Vignettes of a Master (5 page)

Shh Mom’s Reading

March,
26
th
.

Jonah finds out Leticia is going to interview Jason Luke about a second book.

“You’re going to interview Jason Luke?” I was incredulous. Somehow, this felt like the worst kind of betrayal. Leticia nodded, and her expression was grim and determined. “Yes,” she said, and then some of her cold austere reserve crumbled away, and she reached for my hand. “He has the power, Jonah. Despite what you might think, he controls your world. I’m hoping that I can convince him to let you live through the sequel.” I turned away, feeling a sudden surge of anger that I was unaccustomed to. Jason Luke was a jerk. “I forbid it,” I said, turning back to Leticia, my eyes cold, but my temper blazing. “I forbid you to meet this man.” She shook her head and snatched up her handbag from the sofa. “I am prepared to do whatever it takes to convince Jason Luke to let you live,” she said levelly. She unbuttoned the top three buttons of her blouse so that the tight cinch of her cleavage was obvious, and then hoisted her skirt an inch higher up her knee. “Anything and everything it takes, Jonah.”

A note f
rom Jason:

This was another scene w
here I got a mention in the unfolding events – and, just like the others where I was able to interact with the fictional characters, it proved to be tremendously popular with readers.

Shh Mom’s Reading

March,
26
th
.

Jonah teaching Leticia how to talk dirty on the phone.

“Erotic conversation is an art form,” I explained to Leticia. I stood close beside her so that my words were like a seductive, hypnotic whisper. “Without the benefits of sight to fuel your listener’s imagination, you must create the mood only with the tone of your voice and the words you choose.”

Leticia nodded her head, but didn’t turn. She stood staring out of the big window, listening to my every word, but not daring to turn – not willing to see the hungry look in my eyes.

“You must keep your voice soft, use your words carefully. The point of the exercise is to arouse the listener. You can’t be crude – that doesn’t work. You need to seduce, Leticia… seduce the person you are calling with the sound of your voice alone.”

Jason Luke Author Page

March,
28
th
.

Jonah's response to Leticia's ex boyfriend showing up and wanting her back.

I stared at Leticia, and my face was expressionless: cold and devoid of any emotion.

“So that’s your news?” I asked. “You came her tonight to tell me that your ex boyfriend wants you to return to him?”

Leticia nodded. She was sitting on the old leather sofa, her legs folded up beneath her, and her hands in her lap.

I shrugged. “Leticia, why are you telling me this?”

“Because I want you to tell me what to do,” she said, and her hands suddenly fluttered. “I want to know if you and I have a future together, Jonah. I want to know that before I make a decision.”

I shook my head slowly. “No. I won’t tell you that,” I said. “Leticia your life is your own. The choices you make are your own. Free will reigns. You decide what is best for you. You either go back to your boyfriend, or you stay in the city. That is your decision.”

Leticia looked crestfallen. “Wouldn’t you care, Jonah?”

“Yes,” I admitted. “But not enough to stop you from leaving. I can’t be responsible for your life, or your choices. You must do what you believe is best for you. Play it safe… or take a chance…”

Jason Luke Author Page

March,
28
th
.

At a party, Leticia observes a beautiful woman pass Jonah her hotel key and she waits to see what he will do
.

I looked up and saw Leticia standing before me.

“I have been watching you,” she confessed. “For the past ten minutes.”

I smiled. “Good.”

Leticia shifted her weight as though she were uncomfortable. She folded her arms, and her expression became a frown of concern. “I saw that beautiful woman hand you her hotel key, Jonah. I saw the way she smiled at you. I know that smile – every woman does. I know what it means…”

I kept smiling. “Leticia…? You sound jealous.”

Leticia huffed. She uncrossed her arms, but then folded them again a moment later. “I’m not jealous,” she lied badly.

I reached into my pocket and held out the key the woman had handed me. It was a hotel key for one of the rooms above where the party was being held. “Is this the key you saw the woman hand me?”

Leticia nodded. A sudden flush of hectic color spread across her cheeks. “Yes,” she said. And then added, “And I saw the way you followed her with your eyes when she walked away, Jonah. Women know that look too…”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning you were watching the way she walked. Watching her like maybe you were interested.”

My smile got broader. “I am,” I admitted. “That woman interests me very, very much. But perhaps not for the reason you suspect.”

Leticia’s frown became deeper. “What possible other reason could there be, Jonah?”

(Sorry everyone! I can’t think of a good reason!!!! Maybe you can.)

A note from Jason:

I just wasn’t smart enough, or clever enough at the time to work out
who this mystery woman could be. It was the first and only time during the World Tour where I felt I left the reader hanging -  not by design – but by my inability to think fast enough. An hour after writing this scene, I finally worked out who she was.

If you would like to discover who the mystery lady is, keep reading! I had to wait several days before another reader suggested a suitable scene where I was able to backtrack and wrap this scene up by revealing the woman’s identity.

Jason Luke Author Page

March,
28
th
.

Jonah devouring Leticia and telling her how good she tastes.
Jonah's office.

Leticia had her head thrown back, her bottom perched on the edge of the desk, supporting her weight on her elbows. Her skirt was rucked high around her narrow waist and her legs were stretched wide apart. I was kneeling on the floor, with my hands holding the soft creamy flesh of her thighs wide apart. I edged forward and teased the wet lips of her sex with the tip of my tongue.

The taste of Leticia’s arousal spread across my tongue like nectar. “You taste delicious,” I said. My voice was husky with my own desire. “You taste sweet and delicious.” I slid my tongue in a long leisurely swipe along the length of her sex until I felt the hard jutting nub of her clit. I took it between my lips, and gently sucked. Leticia groaned aloud, and then began to pant. She looked down at me and our eyes met. There was a misty glaze of intense desire in her eyes.

