Ecstasy (3 page)

Overcome by both embarrassment and a rare jolt of lust, she blathered on and on without being able to stop herself. “Oh! I’m so sorry! I can’t believe I didn’t see you and then I walked right into you and then I fell onto you and now we’re on the ground and are you okay?”

Pushing himself up on his palms and then spinning around so that he was sitting on the cement floor, the stranger gave her a devastating smile. Brushing the dust off of his slacks, he stood up and said, “I’m just fine, thanks.”

Candace was bowled over by the dimple in his left cheek and could do little else but gape.

“Besides,” he added with a mischievous glint in his eyes, “who wouldn’t want to have a gorgeous woman lying on top of him first thing in the morning?”

Candace felt her cheeks turn pink, and she covered them with her hands, hoping to cool them down.

Looking slightly repentant, he said, “I hope I haven’t made you uncomfortable. I’m just joking around. You looked like you were heading into the Coliseum to face the lions.”

Candace dropped her hands from her face and gave him a small smile. “I feel like such an idiot for knocking you over.”

The blond hunk held up his hand to stop her from lambasting herself any further. “I can’t stand to hear you insult yourself. Especially since I don’t even know your name yet.” Holding out his hand he said, “I’m Charlie.”

As the warmth of his skin covered her cold hand, she relaxed for the first time since she’d parked her car that morning. “Candace. It’s nice to meet you.”

She could tell he was trying to put her at ease as he picked up her leather bag and handed it to her. “Is this your first conference? I’ve never seen you here before.”

Candace nodded. “Is it that obvious that I’m a newbie?”

“Nope, that’s not it. I’m just pretty sure if I’d ever met you before, I’d have remembered.”

Candace blushed again and silently admonished herself to cut it out. “I’m sort of new to this genre.”

“To erotica, you mean?”

“I’m really excited about making the switch from young adult fiction to sensual romantic fiction, but I guess I’m feeling a little overwhelmed today by it all.”

Charlie smiled. “I know exactly how you feel.”

“You do? Are you new to erotica also?”

“Nope. I’ve been going at it,” he stopped and cleared his throat. “What I mean is, I’ve been writing erotica for a little over five years now. I can honestly say it is the most enjoyable, challenging writing I’ve ever done. But when I first made the switch from crime to erotica, it was pretty daunting.”

While he talked, Candace thought there was something vaguely familiar about Charlie, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. In any case, although she was greatly enjoying talking with him, she was worried about monopolizing his time.

Rather briskly she said, “Thanks for the pep talk, Charlie. But I don’t want you to feel like you have to baby-sit me all morning. I’m a big girl. I’ll be all right.”

Giving her an enigmatic look that set her heart pounding like a drum in her chest, Charlie brushed off her concerns.

“You know what, Candace?” he said, her name rolling off his tongue like warm butter. “I’d like nothing better than to show you around the conference hall and to introduce you to some of my friends and colleagues.” Leaning in closer to her he added with a wink, “Not that I don’t think you’re capable of taking care of yourself, of course.”

This time, instead of blushing at his double-entendre, Candace laughed. “Thank god I’m starting to get your sense of humor,” she said. “And by the way, if you’re going to be my chaperone, why don’t you call me Candy? The only people who ever use my full name are either my mother or my elementary school teachers when I really got into trouble for something.”

Clearly unable to stop teasing her, in a rough undertone Charlie asked, “Did you get into trouble a lot, Candy?”

Candace swallowed and stared into Charlie’s deep blue eyes. The flash of lust she had felt when their bodies had collided was jumping inside of her full-force now. Forcing herself to remember to be cautious, to remember how badly she’d been hurt, a shadow passed over her eyes.

Shrugging, she finally replied, “More times that I can count.”

If Charlie noticed her swift change of demeanor, he didn’t let on. Looping his arm through hers, he said, “I’m going to take you in now. But I’m warning you to be prepared for lunacy. We’re a naughty little bunch, you know, us erotica writers.”

Shaking off her painful memories, Candy smiled up at Charlie. “Lead on, oh wise one,” she said in mock subservience. “Lead on.”

