STORY EXCERPT

“She tightened her legs wrapped around his waist and took his lips in a fiery kiss. He filled her to her limit, and then pushed a little more. She couldn’t catch her breath. Her heart raced. She thought she’d die if he moved again—and then he did.

“That was the moment of truth. He was here. He was hers. And she’d never let him go again.”

The silence in the room deafened him for a moment, and then applause banished the quiet. Shaun Travers leaned against the back wall of the bookstore meeting room and watched the woman he employed to "be" him smile at the standing ovation and bask in the glow of another successful romance novel by Randi Long.

“That could be you up there,” his agent muttered to him. “Should be you.”

“I don’t need the publicity or want it, Mike. As soon as I open that can of worms, my life is no longer mine.” And it needs to be mine.

“You make it sound like you’d be a movie star. No one pays attention to authors.”

The stand-in held up her hands to quiet the crowd who had come to hear a reading of Shaun’s latest novel as Randi Long “Are there any questions?” she asked the standing-room-only crowd.

“Besides, she enjoys this too much to take it away from her,” Shaun responded in a low voice. “She told me once that people stop her on the street and ask for her autograph. They recognize her from the back of the book photos, so don’t tell me no one cares about authors.”

“For one percent of your royalties, she probably wears a sign on her back that says, ‘Romance author. Ask me about my latest book.’“

“When is your next book coming out?” asked a woman in the front of the room.

His alter ego looked surreptitiously to the back of the room, to him. Shaun shrugged. “I don’t know exactly,” she said. “I need a rest from writing every now and then.” She winked at the woman. “All that romance research takes time, you know.”

“I hope you’ll think of me and all the rest of us who live through your books, and don’t make it too long.”

“You”—“Randi” held out her hands—“all of you are my muses and my inspiration.”

“That might have been a bit too much,” Shaun said under his breath. He pushed away from the wall. “I’m outta here.” He started for the door that led into the bookstore where almost every woman in the room would buy a copy of his book to be signed by “him.” His agent hurried behind him.

“Shaun, where will you be? I have a lead on a movie deal for Snow on the Desert. If they buy it, there’s a possibility they’ll buy the whole series. I have to be able to reach you.”

Shaun walked past two women. One said, “Randi Long is in there. Buy a book and we’ll get her to sign it.”

“Randi Long? Oh my God, I love her work. I heard once that she was a man.”

“No way,” the first woman said. “No man understands women well enough to write romance that good.”

If it was his picture on the backs of his books, he would miss the anonymity he enjoyed. He wouldn’t be able to walk through bookshops, or stroll the farmers’ market in the small Virginia town where he lived. Or buy a yacht, without all kinds of publicity. People would follow him around, watch him, and paw through his trash like groupies. That wouldn’t do.

“I’m going to drive to Seattle the long, slow way,” Shaun told Mike. “It should take a week or more. That’s as long as you have to get hold of me. After that, I’ll be on the high seas.”

He stopped at a table and picked up a new book by Neville Jones, one of his favorite writers. He didn’t like most paranormal werewolf stories because they were so laughably wrong. But Jones’s tales were close enough to reality that he could be a wolf himself. Shaun would love to meet the man and compare lifestyles. But Jones was even worse than Randi Long. No one seemed to know who the writer was. His books took place out west, in states like Montana and Wyoming, but Jones could live anywhere, be anyone.

“How will I reach you then?” Mike persisted in asking.

“I’ll phone you from every port of call. Should be a couple times a month.” Taking cash from his pocket, he took the book to the checkout line.

“I can’t wait like that. I have to strike while the iron’s hot.” Mike followed him to the front of the store. “Besides, it’s not safe for you to be on the high seas all alone.”

“I like being alone.” Between deadlines on the book he’d just turned in, the clamor of his publisher for the next book, and now this movie deal, he was going crazy. He wished more than anything for a few weeks far away from anyone.

“I hope to hell you know what you’re doing,” Mike groused. "Despite what you always say, it's not always all about you.

Shaun laughed. “Look at it this way,” he said as they left the store. “With all that time on my hands, I’ll get one or two books written. Meanwhile, you have Ms. Stand-in to make publicity rounds.”

Mike sighed. “At least paying her a percent means that she works hard to sell your books.”

He slapped Mike on the shoulder. “See? We all win.”

“When do you leave?”

They stopped at Shaun’s late model silver Hummer. He shrugged off his sports jacket and tossed it in the backseat. “I’m heading out now.”

“Back to Virginia?” Only a hint of panic came through in Mike’s voice. Being his best-selling client had its advantages and its disadvantages.

“The Virginia house is all secure. I’m heading west.” He had put his fifty-five acre estate in the hands of his farm foreman and his wife the previous week. They ran things, anyway. He just lived there.

He climbed behind the wheel, started the engine, and rolled down the window.

