Smutketeers

Crystal: Well, first I think we should tell them about how we came up with our post title. “Equipment Oriented” sounds so ominous, when really it’s just delicious. In my new book, UNTAMED, and in Eden’s new book, THE BEAUTY OF SURRENDER, we have a lot of equipment being used to spice up the filth. Eden’s book has one particular piece of equipment that can be verrrry interesting. Not that I know anything about that, personally, because I’m the good girl of the Smutly Crew.

Eden: The good girl? Ha! And that’s all I’m sayin’.

Actually, the only equipment in THE BEAUTY OF SURRENDER is rope. I know-you’re shocked. Such a far cry from my usual paddles, floggers, cuffs, vibrators, slappers, whips, chains, hot wax, blindfolds, um…what was I saying? Oh yes…so, this book is about Shibari, an ancient and sensual ritualized form of rope bondage that originated in Japan. So the really unusual part is that rope is the only implement. Well, unless human anatomy can be called an ‘implement’. What do you think, Crystal?

Crystal: I think human anatomy is the most important implement in every one of my books. It’s definitely my one implement of choice. However, in UNTAMED, I went with the theory that variety is the spice of life, so there’s a ton of stuff: vibrators, dildos, an ancient Mayan statuette used as a dildo…or was it used as an anal plug? Hard to recall…it just got so dirty in there. There was also a rather interesting video game that made an appearance in my heroine’s technobrothel. The game was inspired by Eden herself, naughty girl that she is…but I’ll let her reveal how much or little she wants about that. Let’s just say she made the dedication of the book.

Eden: I LOVE that my torrid true-life tale of techno titillation made it into your book! And I’m happy to share some of it here…

So, when my boyfriend and I were first seeing each other and in that early blush of love-and lust-smart boy that he is introduced me to a video game that even I couldn’t resist. It’s called Rez, made for the PlayStation 2. Now, I am not a big video game fan. In fact, I’d had very little interest in them until this one night…when he started this game and told me I HAD to sit down and watch him play. Big yawn, right? (Except that I do love when my man issues commands). He pulled out this handy dandy little attachment and told me to hold it in my…um…lap. He was happily shooting at enemy spaceships and when he made a hit, the attachment vibrated. Lovely! Soon I was cheering him on…with a few sighs and moans in between.

I had to tell someone, of course, so my fellow Smutketeers got the full story. Crystal was so enchanted by the idea she asked if she could use it and voila!

Crystal: Hey, when something that good falls in your…um…lap…you have to use it. UNTAMED takes place a tiny ways into the future, so Eden knew the spaced out game would be perfect for my setting. She was awesome to let me “borrow” her equipment, but having a kinky little implement designed for that purpose isn’t the only way to have some equipment oriented fun.

I think there’s so much people can use as equipment for sex—not all of it has to be from a store or website that’s specifically sells sex toys. Look at Eden’s ropes for example. Rope isn’t necessarily a sex toy, but can obviously be made totally sexual. I did the same in UNTAMED with the Mayan statuette. There’s just nothing wrong with making your own “pervertibles,” is there? Think about it…a string of pearls as anal beads, a hair brush as a paddle, a silk scarf for bondage. The list could go on forever. I think it almost makes it more sexually titillating because it’s not supposed to be a sex toy.

Eden: Oh, I love pervertibles! Didn’t Feisty have a wine bottle used as a dildo in BOUND TO PLEASE? And I have to say, your Aztec idol is a really great idea! Here are some others:

An old-fashioned curly telephone cord makes an excellent and wicked whip

A small kitchen scrub brush is a wonderful sensation toy-just brush over the skin gently. Or not…*G*

An electric tennis-racket-style fly swatter is fun if you’re into electrical play

But my favorite is a toy rubber sword my boyfriend and I picked up at Disneyland-it’s a sort of smooth, suede-like rubber and it’s the best spanking toy ever!

