Ecstasy (14 page)

“Oh good. I’ve been dying to meet your family.”

Inwardly she cursed herself for saying the wrong thing. “Actually,” she said, “it’s a private matter. I promise to tell you everything once things are ironed out, but for now, the lawyers have insisted we keep it within the family.”

Charlie kissed the top of her head. “Sounds serious. Are you sure you don’t want me to come along for moral support?”

“Definitely not!” she exclaimed. Realizing she had been far more fervent with her protests than was necessary, she stroked her hands through the golden hair that dusted his muscular chest. Trying to keep her tone light she said, “Hey, you’ll finally get a day without me. I’ll bet you’ve been dying to hang out with the guys to drink beer and eat pizza and watch sports, huh?”

Charlie chuckled. “Honestly? No. I haven’t been the least bit interested in hanging out with the guys.”

“Really?” she asked in an uncertain voice.

“Are you kidding?” he replied. “Only a madman would choose beer and pizza over you.”

She tilted her head up and kissed him softly on the lips. “I love you, Charlie Gibson.”

* * *

Charlie had planned on asking Candace to the Erotic Writing Contest ceremony, but he kept forgetting. By the time he learned she already had unbreakable plans, he figured there was no point in mentioning it at all.

Backstage, in his dressing room, Charlie clipped on his bowtie and evened up the sleeves of his tux jacket. Looking at himself in the mirror he saw a man in love looking back at him. His eyes were clear and bright, a smile was permanently plastered on his face.

He was planning on asking her to marry him. In fact, he had dropped by Tiffany’s that very afternoon. He couldn’t wait to slip the solitaire on her finger, knowing she’d be in his bed, in his heart, for all eternity.

Steve Holt stuck his head in the door. “Hey Charlie, I thought you might want to check out the winning manuscript before you present the award to the winner.” Steve put the thick bundle of pages on the table nearest the door. “It’s pretty fuckin’ hot. I can’t wait to get a look at the woman who wrote it when she walks up on stage tonight.”

Charlie cocked his head to the side. “You don’t recognize the writer’s name?”

“I think it’s a pseudonym. Nobody would name their daughter Candy Lane.”

Candy?
Charlie felt a squeezing sensation in his chest, but brushed his sense of foreboding aside. Of course Candace hadn’t turned herself into Candy Lane.

Then again, he had never asked her if she wrote under a pseudonym.

She would have told him if she entered this contest, he knew she would have. They told each other everything—all of their dreams, fears, hopes.

He shook his head to clear the insanity from it and picked up the manuscript. “Thanks Steve. I’ll take a quick look at it. See you out there.”

“I’ll save you some champagne,” Steve said and then loped off down the hall.

Charlie shut the door behind Steve, sat down on the leather sofa in the small dressing room and read, “
Jolene was a good girl...”

* * *

Candace walked into the beautifully decorated ballroom of the Fairmont in Union Square and slid her hands over her red silk dress, smoothing out invisible wrinkles. She was incredibly nervous about accepting the award for her story,
Hell’s Angel
. Yet again, she wished she had told Charlie about it, so he could lend her the moral support she so desperately needed.

A stunning blond greeted her at the doorway. “And you are?”

“Candace Whitman,” Candace replied with a smile.

“Ooo, how exciting!” the woman exclaimed as she spontaneously gave Candace a hug. “Charlie Gibson was your mentor this year, wasn’t he?”

Candace nodded. “That’s right.”

The woman leaned in closer and said, “Jessie was spitting nails for weeks after losing out on the chance to work with him. I hear you nabbed him the minute he walked into the conference hall.”

Grinning, Candace said, “Pretty much,” liking the woman immensely and feeling a great deal more at ease.

“I’m Sherryl Ann,” the woman said with a shake of her perfect blond ringlets. “Charlie was my mentor last year and I learned so much from him. I’ll bet you did too.”

The smile froze on Candace’s face. “You worked with Charlie last year?” she asked, striving for an even tone.

Sherryl Ann winked. “He’s quite a hunk, isn’t he?”

