Replay Book 4: Hooked Read online

  Table of Contents

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Author’s Note

  Introduction

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Afterword

  Replay Series Cast of Characters

  Author Biography and Links

  Previous Releases

  Upcoming Releases

  Replay Book 4:

  Hooked

  by

  Nia Farrell

  Replay Book 4: HOOKED by Nia Farrell

  Copyright 2016 by Nia Farrell

  Edited by Anita Quick and Anne Bright

  Cover Design by Crystal Visions

  Stock Photography from bigstockphoto.com

  Interior Layout by Anita Quick

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used without the written consent of the author, except for brief quotes in reviews. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or any other means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book. Such action is in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law.

  Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  First Edition January 1, 2017

  Length 22,007 words/121 pages

  ASIN B01MTXNUEB

  Long Branch Books

  Shattuc, Illinois

  Titles

  by Nia Farrell

  SOMETHING ELSE

  (The Three Graces Book One)

  SOMETHING DIFFERENT

  (The Three Graces Book Two)

  SOMETHING MORE

  (The Three Graces Book Three)

  Finalist, Best BDSM Book of the Year,

  Ménage Category,

  2016 Golden Flogger Awards

  THE THREE GRACES TRILOGY

  SOMETHING SPECIAL

  (The Three Graces Book Six—sequel to SOMETHING ELSE)

  Nominated for Best Erotica and Best Romance,

  2016 Summer Indie Book Awards

  DARK MOONS RISING

  REPLAY BOOK 1: VIKING RAID

  Nominated for Best Erotica,

  2016 Summer Indie Book Awards

  AS WICKED AS YOU WANT

  (FOREVER OURS BOOK 1),

  Voted #1 Erotica and #10 overall,

  The 50 Best Indie Books of 2016

  Nominated for Best Historical,

  Best Erotica, and Best Romance,

  2016 Summer Indie Book Awards

  REPLAY BOOK 2: TRIPLE PLAY

  REPLAY BOOK 3: HONOUR BOUND

  Titles

  by Nia Farrell and Jane Austen

  PRIDE AND PUNISHMENT—

  AN EROTIC RETELLING OF

  JANE AUSTEN’S BELOVED CLASSIC

  Nominated for Best Historical,

  Best Erotica, and Best Romance,

  2016 Summer Indie Book Awards

  and by Nia Farrell writing as Erinn Ellender Quinn

  RIDE THE WIND

  TOUCH THE WIND

  Disclaimers

  This book is a work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The use of any real company, organization, and/or product names is for literary effect only. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.

  Dedication

  For my family members and friends who have served this country and are still paying the price.

  ~ nia

  Book Description

  Ex-Navy SEAL Marcus Vos is a man with dark passions but enough of a conscience, he’s stayed away from the woman he wants…until she’s given a weekend at Replay, the local BDSM theme resort where patrons play in the past. The last time they were there as guests, he sent Gini home alone. But Gini’s returning—solo—for a pirate weekend over the Fourth of July, with plans to explore her own sexuality. She hopes to learn what she likes and why she’s drawn to some aspects of BDSM.

  She doesn’t know that Marcus will be her guide.

  Playing Captain Hook will be easy for this amputee. His PTSD service dog will be close by. He’s told Gini the truth about his sexual addiction, but she’s about to learn that he’s a Dominant, too. One with flashbacks and nightmares that require a service dog to wake him up multiple times a night.

  What happens when the man you want is a haunted hero with wounds that you’re helpless to heal?

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Author’s Note

  Introduction

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Afterword

  Replay Series Cast of Characters

  Author Biography and Links

  Previous Releases

  Upcoming Releases

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Marcus Vos has appeared in the other Replay books, but writing his story was incredibly challenging. He’s a complex character, with strengths and flaws, but he doesn’t let his disabilities define him.

  One of my cousins had his arm amputated below the elbow as an infant. He refused to use a prosthetic, and I was always amazed at the little boy who swam in the ocean, took martial arts classes, and could hold his own in a fight. I know a number of veterans with PTSD, which affects not only the people who have it, but their spouses and families who suffered their absences and must learn to live in the aftermath. It isn’t easy. Sometimes it proves impossible. In this book, my heroine must decide if she is strong enough to handle it.

  The relationship grows even more complicated with the addition of Marcus’s PTSD service dog, specifically trained for anxiety attacks and episodes during sleep. Marcus is still learning to work with Rex. He admits that he’s made mistakes. During the course of the book, Gini never touches the dog. She understands that Rex is not a pet and respects the working relationship between Marcus and his service dog. Rex shares their bed only at night so that he can wake Marcus, who sleeps in the middle, with Gini on the other side. The service dog is never in bed when they are making love.

