Grounded by R.K. Lilley

James and Bianca’s story draws to a close in the explosive conclusion to the Up In The Air Trilogy.

After a short but earnest courtship, Bianca can no longer deny her feelings for James, and though she’s tried her hardest, she can’t help but see that he cares deeply for her, as well. In a completely uncharacteristic move, she has put aside her misgivings and agreed to live with the enigmatic billionaire. Is her leap of faith the beginning of something wonderful, or is it too much, too fast?

As James and Bianca feel a growing need for each other that neither can deny, circumstances beyond their control intervene, trying to tear them apart. Amidst the ever mounting threat of a monster who wants Bianca dead, and the constant pitfalls of an indiscreet past that James can’t seem to escape, can these two passionate lovers manage to find their happily ever after?

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R.K.'s Up In The Air Series is one of my MOST FAVORITE series of books of ALL time! I absolutley LOVED this series and ohhhhhh, Mr. Mercurial!!!!!! If you haven't read any of these series I STRONGLY recommend that you move this up your TBR ASAP! Grounded is the final book in the series and boy-oh-boy talk about ripping be apart into tiny million pieces and oh so slowly putting my back together again. Here's my review:

I have to be honest here I literally................... when I was offered an ARC of Grounded by the author. This was one of those books that I was dying for... After finishing Mile High I knew I had a wait but boy did I luck out....................... In my opinion Grounded is the BEST book in the entire series. I'm totally in love with Mr. Beautiful!!! You could feel the love he had for Bianca while reading but don't worry our total ALPHA DOM Mr. Cavendish was still there. Bianca was AMAZING I loved her strength and how she didn't take crap from anyone! She totally ROCKED in my book! I love a strong female character in a book... Grounded really shows you a different side of James as well as Bianca working on breaking down those walls and letting someone else in her heart besies Stephan. Oh Stephan I so adore him and Javier well those two are AWESOME together :) I'm not going to give much away about Grounded but I think I can share some emotions with you. I will tell you there's is a part in this book where I BLUSHED I was totally going OMG OMG OMG and then I giggled. Bianca's reaction cracked me up. I was so pissed at James at one point I wanted to slap him but it made sense in the end when! I CRIED oh boy did I CRY there a part of this book that shook me to my core..... So without telling you too much more but enough to whet your appetite, at least I hope so, here's how this book went for me................. There was ............................................................ Oh and this part was................................................... Of course I blushed,fiercely,kinda like this at this kinky as hell part that Oh My ...................................................... Oh yeah, I giggled too!!! Then I was lulled into pure bliss when things were like this.......... but alas that did not last cause I was doing this..................... but by the end, well................................................. This is a HUGE 5 ++++++++++++ star read for me! I always enjoy being dragged on that emotional roller coaster and this one had me up and down and sideways and backwards that by the end all I could do was sit there going... HELL YES I FREAKING LOVED IT!!! Seriously had a MAJOR book hangover after readging Grounded. This is the final book in the Up in the Air series and R.K. freaking NAILED it!!! I strongly recommend that you grab this on 2/12/13 and canel all plans an spend some time with Mr. Gorgeous, Mr. Sadistic. MR. JAMES FREAKING CAVENDISH... you won't be sorry!!!!!!
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Today is the FINAL stop of R.K.'s Grounded Blog Tour and I want to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU for allowing me to host the tour of an AMAZING FREAKING BOOK!!! Well, SERIES for me :)

R.K. surprised me the other day with a little "GIFT" for you! Yes we have a NEVER BEFORE RELEASED EXCLUSIVE in JAMES P.O.V. from In Flight (Mr. Stalker)...........................................................................................................

Breakfast Service

I’d barely taken my seat on the plane when she was sweeping out of the galley, drink-laden tray in hand.  She didn’t even glance at me as she passed.  I watched her every move unabashedly, turning to watch her serve the other passengers.

She served a group of loud New Yorkers first.  They were loud and boisterous, but fell silent as she moved through the cabin. 

“Hey, sugar.  You’re a sight for sore eyes,” one of them said in a loud New York accent.  The words, and the greasy tone of his voice, made me tense.

“Good morning,” she murmured back in a quiet, neutral voice.  She handed them their drinks swiftly.  She didn’t linger, heading back into the galley for the next round within seconds.

“Look at the fucking rack on that one,” one of the men said loudly.

“Great tits,” another agreed. 

My vision quite simply went red with temper.  I couldn’t decide which inflamed me more; that they were thinking about her like that, or that they were saying it out loud.  I knew one thing for certain, it was unacceptable.  I would need to find her another job immediately.  Something that didn’t put her within contact with men like that.

She came and went from the cabin, again not seeing me, which drove me crazy, but not as crazy as the loud comments from the men sitting two rows behind me. 

“The flight attendant is a fucking ten,” one said when she went back into the galley again.”

