Monday, September 1, 2014

**Review** Caught in the Middle ~ We Kinky Three 1 ~ Kira Barker


For years now, resident surgeon Erin Slater has been focused on her career. Sexual frustration has her on edge, and it seems like a wet dream come true when her best friend Jack and his roommate Simon offer to help her scratch that itch. Their afternoon of debauchery leaves her yearning for more, particularly to explore her submissive side – a craving that Simon, an experienced Dom himself, is only too happy to satisfy. But there’s also Jack, who she’s closer to than anyone else in the world. When emotions factor into the equation, things get complicated, forcing Erin to make a decision which man she will choose – but why can’t she have both?

Dive into this vivid tale of friendship, lust, love, bondage, dominance, and submission. Intended for mature audiences.




*****DELETED SCENE*****

     “Can you stop with the fucking pacing already? You’re driving me insane!”
     Glancing over to where Jack was sitting on the couch, I gave him a pointed look, but couldn’t keep my leg from twitching now that I’d forced myself to hold still for a moment.
     “I’m not pacing.”
     “You’re certainly wearing a track into the floor! Stop wussing out like that.” He paused, clearly not done, then narrowed his eyes at me as something else occurred to him. “Why are you even that nervous? It’s not like it’s the first time we’re doing this.”
     “It’s not,” I agreed, not that it helped anything.
     “But?”
     “But nothing.”
     Jack didn’t buy my bullshit, but then I hadn’t expected him to. He was magnitudes too bright for that, and apparently also too observant for his own good.
     “Eight years into this, and suddenly you get stage fright? You’ve got to be shitting me.”
If he thought he could rattle me that easily, he was sorely mistaken.
     “It’s not that,” I tartly informed him, then couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Although it’s been a while—who knows if I still know what to do?”
     “Yeah, right,” Jack snorted, replying with a grin of his own. “You’re just afraid she will laugh in your face, is all.”
     “I’m not.”
     That was the truth, but for a different reason than he likely thought. Not that I wasn’t a hundred percent sure of how to set the mood and keep her in the right mindset, but I hadn’t forgotten how Erin had looked at me when I let a few choice details slip. Usually rather guarded about her personal affairs, she’d been eager to drop that reservation, letting a hunger peek through the cracks that I knew only too well from myself.
     Of course, it was just like Jack to be completely oblivious of that and reduce everything to the simplest common denominator.
     “If she does, you can always glare at her like this and hope that it shuts her up. She’s frustrated and horny as fuck, I’ll give you that, but I doubt that will keep her from being her usual charming self. She certainly isn’t one of your…” He wisely trailed off there before I could get riled up enough to bite his head off, and left it at a neutral, “subservient girls.”
     “And neither is she one of your fuck bunnies,” I pointed out.
     Jack’s grin almost split his face in two.
     “No, and I’d never associate anything fluffy and gentle with her.”
     I wondered for a moment just how skewed his view of Erin was, while a small part of me didn’t miss the opportunity to let doubt seep into my conviction. It was entirely possible that I had misjudged her interest, small as the chance was. In all the years we’d known each other, we’d never talked about our sexual preferences, and judging from her reactions last night, I’d quite surprised her with my choice revelations. Surprised, but in no way deterred.
     Jack seemed disappointed when I didn’t react to his barb, but he clearly wasn’t done yet.
     “If you’re so sure about how actively she wants to be involved in your stuff, why not make a bet?”
     “Like what?”
     He shrugged.
     “If she’s really into it, you get to make her suck your cock. But if she laughs, or otherwise shoots you down, that dirty mouth of hers is going to go down on me. If I can persuade her to, of course. What do you say?”
     The mental image of that conversation between the two of them made me almost hope to bear witness to it, but considering that would seriously ruin my own plans, I only smiled back sardonically at him.
     “Deal.”
     “That was quick,” Jack replied, sounding almost disappointed before suspicion dawned on his face. “Do you know something I don’t? You were fast to kick her out last night, so you couldn’t have had one of your hours-long negotiation talks. But it was enough time for adding a couple of details.”
     “She didn’t say anything of importance to me that you’re not already privy to.”
     “Do you have to talk like you’re regularly holding court in Port Royal?”
     “Why, yes, as a matter of fact, I do.”
      He rolled his eyes at me, then grumbled under his breath as I resumed pacing. At least to myself I could admit that, yes, I was pacing. I hated that I was so nervous about something that could be as simple as just sex, but for whatever reason, calm was eluding me.

