Love Is Love: Latest Release BENT NOT BROKEN

One of the things I enjoy exploring are the various parts of BDSM that are less flashy. Crops, licking someone’s boots, and St. Andrew’s crosses are all fine and good, but there are other parts to the Dom-sub relationship. All the little bits and pieces that allow trust to grow between them. So many tiny actions and activities that allow for the bigger challenges to be approached with confidence.

My definition of a Dom/Master is definitely not everyone’s… and that’s fine. But for me, a Master loves a sub more than they can love themselves. He helps shows the sub, they are deserving of his love and attention by just being who they are.

In Bent Not Broken (released on June 16^th)Riku Tao is all about the details. He longs to have a sub who takes BDSM as more than just as a kinky good time. In his twenties, he tolerated things that did not make him fulfilled, and at his age, he’s too tired to play mind games with want-to-be subs.

Stefano Rossi was abused growing up and his strict Catholic upbringing doesn’t leave any room for orientation exploration. He likes women so he just chooses to stop himself there. In the past, he might find himself in somewhat sketchy situations to get what he needed from someone… but no more.

Fuck, Stefano was tired of being broken. He’d really love to find subspace but none of the Mistresses he’s played with can take him there. He didn’t want to be so drawn to Riku but he was…. Just the demonstrations he does at The Edge light Stefano on fire… not that he’d follow up with the Dom cause he can’t be into that with a guy.

A responsible Dom, who knows a sub has a history of abuse, needs to go down unique paths at times. It’s about understanding what the sub really needs and making sure they get it in a non-triggering fashion. But Stefano not interested in exploring anything with him. They’d just do the rope demonstration and that would be that.

Exclusive Excerpt from Bent Not Broken:

Riku led him to the powder room off the entryway to treat Stefano’s hands.

Stefano had learned fussing about doing this was useless. It didn’t matter that he’d already scrubbed his hands at work.

His Master checked and adjusted the temperature of the water, and when he was satisfied, he pumped soap into his palm and took Stefano’s hands in his.

The tender gesture made Stefano swallow past the lump of emotion in his throat.

“These hands have worked magic. They make broken things work again. We should appreciate them, right?”

Shit! On the surface, handwashing didn’t appear to have anything remotely related to BDSM, but the fact Riku demanded they start their time together with self-care somehow pointed Stefano down the path to subspace.

“Yes, Master.”

He washed both of their hands with orangey scented soap and rinsed. “Taking the time to do self-care reminds you how important you are.”

Stefano had learned not to roll his eyes or reject his own importance. In truth, this hand-cleaning ritual relaxed him and reconnected them. Granted, the focused attention turned him on, but maybe he did start to feel like he mattered... at least to Riku.

Then Riku squeezed a dollop of blue soap onto an ornately carved nail brush and buffed Stefano’s fingertips until they were soapy. Riku rinsed Stefano’s hands and then patted them dry.

As if that wasn’t enough, his Master pumped an orange-and-basil- smelling moisturizer into his palm and massaged the cream into Stefano’s right hand, then his left.

When he was done, he touched his forehead to Stefano’s and their breathing started to sync. As usual, all of the loneliness Stefano shoved down deep came to the surface and evaporated like water on a hot engine.

Blurb for Bent Not Broken:

Stefano Rossi longs for the mystical—and so far unattainable—peace of reaching subspace. But can he accept that the person who can take him there is a man?

Riku Tao has given up on finding a sub who complements him. He’ll stick with doing demonstrations at the BDSM club the Edge. He certainly doesn’t have time for a closeted Catholic guy with internalized biphobia… and yet he cannot help but want to protect Stefano and give him what he needs. A history of physical and sexual abuse makes it impossible for Stefano to come out of the closet, and Riku certainly isn’t going back in.

Perhaps an arrangement of six months to explore their desires will be enough to satisfy them both.

Or it might break their hearts.

To take hold of his future with the man he’s coming to love, Stefano will need to move beyond the pain of his past, and he won’t be able to do it alone.