“Between her eyes, the tits, and the legs, she’s at the top of my Vegas fuck list.”

“She aint interested.”

“There’re plenty of ways to get her interested.  Don’t you worry bout it.”

“As long as I get my turn.” 

My jaw clenched so hard that it ached.  I wondered if I would be finding new and interesting ways to despise commercial air travel on every flight I took during this unorthodox courtship.  And I also wondered if I was going to get myself added to the commercial no-fly list before this flight was over.

Finally, she noticed me, and her immediate, drastic response was gratifying.  Her composed, professional mask slipped for a moment, and the smile froze on her face as her gaze met mine, and she just stared at me as though she couldn’t believe that I was there. 

She recovered quickly enough.  “May I get you anything else, Mr. Cavendish?” she asked.  “May I hang your jacket?”

I stood, moving into the aisle to remove my jacket, crowding her as I did so. 

She sucked in a breath.  “Why didn’t you tell me you were taking this flight?” she asked quietly, her lovely brow furrowed.

“It was a last minute decision.  I didn’t know until this morning that I had urgent business in Las Vegas that needed attention today.”  I tried to make my tone quiet and neutral.  It would do me no favors to reveal to her that I was very close to getting myself arrested because of the crass men behind me.

  She studied my face briefly before moving away, working busily to prepare for departure.

I continued to watch her as she worked, studying her as she moved through her safety demonstration.  She carefully avoided so much as glancing at me, even skipping over me as she did her obligatory seatbelt check for takeoff. 

“You can check my lap a little closer, doll,” I heard one of the obnoxious men say as she passed over him.

“Pull tight on my strap, sweetheart,” another muttered. 

My hands tightened into fists.  The fucking nerve of them…

Bianca stopped by my seat, looking completely unfazed by the things that I knew she must have heard.  Was this a common occurrence?  Was she subject to treatment like this often?  The very idea made me feel murderous. 

“Can I help you with anything, Mr. Cavendish?” she asked softly, her tone concerned.  She was already too good at reading me.  I shook my head slightly. 

“Tell Stephan I want to speak to him as soon as he’s available,” I told her, unable to help myself.  Perhaps he could handle the men without resorting to violence, because I was beginning to seriously doubt that I could.

“Okaaay,” she said, sounding perplexed.  She moved away.

Stephan was approaching me within moments, bending down to speak quietly.  “Is everything okay?  Bianca told me that you were upset about something.”

I grimaced, and told him everything I’d heard.  “The men behind me are out of hand with the comments about Bianca,” I concluded.  “If they make one more comment about her tits, her legs, or fucking her, I’m going to lose it.  Does this sort of thing happen often?  Men talking about her like this?  Are you okay with it?”

He gave me a level stare, and I could see the rage just under the surface that he hid so well.  “Of course not.  Do I look like I’m fucking okay with it?  If anyone so much as hints at crossing a line with her, I kick them off the fucking plane.  She gets hit on, but what you heard is definitely crossing a line.  I’ll take care of them after we reach altitude.  It’s too late now.  We’re next in line for takeoff.  I’ll handle them.  Don’t do anything crazy, okay?”

I looked away.  “I’ll try my best, but I can’t make any promises, if they keep it up.”

We were taking off when the bastards started up again, talking so loudly that I could hear them even over the plane’s engines. 

“I get first dibs on blondie’s pussy,” the main offender said loudly. 

“That’s fine.  You know I’m an ass man,” another one said with a laugh.  All of the bastards laughed. 

My eyes widened, my hands going to my seat belt.  I saw the alarmed looks on Stephan and Bianca’s faces as they watched me.

“You two are so full of shit.  She hasn’t even looked at either of you twice,” another loud voice told the other two. 

I carefully let go of my seatbelt, and unclenched my hands.  I shut my eyes, counting to ten, trying hard not to lose it. 

“I don’t give a fuck where she’s looking.  She can point her eyes at the ground, as long as her ass goes in the fucking air.” 

“Well, she ain’t interested, no matter where she’s looking, and I don’t see how you’re gonna change that.”

“One pill in a drink and she’ll be our party girl for as long as we want.”

“You’re so full of shit, Donny.  You talk out of your ass more than you talk out of your mouth.”

“How’s this for talking out of my ass?  We follow her through the airport,” I was out of my seat, rage in every step, as he continued, “talk her into one drink, and I’ll handle the rest.  Who’s full of shit now, huh?”  He looked a little surprised as I reached his seat on his last sentence, but not at all alarmed.  The man had terrible instincts.  I was a word away from beating him to a bloody pulp. 

I pointed at him.  “Don’t say another word.  I’m having you arrested on the other side of this flight, but one more fucking word and you’re going to lose some teeth first.”

I felt Stephan moving in behind me as the man raised his hands in an innocent pose that I didn’t believe for a second.  “We meant no harm, man.  Just talking.  Talking ain’t against the law.”