Mike leaned in. “Stay in touch. Be careful, for God’s sake. I still have a mortgage on my house.”

Shaun smiled. “Trust me, Mike. I promise. I won’t get lost.”

ADULT EXCERPT

Yes. She shut her eyes. Then his hand came down with a whop, and her eyes snapped open. Whop! Another strike on her butt surprised her though she felt no pain. Then he slid his hand between her legs and under her skirt. Stroking her pussy through her panties brought forth wafts of fragrance that clearly spelled her desire.

“You want to undress for us?” Shaun asked.

“No.” What she wanted was to see where this went.

Joe tugged her skirt up to her hips and struck her butt again. Once, twice, three times his hand came down, each beat a little harder than before. But then, holy God, he ran his fingers under the elastic of her panties and caressed her pussy, dipping his fingers inside the passage and spreading her moisture along her pussy lips. No sting from the spanking felt as bad as his caress felt good. She flexed her hips up to encourage him.

“We want to see you naked, except for those earrings,” Joe said. His voice was deep and harsh with the effort of sounding in control. His fingers rubbed her inner lining and then stretched for her clit.

“Rip off her panties, Joe,” Shaun said. At least let’s see her ass as she accepts her punishment for not obeying.”

In less than a blink, Joe pulled her panties down to her knees. Shaun rose from where he’d been watching and stood beside her. He bent and ran one of his hands over her hot ass.

“Nicely pink,” he said.

“She’s being stubborn,” Joe said. “I think we need to tie her and do the job ourselves.”

“Spank me some more,” she said, trying hard not to pant.

Joe laughed. “You’re enjoying this way too much.”

“You’re right,” she said, seeking a different tack. “Fuck me hard. That’ll teach me a lesson.”

“Oh, honey,” Shaun said in a low voice, “don’t worry. You’re going to get fucked.” He walked away. “A couple more times should do it, Joe.”

Do it? What the hell did he mean by that? Joe struck her butt again and again, each time tempering the sting with the pleasure of stroking her pussy. Shaun returned. Joe stopped spanking and went back to teasing her clit. Shaun spread her butt cheeks and slid something well-lubed into her ass. Instinctively, she tightened her butthole, holding whatever it was.

“See if it works,” Joe said.

“Oh!” A low hum accompanied a vibration in her ass. She moved on Joe’s lap, trying to expel it, trying to draw it in farther. The vibration in her ass was totally foreign. She loved it.

“Do you want something?” Joe asked.

“A cock,” she ground out.

Shaun chuckled. “All in good time.” He took her arms and helped her up. The butt plug required more effort to hold inside once she was vertical, but she handled it well.

Shaun grasped the front of her blouse and tore it into two pieces which he pulled off her arms. From behind, Joe unzipped her skirt and pushed it to the floor. She stood before them now with nothing on but her bra and thigh highs. And those damn, beautiful earrings.

“Gorgeous,” Shaun said. “But you’re still wearing too much.” Joe unhooked her bra and Shaun pulled it down and dropped it to the floor.

“I think we should leave the thigh highs. They’re sexy as hell,” Joe said.

“I agree,” Shaun said. “How about her heels?”

“Yes.” He brought the shoes to her and she stepped into them.

“Happy now?”

“Not by a long shot,” Shaun said. “Not until I’m deep inside that gorgeous body of yours.”

She held out her arms. “What’s stopping you?”

Joe squeezed her butt. “We want to play.”

“We want you to submit.” Shaun removed his tie and fit it over her eyes. At the same time, Joe pulled her hands behind her back. Softness touched her skin but the slight sound of metal on metal told her he’d secured them with handcuffs. She tugged at their restriction and found them to be not too tight.

“What do you want me to do?”

“What do you want to do?” That was Joe, whispering in her ear.

“Blow you.” The vibration from her ass spun through her. Her pussy leaked her fragrant arousal and she had a terrible need for a man to be inside her in some shape or form.

“I’ll watch,” Shaun said.

Candi dropped to her knees. Sensing one man moving off and another moving in front of her, she opened her mouth. Joe grasped the back of her head and guided her to his cock. It was thick and long and hard as steel, and she greedily sucked him in. He pushed hard, invading her mouth and touching her throat. She ran her tongue along his length, tasting him. He was tangy and hot. The spiciness of the drop of cum that leaked into her mouth spurred her body to one of those rolling waves of heat. His intensity had lessened from when they first approached her, but her hunger for them hadn’t.

She pushed forward and pulled back. Inhaling, she filled her nostrils with his scent. She leaned forward, scraping her nipples on his thighs, swirling her tongue over the rough skin of his cock. Her breath caught. She wanted him to come. She wanted to swallow his essence, to feel him lose control while deep in her mouth.

Suddenly he did, pulsing hard and shooting his cum down her throat. She took all of him, swallowing involuntarily but wanting even more. Her wolf howled.