Dr. Michelle Sapphire and Gunnery Sergeant Wyatt Callahan formed an unbreakable bond and an unacknowledged, forbidden attraction to each other while serving together in Afghanistan. Their lives are forever changed when a mortar attack grievously wounds Wyatt and Michelle brings him back from the brink of death. But when they both return to the civilian world, Michelle discovers that her rock-solid Marine is suffering from severe PTSD and may even be suicidal.
Wyatt Callahan fell hard for the aristocratic blonde doctor the moment he laid eyes on her. After reentering civilian life in his hometown near Austin, Texas, Wyatt is plagued by nightmares of the death and suffering he witnessed during the war. He’d love to reach out to Michelle, but — Michelle is a Dominatrix, and she has made it very clear to Wyatt she isn’t interested in a relationship with anyone who doesn’t accept her lifestyle. An Alpha male to the core, he can’t imagine the appeal of being submissive. At the same time, the idea of serving Michelle, of being everything she wants and needs, rings true in his wounded soul.
Michelle has dark secrets of her own, and together with Wyatt she will have to battle her personal demons during their emotional journey of healing, redemption, and love.
When Wyatt and Michelle leave for Chicago to attend the wedding of an old friend of Michelle’s, and Wyatt has no idea how close his beloved Domina is to the edge. Michelle has been trying to ignore her own issues, focused on helping Wyatt with his PTSD, but the past refuses to stay buried and she soon finds herself spiraling out of control. More determined than ever to protect Wyatt from herself, Michelle tries to pretend everything is perfect with devastating results.
Wyatt can see that Michelle is losing it, but he doesn’t know how to help her when she refuses to admit there’s a problem. No longer able to deal with the pressure of pretending to be perfect, Michelle self-destructs. Wyatt is now faced with a bitter choice – leave the woman who owns his heart or start a long and arduous journey to rescue the other half of his soul from her own personal Hell.
Penance is the conclusion of Michelle and Wyatt’s tale of hope, loss, healing, and most of all forgiveness and unconditional love.
***This is the second book in a two book series. It is HIGHLY recommended that you read ‘Still’ before you read ‘Penance’ as this is basically one giant book split into two.****
Wow…Wyatt’s letter is so amazing!
Keep reading to see the full Love Note!
Dear Domina,
It’s hard to believe that twenty-five years ago I was looking into your beautiful blue eyes as we exchanged vows to love, honor, and in my case-obey before our friends and family on the beach. I can still remember the brilliant smile you gave me as they pronounced us husband and wife, and I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder than the moment I got to turn and face the crowd with you at my side. It still boggles my mind that you’d want me, some stupid Marine grunt whose life you saved on the battlefield.
I can still remember the first time I saw you in the mess hall in Afghanistan, how you knocked me out with one look. That’s all it took, one look and you changed me forever. When Aaron told me that it was my job to watch over you, called you the best Doc he’d ever met, all I could think about was how good your butt looked in fatigues. What can I say, you have a world-class ass and after nine months in the sandbox you were a drink of cold water on a hot desert day. Then I got to know you, watched you give everything you had over and over again as you saved countless lives and I fell in love with not only your beauty on the outside, but on the inside. Even before you told me you were a Dominatrix it felt right to serve you, to be everything you needed because I believe God created me for you.
Right now I’m watching you sleep on the sofa across the maternity ward’s waiting room, well, you and Yuki. You’re snuggled together, looking all warm and content and I wish the hospital put bigger couches in here because I’d love to join you, hold you close and guard you while you sleep. Not that you two ball busting bitches need anyone to guard you, but you let James and I humor ourselves by thinking we’re keeping you safe.
We’re going to be grandparents, can you believe that? And not just grandparents, we’re going to be grandparents with our best friends. Who would have thought our kids would end up falling in love and getting married? When I look at Isadora and Zack I can still see them as toddlers playing together, and now they’re going to be parents themselves. I know you’ll flog me for it later, but James and I thought Isadora kicking you and Yuki out of the birthing suite was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. I know it pissed you off that she’d let James and I stay while she went through labor, but then again we’ve perfected the art of soothing the savage female beast.
God, Michelle, twenty-five years and it seems like it was just yesterday I was waking up chained to the foot of your bed for the first time. I can still remember that morning at our ranch, how depressed I was, how I’d given up hope, and what a big fucking mess I was. When you came and bailed me out of jail I felt like the world was a terrible place, that I had no reason to live and should join my buddy Aaron in the grave, that maybe he had the right idea killing himself to end the torment. But you saved me, you crawled right into my fucked up head and forced me to see the beauty of the world, to feel something other than hate and loss. You dragged me out of the darkness, kicking and screaming, and showed me everything the world still had to offer if I had the courage to take it. Fuck I was stubborn, but you broke through every flimsy wall I tried to build between us and showed me what true strength was.
Then you gave me the gift of allowing me to help you heal your own grief, to bandage the scars on your soul and help you heal. I won’t lie, there were times that I thought I’d never get through to you, but I didn’t give up just like you didn’t give up on me because I love you. Fuck do I love you. Every single morning I wake up happy because I have you and our kids in my life. Every single night I go to bed content because I have everything I’ve ever wanted-and it’s all because of you. My darling Michelle, you gave me the courage to pursue my passion for making furniture, you gave me the courage to start our foundation for retired military suffering from PTSD, and you are the reason our babies have grown up into strong, amazing men.
I wanted this letter to be longer, but James just came in and told me Isadora’s getting ready to push, but she’s scared she wants you and Yuki there with her. I love you, Domina, now let’s go meet our granddaughter.
Your man,
Wyatt
Ann is Queen of the Castle to her wonderful husband and three sons in the mountains of West Virginia. In her past lives she’s been an Import Broker, a Communications Specialist, a US Navy Civilian Contractor, a Bartender/Waitress, and an actor at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. She also spent a summer touring with the Grateful Dead(though she will deny to her children that it ever happened).
From a young age she’s been fascinated by myths and fairytales, and the romance that often was the center of the story. As Ann grew older and her hormones kicked in, she discovered trashy romance novels. Great at first, but she soon grew tired of the endless stories with a big wonderful emotional buildup to really short and crappy sex. Never a big fan of purple prose, throbbing spears of fleshy pleasure and wet honey pots make her giggle, she sought out books that gave the sex scenes in the story just as much detail and plot as everything else-without using cringe worthy euphemisms. This led her to the wonderful world of Erotic Romance, and she’s never looked back.
Now Ann spends her days trying to tune out cartoons playing in the background to get into her ‘sexy space’ and has learned to type one handed while soothing a cranky baby.
