Q . Z a y n e B o o k s

Free & dirty-hot! The author of the Billionaires Club and Submission Island brings you a new high-heat Caribbean thrill ride: Steamy, gritty, enemies-to-lovers Romantic Suspense with wicked hot kinky sex for readers 18+!

Dark desire. Compelling passion. Lethal danger.
In a jungle far from home, an orphaned college student hitches a plane ride with a damaged bad boy.
He’s older, hot as sin, and an arrogant asshole.
Rachel has to get a forbidden relic that could save her sister’s life. One catch: A twisted ritual that requires a rough man.

Xavier has secrets and enemies that could get them both killed.
But she needs the dirty bastard.

This curvy and Alpha New Adult romance features male dominance, intense action, and pulse-pounding heroine peril. Some readers may find this book disturbing due to bad language, brief violence, crime, and wicked supernatural suspense. It’s definitely not for anyone uncomfortable with bondage, sexy lingerie, and BDSM.

Rachel and Xavier’s story concludes in Captured, the novel-length second episode of their love duet. Safe Romance. Captured is already live. If you enjoy spirited heroines, powerful heroes, scorching passion, and transforming love, you’re going to enjoy this flight.
Adventurous readers, grab Stranded now!

Stranded is free to everyone today on participating Amazon stores.* The book is also available to borrow in Kindle Unlimited, and you don’t have to be a member to download it today. Grab it before midnight Pacific Time.

Please be aware that Stranded is Book 1 of the Star Skull duet, and there’s a cliffhanger. Rachel and Xavier’s adventure concludes in Captured, already live.

All the action in this duet in one-on-one dominant man on feisty, curvy woman. No sharing, no cheating.

Captured is on sale for 2.99, a dollar off.

The Star Skull duet

This duet is my first enemies-to-lovers romance, and I had a blast writing it.
I wrote Stranded and Captured while exploring Caribbean coastlines. Ruins of forts for warding off pirates made an exciting backdrop for Rachel’s relic quest.

I’m captivated by ancient cultures and fictional treasure hunts. In this duet, I drew on experiences of loss and my early explorations of opening trust in consensual power play. It’s a tender and dynamic place to share those most intimate, secret desires and have someone unfamiliar go there with you.

Rachel and Xavier are one of my favorite couples. They’ve both got wounds and a lot to lose. Risking love when the bad guys are shooting at you takes nerve. And Rachel’s set on resolving a mystery from the past—and saving her sister with a relic that cost their dad his life.

I write books for adventurous readers. Come join the adventure.

“This is a must read for everyone that loves dark, sinful, cutting-edge books!” —CeCe

*Unfortunately, authors and publishers have no control over which countries Amazon includes in the Kindle Unlimited book-borrowing program. They’ve added more countries in the past couple of years and plan to add more. Books that are set free in Kindle Unlimited are free only on stores where Amazon has the KU program. This was one of the factors in my decision to take most of my books out of the KU and distribute them to all the major bookstores.

Some of my books are on Scribd, a book-lending service that—unlike Amazon—doesn’t require that authors (other than major top-sellers) make their eBooks exclusive to their program. Unfortunately, Scribd rotates books in and out of the program, meaning it could be frustrating to attempt to read a series there. I keep offering my books to library services, but my blatant sexual content combined with below top-selling status makes that a long shot at this stage. I’ll keep you posted if I get a breakthrough.

Here’s the beginning of the book. This starts from the first word, so there are no spoilers. Anyone offended by mentions of kinky sex, spare yourself! Now, for those of you who are interested, here you go.

Excerpt from Stranded: The Star Skull Duet Book 1

Relic

The skull is real.

The words glowed on her tablet’s night screen. Rachel bit her lip and blinked fast. Hope surged through her. The relic was such a long shot, but any hope was better than none.
Another message fought for her attention. Barry, a burly biker she met at a leather bar, wanted to hook up. She swiped him away.

Regret made her cross her legs. That huge, hung man would feel good. With death knocking too close, she wanted to fuck in a rage.

The skull is real.

I’ll call you, she tapped.

Bless Greg. He’d researched the mystical artifact late into the night for weeks. Her best friend wasn’t a pushover when it came to fringe theories. He went after evidence. She owed Jonathan a gift for keeping his husband so busy.

She stuffed the tablet in her bag. This was the best news. Right now, she needed this hope more than she needed a hard ride by a tattooed, python-armed biker, but damn, she wished she could have both.

“Greedy, greedy,” she murmured, and pulled on her favorite cutoffs and boots.

She finished off the outfit with a curve-hugging tank top, riding gloves, and her bag. Her search for a cure had gone on for months, she needed to act.

The Star Skull offered a remote chance, and any chance was better than none. Kit meant everything to her. She had to help her.

To beat death, she needed a serious weapon. Shutting her eyes tight, she banished the grief that threatened to pull her down. If the relic saved Kit, that would help balance the scales. The Star Skull cost Dad his life.

She called Greg, glad for the video connection. For this, she wanted to see his face.

“Tell me, you master researcher, you.” She beamed at him, searching his handsome, unshaven face.

“Uh, good news, bad news.” He cocked an eyebrow. His arched brow and wild red hair made him look like a student. Computer geeks had the easiest dress code. He sat there shirtless, and she’d lay odds he wasn’t wearing pants. The view of his rippling muscles was good. It went all the way to his happy trail, because he was leaning back in his chair.

He grinned at her expression and leaned forward. “You need to get some, Sweetness, and mine’s taken.”

“I know.” She snapped her fingers and sighed like a soap actress. Her face fell. “I need the good news. I think the doctors have given up on Kit.”