Candace felt all of the color rush out of her face just as a loud buzzing started in her ears. “He is,” she said quickly. “Could you point me to the ladies room?”

“Sure thing, honey. It’s just down the hall to the left. You don’t look so good all of a sudden,” the woman added, clearly concerned.

“Probably just something I ate,” Candace lied before spinning around and practically running down the hall.

“I can’t believe I’m such an idiot,” she whispered. “Of course I wasn’t the only female apprentice he’s ever had.” She sniffled and rolled some toilet paper into her fist, dashing it angrily at her face.

Painful memories crashed down around her. Walking in on her first boyfriend while he screwed the head cheerleader. Bravely letting her next boyfriend have sex with her, only to have him tell her she was a cold fish. Swallowing her pride as she found signs of her latest boyfriend’s affair, and realizing it was with the woman she thought was her best friend.

And now Charlie. He had probably slept with every woman in the room on a “mentor/apprentice” basis.

She heaved in a shaky breath. “I’ll show him,” she declared. “I’m going to accept this award, shove it in his face, and move on with my life. Without him.”

She unlatched the bathroom door and made her way to the mirror. Quickly fixing her makeup, she strode into the banquet hall and tried to ignore the voice in her heart that said she could never live without Charlie by her side.

* * *

The words played in endless repeat in Charlie’s head and swam before his eyes.

“He hooked his fingers into the edges of her cotton panties and slowly slid them off her.”

“Suddenly the buzzing started up again between her thighs, but this time, she knew that somehow, some way, Zane was manning the controls to her vagina.”

“’You’re not wearing panties,’ he said. ’I was wondering when you’d notice.’”

“I want you to soap me up.”

Charlie ran his hands through his hair and dropped the manuscript back onto the table.

He had read the words, but he still couldn’t believe it.

Candace had detailed their lessons act by act, scene by scene, in her book
Hell’s Angel
. He couldn’t deny that it was powerful writing, and yet the hole in his heart was so deep he could hardly feel anything at all.

“Damn it!” he exclaimed as he punched his hand into the wall. Some of the plaster crumbled beneath his fist just as the event organizer knocked once.

“What?” Charlie said in a gruff tone.

“We’re ready for you,” said the voice from the hall.

“I’ll be right out.”

He had thought he was special to Candace, but now he wondered if he was just a fool for believing that she truly loved him. For all he knew, she was going to take her new knowledge and find another “mentor”, one who knew more than he did, who could give her things he couldn’t.

Charlie took a deep breath and tried to compose himself. And then he stepped out of his dressing room, wondering what the hell he was going to say to her when they finally came face to face on stage.

* * *

The MC said, “Thank you for coming to the 15
th
Annual Erotic Writer’s Contest awards ceremony! We had some incredible entries this year, but for the first time in the history of this contest, our judges voted unanimously for the winner. Here to present the $10,000 check to our winner is none other than best-selling author, Charlie Gibson.”

Sitting out in the audience, Candace was hardly aware of the raucous hoots and hollers from the crowd. Charlie was the surprise celebrity guest?

She looked around for the nearest escape, but knew that she couldn’t take the coward’s way out. Not this time. Even if she ran tonight, he’d find out that Candy Lane was her pseudonym, that
Hell’s Angel
had been inspired by their astonishing lovemaking.

It was finally time to face her fate.

Charlie took the stage and she could see him scanning the crowd, looking for her. His eyes locked with hers and she forced herself not to look away. She didn’t know what she expected to see in his eyes—pain, hatred maybe—but not the awful blankness that radiated down to her in the audience.

Her stomach heaved, but she swallowed the bile back into her throat and clasped her hands tightly in her lap, her spine as straight as rebar.

“Writing is a funny thing,” he began, as he looked out over the large, well-dressed crowd with a small smile. “We think that we can separate ourselves from the stories we weave, but no matter how much we lie to ourselves, there is always a piece of us in there. Some where, some way, we can never disguise what’s in our heart.”

“An hour ago Steve Holt handed me a copy of the winning manuscript. Truth is, folks, I couldn’t put it down. It was compelling. It was sensual. And most of all, it was honest.”

