Ecstasy (A Contemporary Romance) (3 page)

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.

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.

He thought back to their phone call, the
Monday after the erotic writer’s conference and groaned,
remembering how lame he sounded as he outlined his mentoring plan
to her. He banged his forehead against the door several times as
his words flooded back into his brain.