Erotic Research (14 page)

“Original ending?”

“It was terrible,” she added hastily. “I tried it out, researched it, but it didn’t really work.”

“Is that right?” His voice was flat, emotionless. How she wished she could tell what he was thinking.

“In fact, I was hoping you could help me,” she continued.

“Help you?” His voice betrayed nothing to her and she was tempted to shake him, slap him, anything to get some sort of reaction from him.

“Write another one.” Again his face looked as if it were carved from granite. “After all, we were working on this project together.”

“Help you how?”

“I have another idea for the ending.” Her voice sounded strained even to her own ears. She was desperate to say the words her heart was screaming. “But I thought maybe we should research it first.”

“Research.” He repeated the word with such disgust, she considered running away. What if he rejected her and the new ending? What if it was too late to make amends?

“Yes,” she replied quickly before she lost her nerve, “I have part of it scripted out right here.” She handed him a sheet of paper from one of the numerous stacks on the dining-room table.

Glancing at the paper, Ross visibly blanched. “What the hell is this? Didn’t we try this before? What are you hoping for here, Jules? Another opportunity to kick me in the teeth?”

www.samhainpublishing.com 99

Mari Carr

“No. Of course not, Ross.” A lone tear trickled down her cheek. “I don’t want to hurt you again. Ever again. Trust me. Please.”

Ross flinched as she tossed his own words from the cabin back at him. He’d asked for her trust and she’d given it—well, up to a point. Now she was asking for the same.

“Julia,” he started, but stopped as an anguished sob escaped her lips.

“Don’t call me that,” she whispered.

“What?” he asked.

“Julia,” she repeated. “Please don’t call me that.”

Whatever strength had gotten Ross to her apartment and through her front door seemed to slowly seep out of him as he dropped into the chair behind him.

“I don’t know what you want,” he said miserably.

“Just read the paper. Please.” She was well aware of the pleading tone in her voice, but she didn’t care. All she wanted was to finish what he’d started in the cabin, the right way this time. He was silent for so long, she knew she’d lost. He would never forgive her.

“How can you not know how I feel about you?” he started, his voice flat. Startled, she glanced up to see him reading the words on the page she’d handed him.

“Every time I look at you, I see my past, present and future. All I want in the world is wrapped up in you. I love you, Jules. Dammit, I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Crumpling the paper as the last words fell from his lips, Ross stared woodenly at the floor. He’d risked his heart for her again. Her courageous, handsome hero had given her his heart again. Only this time, she knew what to do with it. She knelt before him. The tears she’d tried valiantly to hold in began to fall freely. This time she would answer with the words written in her heart.

“Ross,” she said, her voice trembling beneath the tears. “Oh God, Ross, I love you too. More than I can ever tell you. These past couple of months have been hell. I love you so much it hurts and I’m so very sorry. Please forgive me. I never meant to hurt you and I know I don’t deserve it but I swear if you’ll only forgive—”

100

www.samhainpublishing.com

Erotic Research

No more words came as Ross’s lips descended on hers in a kiss that took her breath away. Julia clung to him as the kiss continued for minutes, maybe hours, both of them trying to prove their love with their lips, their hands. When they finally parted, Ross laughed as Julia continued to cry—happy tears this time. Helping her to her feet, Ross crossed the room to grab a box of tissues.

“Blow,” he ordered, wiping her dripping nose.

Following his command, she reached up on tiptoe to place a soft kiss on his cheek.

“Please say you forgive me.”

“Jules, there’s nothing to forgive. I wasn’t totally honest in that cabin. I hid my feelings, hoping I could trick you into falling in love with me, rather than simply telling you the truth right from the beginning.”

“When did you realize you loved me?”

“Years ago.” His face broke into a self-deprecating grin. “Talk about your worldclass fools. So much wasted time.”

“Well,” Julia answered smugly, “if you’ve taught me anything in the last few months, it’s that anticipation only makes the reward greater.”

Bending down, Ross wrapped her tightly in his arms before picking her up and slowly swinging her around. Julia giggled at his impetuous action.

