Blushing Violet

Blushing Violet

Ann Mayburn

Shy and quirky Violet Bishop has finally found the perfect way to meet a man who can fulfill her hidden submissive desires—an online dating site that matches couples based on books they love. In this case, the BDSM erotica that fuels her fire.

Two Dom best friends and business partners, Carlos Romano and Morgan Kane, are matched with Violet. They both want to date her and, rather than fight, decide to keep the fact they know each other a secret and let her choose. A good idea in theory, but impossible when they both fall in love and wish to make Violet their own.

The men build up Violet’s almost nonexistent self-esteem and help her find strength she never knew she had, along with an almost bottomless craving for their dominant touch. When Violet discovers they’ve been less than truthful, the men realize they’ve helped her become stronger than even
they
knew—strong enough to leave them. Now Morgan and Carlos must find a way to win their perfect woman back, no matter what.

Ellora’s Cave Publishing

www.ellorascave.com

Blushing Violet

ISBN 9781419937323

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Blushing Violet Copyright © 2011 Ann Mayburn

Edited by Grace Bradley

Photography and cover design by Syneca

Model: Shannon

Electronic book publication November 2011

The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.

With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

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Blushing Violet

Ann Mayburn

Chapter One

Violet Bishop watched the glittering crystal ball drop over NYC from the solitude of her cozy home in Dearborn, Michigan. Wrapped up in a comfy gray velvet blanket, she lifted her water glass of champagne to the screen and sang along with the mass of humanity in Times Square.

“Five, four, three, two, one! Happy New Year, Adam!” He attacked her with sloppy kisses until she laughed and pushed him back. With a giggle she pulled long strands of her red hair out of Adam’s mouth. He tended to get a little carried away when he got excited. Wrapping her arms around him, she gave him a big hug and whispered in his ear, “I can’t think of anyone I’d rather spend New Year’s with.”

Adam’s long black tail thumped on the couch in a happy rhythm and he gave her another lick. What she said was true. Sad, but true. There was no one she wanted to spend New Year’s with more than her overweight black lab. Not after her ex had dumped her on the day before Christmas for his bleach-blonde, orange-spray-tanned nursing assistant.

In the neighborhood outside her house, the sound of fireworks and guns being shot off created loud bangs. Adam, all eighty-five pounds of him, tried to hide behind her on the couch.

“Some guard dog you are,” she sighed and threw the blanket over him. He gave a pitiful whine and buried his face into the mauve cushions of her sofa. “Yeah, yeah, I know. If a pizza or a box of doughnuts ever breaks into the house, you’ll take care of it.”

The last of the bottle of champagne dribbled into her cup and she realized she was swaying a bit. Glaring at all the happy couples sharing a kiss on TV, she stumbled across the small living room to her computer desk. A framed photo of her and the ex, Dr. Kenny, stood on the shelf above her computer. Her best friend, Bethany, had scratched out his face and taped a picture of a Viagra bottle over his crotch. Violet kept the picture there to remind herself why she was about to do something that terrified her. Something that was so out of character she could scarcely believe she even considered it as a valid option for changing her life.

Moving her mouse, she blinked her eyes and tried to focus on the image on the screen. The picture that she had been staring at all night. Those innocent black-on-white words that at once frightened her and filled her with excitement.

The image of an online dating application filled out in full and ready to be sent off into cyberspace.

The sound of merrymaking faded into the background as she chewed on her thumb and looked at the screen. In her mind, her mother’s voice scolded her for biting her nails and she jerked her hand away with a guilty look over her shoulder. Even though she was twenty-eight years old, and had been out of her parents’ house for over nine years, she still couldn’t escape her mother’s disapproval. And boy howdy would her mother disapprove of this dating site.

On the surface, it was just like any other online dating service. She filled out a personality profile, submitted a picture of herself, which she didn’t want to do but did anyway because she didn’t want to disappoint anyone with her size-sixteen body, and gave her credit card information. What made it different was that the information she filled out was only a couple questions about her as a person. The rest of the survey was all about her favorite books.

Leaning back in her computer chair, Violet scanned the loaded shelves of one of her bookcases that flanked the computer desk. Titles as familiar as old friends met her eyes and she relaxed in their memories. Books never judged her, never told her she was fat, never called her fire-crotch because of her flaming-red Scottish hair. They allowed her to lead the lives of brave and daring women who didn’t take no for an answer and always had a snappy comeback.