Jason Luke Author Page

March,
28
th
.

Caroline goes to Leticia's office and tells her that Jonah is not capable of loving.

Leticia looked up from her computer. There was a strikingly beautiful woman standing in front of her desk. The woman had exquisite, classical features. She was slim, wearing a figure-hugging dress that seemed to mold itself to her contours.

Without an introduction, instinctively, Leticia knew who the woman was.

“Hello,” she said softly. “You’re Caroline, right?”

The woman nodded, and there was a brittle smile on her lips. “And you are Leticia Fall.”

There was an awkward silence – a tension that seemed to hum like electricity in the air. Caroline set her handbag down on Leticia’s desk, and then leaned close so that only Leticia could hear her.

“Stay away from Jonah Noble,” the woman said. “Stay away from him.”

Leticia flinched. There was ice in the woman’s words and the sound of her voice seemed to shake with a suppressed passion that Leticia could not understand. “Are… are you threatening me…?”

“No,” Caroline said, shaking her head, her expression made suddenly sad. “I’m warning you. Don’t make the mistake I made. Don’t love Jonah. He won’t love you back. He can’t… it’s not who he is, and it’s not who he will ever be.”

We Love Kink

March,
28
th
.

Jonah and Leticia under the stairs.

“Why are we here?” Leticia asked, her voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper. “Why are we under the stairs?”

I groped for her, felt her shoulder and like a blind man my hand slid gently to her face until I could feel the outline of her features with my fingers. “Because it’s dark,” I said.

I heard Leticia inhale. “It’s dark everywhere, Jonah. It’s night time.”

My fingers traced their way down the smooth flesh of her throat, and paused when I felt the top button of her blouse. “Yes, but this is pitch dark, Leticia. This is a dark so black that we can’t see each other.”

“So…”

“So it is important with a new lover that you spend time discovering and learning about their bodies. It is important that you be able to arouse and tease your partner with your eyes closed… when you have no sight and only your senses of touch and sound to turn them on.”

“And that’s why we’re here…?”

“Yes,” I said.
My fingers deftly unfastened her top button. “We’re here because I want to learn your body. I want to explore and discover those parts of you that I find most fascinating.”

Leticia gave a short sudden breath. “I thought you were turned on by my mind.”

“I am,” I said softly. “But I can enjoy that with the lights on. This… this is about pleasure after the lights go OUT!”

A note from Jason:

This was a scene suggestion that I saw several times before selecting it. There was nothing especially wrong with the suggestion, it was just that for quite some time I couldn’t think of a good way to use the idea until I wrote this scene.

We Love Kink

March,
28
th
.

Leticia's interview with Jason Luke.

Leticia held out her hand. “Mr. Luke, I’m Leticia.”

The author smiled. “I know who you are… I created you. Please have a seat and tell me what this is all about.”

Leticia dragged a chair across from another table and sat. The restaurant was empty. Waiters and kitchen staff scurried around in the background, clearing way the lunch plates. Leticia sat on the edge of her seat, like a delicate bird about to take flight.

“I wanted to talk to you about Jonah. About his future, and what happens to him in the second book.”

Jason Luke sat back in his chair and his eyes seemed to glaze over. The man ran his fingers through his hair and sighed heavily. “Jonah Noble has been nothing but trouble,” Jason Luke said. “I’m a writer, not some minor celebrity. If it wasn’t for Jonah, I’d be writing quietly in my office without all the pressure and expectation since I published that first book.”

Leticia inclined her head politely. “Yes… but the fact is that you created him. You can’t kill him off. I… and a lot of readers would like to know he is going to live.”

Jason Luke stood abruptly, and his expression turned dark and wintery. “I can’t guarantee that,” the author said. “I like my privacy, and if Jonah has to die to stop a third and a fourth and a sixteenth damned book about Jonah Noble, then that might just have to happen. I agreed to a sequel, nothing more. Either way, this second book will be the last time anyone reads about Jonah.”

The man’s words sounded ominous…

A note from Jason:

Ok… I confess
– Jonah Noble really bugs me. I think by writing these paragraphs I was able to work off some of my frustration with the character and all the chaos he has caused me since ‘Interview with a Master’ was published.

We Love Kink

March,
28
th
.

Jonah pleasures Leticia during a dinner meeting at a restaurant
.

“Take your panties off,” I said to Leticia. “Now.”

She looked at me in sudden alarm. “Here? In the restaurant?”

“Yes. While m
y business associates are at the bar, you are to go to the bathroom and remove your panties.”

Leticia hesitated. My expression turned bleak. “Now.”

She stood uncertainly and pushed her chair away from the table. “But Jonah… you won’t… touch me or anything while the business dinner is on… will you?”

I shook my head. “No, I will not,” I said. I saw a glimmer of relief spread across her face. “You will touch yourself, Leticia. Every time I say the word ‘welcome’, you will slide your hand down beneath the hem of your skirt, and tease your pussy with your fingers. Every time,” I warned her.

Moments later Leticia returned to the table. She smiled across at the two Texan executives who were sipping at drinks. I stood until Leticia was seated and drew my chair close to the table and raised my glass.

“Welcome gentlemen,” I said through a broad smile as I saw the blood drain from Leticia’s face. “I want to welcome you both, and in welcoming you, I want to welcome any suggestions you might have. Welcome Hotel chains want to welcome everyone to their facilities…”

Leticia went pale, and then fainted.

A note from Jason:

This scene made me laugh. I don’t remember my mood at the time I wrote this scene – I can only believe that it was one of those mornings where my twisted sense of humor had risen to the surface. This was one of my favorite scenes of the tour.