Innocent
By Ashe Barker
- Ashe
Barker Books, 2020
- Second
edition released July 2020
- Contemporary,
erotic romance, mystery
- Approximately
50,000 words
- HEA
ending
Appearances can be deceptive
Buy Link mybook.to/InnocentAB
Blurb
Innocent until proven guilty … or until someone finds out.
Aidan Blake needs a
plumber. Fast. His boiler is dead, his creaky old house crumbling around him.
When his elderly neighbour recommends a local trader, George Mahon, Aidan jumps
at the prospect of hot water and warm radiators.
But George, short for
Georgina, is not exactly what he had in mind. He was expecting
something else
entirely. A man for one thing, not the gorgeous single mother he finds in his
house at the end of a long day of work.
Aidan turns out to be
full of surprises too. Who would have imagined the smart, geeky businessman
would have a BDSM playroom in his attic and a collection of whips and canes to
make George’s head spin. And her bottom clench, though that’s another matter
entirely. Maybe she;s not such an innocent after all. What does a girl have to
do to get to play with those toys?
Just ask, it would
seem. As they enter into a professional and personal agreement which soon
blossoms into a sultry, kinky relationship, George continues to be surprised by
Aidan's kindness and generosity, not to mention his skill with a spanking
paddle.
First impressions aside, the two begin to build
something together. And while they peel back the layers to discover their
hidden depths, the old house yields up the mysteries of its own secret past.
They soon realise that at first glance, nothing is ever quite as innocent it
seems.
Innocent was previously published under the title First Impressions, with
different cover art.
Innocent is all about not taking everything you see at face
value. Both Aidan and George start out by making assumptions about each other,
which turn out to be a long way from the truth. Still, that makes for some
interesting discoveries as the story unfolds. Luckily they are both pretty
adaptable people so manage to adjust their thinking somewhat, which is when the
real fun starts. Even so, there are still some surprises waiting for them as
George gets to grips with ripping Aidan’s rickety old house apart.
I really enjoyed writing Innocent, not least
because I love writing strong, feisty heroines who can stand on their own feet
and get things done. George is an example of that, a woman doing a
traditionally male job and managing on her own. Her experiences with men have
not been great so far, but she has her lovely baby daughter to show for it so
isn’t complaining. Not that complaining is George’s style at all. She just
dusts herself off and gets on with it.
First and foremost, I love writing strong, feisty heroines
who can stand on their own feet and get things done. George is an example of
that, a woman doing a traditionally male job and managing on her own.
Third, of course, we need a sexy alpha male to get the
juices going. Aidan comes as a surprise to George, not the sort of man she is
interested in at all. He seems nerdy, wealthy, way out of her league. But he is
kind to George’s little girl, he sorts out George’s computer and helps her to
get her business accounts in order. As if that were not enough, he even
introduces her to the pleasures of a decent spanking.
Sounds like a keeper to me, but will George think so?
Among other things, Innocent is the story of a young
woman discovering the hidden depths of her own sexuality. Practical to the
core, George has her hands full caring for her baby daughter as well as trying
to get her ailing plumbing business back on its feet. She has neither the time,
nor the energy, to spare for messing about with handsome, fiendishly sexy
clients. All that goes out the window as soon as she sets eyes on the kinky
playroom Aidan has in his attic.
Among other things, Innocent is a story about a woman
doing a man’s job – or so Aidan thinks. George soon sets him straight. George
is practical to the core, a skilled plumber and electrician. She works hard and
there is pretty much no DIY task she can’t tackle. Her paperwork is another matter
entirely. Aidan is more of a computer geek. While she is crawling about in a
boiler suite and steel toe-capped boots re-wiring his house and fitting a new
boiler, he is sorting out her ailing laptop and installing spreadsheets.
They make a great team, and never more than when George’s
submissive nature starts to assert itself after she discovers the kinky toys
her nerdy client likes to keep in his attic.
Innocent is a contemporary erotic romance,
the story of a female plumber. My character, George, (short for Georgina) was
inspired by a fabulous woman I met whilst picking up my daughter from school.