Most of all, they allowed her to indulge in forbidden fantasies that made her hot and wet. Fantasies that good girls didn’t have. Things she had never dared to do, or even mention, with her small selection of previous boyfriends. The majority of these well-read books, which were the foundation for her most forbidden fantasies, revolved around BDSM and ménage a trois.

Shifting in her chair, she felt the familiar ache of desire fill her body. The night would no doubt end with her finding her release with her favorite vibrator in bed. Kenny had once complained that she was a nymphomaniac when she had tried to surprise him by wearing a black leather corset to bed and the remark had crushed her. It was hard enough to trust herself with a man as handsome as Dr. Kenny. To be told that her desires were sexually perverse shattered a bit of her hard-won self-confidence.

Bethany said that Kenny was the poster child for erectile dysfunction and would be happier with a nun.

Not giving herself time to think, Violet clicked the send button—and immediately tried to take it back. Too late. Her perversions were now flying across the World Wide Web under the not so clever user name of Blushing Violet. She chose that name, pre-champagne pity party, because of the frequency of her pale cheeks turning red with embarrassment.

And right now, they were hot enough to roast marshmallows on. In a few moments, her profile listing her red-haired, freckle-faced, size-sixteen body would be available for anyone in the world to see. She hadn’t bothered to try to lie about how she looked, the idea of meeting someone for the first time and facing their dissatisfaction made her stomach clench.

Her hand stole up, seemingly of its own accord, and stroked the shiny cover of her favorite art book sitting on the small file cabinet next to her computer. Solid black, with hints of pale pink in the letters, it contained an expensive collection of photos and artwork devoted to the BDSM lifestyle. Her mother would call it pornography, but she loved the beauty of the pictures with their raw emotion and sensuality.

And, truth be told, the images really turned her on. The bondage book, along with a few other select works of erotica, made it onto her favorite books list, in-between Jane Austen and Stephen King. Flipping through the slick pages, she mused about how much one can learn about a person from what they read. At least, she hoped that was the case. Too shy to even consider going to a BDSM club or meeting, she was forever doomed to a life of vanilla boredom if she didn’t find the courage to go after what she really wanted.

A Master to call her own.

The thought of having a strong and dominant man, worthy of her trust, waiting for her when she got home at night made more than her body ache. It made her heart ache. To have that kind of trust, the ability to fully give herself over to someone and know they loved her unconditionally was her dream. Every woman wanted to be worshiped, she just wanted to be tied up and spanked when it happened.

After grabbing the book, she staggered over to her favorite reading chair and slumped back into its forgiving comfort. Adam abandoned the safety of the couch and assumed his version of the reading position. Directly under her feet, getting petted by the brush of her toes as she rocked the chair.

Soft fur tickled over her feet as she rocked and flipped the pages. Her mind wandered over the image of a woman on her knees. This had always been one of her favorites, one of the images that called to her and filled her with longing.

The black-and-white picture showed a woman with long, dark hair, naked and shackled by her hands and feet to a frame. A small smile curved her lips, and Violet read contentment and pleasure in its arch. Two men, dressed only in black leather pants, stood on either side of her. They were beyond handsome. The light cast shadows on their toned bodies, muscles frozen in time. She was unable to see their faces, but their sable hair and blond curls filled her fantasies. By careful planning, or chance, the camera caught them as their floggers crossed over the woman’s stomach and wrapped around her waist.

The throb in her pussy became a pounding need. Stepping over Adam, she carefully put the book back into its place on the shelf and turned off the lights. Bumping into the doorframe, she giggled at her lack of coordination and tried to ignore her mother’s voice nagging about the hangover she was sure to have tomorrow.

Four paces took her to the edge of her canopy bed and she crawled over the pearl-gray goose down comforter in the dim light through the window. Not bothering to turn on the bedside lamp, she didn’t think she could without breaking it at the moment, she tugged open the drawer next to her bed and brought out her favorite vibrator.