I leaned very close to the scumbag.  “It is when the talk involves drugging and gang-raping a woman.”

I heard Stephan suck in a breath just behind me.

“What did you say?” Stephan said loudly, sounding as angry as I felt.  “This ends now,” he addressed the group at large.  “One more of you says another crude word and we will divert this plane and have you arrested at the nearest airport.  Do you understand?  It’s going to be perfect silence or police.”

“What hotel are you booked at?” I asked the one I had singled out as the worst offender, while Stephan continued his tirade 

His eyes were wide, and he looked genuinely surprised that there had been a negative reaction to his outlandish statements.  Who the hell was he used to dealing with, that he thought it was okay to talk like that where anyone could hear?  Or at all, for that matter…  

“The Middleton Hotel,” he said, sounding meek as a lamb now. 

“No, you’re not,” I told him.  These sick bastards were about to find themselves blacklisted from every decent property in Vegas.  No hotel wanted a gang of roving sexual predators on the premises, and I would make all the calls to assure that everyone had their names.

“Chill out.  I was joking about drugging her.  You can check my bag, if you don’t believe me.”

“I mean it,” Stephan said, his voice raised to a near shout.  “One more word out of any of you, and we are diverting this plane and there will be law enforcement waiting for you at the gate.”  Stephan turned and strode back to his seat, but I wasn’t done. 

I made very solid eye contact with the man.  I knew he was lying.  Every instinct I had was telling me so.  “If you so much as look at that flight attendant funny, I swear to you that I will make you regret it.  This won’t be a short term regret.  It will be a, holy fuck what happened to my life, kind of regret.  I won’t tell you again.” 

I returned to my seat.  I sat down, closing my eyes, making an attempt to retain some semblance of calm and composure. 

I didn’t stir until Stephan approached me while he was handing out hot towels.  I took one, waving him closer.  Like me, he still looked tense, but he leaned forward. 

“Even if they don’t make another sound back there, they need to be arrested and searched when we get to Las Vegas,” I told him quietly.

He nodded.  “I know.  Even if it was all talk, they need to be questioned and searched.  I’ll arrange to have law enforcement meet us at the gate.”

I nodded, leaning back and closing my eyes. 

I didn’t see Bianca again for the entire first half of the flight, but all things considered, I was actually relieved that she wasn’t out in the cabin, going near those men.

I was too distracted and agitated to work or sleep, so I just sat and thought, which was troublesome, because all I could think about was Bianca, and the things we’d done, and of course, the things we hadn’t done.  I was particularly obsessed with the fact that she had gone down on me, and I hadn’t reciprocated, hadn’t had the chance.  I needed that first, needed to taste her and feel her shake with need under my tongue. 

Bianca and Stephan both had their backs to me as I went into the bathroom, but I could hear their muffled voices through the door as I washed my hands. 

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Stephan was telling her.  “Brenda is baking the cookies back there right now.  I’ll bring some back to add to the cheese service.” 

I smiled.  At last, a bit of luck.  I was moving quietly into the galley to join her scant seconds later. 

Bianca gave me a small, rather shy smile when she saw me. 

“Hey,” she said, watching me.

I smiled back, moving the cart she was handling into position to give us a few moments of much needed privacy behind the curtain.    

“Oh,” she said softly, her eyes glued to me. 

I loved having her focused on me like that. 

I set the brake on the cart with my toe, taking a deep breath, fighting for control. 

I turned, striding to her.  I grabbed her braid, pulling her head back roughly, and kissing her without holding back. 

She submitted instantly and perfectly, and I pushed her by the hips to the tiny galley counter, lifting her to perch there, my lips still crushed to hers.

She made a startled sound of protest as I began working her pencil skirt up her legs.  “What are you doing?” she asked when I had her thighs bared.

“Shh,” I told her, kissing her while I shoved her skirt higher.  “I need to do this.”

I just stopped and stared when I  saw her garters and the tops of her stockings.  I recovered quickly, shoving her skirt up roughly. 

I cursed when I saw the tiny scrap of lace she was wearing underneath.  “This is the type of panty you were wearing last night, too, wasn’t it?  But that one was blue.” 

She nodded, looking dazed.  “They’re the most comfortable underwear I’ve ever worn.  I can’t wear anything else, since I discovered them.”

“I fucking love them,” I told her, meaning it. 

She smiled at me. 

I knelt in front of her, handing her a handkerchief.  “Put that in your mouth and bite down.  Try not to make too much noise.” 

  She obeyed with no hesitation, her body trembling, and I felt my cock twitch.  This would be torture, since I couldn’t be inside of her for hours yet, but it would be worth it.

“Grip my hair,” I told her.  She stroked her hands into my hair, turning it into a caress. 

