She’s the woman he sent away. 

Lisette wouldn’t be back in New Orleans if she didn’t need protection—and who better to turn to than her ex-boyfriend turned Detective? She’s got a closet full of secrets that include a stalker ex and a kinky past. She vows to not dream about Mathieu…much. If only he were a Dominant, one who would not just flog her into bliss, but love her as well. A girl can dream, can’t she? 

He was her first love. 

Mathieu wants nothing to do with another damsel in distress, but he can’t say no when the little blonde woman walks back into his life with proof her ex is big trouble. He’ll give her a place to sleep, but nothing more. His heart is locked up tight. Except, Lisette uncovers his past in the BDSM world and she’s never backed down from a challenge. He can handle her, can’t he? 

Lisette and Mathieu embark on a relationship that is strictly about sexual gratification, but evolves into more. When the bodies align, the hearts entwine. Except their rekindled flame is in danger. Lisette’s ex has found his prey, and he’s not afraid of taking a life.

Duty Bound

Excerpt from Duty Bound: Bayou Bound # 2
© Sidney Bristol 2014

 

This is a unique excerpt available only on this blog stop.

 

“Do you care to explain why?” Lines marred her brow and her voice rose.

Mathieu estimated he was about five seconds from an angry woman melt down. It might be easier to deal with Lisette angry at him, not making his bed and fixing lunch. Except she could call Lola for the rest of the story, so either she heard it from him or her.

“Not really, but I guess I don’t have a choice. On the surface, I’m a black man from a lower middle class family. You’re a white woman from a well-to-do family. I seriously doubt your parents would be okay with you dating me.”

“I never cared about that,” she said vehemently. Color rose on her cheeks and Gator reacted to her rising anger by pushing up and searching for an offender.

Damn dog already thought she was his.

“I never said you did. I said your family did. I didn’t break up with you for that reason, but it did occur to me that I did us both a favor.”

“Then what’s the real reason?”

Mathieu studied Lisette. There was a fire inside her that hadn’t been there before. Oh, he’d felt the embers, but she hadn’t been quite so spunky at nineteen. Or had she been twenty? He couldn’t remember.

“You were a good girl and I was a bad boy. I cared about you, but I didn’t care what being with me would do to you. Lola saw where I was headed and she didn’t want to see you hurt.” Truth be told, Mathieu would be hard-pressed to like himself if he’d taken her down that path with him.

The woman he dated before Lisette had introduced him to kink in the manner of restraints and breath play. It had all been so new he hadn’t known how to talk to Lisette about it, and he had no business experimenting with someone so innocent and sweet. BDSM was a rough world, and he doubted she was cut out for that. For him.

“That is a load of utter bullshit.” Lisette pushed to her feet, taking her plate and, therefore, Gator with her to the kitchen.

It was what he’d give her. The truth was too much to trust to anyone now.

“I’ve got to run. Try one of the cafés for internet. I’ll be back late tonight.” His phone buzzed right on time.

Mathieu slipped out of the door and locked it behind him. He didn’t like leaving Lisette angry with him, but he wouldn’t begrudge the wedge keeping them apart.

He jogged down the stairs, the chilly, humid air seeping into his clothing and weighing him down.

In the parking lot beside the building, his old partner sat in a cruiser, engine idling. He slipped into the passenger side seat, folding his large frame in around the computer equipment mounted to the dash.

“You look chipper,” he said to his driver.

“Shut it, you,” Odalia growled as she pulled out onto the street.

“Late night?” The tension in his chest eased. Odalia might as well have been the little sister he never had.

“Maybe,” she groused.

Mathieu chuckled and shook his head. Odalia had hooked up with a local bounty hunter and Dominant on a whim and the two had tipped over the edge into a committed relationship within days. It was the kind of whirlwind romance he knew the feel of.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Odalia said after a few moments.

“Just thinking.”

“Got any plans for tonight?”

“You work till two in the morning.”

“So? Dungeon’s open till four. You should come. Everyone asks about you.”