All or Nothing #1
Summary:
If she’s not good enough for all of him, she’d rather have none.
Twenty-one-year-old Amber Sommerville has no idea what she’s in for when she enters an exclusive club in Dublin. But she instantly knows the man who rescues her from a predator is someone special.
Forty-one-year-old Hector Kelly has seen it all before, but one look at Amber leaves him enchanted. Because she’s young and inexperienced, he tells himself he needs to hold back, despite Amber’s obvious desire for more.
When Amber discovers exactly how much Hector has been hiding from her, she gives him an ultimatum. Will Hector be brave enough to share his all with Amber, or is their love doomed from the start?
Little Rainbows #2
Summary:
Can a second chance at love overcome grief and self-doubt?
Eighteen months after her beloved husband died, Heather is ready to take on the world again. Organizing a party in The Blowhole, an exclusive resort on the Irish west coast, is just the ticket.
Jason should be on top of the world. His resort is a success and about to celebrate its first anniversary during a weekend long extravaganza. So why does he feel as if his life doesn’t fit him anymore?
Twenty years after they first met, Jason and Heather are given an unexpected second chance at love. When a threat to Heather’s independence and Jason’s livelihood imperils their budding relationship, will their bond be strong enough to fight for their happy ever after?
This second edition of Little Rainbows has been partially rewritten and completely re-edited.
Now or Never #3
Summary:
When the past intrudes, can two lost souls forge a future together?
Karl’s carefully erected walls are crumbling. Giving up sex and relationships made perfect sense when he was eighteen. For a decade, he poured all his time and effort into his flourishing career. Doubts crept in the first time Karl met Leo and now, after two years of avoiding him, Karl is in charge of training Leo.
Leo loves his life in The Blowhole. Entertaining the guests during explicit shows under Roger’s guidance meets Leo’s needs and keeps his demons at bay. When Roger leaves, Leo’s job expands but he’s assigned to work with Karl, the General Manager who appears to detest him, and Leo’s anxiety blossoms. It wouldn’t be so bad if Leo hadn’t been attracted to Karl from the first moment he saw him.
Two men. A truck-load of insecurities and an attraction that can’t be denied. When the full horror of Leo’s past comes to light, will their fledgling connection be strong enough to weather the storm?
Now or Never #3
I should start off by saying I have not read the first 2 entries in
The Blowhole series, I have nothing against M/F pairings, I love any & all well written pairings but over the past 7 years I have primarily read only LGBT genres/pairings. Now as this is a standalone series, I don't feel I was lost or missing something having started with
Now or Never. I can also honestly add that knowing and loving Helena Stone's work, one day I will go back and read
All or Nothing &
Little Rainbows.
On to
Now or Never. Karl and Leo are, well simply put: brilliant! Their chemistry smolders off the page/screen, there is no denying that there is a connection between the two men. Whether they let that connection be explored is really not in doubt as Helena Stone enjoys her HEA but the journey they have getting to the end is where the real story is told. Did I want to knock their heads together a few times? Definitely. Did I want to wrap them up in Mama Bear hugs as well? Of course. It's those mutual moments of screaming "
Take a chance!" and "
It's going to be alright." that really told me I was reading a winner. In my head I have a list that helps me decide where on the "
It's a pleasant read to HOLY HANNAH BATMAN!" a book falls and one of those boxes is that kind of warring emotions the characters invoke in me, so when I can tick that box as I did in
Now or Never, I knew I had a gem burning up my kindle.
I'll just add that considering the place and type of business Karl manages at The Blowhole club,
Now or Never is actually quite mild in the kink department. Even though the kink levels are relatively mild there is never any mistaking the heat between the two leads.
Now or Never is a journey of discovery or perhaps a better word would be
acceptance, opening oneself up to the whole you that desires to be free. There is heat, romance, chemistry, drama, angst . . . truth is Karl and Leo's journey is beautifully told running the gauntlet of feels that makes you route for them as a pair but also as individuals from the get go. Wonderful read.