     After repeatedly checking my watch—she still had six minutes to be on time—I decided to take my anxious self into the foyer, or at least those couple of square feet that doubled for one in our house. Through the small window by the door I could see the narrow strip of sidewalk leading by our house, but not much farther.
     Endless seconds dragged by, and I wondered what Erin would say if she could see me now. Beth, too, but right then I didn’t really want to think about my former Mistress. She would have my ass for behaving like such a pansy, and rightly so. At least now that the clock was ticking down, excitement slowly pushed the nervousness away.
     I half expected her to be late—Erin had a terrible track record where being punctual was concerned—but she disappointed me, climbing the few steps to our front door a full three minutes before the allotted time was up. Instinctively retreating to avoid getting smacked in the face, I waited, then frowned when she didn’t barge in like the force of nature that she was. Stepping back up to the window, I glanced outside, watching her fidget with the hem of her top, then wring her hands. Was she actually hesitating?
     Seeing her clearly at war with herself gave me the weirdest mix of dread and hope. It certainly cemented that I’d been right—if she considered this just a friendly romp this fine Saturday afternoon, there wouldn’t have been any reason to second-guess. Now I could just hope that she made the right decision.
     But nothing said that I couldn’t help her with that.
     Aiming for a winning yet toned-down smile—the leer I wanted to direct at her really didn’t seem like a good idea—I pulled the door open, leaving her staring at me slightly stunned, her hand extended uselessly toward a door handle that was no longer in reach. Her hazel eyes were wide and darted nervously from her fingers to my face, but then she gave herself a visible jerk and raised her brows, indicating her surprise at my uncommonly gentlemanly behavior.
     Oh, if she only knew.
     And soon, she was going to find out.
     “See? I can be on time,” she pointed out instead of offering a more conventional form of greeting, because conventional wasn’t something we did, apparently.
     “Good for you,” I replied, hard pressed not to whip out the “or else” I’d been mulling over way too much in the last couple of hours. I really had no intention of starting things off on a note that would scare her off, but I also wasn’t one to offer idle threats. At least that was one pitfall she’d helped me avoid by being on time.
     Stepping inside, she dropped her gym bag by the cupboard and proceeded to kick off her shoes. Glancing around me, she seemed to be looking for Jack, and when she came up empty, she left them in an untidy heap. I couldn’t help but smile at the constant show of resistance to his neat-freak nature. I’d long since given up on that battle, but the way they were both behaving, they’d still try to one-up each other even after one of them was six feet under. I could already see it—uber neatly arrayed flowers in a vase next to the headstone, or a veritable riot of a bouquet, depending on who bit it first.
     And those were not the kind of thoughts I wanted to have right now. My cock wholeheartedly agreed.
     As envious as I sometimes got at the strong bonds between them, today I was happy that it wasn’t her goal in life to antagonize me. At least she didn’t put up a fight when I clearly surprised her by stepping up behind her, pulling her roughly against my body, and cutting her shout off with a firm hand over her mouth.
     Up close, she smelled of industrial-strength soap and shampoo, without a doubt filched from the hospital. For a second, it was incredibly hard to resist the temptation of grinding my cock against her ass, but just feeling her soft body squirm in my grip made up for it. She tensed but didn’t struggle, leaving me almost disappointed.
     With my lips only inches away from her ear, I started plowing through the speech I’d been refining for the last couple of hours. I couldn’t remember how often I’d rattled off the very same details, but knowing that she heard them for the very first time made the usual enticingly different.
     “It really is very considerate of you not to be late. I’m not sure you would have liked starting this off with punishment. I should maybe warn you that I really do take this seriously. It should not come as a surprise to you, seeing as you often point out that I never half-ass anything, but I thought I’d be nice and give you a fair warning.”
     I paused, half expecting her to balk—or prove that Jack in fact knew her better than I did, and start laughing her ass off—but she let me go on without a sound of protest, her breath fanning, warm but even, over my fingers.
     “The rules are pretty simple. You have a safeword—‘red.’ You use it when something gets too much for you or when something unforeseeable happens, like cramps, some emotional turmoil, or shit like that. You should never hesitate to use your safeword, but I trust that you won’t abuse it. When you use it, everything stops, and I’ll make sure that whatever is wrong gets straightened out. Then we decide if we want to go on or call it a day, no hard feelings either way. I can’t really do the fun stuff without knowing that you’re giving me vital feedback if I need it, and it’s a fail-safe for you to rest assured that, everything else aside, you’re the one in control and can get yourself out of everything at a moment’s notice. Nod if you understand.”
     She was quick to jerk her chin up and down, and still didn’t try to fight me. Promising, indeed.
     “Good. For the duration of this scene, you will call me ‘Sir,’ and you will act respectful. I know that you’re a spunky spitfire sometimes, which is a trait I love and respect, and if you feel confident that you can take the brunt of the consequences, please do go ahead and mouth off to me. For today, though, you might consider moderating yourself a little. Don’t worry about being bored when I say that I will take it slow at first. As soon as I get the sense that you’re on board with something, I’ll push a little harder. Should there be a next time, we’ll have plenty of time to discuss what to do for that then, but today it’s all about you getting your feet wet, among other things.”
     Well aware of that worst pun I could come up with, I waited for her to balk now, but she took it all in stride. I wondered for a moment if I should pinch her just to get some kind of reaction from her, but then decided that such an instigation was anything but professional. Thinking for a moment, I figured I should add one last safety disclosure, even though I couldn’t fathom that she’d not expect me to have gotten that covered in advance.
     “Anything else? Ah, right. We use condoms for everything that goes beyond oral sex, and on the cupboard over there are our STD tests. I know you regularly get checked, so I’m trusting you. Mine is from three days ago, and Jack’s from last week. He said he did have sex with one woman in between, but we both know her and know she’s a responsible adult, so I feel comfortable with considering that as a go. If you object, now’s the time.”
     With that, I removed my hand from her mouth, a little reluctant to let go. Erin exhaled loudly, then offered a hoarse, “No objections.”
     Giving a curt nod myself, I gave her the last bit of information that she needed.
     “Good. You have sixty seconds to undress. We’ll be waiting for you in the living room.”
     I let go of her then and left her standing there, a small part of me hoping that she would dawdle. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on that juicy ass of hers that had turned my jeans into a veritable prison over the last couple of minutes—and she definitely had the kind of ass that begged to be spanked.