  Introduction

  Welcome to Replay, the ocean-side BDSM theme resort where patrons come to play in the past. The settings are museum-quality, the handcrafted garments look like originals brought forward in time, and the staff members are selected for their unique talents and abilities. Each scene that they bring to life is drawn from a page in history, but no one has to suffer through it—

  Unless that’s what they want.
br />   Chapter One

  Virginia Shelton stepped through the door of the community center with a gift in her hand and guilt on her conscience. She’d been invited to a baby shower by her friend Rowena, and she still hadn’t used Rowena’s birthday present.

  Actually, she’d been too scared to try.

  Five months ago, Rowena had come to her library and slipped an envelope onto the counter. Inside was a voucher, good for one weekend at Replay resort, where Gini had once gone as a guest and come home alone.

  It was among the worst nights of her life.

  No, it was the worst.

  Gini released the breath that she was holding, squared her shoulders, and forced her feet to move forward. Maybe she’d get lucky. Rowena had been pre-occupied lately, organizing her twin sister’s baby shower, planning her own wedding in June, and overseeing the construction of the house she would share with her fiancé, Scottish billionaire Micheil MacDonald, his daughter Alexis, and his sister Jannet. Hopefully, Rowena would be too busy tonight to single her out.

  Rowena said nothing when she added Gini’s present to the other gifts. She cheered and congratulated Gini when she won two of the games. But Gini’s luck ran out at the refreshment table. She picked up a piece of cake, added cashews to the plate, and reached for the punch being handed to her, only Rowena refused to let go of the squat plastic cup.

  The blue punch fizzed, an explosion of tiny bubbles that showered their hands.

  “Well, Gini?”

  Sighing, she lifted her gaze from the cup, past a necklace worthy of an elven queen, to meet Rowena’s knowing look. The mischievous glint in her eyes was normally reserved for Rowena’s naughty alter ego, erotic blogger Regina Wright, both of whom proudly wore Micheil’s custom-made collars.

  “Soon,” Gini told her. “I’ll use it as soon as I can get someone to cover for me.”

  “Promises, promises.” Rowena relinquished her hold on the cup and let Gini take full possession. “When?”

  Gini had dreaded this moment so much, she had let everyone else here go ahead of her. Big mistake. A quick glance revealed no one close enough to eavesdrop and nobody following her to hurry things along. Without those excuses, she was caught in a trap of her own making.

  “Memorial Day’s too soon,” she hedged. “Maybe the Fourth of July?”

  It fell on Monday this year. She’d have one more day to process whatever happened on Saturday and Sunday. Thanks to internet research, there were several things that she was curious about, and others that the right Dominant might tempt her to try.

  Rowena smiled. “It’s a good thing you’re already vetted,” she whispered. “Just update your medical records and make an appointment with Sir Piers to double check your limits list. See if it’s fine as it is, or if there’s anything you want to change. He’ll make sure you’re in good hands.”

  Gini sighed, wishing one of those hands was artificial. But Marcus Vos didn’t want her. Heaven knew, she’d given him every chance when they’d been Rowena’s guests at Replay, the local BDSM theme resort where patrons roleplayed in the past. The three of them had attended a scene set in Prohibition Chicago. Unfortunately, their table in the 1920s speakeasy was removed from the main action, and she’d gotten to see next to nothing.

  Dressed as flappers, Rowena had waited for her billionaire boyfriend to show up, and Gini had teased Marcus that he needed a gun moll. The more she drank, the more they flirted. It was out of character for her, but Marcus had made it so easy. The ex-Navy SEAL had looked smoking hot in his gangster suit and spats, with a black leather glove over his prosthetic hand. After an evening of innuendo and heated looks, after all the passion she’d felt in him when they danced, he’d put her in the resort limousine and sent her home, alone—and clueless as to what the hell had happened.

  The man had been turned on. No matter how badly she’d misread him, there was no mistaking his very physical reaction to their tango. But he’d clamped down, closed up, and turned off with no warning, for no reason—at least, that she knew of.

  His rejection was a massive blow to her ego. Sad to say, but she had steered clear of men ever since.

  “Update and review. Will do,” she promised, thinking a weekend at Replay was exactly what she needed to get over Marcus Vos once and for all.

  Chapter Two

  Gini made an appointment with Sir Piers as soon as her test results were back. She could have told them that nothing had changed, but rules were rules, and Replay was all about safe, sane and consensual—at least on the SSC side of the resort. The RACK side, well, that was a different story.

  The towering British-born Dominant greeted her warmly and welcomed her into his office, designed and furnished to evoke Old World elegance. “I was wondering when we would see you again.” His lips curved in a knowing smile.