RATING:
All or Nothing #1
“You’re serious?” Amber knew her laugh sounded nervous, but she couldn’t stop it from escaping her mouth. When the masked man had first walked up to her and told her to kneel, she’d thought it was a joke, orchestrated by her sister. It would have been just like Sinead and her mates to do something like that. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Whoever this was, he clearly expected her to kneel before him. He was in for one hell of a disappointment.
“Very serious. Did you really think you could walk into a BDSM club and not obey the rules?” Anger or something very close to it vibrated off the man, and for the first time since he’d approached her, Amber felt a stab of fear. Not that she’d show him her feelings. She lifted her chin and relished the surprise she thought she recognized on what she could see of his face when she looked him straight in the eye.
“I’ve no intention of kneeling for anyone, least of all you.” It took all her strength not to flinch when he raised his hand. She’d no idea if he planned on striking her or just wanted to force her to her knees.
“That’s enough, Carlos.”
The deep, calm voice coming from behind her startled Amber. She wanted to turn around and discover who it belonged to, but knew she couldn’t afford to take her eyes off the man in front of her.
Said man in front of her—Carlos apparently—frowned for a moment, as if confused, as he glanced over her shoulder. “Hector, this has nothing to do with you. Leave us alone to sort this out.” The masked man returned his steely-eyed attention to Amber.
“It does when you’re determined to give all of us a bad name.” The warm voice touched something deep in Amber. She was no damsel in distress and hated relying on others, but she couldn’t help being grateful for the help. She’d no idea what sort of trouble she’d gotten herself into. Which meant she didn’t know how to get herself out of it either.
The anger Amber’d thought she recognized in Carlos’s eyes transformed into fury, and for the first time since he’d addressed her, he fully focused on somebody other than her.
“Stay out of this. I won’t tell you again. Who do you think you are? You disappear for years, and then you presume you can tell me how to behave. Go back to wherever you’ve been hiding and leave this to us real men.”
“Look at her wrist, Carlos. You’re right. You shouldn’t need me to explain how this works.”
Amber glanced at her wrist and the white armband they’d told her to wear when she’d entered the club with the other girls. Apparently, it wasn’t just proof of admission.
“A white armband. I know. I saw that immediately. Doesn’t mean the girl shouldn’t know how to behave.”
Amber’s temper rose. She didn’t enjoy being the subject of a conversation she didn’t appear to have a role in. She opened her mouth, although she’d no idea what she wanted to say, when the sonorous voice behind her beat her to it.
“That’s exactly what it means, Carlos. I don’t like these open nights either, but that’s what this is, and as a result, most people here right now don’t even know there are rules, never mind what they might be. Leave the girl alone and find yourself an experienced submissive.”
Suddenly, it all came together for Amber. Now, she understood why her sister—the bride to be—and her friends had giggled as much as they had when they’d entered the club. She’d read about submissives. She almost smiled but remembered the dicey situation she found herself in just in time. She enjoyed reading about Doms and those who submitted to them. She’d somehow failed to translate those works of fiction into real possibilities. And she’d been slow on the uptake. After all the books she’d read, she should have recognized this club for what it was—far more than “just” a sexy nightclub.
Lost in her thoughts, it took Amber a moment before she became aware of the staring contest taking place between Carlos and the man behind her. The urge to turn around and find out who he was had grown stronger, but she still didn’t want to turn her back on the Dom in front of her. When Carlos gave a small nod before stalking away, Amber relaxed, her body releasing the tension she hadn’t known she’d been holding.
“Thank you.” Amber turned around as she spoke. Everything else she’d wanted to say disappeared from her mind as she looked straight into the dark brown eyes of the man who’d come to her rescue. She tried to figure out what she saw there. She would have called it kindness except she also detected a note of anger in his gaze.
“What were you thinking, girl? Why didn’t you stay with your friends? There’s safety in numbers.” The anger she’d seen in his eyes didn’t translate to his voice. If anything, he sounded resigned, exasperated.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause trouble.” Amber thought for a moment. It was true; she hadn’t meant to create a problem, hadn’t known she might when she allowed the rest of their party to move on while she’d studied her surroundings. “I didn’t know I shouldn’t be on my own. I mean, they never said anything when we came in.”
