S.E.X. Spotlight~ Ashe Barker

Up Close and Personal with Eugenie d’André

Eugenie d’André is the heroine of La Brat. I caught up with her to ask how life is treating her and Aaron these days. Here‘s what she had to tell me.

Thank you for agreeing to see me, Eugenie. I appreciate you’re very busy these days and I’m delighted you could find a few minutes to chat. What projects are you involved in now?

Please, call me Genie. And yes, TFS Paris is a hectic place but I love it that way. We’ve had a lot of wedding business since I started here, some of it fairly high profile. Nothing on the scale of the Ajram-Belanger wedding, but that one certainly put us on the map. We do conferences and training events too, but it’s the weddings I love most. They’re a lot of fun.

Where is Aaron today?

You know, I’m not absolutely sure. We start and end the day together, but often his job keeps him busy elsewhere. We still have adjoining offices, but neither of us spends much time at our desks.

Okay. So, could you tell us what your first impression was of your husband?

Ah, an easy question to start with. I was dazzled by him. Completely in awe. I was desperate to make a good impression, and terrified he’d be bored with me. I had a lot less self-confidence back then. And I was new to the lifestyle. Aaron was very kind, considering.

Did you ever tell him so?

Not then. I didn’t really understand anything and I was always getting on the wrong side of him. I was punished a lot. I appreciate his patience much more now than I ever did then.

When did you know you loved him?

That’s difficult to pinpoint, but I think it was very early on. We had a dreadful row and I stormed out of his house swearing that I never wanted to see him again, but within days I missed him dreadfully. I knew it then, but it was too late, and I couldn’t get him to even see me. Then we met again by chance when I landed this dream job in Paris.

That must have been a shock.

I’ll say it was. I made an absolute idiot of myself. I couldn’t believe it. I was terrified that he’d mess up my chances of getting the job, though I know now he would never have done that. At the same time though, it was wonderful to see him again. He was even sexier than I remembered, and that’s saying something.

What is your husband’s worst habit?

He’s bossy. I know that comes with the Dom territory, but he does overdo it sometimes. He always believes he knows what’s best for me. More often than not he’s right, but I like to flex my independence occasionally. I suppose I live up to my name.

In the book you are described as La Brat. Do you think that description suits you?

Maybe, but Aaron and I understand each other now. He loves me as I am, and I love him. If I act up, when I do, it’s a sort of game between us.

You adapted well to living in the UK. If you hadn’t landed this job, would you have returned to France anyway?

I’m not sure I would. The job at TFS Paris came up, and everything about it seemed exactly right for me. But I was happy in England. I enjoyed my job and I loved the UK so I would have stayed there I think.

I must say, you seem very content here. You enjoy working for Totally Five Star hotels?

Oh yes. I find new places exciting, and I enjoy travelling, but it was wonderful to come back to France. The hotels are the best in the world and I am proud to be a part of Totally Five Star. I love to meet new people. The life I have now is just so perfect for me. I have never been happier than I am with TFS and Aaron.

I’m so pleased you found your happy ever after.

Thank you for giving it to me.

Blurb for La Brat:

This is the fourth novel in Totally Bound’s Totally Five Star imprint, click here to see more.

Thou shalt not attack thy Dom—especially not with his own cane.

She’s committed the cardinal sin, broken the eleventh commandment for submissives. No wonder the Dom she adores wants nothing more to do with her.

Eugenie believes her luck has turned when she lands an interview for her dream job—Events Organizer at Totally Five Star’s flagship hotel in Paris. This is her chance to return to the city, which holds cherished memories for her, and pursue a career she loves. Most of all it’s a golden opportunity to leave behind the bitter taste of her disastrous breakup with Aaron, the one Dom who can make her melt with a look, a word, a lift of his finger.

Her dream crumbles when she comes face to face with her nemesis, now Director of Security at Totally Five Star Paris, the one man who can wreck her dreams with just a few words.

Aaron has never forgotten the lovely little submissive who broke all the rules. He can do without the hassle of such a high-maintenance sub, but his sexy new colleague proves hard to resist. It’s not long before he finds it hard to remember just what his objections were.

Determined not to dwell on the past, Eugenie throws herself into her wonderful new job. If she can only convince Aaron to give her another chance, her life will be perfect. A natural in her new role, against the glamorous backdrop of one of the world’s finest hotel chains, Eugenie is in her element arranging a high-profile celebrity wedding. But when things start to go wrong, Eugenie finds herself at the heart of a series of inexplicable accidents.