Charlie directed them into a crowded common room, which had at least a hundred different information booths set up inside. Candace gaped at the displays all around them and started to wonder if it was too late for her to make her escape.

Seeming to sense her growing embarrassment in that incredibly perceptive way of his, Charlie held firm to her hand. “Now just remember,” he said, leaning down to whisper in her ear, “there’s nothing to be embarrassed about with these folks. We’re all in the business for the same reason—because we love it. No one’s going to look down upon you or call you a pervert today, I promise.”

Shivering as his breath gently blew against her ear, she looked up at him, a question in her eyes. “How did you know people have been giving me a hard time about writing erotica?”

Charlie gestured to the group of people in the room with them. “Every one of us has had to deal with misconceptions at one point or another.” With a grimace he added, “And I’d be lying to you if I said it’s all a bed of roses, even after five years.”

Suddenly, Candace was overwhelmed by the clear picture of the two of them, entwined together on a bed of rose petals. As warm heat pooled between her legs, she forced the vision from her head.

Thankfully, he didn’t wait for her response and led them up to the first booth by the door, which, to Candace’s dismay had the most comprehensive display of dildos she had ever seen amassed in one place.

Actually, considering she had never even gotten up the nerve to walk into an adult bookstore, they were the only dildos she had ever seen outside of a magazine ad.

“Candy, this is Albert. He’s an old-timer around here, and frankly, without him, none of us erotica writers would be worth a damn.”

Candy managed to muster up a smile for the gray-haired, bearded man, and reached out her hand to shake his.

“Don’t be shy, missy,” he barked at her. “Feel free to wrap your hands around any one of these babies to find out what they really feel like. I’ve got rubber. I’ve got really life-like skin. I’ve got hard dildos and soft dildos and dildos with vibrators attached. They come in a range of colors, including day-glo green with florescent pink stripes, if you’re really looking for something to spice up a scene.”

Candace wanted nothing more than for the ground to open up and swallow her whole. She had never been so uncomfortable in her entire life. What made her think she could write erotica, she wondered frantically. For god’s sake, she had never even been able to have an orgasm during sex. And she certainly had never used a vibrator, or any kind of penis-like dildo to get herself off. Considering how naughty she felt when she used the stream of water from her hand-held shower head to bring herself to orgasm, she now had to face just how far over her head she was.

“Albert is a walking guru of sex toys. Thank god he’s willing to share his knowledge or I’d look like an idiot in more books than I’m willing to mention.”

Candace nodded mutely, knowing words were beyond her at this point. Not letting her run off, Charlie held fast to her hand. “We’ll talk to you again later Albert,” he said as he directed them to another booth.

At first glance, this one looked to be far tamer than Albert’s booth, with a simple display of hardcover books for sale. Candace breathed a sigh of relief.

Introducing her, Charlie said, “This is my friend Candy. Candy this is Steve Holt. He’s pretty much a hero around here.”

Laughing, Steve said, “Only second to you, buddy.” Turning to greet Candace, he said, “Welcome to the wild and wacky world of erotica. Unbuckle your seat belt and enjoy the ride.”

Candace laughed and gave silent thanks that everyone was working so hard to put her at ease. Of course, she knew that meant she was probably walking around with a panic-stricken look on her face.

And when she caught sight of the cover of Steve’s latest book, she almost gasped aloud. Depicted on the cover were two women in sixty-nine position along with the title,
Sixty-Nine Kinds of Love.

Knowing she was trapped in a full-body flush, with Charlie’s hand tucked in hers, all she could think about was what it would feel like if his head was buried between her legs, his tongue lapping at her clitoris. No matter how hard she tried to clear the sexy vision from her mind, she just couldn’t.

Fortunately, the two men were busy catching up with each other, and hadn’t noticed her reaction to the sexy book cover.

“So, how’s the new book going Charlie?” Steve was asking him.

“Pretty good,” Charlie replied, running his free hand through his golden blond hair. “I’m having some trouble with my character’s motivations, but I’ll figure it out in time.”