“How did you end up here anyway?”
Something bristled inside Amber before subsiding again. She didn’t mind answering his questions, just as she hadn’t been upset when she picked up on his anger. It didn’t make sense, because she wasn’t in the habit of letting others tell her what to do or allowing them to interrogate her, but she didn’t question her instinct.
“It’s my sister’s hen party. One of her friends suggested this club.” As she spoke, she remembered the looks Maeve—the friend in question—had exchanged with Mary, another friend. She hadn’t thought anything about it at the time, but now, she realized they’d known exactly what they would be leading the rest of them into. “Sinead, my sister, was already very drunk by then and appeared to be eager to visit a club...any club. I just tagged along.”
She’d resented that. Sure, she was a few years younger than the rest of the party, but she wasn’t a child anymore. She’d bitten her tongue all through the evening as Maeve and some of the others had belittled her. Sinead had defended her earlier on in the evening, but as people kept on pouring drinks into her, she’d soon lost contact with reality.
“But you didn’t stay with them when they moved to the other side of the club?”
His question took her by surprise. How did he know where the others had gone? She looked around until she spotted them on the far side of the dance floor and nearly groaned out loud. It was impossible to miss her sister. Sinead stood on a table in only her underwear and the veil she’d put on earlier. A blush crept up Amber’s neck and cheeks as she wondered what this man might think of her and her sister.
“Ah, I think I understand.” The man’s low chuckle took her by surprise and allowed her to relax again.
“Yes, well. What can I say? I don’t like getting drunk, and I’m not overly fond of some of my sister’s friends. Letting them go on without me for a while seemed like a good idea. If I’d known I’d cause trouble in the process...” She thought for a moment before deciding she had nothing to lose. “Besides, there’s so much to look at here. I had to stop and take it all in.”
She allowed her gaze to roam the club again and only barely repressed the shiver of excitement threatening to run down her spine as she observed more people kneeling on the floor at the feet of others. A girl she’d noticed getting down to her knees earlier was now on her feet, following the man who, Amber assumed, had to be her Dom toward closed double doors on the far side of the room, her head slightly bowed.
She felt her rescuer’s gaze on her and tore her attention back to him.
“By the way, I’m Amber Sommerville. Thank you for stepping in just now. I had no idea how to deal with that man.” Again, she noticed something in his eyes she couldn’t name.
“Hector Kelly.” He took the hand she offered and held it slightly longer than she’d expected. “You should either join your sister or go home, Amber. This is no place for young women on their own.”
“Oh no.” She laughed. “I’ve no intention of going yet. I want to see more. I’ve only read about places like this. I never believed they really existed, never mind could be found in Dublin. Now that I’m here, I want to discover how much of what I considered fiction is in fact real. And I want to know what’s on the other side of those doors.”
She’d no idea how she knew, but she’d no doubt Hector disapproved of her plans. His expression hadn’t changed, and yet she could almost feel his frustration. Tough. She was grateful he’d helped her out of a tricky situation, but it didn’t give him the right to tell her how to spend the rest of her evening. It was a shame though. She would have loved to get to know him better but not if it meant allowing him to make her decisions for her.
“Thank you again, Hector. I’m just going to have a look around before I join the others again.” She took a few moments to really look at him. The slight stutter in her heartbeat took her by surprise, and she dismissed it. Hector was very attractive—not far removed from her image of the ideal man in fact—and he was bossy, which should have been off-putting but, strangely enough, didn’t actually bother her. It was a shame she’d probably never see him again.
The moment she saw him take a deep breath, she turned and walked toward the half-hidden doors at the back of the club. She didn’t want to hear why he thought she should leave.
Little Rainbows #2
The smell of sweat, leather, and almost tangible lust invaded her senses. The sounds of floggers hitting flesh, moans of pleasure, and shrieks of pain brought back memories. Everything she saw, heard, and smelled filled her with a great sense of loss, as well as an unexpected rush of arousal.