  Rather than make excuses for her delay in coming to Replay, Gini gave him the results from her doctor’s visit. Both sides of the resort required medical clearance to participate. “I managed to clear my calendar for the weekend of July 4th, if that’s okay.”

  She clutched her hands in her lap and held her breath, feeling a pinch in her stomach from nerves. Gini was torn. Part of her wished the rooms were all booked. Part of her hoped that they weren’t.

  Sir Piers motioned for her to sit across from his desk while he took his place behind it. Tapping on the keyboard, he scanned his computer monitor and turned back to her with a satisfied nod. “The Fourth of July weekend will work well, I should think. We have something very special planned. A pirate theme, if you are interested in that scenario.”

  Pirates? Gini felt her pulse quicken. Was he kidding? Really, who didn’t like pirates? “Um, pirates are good,” she managed, fighting the urge to fan herself.

  “Perhaps a capture scenario? A kidnapping? Or would you like to…dive right into it?”

  “Could you surprise me?” she asked. “I mean, if I know everything ahead of time, it kind of lessens the effect.”

  Sir Piers smiled and nodded. “Very well. I shall do my best to see that your weekend here is a memorable one. I need you to review your list of soft and hard limits and mark what you wish to change. As before, feel free to ask any questions you may have.”

  She read them, considering each one with a fresh perspective, thinking how a pirate scenario might play out and what she was willing to try. With one exception, everything else remained the same. She handed the list back to Sir Piers and thanked him for seeing her.

  “Is there anything else you need from me, Sir?”

  “No,” he said, “But Mistress Jewell has asked for you to come to wardrobe so that she may verify your measurements and discuss costume design. Do you have time now, or do you wish to make an appointment? Sooner being better than later, of course.”

  “Now is good, thank you.” She waited until Sir Piers called down and confirmed that the wardrobe mistress was free. “She says, come. Samael shall show you the way.”

  Gini’s visit to Replay dredged up the memories that she’d spent the last seven months trying to bury. Marcus, lifting the flute of champagne to his perfect lips, his throat muscles working, his blue eyes never leaving hers while they drank each other in. When they danced, his six feet three inch body had commanded her five feet frame in the most decadent tango she’d ever done.

  She could nearly orgasm, just thinking about it.

  Damn him.

  There would be no avoiding him next weekend. They were both in the Campbell-MacDonald wedding party, a paired bridesmaid and groomsman, after Rowena’s twin Breanna as matron of honor and MacDonald’s brother Xander as best man. Sir Piers was paired with his fiancée Eleanor Benoit. Jannet MacDonald and Ian McGregor rounded out the rest of the adults, with Micheil’s daughter as flower girl and Rowena’s nephew as ring bearer.

  Gini was proud of herself at the rehearsal. She managed a calm demeanor and refused to let Marcus see how much he’d hurt her. The day of the wedding, she held her head high and walked down the
aisle, smiling brilliantly all the way to the altar, choking on happy tears as she followed the bride and groom and their daughter at the ceremony’s end. When Rowena had asked five-year-old Alexis if she would be her daughter, too, and knelt to put a tiny ring on the little girl’s finger, Gini had nearly lost it.

  Now she just had to get through the reception, where she was seated between Viking Dominant Gunnar Falk and ex-Navy SEAL Marcus Vos.

  Ugh.

  She did her best to ignore him. Really, she did. But there was that damn bionic hand, the way he used it, the way he looked in his tuxedo, how long his dark hair had gotten in the months they’d been apart. And then there was Rex, his half Yellow Lab-half Golden Retriever PTSD service dog, wearing a harness made special for the occasion but still doing the work he was trained to do.

  Had that been why he’d pushed her away? Rex hadn’t been with him at Replay. Had something triggered his PTSD, making him shut down and block out anything else, including her?

  Maybe. Possibly. Who the heck knew?

  When the dancing started, she risked a glance at Marcus, and found him looking at her, as if she were the puzzle to be solved, not him.

  “What?” she asked. “Do I have something on my face?”

  “Just wondering how you can live on that vegan fare of yours,” he said, his rough baritone rumble resonating in her depths.

  Marcus was a meat eater. Another reason that they’d never be a couple…although none of her friends were vegetarian, and she got along with them just fine.

  Hmm.

  “And I don’t see how you can eat animal flesh, when there are alternatives,” she challenged.

  Marcus shook his head. “Humans are natural omnivores. Being vegan is unnatural. And, sorry, but nothing tastes like steak. Mine was delicious.”

  And she’d nearly gagged, seeing his plate run red when he’d cut into it.

  Even now, it made her stomach turn just thinking about it.