But I think I made good use of my simple and humble rope in THE BEAUTY OF SURRENDER. Here’s a little taste…

THE BEAUTY OF SURRENDER

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Shibari…The ancient art of erotic restraint…Its finely-knotted ropes are a turn-on, a sexual experience… and for some, an absolute necessity…

At a San Francisco sex club called Pinnacle, Ava Gregory seeks something she cannot quite describe. But of one thing she is certain: the moments when feels her most beautiful and complete are when she is tightly restrained in the Shibari ropes. At Pinnacle, she’s paired with a master: Desmond Hale, who thrives on control… But something surprising happens when Desmond binds Ava’s willing body and takes her to the edge of ecstasy. And now, the two are taking their relationship out of the shadows of the club, sharing secrets unleashed and bodies unbound…

An art dealer and Shibari master, Marina has never hesitated to dominate anyone. Until she meets James, a dark, gorgeous, towering journalist who’s survived horrors around the world. James confesses that submission is the only way to clear his troubled mind, but Marina is instantly overwhelmed by his strength and magnetism. To share the pleasures of bondage, something must change between them. When it does, it will come with an explosion of unexpected pleasure—and a relationship that neither could have ever have imagined…

EXCERPT from THE BEAUTY OF SURRENDER:

He opened the door and led her through.

An enormous bed, with carved wooden posts soaring toward the high ceiling. More windows open to the incredible Bay view, letting the night right in: the dark sky, the glittering stars, making her feel all the more vulnerable, even though she was certain no one could see inside. The room was dimly lit by amber glass sconces on the walls. Music played quietly, something soft, meditative. And against one wall was a large wooden frame, like the ones she’d seen at the fetish clubs. But this one was beautiful, carved, with benches and bars padded in brown leather and shining brass hooks placed all over it. Next to it stood a tall rack with coils of colored ropes hanging from it: white, black, red, blue. Her breath stuttered in her chest.

He came to stand behind her, so she couldn’t see him. She could only feel his presence, the faint heat of his body. And his scent, warm and enigmatic, filling her senses.

“Do you know what this is, Ava?”

She nodded her head. “I think so. It looks like the bondage frames I’ve seen at some of the clubs.”

“Yes, that’s right. I can do complex web work here, full harnessing, suspension. Anything.” A short beat. “And I will.”

Oh, she was going to sink to her knees right now, right here!

“Ava, take your clothes off. All of them.”

She paused, opened her mouth, but found she had nothing to say. Everything he was asking of her was well within the boundaries she was used to, but for some reason she felt startled.

She wasn’t going to argue. She didn’t want to. But she was trembling all over, with excitement, and with a little fear still. She wasn’t afraid of him exactly. It was how he made her feel.

But she was doing it, slipping out of her dress, her bra, her high heels, and finally, her damp, white lace panties, which he took from her. He held the small scrap of fabric in his fingers, stroking the lace with his thumb.

“I love this; that you would wear something so sweet-looking. That’s one of the first things I noticed about you,” he told her as he set her clothing down on the dark suede coverlet on the end of the bed. “That air of innocence.”

She could hardly believe he was talking to her so calmly, while she stood naked in front of him!

“And this,” he said, his voice quiet, almost reverent. “This incredible skin.” He drew one finger between her breasts, and her nipples went hard immediately. She shivered all over. Moving in closer, he spread his fingers wide, his entire palm covering the skin between her breasts.

“I can feel your heart beating, Ava. I don’t mind telling you mine is beating just as hard, just as fast.”
He took her hand, placed it on his firm, muscled chest, and she could feel his thudding heartbeat beneath his black cotton shirt.

God.

She was melting all over, into his heat, into her own.

“This is why we’re here together right now,” he said.

He took a step back and she saw him pull in a deep breath. She was unable to speak, her mind beginning that lovely slip and slide, filled with nothing but his rugged beauty, his command, her own sense of submission. And overcome, she clasped her hands behind her back, bowed her head.

“Ah, good girl.”

Hot flash of pleasure at those words, at his tone.

“Stay just as you are while I get set up,” he told her.

She waited. Breathless. Dizzy with need, anticipation.

Then that familiar whisper of rope smoothing over rope, and in a moment he was back in front of her, taking her hands from her back, leading her forward.

“We begin now, Ava.”

UNTAMED

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The biological warfare of the twenty-first century changed the planet in astonishing ways, transforming humans into shape-shifters who love to walk on the wild side—reveling in danger and the explosive desire that consumes them…

Half-human, half-lynx, Delilah Chase makes her living as a professional thief. But when half-human, half-hawk Hunter Avery catches her trying to steal his priceless ruby, he makes her a proposition: spend a week in his bed, or take a trip to jail. What follows is seven days of unrelenting, primitive passion neither can live without…

As the owner of Tail, the most notorious techno brothel in New Chicago, mink-shifter Lorelei Chase specializes in fulfilling all of her clients’ kinky fantasies. She just has one rule: Never sample the goods that her customers or workers offer. But every day, jaguar-shifter Nolan Angelo and wolf-shifter Pierce Vaughn tempt her to break that rule—until she ultimately gives in to a burning lust that knows no control…

EXCERPT from UNTAMED…

Delilah Chase perched on the corner of the building, her hand braced on the ledge in front of her as she swept her gaze over the city below. From ninety stories up, it looked clean, beautiful, an ocean of multicolored lights against pure ebony.

