Passion After Dark (2 page)

"Well at least someone
is getting something I suppose." I said to myself. As for me, my vagina was like the last unchartered territory. Hell, it was probably like a desert, all dried up from no man being near it in more time than I cared to remember or maybe it was starting to look like a scene from the Indiana Jones series, cobwebs so thick it would take a hatchet just about to get past them. Seriously, the way I was going, I'd need to buy myself a man. The sad reality was my only sex life was the one I wrote for the characters in my books or getting off occasionally with the assistance of my battery operated boyfriend who didn’t give a damn if I’d brushed my teeth or showered and it never needed feeding or its ego stroked.

Shaking my head to clear it of the pointless nonsense going through it right now, I pulled out a pair of panties from my drawer and a lacy bra, my
one indulgence, nice underwear. After all, my Mother used to always say, to have on clean, nice underwear in case you ever get hit by a bus, so I did. Still, it hadn't happened yet, no bus, no man either to appreciate what I had on under my clothes and armed with my pretty lingerie, I went to have a shower.

*********

Once I emerged from my shower, wet hair wrapped in a towel and dressed only in my lacy bra and panties, I went to my walk in robe and pulled a baby blue sundress off its hanger and slipped it on. It was one of my favourites, heart shaped neck line, sleeveless, fitted to my waist and flaring out to the skirt which fell to mid thigh. I stepped into a pair of matching blue flats and then dried my hair off as well as I could, before tackling the fun job of trying to brush all the tangles out of it.

Cassie kept telling me my hair style was out of date and that I should get some modern cut, get rid of the length as it was a nightmare to maintain, but I loved my long hair which fell down my back in a riot of curls to where the cu
rve of my buttocks began. Ok, it was a battle looking after it, but I’d been growing it out for years and there was no way in hell I was cutting it off, despite all the work to wash and brush it.

I applied some light make up, just enough to cover the dark
circles under my eyes from little sleep and grabbed my cream handbag, checked my purse was inside and I was ready to go and do some shopping so I could eat something that wasn’t looking like a science experiment, growing in my fridge.

I locked up the hou
se and climbed into my red BMW, my only real indulgence since the success of my books, loving the new car smell, the plush leather interior and more gadgets than the cockpit of a jumbo jet. Ok, maybe not that many gadgets, but certainly a massive step up from my old hatchback I’d had prior to the BMW.

I drove the short distance to the shopping centre and once I
’d parked, I armed myself with a trolley and reluctantly began stocking up on food to fill the fridge and pantry. I wandered up and down aisles shopping with all the enthusiasm of someone about to face the firing squad. I hated shopping, I guess that’s why the house was so bare and I was Old Mother Hubbard. Cassie bought her own food, but she was always on some strange diet or eating nothing but fruit, or nothing but certain vegetables or something so it was just easier for us to buy our own food.

Once the trolley was almost at the point of overflowing, I struggled with it towards the check out, slowing down briefly when I passed the magazine section w
here there were also a selection of books available. My books were on the shelves and a couple of ladies were reading the backs of them, giggling to one another. I slowed down as I passed them shamelessly eavesdropping and heard one lady ask the other if they were any good. Unable to help myself, I leaned over the ladies’ shoulders. “Hey, those books are really good.” I said. “I’ve read them and I highly recommend them.”

The ladies turned to me. “
Really?” One asked. “So you’ve read them?” She waved Kiss Me Quick in my face.

“
Yes I have.” I told her. “You really should read them.” And with that, I smiled and continued wrestling with my trolley to the row of checkouts.

While I waited in line, fighting boredom and fatigue as there
’s nothing quite like standing in a line up in a supermarket waiting to get served to make a person suddenly aware of how little sleep they’ve had, I spotted the two ladies walk past with my books in their trolleys. “Well that was an easy sale.” I mumbled to myself.

Finally I got th
rough the checkout and staggered out to my car, loaded up the boot and headed for home. Once I got back I started dragging plastic bags of groceries out of the boot, dumping them all in the kitchen where Beau and Salem started sniffing through them, probably checking to see if there was anything for them amongst them all.

I spent the next half hour unpacking everything with the eyes of Beau and Salem watching my every move.
I’d just finished and put out some ham on a plate for Salem and tossed Beau a bone when my mobile phone rang. When I glanced down and saw my editor’s name on the screen, I groaned. “Damn, not now.” I moaned, picking it up and reluctantly answering it.

“
Frank, how are you?” I greeted him and moved the phone away from my ear a little as his loud booming voice threatened to deafen me.

“
It’s not a question of how am I my dear, it’s a question of how are you, how’s that book coming along?” He asked.

“
Well….. to be honest, it’s not Frank, I’m feeling a little foggy in the brain.” I confessed.

“
Well, clear that fog woman, I need you to hurry up and finish the book, we need it on the shelves before people forget who you are, before they forget about Abby and Ryan’s story. You need to keep your readers horny Allegra.” He continued yelling down the phone in his typical excitable tone.

I switched my phone to speaker and put it down carefully on the kitchen bench since Frank always seemed to know when I
’d put him on speaker and braced myself for the lecture. Frank only called my Allegra when I was in the shit, so I poured myself a glass of water and sat down on a bar stool at the breakfast bar and waited for the tirade to begin.

I listened to him rant and rave at me for a good five minutes or so, impressed at how that man could talk without ever s
eeming to draw breath. When he finally stopped, I told him I’d get back to writing as quickly as possible and once I had the next two chapters written I’d personally drop into his offices and let him read over them. With him temporarily appeased I hung up and breathed a sigh of relief.

My stomach gave a loud protest in the quiet house and I suddenly remembered I hadn
’t eaten. Well I had tried, but it’s hard to eat when there’s no food in the house or what there was had become something that was no longer edible. At least this time when I stuck my head in the fridge, things were looking much more promising.