Aaron doesn’t believe in coincidences. Is someone else, apart from him, out to hurt his little Genie? And why? He is determined to protect Eugenie—and get to the bottom of who might want to harm her.

Buy Links

You can get a copy of La Brat from

Amazon.co.uk  Amazon.com  Totally Bound  Barnes and Noble  All Romance  Sony  Kobo 

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.

In my own writing I draw on settings and anecdotes from my own experience to lend colour, detail and realism to my plots and characters. 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. 

My other titles 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. The Three Rs, part of Totally Bound’s What’s Her Secret? imprint is a stand-alone novel set in Berwick in the Scottish border. I’ve also written a couple of short stories, Re-Awakening, and a raunchy pirate tale, Right of Salvage, as well as a novella, Carrot and Coriander.

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

Excerpt 

“Miss d’André, is that your way of hinting that you’d like me to give you a tour?”

“Yes, Sir. If you are not too busy, and if you have no other—commitments.”

“I think I can make time for you. One word of warning, though—and I will not be repeating this—I don’t appreciate hints. If you want something from me, in future come right out and ask me. I may say no, but you’ll have to take that chance.”

“Yes, Sir. I apologize,” Eugenie uttered, head still bowed, her gaze fixed on a point about a yard in front of Aaron Praed’s feet. Inside she was singing. In future. He said in future.

“Are there any more items of equipment you might like to sample here, whilst we’re still in the dungeon?” He gestured beyond their cubicle to the public area where couples and groups milled about in various states of dress and undress. Prior to Mr. Praed’s offer of a spanking, she’d already checked out the St. Andrew’s Cross at the far end, the stocks set up in the center, as well as the many and various straps and hooks affixed to the walls and ceiling. Shelving and racks held an assortment of paddles, whips, crops, canes, and Eugenie knew that electrical aides such as vibrators could be supplied on request. In truth, she had more than a passing interest in all of those, but felt intimidated by the audience she would have here in the communal room. She appreciated the safety offered by the public setting, but had no taste for voyeurism herself. Her natural modesty was a powerful inhibitor.

The choice of location for a scene, and whether or not it would be conducted in public, would usually be the Dom’s call, but Eugenie knew nothing would happen that she did not consent to—this was the first rule in the BDSM code book. To her way of thinking, though, it was not that simple. If she did not consent to whatever Mr. Praed had in mind, he could and would simply shrug and wish her a good evening—and go look for a sub more to his taste. He would have no trouble finding one, she was convinced of that.

So really, she had no choice at all.

“Yes, Sir. Anything. All of it.”

“My my, you are ambitious, to say this is only your first visit. For myself, I prefer to take things more slowly. I’m thinking one of the private rooms might be more suited to our requirements right now.”

Dom intuition again. Amazing. Eugenie gave a quick, grateful little nod.

“Follow me, please.” Aaron turned on his heel and strode away from her across the dungeon. He never once looked back to see if his companion was behind him. He didn’t have to.

The room he led her to was small and unfurnished apart from a solid wooden chair in the center and a drinks fridge and shelving unit against one wall. The shelves were empty except for a couple of straps and a length of rope. The fridge contained several bottles of mineral water, both still and sparkling. The chair had no arms though the seat was padded, the back straight. It looked very utilitarian, as indeed Eugenie knew it was. It was a spanking seat, designed for a Dom to use when administering an over-the-knee spanking. That must be his intent then. Her buttocks were still tingling from her experience downstairs, but she found her pussy moistening again in anticipation of a repeat performance.

He seemed to be in no rush, strolling across the room to help himself to a small bottle of sparkling water. He turned and offered to Eugenie.

“Still or sparkling?”

She shook her head. “Neither, thank you. I am fine just now.”

He snapped the top off his bottle and took a long drink. Eugenie used the brief interlude to cast her gaze around the room again. This time she spotted a metal ring suspended from the ceiling. There seemed to be no restraints attached to the walls, a fact that struck her as odd.

“I prefer to keep things—uncluttered—when I’m getting to know a new submissive. Just you and me, and a few basics. Strip please, Miss D’andré.”

Enter Totally Bound’s La Brat competition for the chance to win your own copy of this title, as well as three more fabulous titles from Ashe Barker’s backlist!