“I’m sorry, Munchkin.”

Greg was the only one who got away with calling her a nickname. Munchkin came from the night they sat up watching The Wizard of Oz and drinking cosmos after Lucas dumped her. Greg loved her blistering version of the Lollipop Guild song.

“Just tell her,” Jonathan squeezed his husband’s shoulder and sent an encouraging smile at her.

“Okay. ” He took a deep breath.

The view of his sculpted chest and pierced nipples helped take her mind off of the bad stuff. Yeah, Gregory was right as usual. She needed to get some.

His deep voice snapped her back to her quest. “There’s good evidence that this Star Skull exists, and there are reports that it cured people. Unlike the infamous large crystal skulls that turned out to date from the nineteenth century, this smaller artifact has a trail that extends back to ancient inscriptions.”

“Yes, that’s why Dad believed it was authentic.”

“No offense, Rach, I had to follow the trail myself.”

“Of course. I’d expect no less from you. If I wanted a second-rate researcher, I’d have hired a political reporter.”

He snickered and grew solemn. “Mentions crop up in the sixteenth century. Father Bartolomeo, a suppressor of local culture, kept a journal. He wrote several entries about the relic. Despite his burning their sacred writings and punishing the people he enslaved for their religion, he intended to have the Star Skull embedded in a cross for his church. He wrote that when he held the skull, the pain in his hand stopped. He went to bed clutching it and woke up free of pain throughout his body.”

Rachel sat up straight. “Yes. That’s it. I remembered Dad saying something about lore and tales connected to the skull, but I couldn’t remember what. I’ve been poring through his notes when I can stand it, but it still hurts.”

“This is what we hoped to find, alright. The priest wrote that within weeks his hair turned black, his vision became sharp, and he regained the vigor and flexibility of his youth. There are intriguing mentions of urges to sin. We’re guessing he was getting distracting erections and naughty thoughts.”

Jonathan nodded. “Raging hard-ons. Happens to the best of us.” He blinked, his weathered face deadpan.

Greg cleared his throat. “Father Bartolomeo believed the healing was a miracle. Although he seemed perplexed that the Lord would work though a heathen carving, he relished his second youth. Fearing that people might think the cure came from the old gods, he kept the cause to himself, saying only ‘God is good,’ when anyone asked about his health and youthful appearance. He changed his mind about displaying the skull in the church. His description of it matches your dad’s, down to the flaw.”

“I’m almost speechless.”

Greg nodded, pleased. “After reading his entire journal, I’m inclined to consider his record convincing. There’s nothing fanciful or self-aggrandizing anywhere in it. He seemed a particularly modest man, genuinely mystified and grateful for the cure he experienced. Two records in the following centuries, before your Dad learned of the Star Skull at his site, refer to its remarkable properties. One collector kept the relic in his vault. When he died at the age of one hundred and eight, the Star Skull passed to his son. The son sold it to keep his legs intact in the face of gambling debts. Either the son had no idea of its possible powers, or he was an idiot.” He steepled his fingers. “We can go into all the accounts later, let’s just say that people with nothing to gain by making up stories left accounts of healing.” He drew in a long breath.

“But?”

“We don’t know how it works. There’s a disturbing amount of blood in the Star Skull’s history. The priest mentioned scourging himself severely. The relic was in his pocket and he became hot all over. The next report, there’s a bit about beating someone. Another man bit his lover repeatedly and she ‘savaged him.’ I can only imagine.” His brow shot up. “Aside from having to sort out the significance of the kinky or mean bits, it’s going to be hell to get to the artifact.”

She shook her head, and her wild hair flew around her face. With a long breath, she banished a nightmare image of her father falling into the underworld. “Fine. I’m willing to give hell indigestion.”

Gregory chuckled. “I’m betting on you.”

“I am, too.” Jonathon’s eyes showed her his empathy. He’d been visiting Kit with Greg since her cancer battle started.

“What is it you aren’t telling me? I know you, there’s something.”

“Using the Star Skull gets complicated for calling life back from the gates of death. The Death Lord has demands.” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Your dad’s notes from the temple inscriptions helped a lot with this part.” Jonathan cleared his throat behind him.

“Jonathan put in a lot of time on the translation and interpretation. Your dad hadn’t completed that part. Sorry.” He frowned. “Okay, knowing how kinky you are, you might not mind this, me, I have my limits.”

She snorted, flashing to him trussed in a sling at a BDSM club the night they met. “Right.”

“Ahem. No telling tales of my wild past.”

“How kinky are we talking?”

“There’s a ritual, maybe a series of rituals.” He squinted, deciphering archaeological inscriptions wasn’t his thing. “Jonathan’s still working on translating the things we’ve found.”

“Give me the gist of what you’ve got.”

“From what I can tell so far, you have to activate the relic.”

“Activate it? You mean the ancient skull artifact doesn’t have a switch marked ‘on’?”

“Funny, Sweetness. I wish.” He rubbed the scruff on his cheek. “I’ve been getting headaches watching Jonathan deciphering partial texts and badly defaced symbols. It’s a mess to translate what little there is.”

“Tell me more.”

“The Death Lord is into pain. Bondage, too. You need to reach his realm. Maybe what the French call ‘the little death’ will do.”

Jonathan leaned toward the screen. “In other words, you need to come your brains out under a cruel, dominate stud who makes it hurt.”

Get your copy here: Stranded This is a clean, direct link to the Amazon store. It will be on sale for .99 cents for awhile after today’s complimentary offer. The regular price is $2.99. I spent months in on this duet, and hope it finds more readers. More reviews would be a big help, too! Thanks for reading.

Enjoy!