“I love you,” he said again, spinning her faster, “and you are the greatest reward any man could ever receive.”

“Ross, you lunatic,” she cried, dizzy and giddy, “put me down.”

Placing her back on her feet, he added to her lightheadedness with a kiss that sucked all the breath from her body. His hands loosely framed her face as he worshipped her lips with his. If she lived to be a hundred, this was the kiss she would remember on her deathbed.

“That was a pretty good ending.” For the first time since he walked into her apartment, Julia saw a true glimpse of the real Ross.

“Just pretty good?” she asked.

“Not bad. It works for me.”

www.samhainpublishing.com 101

Mari Carr

“I’m so glad you approve of this one,” she answered.

“Still…” He rubbed his chin as if deep in thought.

“Still what?” she asked, pleased by the return of his fun-loving nature.

“I don’t know. The words were good, but it seems to be lacking something.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Well, this is an erotic romance. Therefore I think it only fitting that after such a heartfelt declaration, the heroine should prove her love.”

“Prove it how?” Julia asked suspiciously.

“Well, I’m not the writer, of course, but maybe the ending would be stronger if right after her speech, she fell on her knees and gave the hero the best blowjob of his life.”

Julia burst into laughter, shaking her head. “I’m not sure a blowjob would really fit at that particular point in the plotline. Something like that is really better suited to the epilogue.”

Ross groaned. “Epilogue. What is it with women writers and epilogues?”

She smiled. “What do you mean? Epilogues are extremely important to romance novels. Women like to know that things work out in the long run and that the romance doesn’t end with the last chapter.”

“Yeah, well. I suppose you could work the blowjob scene into the epilogue, but I’m gonna tell you right now, it better be one of those ‘later that night’ epilogues and not a

‘five years later’ one.”

Julia giggled. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“You do that.” Ross wrapped his hands in her hair to pull her close. “I’m even going to be a good editor and help you with that epilogue. Like I always say, you can never do too much research.”

102

www.samhainpublishing.com

Erotic Research

Epilogue One

Later that night…

Julia gave Ross the best blowjob of his life.

www.samhainpublishing.com 103

Mari Carr

Epilogue Two

Five years later…

Ross watched his very pregnant wife put the finishing touches to her ninth erotic romance as their new cat, Duchess, rubbed against her swollen ankles. Since publishing her first novel in that genre, she’d become known in the industry as the Queen of Erotica, a title he took great delight in teasing her about. And, of course being such a good editor, he still helped her with all of her research.

104

www.samhainpublishing.com

About the Author

Librarian by day and mother of two busy middle schoolers, Mari Carr finds her time for writing by squeezing it into the hours between three a.m. and daybreak when her family is asleep and the house is quiet.

With the publication of her first book,
Erotic Research
, her goal—publishing before forty—has been achieved with a couple of years to spare. Phew!

To learn more about Mari Carr, please send an email to
[email protected],

check out her blog at www.maricarr.blogspot.com or join her Yahoo! group to join in the

fun with other readers as well as Mari!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/maricarr

Sometimes the truth is the greatest aphrodisiac.

Liaisons in Jubilee

© 2007 Jamie Craig

Available now at Samhain Publishing

Katie Mayes is the Executive Manager for a large, east coast beach resort. Unfortunately, her boss has discovered her one secret—her seasonal flings with Caleb Beckett, the Entertainment Director for the resort. Company policy dictates no internal fraternization, especially between managers and their subordinates, so her boss gives Katie a choice. Caleb or her job.