But Delilah knew the truth. Up close, it was gritty, dirty, and dangerous. A place where someone like her flourished.

She grinned and let the adrenaline humming through her body take over. Her claws slid forward, scraping against the slick metal ledge. She ran her tongue down a long fang, her smile widening. It was always this way when she was on a job. Half cool, calm professionalism, half unadulterated thrill seeking.

Schooling herself to patience, she tilted her wrist and checked her chrono. A few more minutes and the virus she’d seduced a young computer techie into feeding into the building’s security system would kick in. She’d have a quarter of an hour to get in, steal the priceless ruby her client wanted, and get out again.

Kitten’s play, this job.

Still, every case had its risks, and the moment a thief got too cocky was the moment they slipped up. If all went well, by the end of the night, multi-trillonaire Hunter Avery would be missing a gem and Delilah would have a sizeable commission in her encrypted cred account. So, things had better go well. She gauged the distance between the skyrise she stood on and the one she needed to break into. Tricky, very tricky. Timing was everything. The lynx within her purred at the challenge.

This was going to be fun.

Balconies circled the entire penthouse. Not surprising a family of red-tailed hawks would build the glass and mercurite sanctuary for themselves in the middle of the city. High enough they couldn’t see the grime of the real people below.

The newsvids had reported on every aspect of the Avery family’s lives for as long as she’d been alive. Their fortune was one of the few to survive the Third Great War, which made them newsvid darlings, beautiful people in an ugly world.

Delilah had heard all about it when Hunter’s parents were killed in a tragic industrial accident. A few years after that, Hunter’s uncle died, and Hunter had all but disappeared from public view. The buzz on the street whispered that Hunter had done the killing himself, his mind twisted from seeing his parents’ death. A bitter little smile curled Delilah’s lips. Figures that he’d get away with murder. The rich always did.

Now, Hunter was practically a recluse in his tower penthouse, only allowing a trusted few in for business purposes, and only leaving for a few business meetings or high-society parties a year. Which meant conning her way in wouldn’t work, so breaking in was her best option. Her client said Avery was in Los Angeles at a board meeting and wouldn’t be home until the next day. Her intel had confirmed it, so tonight was the night to get what her client wanted.

If a tiny part of her was curious to see the inside of the Averys’ ivory tower, and got a malicious thrill from stealing from the richest man alive, she’d never admit it to anyone else.

Her chrono vibrated against her wrist, letting her know the window of opportunity had opened. Reaching behind her she pulled her grappler gun out of her knapsack, aimed it at the balcony railing and fired. A gossamer-thin strand of mercurite shot from each end forward to form molecular bonds with the railings on both buildings. She flipped a setting so the grappler would move along the wire. Taking a breath, she said a quick prayer that the virus worked and she wasn’t about to get fried by the security field that electrocuted any unauthorized life forms attempting to enter.

Then she tightened her grip on the grappler, jumped, and let gravity carry her down the wire with a soundless rush of speed and wind. Her heightened vision took in every detail as she went. So, she knew the exact moment something started to go wrong. The mercurite was designed to dissolve after one use. It left no evidence behind. The wind was especially intense this evening and she might just reach the end of that one use before she reached the other building.

Shit, shit, shit.

Heart pounding so loud in her ears it drowned out everything else, she tilted her feet forward and hoped for greater speed. Tensing every muscle as she hit the perfect spot in her downward flight, she kicked her legs hard. She swung up and around the wire, launching herself into the sky. The cable slackened and she knew it was no more than silver powder beneath her. She twisted midair, flipping until she landed lighter than a cat’s paw on the edge of the railing. Triumph rushed through her, making her grin. Perfect.

She loved it when a plan came together. Almost as much as she loved it when the plans went awry and she had to think on her feet. It was why she was the very best at what she did.

UNTAMED and THE BEAUTY OF SURRENDER go on sale on October 27th, but they’re available right now for pre-order!

Meanwhile, let’s have a contest! Everyone who posts here between now and midnight on our release day, October 27th, will be eligible to win a copy of Eden’s latest book from Samhain, THE SEEKING KISS, a hot vampire ménage story OR Crystal’s latest Samhain release IF YOU BELIEVE!

Come back to the Smutketeers blog on October 28th to find out who’s won!