to have felt a few more of those
tantalizing swats.
The sound of a dune buggy coming up the
beach drew her attention and she smiled when Kira pulled up. “You’re out
early,” Brooke greeted her as Kira and Ralph hopped out and joined her on the
deck. “Hey, boy.” Brooke laughed when the Irish Water Spaniel butted her hand
for attention, which she gave him by rubbing behind his ears. Not one to sit
still long, the large, curly coated dog bounded toward the water as if the
allure of the rolling waves was too much to resist.
“I had to get away from Gabe. He really
hates rewrites you know.” Kira flopped down in the deck chair next to Brooke,
flipping her long black braid behind her.
“Most authors do, but they pay us for our
advice and because we know what readers want, so he’ll have to deal with it.”
“Yeah, well I told him we weren’t having
sex again until his attitude changed.” Kira rolled her grey eyes, adding,
“You’d think I’d know by now not to taunt that man.”
“Come on, give. What did he do?” Knowing
Gabe, she was sure he retaliated sexually.
“Let’s just say I’m having trouble sitting
down today,” Kira replied ruefully, the smile stretching her lips and the blush
on her face more revealing than her words.
“So Alec isn’t the only one with a
penchant for spanking?” As soon as the words left her mouth, Brooke realized
what they revealed and for the first time in years, felt herself blush.
Kira laughed out loud at her
embarrassment, which didn’t help. “Relax. Trust me, before meeting Gabe, I
would never have imagined getting turned on by getting spanked.” Grimacing as
she shifted in her seat, she muttered, “Then again, it’s not always so
pleasantly arousing.”
Brooke grinned, teasing her, “Come on, be
honest, your threat didn’t mean squat.”
“True, but he didn’t know that, and he was
being a grouch. But, the good news is I’m supposed to tell you to, and I quote,
‘check your God damn email and let him know if your highness now approves’.”
“What a baby. I already saw the email and
have started reading the revision. You can tell him, that so far, it looks
really good. I should be done in a few days.” The book read much better without
all the gory details of abuse the main character suffered as a prisoner of war,
and she knew his readers would be happy with this toned down version.
“Good.” Rising, Kira called to Ralph
before skipping down the steps. “Why don’t you come to dinner later this week?
Maybe by then Gabe will be back to being nice to everyone.”
“Let me know when and give me directions.”
“Alec can bring you. See you later.”
It was doubtful Alec wanted any more to do
with her, she thought as she rose and reluctantly went inside to do some work.
That thought bothered her more than it should, and not just because of her
failure in the bedroom. Over the past year she had found herself thinking of
him way too often, and not only when she was recalling their explosive night of
sex. She would be dining out at her favorite Chinese restaurant and out of the
blue wonder if he liked Chinese food or taking her morning or evening jog in
the park and wonder what he enjoyed doing for exercise. A tall man with dark
hair or his hair pulled back would remind her of him. Men sporting an earring
would remind her of him. Hearing a deep laugh or recalling those awesome
orgasms would make her think of him until she had agreed to accompany Richard
to that club out of desperation to forget the man she couldn’t seem to get out
of her mind. Before that night, her sexual exploits had been no more
adventurous than hitting the sack every few months with an attractive guy or
former fling and had been enough to keep her appeased. Alec had shown her just
how much better sex could be and Richard had shown her
Anieshea; Q.B. Wells Dansby