A crowd filled the large space Jason steered her toward. She could feel the anticipation in the air and couldn’t escape the excitement buzzing through the room. A path cleared in front of them, and Heather followed Jason to a spot, just outside the exhibition area, giving her a clear view. Her first instinct was to turn around, close her eyes, do anything in her power not to see the scene in front of her. She couldn’t.
It had been so long she could barely remember the sensations displays like this aroused in her. She knew it would hurt later, but right now, she needed to experience those feelings. She’d dealt with the pain for almost two years. She could deal with it for a while longer.
Her breath caught as she watched a man dressed only in dark denim pants lead a naked and blindfolded woman to a bench. Heather studied it more closely. It wasn’t a standard spanking bench. Not with the big dildo fixed near one end.
The man brought the woman to the purpose-built piece of furniture and made her place one foot on a small step before helping her to straddle it. With her other foot positioned on the step on the far side, the woman’s crotch hovered over the phallus. Of course, deprived of her eyesight, she didn’t know that—yet. When the man took the woman’s hands and pulled them forward to the other end of the bench where two pieces of ribbon were waiting to tie them, her body lowered just enough. Heather recognized the moment the woman became aware of the dildo between her legs. Her face tensed, then relaxed into a lazy smile.
Amazement filled Heather when she felt her own face mirror the girl’s satisfied expression. The full and instant reaction of her body to the scene shocked her. Heather’s nipples tightened, and heat and wetness gathered between her legs. She wanted to shake her head, deny the feelings. But she remained still, suddenly hyperaware of Jason’s hands on her hips. For a second she felt the urge to lean back and find some of that physical contact she’d missed for so long. She couldn’t. It was Jason behind her, not Darren. She wanted it to be Darren. She needed to feel him behind her, pressing his hardening cock into her arse, whispering suggestions in her ear. She could hear his voice in her head, telling her all the things he’d be doing to her later, once they were alone. She felt his hands squeeze her hips.
They’re not Darren’s hands. Disappointment shot through her, and she tensed. The hands squeezed again, and some of the anxiety disappeared. No, those weren’t Darren’s hands, it wasn’t her husband and Dom standing behind her, but she couldn’t deny those hands were grounding her, making it possible for her to watch the scene in front of her instead of running away as fast as she could.
She relaxed further and gave her full attention to the beautiful couple. The woman’s hands had been tied to the bench, and the man walked toward her legs. A resounding slap on her arse had the woman slipping down onto the waiting dildo. Her excited groan almost got lost in the gasps coming from the audience. Heather watched as the man talked to the woman, his voice too low to carry to their audience. Whatever he was saying, the woman must have been reacting according to his expectations. He had a satisfied grin as he rubbed his partner’s shapely bum with languid strokes. The woman squirmed, only to stop as soon as the man murmured something else. He took something from his pocket, looked at it, and pressed with his thumb. Instantly a low buzzing sound filled the room, and the woman started moving again. The man’s hand went back to her arse to keep her in place, victim to the vibrations the dildo sent into her core.
“You’re not to come.” For the first time, the man spoke in a voice loud enough to carry to his audience. Heather could feel the crowd around her tensing in sympathy with the woman’s plight. Her own body stiffened, and her vagina contracted while Heather’s breathing quickened. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew Jason had to be aware of all these reactions. His hands were still on her hips, his thumbs stroking her, his presence only adding to the need running through her veins.
Again she forced her attention away from her own body and back to the scene, now nearing its end. The woman appeared to be reaching her limit, moaning loudly and pleading with the man who continued to keep her from moving with his hand. After a few more minutes of what Heather knew was exquisite torture for the woman, the man gave her arse a light slap and walked around the bench to face her. As the woman took advantage of her freedom and bucked herself to a long and violent orgasm, the man bent forward and took her mouth in a long and deep kiss.