Natalie always showed up at the school gates in overalls and steel toe-capped
boots, so we got chatting and I asked if she was into DIY. Turns out she
retrained as a plumber when she lost her job in a supermarket and had never
looked back. She was self-employed, working hours to suit herself and her
children, and earning decent money.
I like to write about
self-reliant women with talent, determination, skills, and George definitely
fits that image. She’s good at what she does and there’s pretty much no job she
won’t tackle.
The story is set in the North East of England, an area I know quite well and love to visit. I like to use atmospheric locations when I can, it gives the story an extra dimension I think. Alnmouth is a gorgeous little coastal village with a pretty harbour and a beach. I don’t get the impression that much ever happens there, so maybe the goings on in Innocent would be just what they need to liven things up.
I loved writing Innocent. It was an opportunity to
set a story in one of my favourite places, the North East of England, as well
as create a lovely, feisty heroine to keep her sexy alpha male on his toes. But
Innocent
is more than just a kinky romance, although there is plenty of that in the
book. It is also a mystery, and it has its serious side too but I won’t be
giving away any spoilers. All I’m saying is, people, and houses, are rarely as
innocent they seem.
Buy Link mybook.to/InnocentAB
About Ashe
Barker
USA Today Bestselling author Ashe Barker writes
erotic romance and spanking romance in a variety of genres including
contemporary, BDSM, paranormal, historical. ménage, gay romance and time
travel. She is a #1 Amazon Bestseller and all her stories feature hot alpha
males and sassy submissives, often with a lot to learn. Kink abounds, and
there’s enough dirty talk to satisfy the most demanding smut lover. However
dark and dirty the setting, love always emerges triumphant, and her stories
never fail to deliver a satisfying happy ever after.
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EXCERPT 1 (PG Rated)
Startled, she
glanced up at him as he entered, and closed the magazine in a hurry. Her
expression was a guilty one, as though she’d been caught out. Which he supposed
she had. She smiled at him, a wary, hopeful little grin. Something odd happened
in the pit of his stomach. He told himself it was the baby. He liked babies.
“Ah, you’ll be
Mr Blake then. You’re early.”
“I am. Aidan
Blake that is. As for early…”
“Mrs Mathers
said you wouldn’t be back until late. Well, later.”
“Did she?
Where’s George?”
“George?”
“Yes. George,
the plumber. His van’s outside.”
“I’m George.
It’s my van. Is it in your way?”
She made to
disengage the nursing infant but Aidan gestured for her to remain where she
was. “Your van? But, I was expecting a plumber.” His heart sank. Cold showers
beckoned.
“I am a plumber. It says so on my van.” A
note of indignation had crept in.
Not sexist by
nature, Aidan could have kicked himself for his hasty assumptions. “Yes, I
apologise. But I was expecting a burly, beefy bloke, and you’re—well, you’re
just not that. Even so, I had no business assuming…”
George smiled at
him, a genuine expression this time which went beyond pleasant in Aidan’s view,
definitely tending toward the breath-taking end of the scale. Dazzling even. He
might have smiled back had he not been so stunned.
She shifted the
nursing infant in her arms. “Look, I shouldn’t be doing this here. I wouldn’t
have, not usually. But the job took longer than I imagined it would, and Lily
was hungry, so… Anyway, I’ll go feed her in the van.”
“No, that’s
fine.”
“It isn’t fine.
I’m embarrassing you. I know some people can be squeamish about breastfeeding,
so I’ll just…”
Aidan could be
described as a lot of things, but squeamish was not one of them. Especially not
where anything to do with female anatomy was concerned, though coming across a
woman breastfeeding in his kitchen was not something he’d had to contend with
before. Still, a first time for everything. He dumped his briefcase on the
table next to the discarded magazine and turned toward the sink. “Please, stay
where you are. Finish off… well, just take your time. Would you like a coffee?”
He paused, turned to her, “That is, if I have water?”
“You do, and it
even runs hot now if you want that. White please, no sugar.”
“Alleluia. You
fixed the problem then?” He reached for his jar of instant.
Thanks for sharing,
