going to scream my name.”
And she did, a promise made completely true as he fucked her like a porn star. She screamed like the world was falling, his repeated strike against her G-spot making her see stars. It was too damn much, his jarring thrusts so deep that she could taste him, spurred her fall and she orgasmed on every inch of his cock.
Their marriage had started off corrupted and had only grown worse in the ensuing years, the decaying layers of lies, distrust, humiliation, animosity and resentment had poisoned the very foundation of their union, making it impossible for anything else to flourish there. The only undeniable truth between them was the uncontrollable lust that drew them together with such cataclysmic force that it nearly always maimed her not to be touched by him.
If you like your heroes to be utter assholes, your angst overflowing, your sex scenes scorching, and a story that will grip you from page one, then you need to read this book.
If I had to rate this based on story alone, it would be a solid 5 stars. I was fully invested in the story, rooting for a HEA, and equal parts hating the hero and wanting him to get the girl. I’m a sucker for these types of books. I had read Francette Phal’s Bet series and enjoyed it immensely. I actually found the characterization of Dominic and Eden to be similar to the hero and heroine from The Bet; and that’s not a bad thing at all.
Dominic is rich, cold, ruthless, and jaded. He’s been obsessed with Eden since he first saw her singing in a smoky bar, and he knew he had to have her by any means possible.
And Dominic is a man that always gets what he wants. With Eden in a dire financial situation, he knows he has her right where he wants her. So he takes her, for a measly half-million dollars.
Eden didn’t mean to marry Dominic for money, but that’s exactly what happened. Feeling like she had no choice and nowhere to go, she makes a deal with the devil himself. Now 5 years later she finds herself married to a ruthless asshole who treats her no better than a sex doll, and reminds her of his ownership of her at every chance he gets.
He gets off on humiliating her, on branding her any way he can.
I’m always afraid when it comes to stories like this that I’ll find myself reading about a weak heroine. But that was certainly not the case here. In the span of the book you see Eden go from someone that accepts her fate to fighting for her independence. You see her come into her own.
Will Dominic ultimately break her in the end, or will she be able to turn the ruthless tyrant? Guess you’ll have to read the book to find out, since that’s all that you’ll be getting from me.
So if I loved the story as much as I did, why not give it 5 stars? Because unfortunately I found the delivery a bit lacking. While the writing is fantastic in parts, I thought that it was overly descriptive to the point of redundant at times. I cannot describe how many times I read about Dominic’s green eyes and all the different ways of describing it; emerald gaze, cold green eyes (actually, I didn’t lose count, it was 58) Then there was Eden’s golden gaze (26) and caramel skin (10. OK, so this one wasn’t AS bad). Good lord. As much as I can usually look past it if I like the story enough, I found myself getting irritated here.
The other problem? Some of the descriptions of the sex scenes. I’m all for poetically written erotic scenes, but this was a whole different ball game for me.
First there was this:
She reclined backwards, her torn dress hanging haphazardly at her sides as she slowly propped herself on her elbows in offering Dominic a banquet of sumptuous breasts with nipples puckered to delightful peaks, the macchiato river of her flat belly led to the bare ocean of her salted caramel pussy.
Let’s just say that caramel macchiatos were off the menu for me for about a week after this.
When that exploring hand gently pried her thighs apart, he discovered her garden, the fountain at her center overflowing with her essence, drenching his fingers.
My other quibble were the transitions, or lack thereof. Written in 3rd person POV and it would jump from Eden, to Dominic, to Eden’s friend Jenna pretty randomly. I had to go back and re-read certain parts because of this as it got somewhat confusing.
Unfortunately, try as I might, I just couldn’t look past these things. I love Francette Phal’s unique story telling, and I would highly recommend this book for those that enjoy this type genre. But I do feel it fair to warn you if these things can make or break a book for you. Luckily for me, I enjoyed the story enough that this only brought my rating down slightly. (Which tells you a lot about how good the story is, since this would normally bring my rating down quite a bit in any other case) There was also a delicious little teaser in the end of this book for a different character that was introduced here. I’m practically salivating at any more crumbs about that book. Though I am really hoping that the heroine is not the one that was mentioned. Guess I’ll just have to stalk the author in the meantime for more hints. And I thank you
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