A tear slipped down Candace’s cheek. “Stop, Charlie. Please, stop.”

“It is with distinct pleasure that I award this year’s Erotic Writer’s award to Candace Whitman, for her erotic novel,
Hell’s Angel
, writing as Candy Lane.”

The applause was deafening as Candace unsteadily rose to her feet. Strangers reached out to shake her hand in congratulations. She smiled and murmured thanks, but she was held prisoner by the intensity of Charlie’s gaze.

I love you and I’m sorry,
her heart cried out to him, but by the look in his eyes, she knew he was lost to her.

Wiping away the tear that had rolled down her cheek, she carefully climbed the small flight of stairs up to the podium where Charlie was standing.

“I’m sorry,” she mouthed to him, but he ignored her, his face devoid of all emotion.

Putting the check into her trembling hands, without touching her, he stepped back into the shadows. Fearing her knees were going to buckle beneath her, Candace clutched at the podium and held on for dear life.

Looking out at the rapt crowd who was waiting for her acceptance speech, she swallowed nervously.

“Hi,” she said softly into the microphone, surprised by the volume of her voice through the speakers.

“I, uh, want to thank the judges for...” She cut herself off, shaking her head, her face crumpling. “The truth is, I can’t accept this award. I’m sorry,” she cried as a sob escaped her.

She ran off of the stage and down through the tables and chairs in the banquet room. She continued to run through the lobby and out into the cool evening air, not stopping to breathe until she tripped in her high heels and landed hard against a street lamp.

Clutching the street lamp, she gasped for air, hating herself more and more with every passing second.

She felt a warm hand on the small of her back through her thin silk dress.

“It’s a wonderful book, Candy,” Charlie said as he gently rubbed her back.

She shook her head so hard, her gold clip fell out of her hair and clattered to the sidewalk. “No. It’s not. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” She sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

“Sweetheart,” he said, his voice tender, “I love you.”

She finally turned around to face him, anger mixing with her sorrow. “Is that what you told Sherryl Ann last year?”

“What does Sherryl Ann have to do with this?”

Candace crossed her cold hands across her chest and held onto her shoulders, rocking slightly back and forth as if to comfort herself.

“What kind of
lessons
did you set up for her? Were they hotter than ours?”

“God no! I edited a couple of her manuscripts and then passed her off to my agent.”

Candace knew the look of shock and disbelief on Charlie’s face was pure and she felt like an even bigger fool than before.

“I understand if you never want to see me again, Charlie,” she said, staring at the dirty sidewalk between them.

He slipped one of his fingers underneath her chin and forced her to look him in the eye.

“Candy, I won’t lie to you. This hurts like hell. I thought you knew you could tell me anything. Anything at all.”

“I do,” she protested, but he quieted her by pressing his thumb over her lips.

“The truth is I’ll love you until the day I die, no matter what. So if you think I’m going to let the content of one of your future best-selling novels get in the way of our future, you’re very much mistaken. It’s gonna take a whole lot more than a few hot love scenes to change the way I feel about you, sweetheart.”

New tears had formed in Candace’s eyes, but this time they were tears of joy. She launched herself onto him, wrapping her long legs around his waist and kissed him with all of the love in her heart.

“Oh baby,” she said when they stopped devouring each other’s lips for a moment, “I love you so much.”

Charlie just smiled and held her closer to him, heedless of the stares from the strangers as they walked by.

“Thank god,” he murmured as he bent his head and captured Candace’s lips in a kiss that went straight to her soul.

“Now, let’s get home so that I can punish you for your very bad behavior.”

* * *

And so it was that Charlie finally got to enact the scene he had been choreographing in his imagination since the day he first lay Candace naked upon the bed in his guest bedroom and tasted her sweet pussy.

Charlie sat down on the edge of their bed, still wearing his tuxedo. “Come here,” he said.

Candace couldn’t hold back the smile on her lips as she walked towards him.

“What could you possibly be smiling about,” he said, trying and failing to hold back his own grin, “when you are about to get spanked until your ass is pink and stinging?”