Too much. She couldn’t do this. The heat, the love, the way the man so obviously cared for his sub. Memories rushed through Heather’s head, and lights flashed in front of her eyes. She had to get away; she couldn’t breathe. Turning around, she blindly stared up at the man behind her, the man she didn’t quite recognize.
“Black… Black. Please…black.”
Now or Never #3
“Well?” The humor in Leo’s voice suggested he knew exactly what dilemma Karl faced.
“Half past seven,” Karl said before dropping his phone on the bedside table.
“So we have time.” Leo continued to squeeze and stroke Karl’s arse. “Good. That gives me a chance to appreciate the view.”
“Not that much time,” Karl muttered. “I’ll have to get showered and changed before going to the office.” Not that there were rules against him wearing casual clothes while on duty, but he preferred not to. Still, he could take thirty minutes without leaving himself with a mad rush to get ready. Which was just as well, since Leo’s ministrations had turned Karl’s morning wood into a rock-hard erection.
“Spoilsport,” Leo muttered.
“I’ll give you spoilsport.”
In one flowing move, Karl turned around, captured Leo by the middle, turned him over, and gave him a slap to his backside. He fully expected his action to result in a playful fight and was surprised when Leo stilled. Leo’s arse cheek had a subtle red glow, and Karl couldn’t take his eyes off it. Moments passed while the mark faded, and Leo remained motionless. Had Karl gone too far? He wished he knew how all this worked. Unable to come up with answers and not sure how to frame the question, Karl moved until he could press his lips against the now almost invisible glow.
“That’s nice too.” Leo’s muttered words were barely audible since his mouth was pressed against the pillow.
Too? Maybe his impulsive action hadn’t been wrong. He’d have to think about what, if anything, that meant, but not now. He turned Leo onto his back and was happily surprised to see his erect cock rest heavily on Leo’s belly. Karl’s mouth watered.
“My face is here, you know.” Amusement was clear in Leo’s voice.
“Pretty as you are,” Karl said without changing his focus, “I like what I’m looking at right now.” He saw a drop of precum emerge and licked his lips.
“So I see.” Leo’s voice was filled with heat. “Just looking, are you?”
Karl recognized a challenge when he heard one. Not that he needed the encouragement. He’d been thinking about this ever since Leo had given him a blow job. He closed the distance between his mouth and Leo’s dick and lapped up the glistening pearl. The taste was…unlike anything he’d ever had in his mouth before. Definitely not unpleasant, although Karl wasn’t sure he’d call it tasty.
Curiosity pushed his musings to the back of his mind. Karl took Leo’s cock into his mouth, sucking lightly and swirling his tongue around the head, just because he remembered how much he’d enjoyed it when Leo did the same to him.
“Ohhhh.” The sound Leo made was a mixture of surprise and pleasure. “Move.” Leo shifted on the bed, maneuvering both of them until Leo could get his mouth on Karl’s dick.
When Leo swallowed most of his erection down, the lust coursing through Karl’s veins made him forget to suck on Leo’s cock. Then he tried to copy the move but had to pull back when he almost choked.
Author Bio:
Helena Stone can’t remember a life before words and reading. After growing up in a household where no holiday or festivity was complete without at least one new book, it’s hardly surprising she now owns more books than shelf space while her Kindle is about to explode.
The urge to write came as a surprise. The realisation that people might enjoy her words was a shock to say the least. Now that the writing bug has well and truly taken hold, Helena can no longer imagine not sharing the characters in her head and heart with the rest of the world.
Having left the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam for the peace and quiet of the Irish Country side she divides her time between reading, writing, long and often wet walks with the dog, her part-time job in a library, a grown-up daughter and her ever loving and patient husband.
EMAIL: helenastoneauthor@gmail.com
All or Nothing #1
Little Rainbows #2
I took another deep breath, and beneath the scent of human I smelt hints of something sweet like honey. My mouth watered at the flavour, and I staggered back at my response. This couldn’t be an ordinary human. Perhaps his ending up here wasn’t so coincidental after all. What if he had already suspected what we were? What if he’d been out on Pendle Hill looking for us?