Steve laughed and said to Candace, “I swear to God, this is the only author I know who wants to know what his characters ate for breakfast in high school. Most of us are content to be able to do a character sketch for their past couple of years.”

“Wow,” Candace said to Charlie. “You sound pretty thorough.”

The look Charlie gave her was so hot she felt seared to the bone. At least to her panties, which were beginning to feel distinctly moist between her legs.

“I am,” he said hoarsely and then blinked hard a couple of times.

Clearing his throat, Steve said, “Oh, I almost forgot. There’s a woman here from the Chronicle and she wants to interview you about
Morning Dew
.”

Candace gasped. “You wrote
Morning Dew
? You’re Charlie Gibson?”

A faint flush stole across his face. “That’s me.”

Too stunned to keep the words from falling out of her mouth, she said, “You’re the reason I wanted to get into erotica.”

Realizing her sentence had come out all wrong, she tried to backpedal, saying, “What I meant is that I absolutely love your books. They move me more than anything else I’ve read.”

Charlie looked incredibly pleased. “Really?”

Cutting in, Steve said, “You’re not the first person who became a convert after reading his stuff. At least half of the people in the room did the very same thing.”

Suddenly, Candace felt incredibly foolish. “And here I am, taking up all of your time, when so many people must be dying to get a word with you.”

Amazingly, Charlie refused to relinquish her hand.

An attractive, medically enhanced brunette, whose tits were each the size of Candace’s head, sidled up to Charlie. “I was just over at the mentoring table and they told me you don’t have anyone under you yet.” Licking her lips for impact, having stressed the word ‘under’ as if it was a magical spell she could weave around him, she pouted and added, “They said you had the final word on who you were going to work with.” Walking her long, polished nails up his arm she said, “So, are you free for some lessons?”

Candace wasn’t sure if her mind was playing tricks on her, considering her gut was teeming with jealous bile, but she thought she saw Charlie flinch and back away from the silicone Amazon.

Turning to her, with a cunning smile on his face, he said, “Actually, Candy has already snatched me up.”

“I did?” she said, before she caught the pleading look Charlie was pinning her with. Trying to recover from the shock of being singled out by the man she respected more than any other writer of erotica, she smiled and slapped him playfully on the arm with her free hand, trying to look like she was just joking around.

“Of course, I did. I’m just teasing you.” Then she turned to the Amazon-bitch and said with false syrupiness, “Actually, I tackled him the minute I saw him walking through the doors to make sure he’d be all mine.”

Glaring at them both with fire in her eyes, the Amazon spat out “Your loss,” at Charlie and then went in search of new prey.

Charlie led Candace into a semi-private corner of the room. “I’m really sorry about that back there. If you don’t want me to be your mentor, I understand perfectly.”

Candace blinked in confusion. “I don’t even know what my mentor is supposed to do.”

Giving her a reassuring smile, Charlie said, “All of the established writers sign up to work with a new writer. You know, to show them the ropes.”

Candace’s brain was assailed with visions of Charlie tying her up to golden bedposts, while she writhed underneath him and begged him to fuck her as hard and fast as he could. She shook her head, wondering when the hell she had started to have such incredibly vivid sexual daydreams.

Looking up at him, suddenly shy, she said, “I can’t think of anyone I’d rather work with.”

And just like that, she leapt head first into the unknown, with the most sexually potent man she had ever encountered.

Chapter Four

Charlie paid the delivery boy from the
Love You With Flowers
floral design shop on Chestnut Street in the Marina and then watched him get back into his delivery truck and drive away. He picked up the surprisingly heavy cardboard box of red, pink, and purple rose petals, placed them on the floor of his foyer, and closed the front door with a soft click. He leaned his forehead against the back of his front door and closed his eyes.

At least a hundred times in the past week, ever since he had coerced Candace into letting him be her mentor, he had told himself not to fuck this up. From the first moment he met her, in the instant that she had landed atop him in the conference hall, he knew she was special.

Unfortunately, every time he thought about Candace he got lightheaded and his heart started beating to a heavy-metal rhythm within his chest.