I shoved her thong to the side and buried my face between her legs.  Her entire body was shaking under my hands as I nuzzled and licked at her core. 

Knowing that I was the first one to do this to her, the first to taste her like this, gave me the most primitive and overpowering sense of satisfaction.  It was an anomaly for me.  I could be possessive, and had been in the past, it was a Dom’s prerogative to own his sub, but it had been such a fleeting sort of possession, belonging solely in the short-term.  What I felt just then was so different that what the word possessive meant to me was irrevocably changed.  This was mine.  Her I possessed.  Not just today, or tomorrow, but for all of the befores and all of the afters. 

I pushed two fingers inside of her, stroking along her tight walls.  If I let myself, I thought that I could come just from feeling her clench against my fingers.  I moved my mouth up to suck mercilessly at her clit, and she came, violently, her entire body rocking with her pleasure.  I felt that strong sense of satisfying possessiveness so strongly then that I shuddered, nuzzling into her as she calmed. 

I lifted my head to look at her as she stilled, propping my face on her skirt to study her.  She had the most adorable, dazed look on her lovely face. 

“One more,” I told her, relishing the way my words made her jaw go slack with need. 

I licked at her, going straight for her clit with time in short supply.  She came easily, letting out a muffled scream around the cloth in her mouth, our chemistry and my experienced tongue making it seem effortless.

I licked her once, twice more as she recovered.

“I could eat you all day,” I told her, standing.  I decided it was better to keep it to myself that eating her pussy had been close to a religious experience for me. 

I pulled the handkerchief from her mouth, and used it between her legs.  “I love how wet you are,” I said softly, bending down to kiss her deeply.  Perfect fucking Bianca sucked on my tongue.  I groaned, and she sucked harder. 

I pulled back, knowing that things would get out of hand if I didn’t.  I pulled her off of the counter, shoving the handkerchief into my pocket and straightening her clothes as quickly as I could.

Stephan burst through the curtain just as I was pulling her skirt down.  He looked shocked, and then scandalized, blushing scarlet.  “Was that noise you?  That muffled scream?” he asked her.

She blushed, but she nodded. 

Stephan turned a stern look my way.  “Really, James?  On a morning flight?  With a group of perverts just a few feet away?”

I flushed, agreeing with his censure wholeheartedly.  I had lost my mind for a few minutes, and as her protector, I couldn’t be upset with him for calling me out for it. 

Stephan pointed towards the first class cabin.  “I think you should go sit down now.”

I went back to my seat without comment.

The rest of the flight was basically an exercise in torture, while I just sat in my seat and tried not to think about Bianca every single second.  Even with the most optimistic estimate, it would be hours before I could bury myself inside of her, and I’d never been so impatient for anything in my life.  Hours seemed like years from where I was sitting just then.

The only highlight of the flight from that point was when she served me. 

I was trying to relax in my seat, but I had the handkerchief I’d used on her clutched in my hand, and that wasn’t helping a bit.  Still, I couldn’t bring myself to put it away.  I wanted her to see it, and to know just what I was thinking about.  And I loved to shake up that perfect composure of hers. 

I could tell that she was trying not to look at me as she served me, and that made me smile.  I made a point of folding out my tray table and perching my arm there, the handkerchief blatantly on display in my hand. 

I clenched and unclenched my fist, watching her closely.  The moment when she saw what was in my hand was as gratifying as I could have hoped.  She went white, then pink, then looked away, a scandalized look on her face.  I grinned, admitting to myself right then that I was infatuated.  As if I’d had any lingering doubts about that fact…

I watched her as she finally took her seat, just as I heard the wheels coming down for landing.  I waited patiently until she finally glanced at me.  I smiled at her.  It was a fond smile, I couldn’t help that.

She just stared back at me, blushing.  She gasped loudly as I brought the handkerchief to my face and inhaled deeply, my eyes closing.

“What the hell?”  Stephan said loudly.

I was grinning like a fool when I opened my eyes again, watching her stare at anything but me, completely scandalized.   

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O.M.G.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh Lordy, when I read  that I was "fanning" myself! Damn, Mr. Cavendish is HOT.............................................................................................

Want to follow R.K.? Want to see what she's working on NEXT? Will she does have something coming out in March that I CAN'T FREAKING WAIT TO READ! Lana by R.K. Lilley.... This cover is AHHHH-MAAAAA-ZINNNNNGG!!!!!

You need to add this one to your TBR! If you haven't read the Up In The Air Series you need to remedy that ASAP.. Here's the links to stay in touch with R.K.:

Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6574132.R_K_Lilley

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/RkLilley?fref=ts

Website:
http://www.rklilley.com/

Now it's time for the GIVEAWAY!!!! R.K. has donated  one SIGNED PAPERBACK copy of Grounded and one Kindle e-copy of Grounded. To Enter see the Rafflecopter BELOW...................


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