The Virgin Sex Queen Read online

  “And Heavy Handed.” Elsie fanned her face. “Oh my goodness. My husband got his hands on it, then on me. Thank you, Sophie!”

  Game face firmly in place. Sophie smiled. “No problems.”

  Placing the book down, Elsie pulled out some more books. “Winters Night. I don’t think so. Boy, you know how to burn up a winter’s night all right, if you know what I mean.”

  “I do.” Sophie leaned against the counter, watching the delight cross Elsie’s face as she unearthed the books and read the titles with delight.

  “Hot in the Kitchen.” Elsie laughed. “Hilda said she could never look at her kitchen table the same way after she suggested trying out one of those scenes with her boyfriend.”

  “Have to spread the love.” Sophie smiled widely. “Like honey on bread.”

  “Taming Mandy, Hot Sin, Tempting Rory, Playroom, Soldier’s Command, Fire.” Elsie trailed her fingers over the covers of the books she’d laid out on the counter. “I’ve read them all. So many of my friends have read them.”

  That truly gave Sophie a warm feeling. To know others enjoyed what she wrote, that they gained the same pleasure that she did…or mostly. They at least seemed to get the physical pleasure.

  Elsie’s gaze turned to Sophie. “I have more copies for the book signing tomorrow. There are so many people coming to it.”

  “Wonderful.” Sophie’s smile was poised, cool, but inside she was jittery. What if no one turned up? What if only one or two? What if they caught sight of her and laughed? Or were disappointed?

  No, Soph, don’t think like that. You promised yourself. “I’m looking forward to meeting them.”

  “I know some of them have questions.”

  Oh great. “I’m happy to answer what I can.”

  Elsie blushed a little, even as she giggled. “I’m sure you can answer a lot.”

  Sophie smiled slowly, suggestively. “I’m sure I can.”

  Piling the books into neat piles, Elsie said, “I thought you were bringing seven of each?”

  “I did.”

  Elsie did a quick recount then shook her head. “No, there’s only six of each.”

  “Really?” Sophie frowned. “I could have sworn there were seven. I counted them as I packed them.”

  “Oh, it doesn’t matter. You’re so busy, so much on your mind. I have a heap of the books for people to buy and have you sign tomorrow, and some of the girls are bringing their personal copies for you to sign as well. I told them they could bring one copy, the rest they need to buy. Business, you know.”

  “Of course. And I do apologise.” Where the hell had one of each title gone? Sophie was sure she’d packed them, was a hundred percent certain of it, in fact. Maybe she needed this holiday more than she’d thought.

  Smiling, Elsie started to repack the books into the box. “Are you working on a new book right now?”

  “I’m always plotting.”

  “I just bet.” Elsie glanced sideways at her. “Where do you do your research?”

  Sophie smiled her slow smile again, the smile that she knew seemed to hold a lot of secrets, a lot of knowledge - personal knowledge - and she lowered her lashes just a little to cover her eyes.

  She’d practiced this look a lot. In fact, Ghost had helped her practice it until she’d perfected that knowing glimmer in her eyes and that slow, sexy smile. It was her trademark expression for questions such as this one, and as usual, it worked.

  “Oh my God.” Elsie fanned her face. “Really?”

  Sophie just continued to smile.

  “Wow. Care to elaborate?”

  “I keep that for my stories.” Changing the subject, Sophie gestured to Elsie’s hand. “Wedding ring. Husband and kids?”

  “Frank and I have two children. Banes of my life, all of them.” Elsie’s eyes twinkled.

  “But I’m guessing you wouldn’t part with them?”

  “You’d be guessing right.” Elsie regarded Sophie curiously. “How about you?”

  “Not right now.” Sophie replied nonchantly.

  “I bet you’ve had a few boyfriends.” Elsie winked. “Experience, right?”

  “Life is full of them.” Eager to change the topic again, Sophie glanced around the shop. “So where am I going to be situated for the signing tomorrow?”

