Ashe Barker, She Has Spirit

I have one of the most intriguingly sexy authors with me today, Ashe Barker. This woman is so magnificently naughty her email signature is Who knows where pain ends and pleasure begins?

I'm pretty sure it's with Ashe Barker. 

Without further ado, the woman whose emails delight me...

Hello Aubrey, and thank you for inviting me over today to give a shout out about my latest release, Spirit. Oh, and to drool over the gorgeous cover, naturally. My thanks to Korey Mae Johnson at Stormy Night who has outdone herself yet again.

Oh, hello yummy cover!

There were several inspirations for Spirit. One of those was this quirky van I came across in a car park in Cumbria a few months ago. I was intrigued by who might own it, and what their story could be. In the absence of more details I thought I’d better write the story myself. And Spirit was what emerged.

I hope readers love the story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Here’s the 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.

And of course a sexy excerpt, to whet your appetite.

Matt steps away from me, allowing me the space to comply with his request. He moves around to the bed and lounges on it, pillows plumped behind him as he watches me. Something in his expression hardens, his eyes lose a little of their warmth. His erection seems if anything more solid within the constraining denim. He says nothing, but I know he expects me to do as he's asked, and to do it now. Either that, or refuse. I have no intention of refusing.

I start by crouching to unfasten my trainers and I kick those off. I spare a regretful wish that perhaps I might have chosen rather more attractive footwear this morning, but I could hardly have predicted I'd finish up here. I dressed for fell-walking, not sexual submission. I peel off my thick, serviceable socks too and cram those into my shoes. I stand up again, and unbutton my shirt. I peel it from my shoulders and arms to reveal the skimpy vest top underneath. I leave that in place while I unfasten my jeans and unzip them. I slide those off too and fold them loosely, then look around for somewhere to put my things.

"Where should I..."

"Anywhere. Don't worry about that." His tone is clipped, matter-of-fact, as though women undress for him every day. On reflection, perhaps they do. But for me this is a big deal and I hesitate for a few moments before continuing. I have no reason to suppose Matt is unaware of my discomfort, he's missed nothing else so far, but he makes no comment. He crosses his ankles, and he waits.

I pull the vest over my head, and now I'm just in my bra and knickers. Did he mean I was to take off everything? He didn't actually say naked. I glance over at him, seeking some sort of clue.

"Problem, Beth?"

"No, I just, I mean, I was wondering if you need me to take everything off."

"I don't need you to. But I want you to. I seem to recall you were much less modest in the past."

Enough said. I reach behind me to unhook my bra and allow it to drop onto the floor with the rest of my stuff. I resist the impulse to cross my arms in front of me. After all, as he's already pointed out more or less, he's seen me naked before.

Even so, I feel much more exposed now than I remember ever feeling in the past. Much more vulnerable. My mouth is dry as I hook my thumbs in the waistband of my pants and shove those down too. I step out of them and straighten, meeting his gaze.

He smiles, the grin sexy and approving. I don't think I've changed that much in the last seven years, except to fill out a little which must be a good thing, surely. From his expression I think he likes what he sees. Oh God, I hope so.

Matt swings his legs to the floor and stands. He saunters across the room to where I stand, stiff and immobile. I wait, for what? Some comment? Approval? Some pronouncement that I'll do, that I somehow pass his inspection?

Matt circles me, viewing me from every angle. He comes to a halt behind me and lifts my hair from my shoulders. I stiffen, but don't move. He trails his lips down my neck and across my exposed shoulder, nibbling with the edge of his teeth. I shiver.

"Cold, love?"

"No. No, I'm fine. Thank you." How polite I am.

"Fine? Yes, you are, very fine. Fucking gorgeous, I'd say. But then I knew that. You didn't though, did you?

"What do you mean?"

"All the time you were undressing you looked worried, nervous. Did you think I wouldn't like your body, Beth? Your perfect, beautiful body?"

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

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