*****Katrina's Review*****



I was given an Advanced Reader Copy for an honest review. Honest is always what you will always get from me: good, bad, or in-between.

Erin, Simon and Jack, each have very different personalities. Erin and Jack grew up together and are very close and Simon, the self-assured Dom, became friends with them in college. Simon and Jack are roommates, with Erin always visiting when her shifts at the hospital will allow. When Simon makes it known that he and Jack want to take their friendship to more of a Friends with Benefits level, things begin to change for them. But deciding the dynamic of how this will be on a long-term basis gets kind of tricky and how do they work this out without feelings getting in the way…or can they…or do they even want to try?

“A warm, firm body – pressed against mine. Hands – searching. Lips – finding. Mouths – hungry, exploring, everywhere.”

That is the first lines of this book. It starts out in a pretty warm scene. So I got an idea what this book would be like from the beginning. The author, Kira Barker, didn’t make me wait until fifty percent of the book before it starts getting steamy, so I loved that about this book. If you like books about threesomes involving one female and two males, you are on the right track. But let me tell you, this book isn’t all rainbows and butterflies. Even though these three are long-time friends, it takes them sometime to figure out a dynamic to this relationship and even if it will be a threesome or a twosome with just an occasional third for dessert. Kira is well educated (some type of scientist,) I could tell by her writing maybe too well. What? Can you be too well educated? Well, what I mean is, some of the way she wrote was such that made me say, “What did she just say? What did she just mean?” (I have had seven years of college, myself, in a different field.) It was written just a little bit above the normal everyday speak, so I had to go back and decipher it a little. But the book was good. I could tell she knows the subject of BDSM very well, both the mental aspects as well as the physical. She described so much in detail in those scenes. I could tell she wanted to get those play scenes just right for the reader. To some readers, they will love it. They will find those scenes to be enlightening and learn from them. To others, they may find them a bit long-winded and not care so much for that much detail. But, to understand the full psychological aspect of the story, I am sure she felt it necessary to be so descriptive.

This is a unique story that I feel is worth a read. It is not the normal threesome dynamic and it is one I want to read the next book to see how things continue in this friendship/relationship dynamic. There isn’t a cliffhanger, per say, but the story isn’t finished being told and I want to finish reading this one to completion.

4 Stars KCW



Kira Barker has always enjoyed telling stories. It has kept her sane through high school and college, and has become a true passion since. A geek gamer girl herself, she feels at home reading sci-fi and fantasy as much as writing romance. She likes her plots gritty, her smut realistic, and doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty when it comes to research. When she’s not writing, she loves annoying her cats or cruising country roads on her motorcycle.



No comments:

Post a Comment