  Talk turned to the book signing and what the procedure was going to be, though Sophie privately thought she’d just be glad if someone turned up. Book signings were nerve-wracking. She’d never forgotten the first one, early in her career when she was trying to make a name for herself. While it had been fun, she’d been a new author and not many people had stopped by her table. It had made for a lonely and slightly humiliated feeling, almost as though she were a little girl trying to play with the grown-ups.

  Well, until Ghost had seen her, then he’d moved his table right up next to hers and everyone who came to him for a book signing - and there had actually been a line-up - he’d introduced to her. Not long after, several girlfriends and wives had come up to her table with books newly purchased for her to sign.

  Normally she’d have felt like she was taking charity but Ghost had been so friendly, so understanding, that she’d felt like he’d taken her under his wing like a mother bird, and in fact he’d done just that, teaching her how to conduct herself in public, building her confidence.

  In private there wasn’t a whole lot he could do, but for her public face, her game face as he called it, he’d coached her well. Now she could smile and look secretive and knowledgeable, even get a naughty twinkle in her eye when needed, without blushing.

  Well, until Alan had walked back into her life. Somehow he still had the power to make her blush unexpectedly, until she’d gotten her own back on him last night. Just the memory had her grinning.

  “Thinking of one of your books?” Elsie asked.

  Sophie blinked. “Pardon?”

  “That look on your face was positively wicked. Thinking of a particular character?”

  Sophie’s smile broadened. “A particular character is right.”

  “I can’t wait to read about him.” Elsie moved a little closer. “Any hints?”

  “Sorry, I don’t give hints.” Sophie winked. “I prefer the big bang.”

  “Don’t we all! Elsie giggled. “Frank certainly delivered on that after reading Heavy Handed.”

  “Glad to be of service.” Sophie picked up a novel lying on the counter. Playing with the edge of the bookmark, she studied the cover. “So what else do you read apart from romances?”

  “Oh, I love cookbooks. My kitchen is full of cookbooks. Frank reckons he’s put on weight since we married from my cooking. I’m taking that as a compliment.”

  “Lucky you.” Sophie smiled.

  “You can’t cook?”

  “No, that you have a man to compliment you.”

  “Pshaw.” Elsie shook her head. “I bet you’re used to getting a lot of compliments from your boyfriends. Hot compliments.”

  Keep the game face on. “Sometimes it’s nice to get compliments for other things.”

  “True.” Elsie nodded thoughtfully. “Can’t be all sex, can it?”

  “If life ran on that alone, we’d all starve. We need good cooks, too.”

  “Maybe we should keep naked, hunky chefs chained to our kitchens?”

  “Sure,” Sophie drawled. “Can always use a table or kitchen bench.”

  “Are we talking for food or sex?”

  “Both.”

  They laughed and Sophie stayed for a few minutes more before leaving, making excuses that she had a hundred things to do.

  Once out in the car, she leaned her head back against the headrest and gazed out the front windshield. Sometimes it was hard to keep the game face on but she had to keep it on tomorrow, depending how things went. One could never tell.

  She jumped when something knocked sharply on her window, and turning, she caught a glimpse of a blue shirt.

  Geez, the cops again? What had she done wrong this
time? Was she parked in a ‘no parking’ zone or something? Sophie cast a quick glance around as she wound the window down but no, she was parked correctly.

  Just as she looked upwards, the cop squatted down beside her door and she found herself looking into Alan’s amused face.

  “Cripes,” she said, “don’t you have a job to do?”

  “I’m doing it.”

  “Really? What, am I the bad guy you’re chasing?”

  “You’re bad, we all know that now.”

  But he wasn’t chasing her. Somehow that fleeting thought made her feel a little down. Man, she really needed to get something to eat, the lack of substance was making her brain go weird.

  “Saw you coming out of Elsie’s shop.” Alan glanced from her to the shop and back again. “Getting ready for the book signing tomorrow?”

  “How do you know about that?”

  “It’s my job to know what’s going on in my city, ma’am.”

  Sophie rolled her eyes.