She avoids personal encounters with Caleb, until one fateful night a week before the resort’s big summer launch. Then, she runs into him at a local nightclub. When Caleb approaches her, she tries to give him the cold shoulder, but he follows her onto the dance floor where the music, her desire, and his persistence break her will. She claims it’s only one more night before they break it off completely, but Caleb insists on more. Far from an ending, he views the summer as their true beginning. Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex, graphic language, spanking, light bondage.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Liaisons in Jubilee: It didn’t matter if Caleb was speaking or singing. There was a velvet lilt to his voice that always sent a rush of warm electricity down the back of her neck. It might have been weeks since she’d felt him so close, months since she’d had him even closer, but the absence did nothing to lessen her body’s reaction to his presence. If anything, it seemed to have made it stronger. Her pussy clenched, and her skin heated, and she had to fight not to lean back against the hard wall of his body right then and there. Caleb still hadn’t moved by the time she set down her empty bottle. “Brilliant deduction,” she said, twisting around on her stool. He only moved enough not to get knocked over by her long legs, but it was still too close for Katie’s comfort. Resting her

elbows against the bar, she looked anywhere but at his hungry eyes. “The crowd looks lively tonight. Lucky for me.”

Caleb never looked away from her. She could almost feel the weight of his eyes. “Do you think anybody here could keep up with you?”

“Does it matter?” She risked a glance back at him, only to get caught by the sight of his full mouth. How many times had she lost herself while kissing him? Too many to count. The sudden thought of what his newly acquired facial hair would feel like against her inner thigh made her cheeks flame, and Katie jerked her attention back to the thrashing crowd. “It’s just dancing. It’s not like I’m taking the guy home to fuck his brains out.”

“Oh, it’s never just dancing with you, Katie.” He leaned forward. “But if that’s what you want, I’ll give you a few turns around the floor.” Caleb smiled, managing to look charming and not at all lecherous. “Maybe you’ll change your mind about the second part.”

She faltered for a fraction of a second. It was tempting—
so
tempting. She’d never known a man to move like Caleb, in and out of bed, and after all, it was just a dance, no matter what he might profess. Except there was her job to consider, and she was his boss, and any concession now had the possibility of being disastrous later. Katie slid off the stool and met his gaze without wavering. “I’m not going to change my mind,” she said. He stood so close that their bodies brushed against each other as she headed for the dance floor. She didn’t need to find a partner before she got there. Experience told her she wouldn’t be alone for long once she started moving. She watched Caleb from the corner of her eye as he slipped onto the dance floor. She tried to avoid him, but he adjusted his body, weaving with the rhythm and sliding between the writhing bodies that surrounded her. He positioned himself behind her, gripping her hips lightly.

It felt like the air had been sucked out of her lungs. Though her first instinct was to push him away, Katie knew that would start a scene she wasn’t prepared to follow through with. Coming to the Wooden Nickel might give her a measure of anonymity, but if she got involved in a commotion, it would spread along the boardwalk faster than

wildfire. And she knew Caleb. He wouldn’t let something like attracting attention stop him. Hell, he was a performer at heart. He’d take that attention and use it to his advantage.

So she went with it. She didn’t have a choice. Within seconds, though, the heat of the room and the throb of the music and the buzz from the beer made her initial concerns dissolve away. Her arm coiled up and around to caress Caleb’s neck, her eyes fluttering shut so that she could focus on the pure physical pleasure suffusing her body. Caleb knew exactly how to fit against her, and somehow, knowing they were his hands holding her against him just spurred Katie to grind her ass back into his burgeoning erection. Caleb followed her lead on the floor, and to her surprise, kept his hands firmly on her hips, instead of allowing them to wander over her curves. His body was so hot against hers and it was impossible not to let her mind drift to the very thing she said she wasn’t going to do. But for the moment, she was happy to dance with him, to feel the rhythm of his hips, to feel the life pulsing from him with each step. The music shifted from the upbeat tempo to something slow and sensual. Caleb tightened his grip and began directing her, leading her into the new tempo. Gradually, Katie became aware of the other guys drifting away, and she opened her eyes to the swirling lights, wondering what in hell she was doing. So what if Caleb moved like liquid fire against her? So what if she felt like she was going to explode just from the firm caress of his hands? She was asking to get burned by letting him do this. Twisting in his arms, Katie meant to walk away, but his searing gaze kept her pinned against his chest, just as effectively as his hard hands. She leaned forward, her breasts crushing to him with a familiar ache, and settled her mouth at his ear. It took a moment to say the words. His scent made her mouth go dry and she had to swallow more than once in order to find her voice again.