I pulled out what I needed to make myself a couple of sandwiches and I
’d just sat down to eat them when Cassie came racing into the kitchen, dropping her handbag on the bench and flopping down at the table that sat at one end of the large kitchen.

“
Thank god it’s Friday.” She said, kicking off her high heeled shoes and wiggling her toes. “Damned feet are killing me.” She moaned. I looked down at the ridiculously impractical shoes lying on the floor.

“
Well if you’re going to walk around in shoes that high, don’t complain when your feet start protesting and what are you doing home at this time?” I asked her glancing at the clock. She was home a good two hours earlier than she’d normally be.

Cassie shook her head, tossing her riotous blonde curls around. Her hair was short, just touching her shoulders, but naturally curly. The style suited the shape of her face, the curls framing her cheeks and long enough o
n top that a few wavy lengths hung into her eyes. She tossed her head, throwing the curls off her face so her brilliant blue eyes could be seen properly. I couldn’t help but envy her for having eyes like that, so blue they sucked you in looking into them and they certainly sucked the men in too. Cassie never had any shortage of men chasing after her.

“
You know me Allie, I’m such a short ass I need my heels and I got everything done ahead of schedule so my boss gave me an early mark.” She grinned at me.

“
Well, you are that I guess, a short ass.” I laughed. She was too, only 5 foot 2 and as thin as a reed. I always joked that one decent gust of wind and she’d blow right over.

“
I’m going out to the club tonight, come with me.” Cassie said.

I groaned, not ag
ain. “Oh Cass, I have to get some more of my book written, Frank’s on my case and he’ll rope me to my laptop if I don’t have a couple more chapters for him soon.” I said smiling to myself as I got distracted with the scary image of my editor tying me up like a scene from a BDSM club. Now the whole being tied up thing wasn’t scary, that was kind of hot but with Frank? Hell no, that’s where the nightmare began. I loved Frank, well sometimes I hated him, but he was like a father to me so Frank and BDSM was a thought that could potentially scar me for life.

“
Oh pfft to Frank, you told me you’re suffering from writer’s block, just one night, come on, Frank doesn’t need to know…….please?” She held her hands up in front of her like she was praying.

I sighed.
“Well….” I started to say but Cassie squealed, leaping up to throw her arms around me and hug me with a surprisingly firm grip for someone of such a petite build.

“
Thank you, thank you, you won’t regret it.” She gushed in my ear.

“
Hang on Cass, I didn’t say I’d go, I really should write.” I started protesting, but Cassie wouldn’t listen, she started chattering away excitedly about what she was going to wear and I gave up and tuned her out while I ate my sandwiches.

“
Do you want something to eat?” I asked her. “I went shopping today.”

Cassie raised her eyes to the ceiling
and clasped her hands together. “Praise be.” She joked. “I was wondering when you would, I thought you were going to have to start on Salem or Beau’s food, the way you were going. Does that mean the scary looking things growing in the fridge are gone?”

“
They weren’t scary Cass, I was conducting a scientific experiment.” I told her.

“
Sure you were Allie, what were you hoping to achieve? See how much bacteria you can grow on food and how quickly you can give someone a fatal case of food poisoning?” She smirked.

I gave her a withering l
ook. “Yeah, something like that. So, do you want to eat or not?” I asked her again, but Cassie shook her head.

“
Nah, I went to an early dinner with a couple of the ladies from work, just a pub dinner at that one near the office, but not bad and it should have put enough heavy food in my stomach to soak up the alcohol for later.” She grinned.

I finished eating my sandwiches and rinsed off my few dishes, loading t
hem into the dishwasher. Cassie watched me and then hit me with the question I just knew was coming. “So what are you going to wear tonight?”

I groaned to myself. Cassie never app
roved of the clothes I wore out they weren’t ‘sexy’ enough in her opinion.

“
Oh I don’t know, probably just jeans and a top or…..” I started saying before Cassie interrupted and vehemently spat out.

“
Oh no you’re not. You’re going to dress sexy, look like a woman and show of that killer body of yours.”

“
Cassie.” I began wearily. “I’m not wearing some miniscule skirt or something that is so short if I bend over, everyone is going to know what I had for breakfast.” I looked at her, waiting to be shot down in flames at the mere suggestion that I wasn’t interested in dressing like I was a ‘pay by the hour’ gal.

“
Don’t be ridiculous.” Cassie scoffed. “And besides, what does that silly saying mean anyway?” She asked. “How can anyone possibly see what you’ve had for breakfast when you bend over?” Cassie continued and I couldn’t help but smile. When Cassie got wound up and passionate about something, she was like a runaway train. Nothing you can do to stop it.

Finally I sighed.
“Ok, you win, I’ll come out with you tonight and let you dress me, but don’t you dare turn me into some street corner hooker.” I warned her. Cassie just gave a whoop in response and I couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. I had to give Cassie ten out of ten for trying. She was prepared to go to any lengths to try and secure me a man. Hell, I’d love a man but no man wanted to love me and any boyfriends in the past never worked out as I was too much of a head in the clouds kind of girl which was probably a fairly common condition amongst authors, given we made our living from make believe situations.

“
You won’t regret it Allie I promise.” Cassie danced around and I watched her performance with a mix of amusement and sheer terror because I knew what she was like. If she didn’t try and dress me in clothes that looked like half the fabric was missing I was going to eat my hat. If I had a figure like hers then maybe I wouldn’t mind, but I was what some might call the more full figured kind of gal. Generous boobs an abundance of curves whether I wanted them or not. Some called it the hour glass figure but mine was more the hourglass on steroids.