Kenny had hated her toys, and she had to hide them on the rare occasion he spent the night at her house. He was a doctor and lived in a condo close to the Detroit Children’s Hospital where he worked. The first, and only, time she had tried to introduce a toy into their play had resulted in him recoiling in disgust and refusing to touch her for the rest of the night. She should have dumped him, but her mother had been overjoyed at the thought of Violet being with a doctor. Compliments from her mother about anything were rare, and her mother had more than once warned her that if she didn’t lose some weight and do something about her appearance she would lose Dr. Kenny. What her mother had really meant was that she enjoyed bragging to the ladies at the country club that her daughter was dating a doctor.

Slamming the drawer shut, she tried to do the same with her mind and focus on the present. She wasn’t going to let Kenny ruin another one of her orgasms.

Lying back in her bed, she scooted out of her panties and pulled the thick comforter over her body. Turning on the vibrator, she let the images of the book run through her mind.

She hung suspended from the frame, feeling the weight of her body pull on her arms. Goose bumps covered her exposed skin as the cool air brushed against her. Out of the darkness, they came to pleasure her.

One had sable-brown hair and a dark tan that spoke of blood warmer than European in his background. With sinfully long lashes, his dark eyes watched her with hunger. A bright-blue leather flogger whispered over his hand as he stood before her and slapped it across his palm. Shirtless, he had the lean and toned body of a runner.

The golden curls of the man standing next to him glinted in the light. Heavy muscles covered his frame, the kind gained through hard work in the gym. A line of hair led down his navel and disappeared into his black leather pants. Rough and masculine, his face was saved from being too severe by the most kissable lips she had ever seen on a man. A sparkle of mischief lit his blue eyes and those lips curved into a knowing grin.

Already turned-on, she shivered in her bed as she imagined the kiss of the floggers on her nipples, followed by the heat of their tongues. The blond moved around to her back, licking down her spine and spreading her bottom with his big hands. In front of her, the sable-haired man gave her a long and drugging kiss.

She moaned into his mouth, arching back to meet the blond man’s touch as he licked at her anus with quick slips of the tongue. She had always found the idea of anal sex sinfully arousing, even if she had never had the nerve to suggest it to her boyfriends in real life. In her dreams, her fantasies, nothing was forbidden.

The dark-haired man ran his hand down her breasts, over the curve of her belly, and down to her wet pussy. Looking into her eyes, he slipped two fingers into her and began to stroke. Each outward drag of his fingers had him pressing just right on her G-spot, working her until she thrust her hips between him and the blond’s tongue.

In perfect rhythm, the men pleasured her. So good, those imagined strokes of the blond’s tongue had her crying out and thrashing in the shackles. Strong hands gripped her hips and held her, making her take the overwhelming pleasure, making her shudder and gasp.

In her imagination, the sable-haired man said the words that always brought her over the edge.

“I want you to come for me.”

It wasn’t a request, it was an order. And she was happy to fulfill it.

Abandoning herself to their strength, she twitched and jerked on their tongue and fingers, cradled against their bodies. The blond wrapped his arms around her from behind and whispered lovely things into her ears while the other man licked his fingers clean with a delighted smile.

Sighing into the quiet night, she tossed the vibrator aside to be cleaned later and curled into her bed. As her satisfied body fell asleep, she wished with all her heart to find someone to hold her close and love her.

* * * * *

Carlos Romano nursed his post-New Year’s hangover with a tall glass of water and a delivery of sliders from the diner downstairs. The front door of his sprawling penthouse apartment opened and he pushed the bag of greasy cheeseburgers across the low mahogany table. His best friend, Morgan Kane, stumbled into the room before reaching into the bag with a grunt. He pushed the sunglasses back up on his nose with a wince after they slid down and exposed his bloodshot eyes to the late afternoon light pouring through the floor-to-ceiling windows. It was four p.m. on the first day of the new year and they had just woken up a few hours ago.

“Can you believe those manipulative bitches?” Morgan took a big bite of his burger and brushed a blond curl off his forehead. At six-foot-three, two hundred and twenty-nine pounds, Morgan still looked like the linebacker he had been in high school and college. Going by appearances alone, no one would ever guess that he was one of the country’s leading digital artists with a flair for gorgeous and whimsical paintings.

Carlos took a long drink of water. “I’m glad we found out before we wasted any more time with them.”