  “I beat it out of Sam with my baton the other night.”

  “Baton? Alan, you disappoint me.” Sophie slipped easily into sultry mode. “No spanking?”

  “With Sam?” He shook his head. “He’s not my type.”

  “Too tall?”

  “Too male.”

  “I see.”

  “Really?” He looked at her with interest. “What is my type?”

  “Any woman who’ll spread her legs.”

  “Oh Soph.” He actually looked pained. “So wrong.”

  “Tall, slim blondes.”

  “Wrong again.”

  “Small redheads?”

  “Getting close.”

  “Old ladies?”

  “Define ‘old’.”

  Sophie barely restrained her laugh. “Any woman who doesn’t creak when she bends over?”

  “Hmm.” Alan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “What if she only creaks a little?”

  “Hey, it’s your definition. You tell me.”

  “Really?” His eyes gleamed. “You really want to know?”

  “Hmm.” Sophie mimicked his chin rub. “Let’s see, do I really want to know this much about your sex life? Let me think…how about no?”

  “You don’t know what you’re missing. I could be giving you free material to use in your next book. Guaranteed to make you millions.”

  “You are so generous.”

  “I’m also a total chick magnet and an amazing shagger.”

  “Do tell.”

  “Sure. Now, I first-”

  Reaching out, Sophie slapped her hand over his mouth. “Stop right there.”

  “Mmff mmm fff?” There was a little puff of dampness on her palm, a soft whisper of his lips against her skin.

  Who’d ever have thought male lips could be so soft? Sure, she’d written about them, but to actually feel it…

  Maintaining her façade, she removed her hand and arched a brow at him.

  “I said, are you sure?” Alan repeated.

  “Certain.”

  “I could even demonstrate.”

  “Voyeurism isn’t my thing.”

  “Who said anything about watching?”

  Sophie actually blinked. One, because she didn’t think she’d actually heard right, and two, because Alan’s already dark eyes had gotten just a little darker.

  For several long seconds they looked at each other. Or rather, she stared and he just gazed right back, those dark eyes starting to smoulder. The silence seemed to thicken with unspoken thoughts, unspoken insinuations, and Sophie was too scared to break the silence, too scared to break what was, to her, an amazing experience on its own.

  “Alan!” The deep rumble broke the silence, making Sophie start and glance in the rear-view mirror to see The Incredible Hulk sitting in the driver’s seat of the cop car parked behind her. “We have to go.”

  When her gaze dropped back to Alan, he smiled at her in the familiar teasing way he had and said, “Gotta go, Soph. You be good.” Straightening up, he walked back to the cop car.

  She couldn’t help but watch him in the side mirror, switching her gaze to the rear-view mirror as he rounded the back of her car. The cop’s uniform gave him an air of authority, no doubt about it. What girl didn’t like a man in uniform? But there was something else about him, too. The man in the uniform. And boy, did the uniform do him justice? Hell yes. Just as the low-slung jeans had done him justice yesterday, showing his body in all its glory. Or nearly all its glory.

  The lights on top of the cop car swirled to life, the siren cutting through the air as the car pulled out in front of the traffic. Alan gave her a quick wave as they shot past and then the traffic coming in behind took them from sight.

  Sitting there, she was more than aware of her pulse beating a lot quicker than it normally did, and it had nothing to do with nerves.

  And it sure as hell had nothing to do with Alan. She turned the key in the ignition. That particular ‘chick magnet’ could in no way affect her pulse. Ever.

  However, she now knew what a man’s lips felt like against her palm. Pulling the notepad from her handbag, she started jotting.

  She spent the day revisiting a few places she’d known, as well as a couple of other bookstores just for the sheer pleasure it gave her to see her books on the racks. No one recognised her and she was free to browse and eventually buy some new books. A trip to the supermarket for a shopping expedition so she could add to the food supply at Sam’s home, as well as to buy a few extra items she needed, and a stop off at the beach front to sit and sip a Diet Coke while enjoying watching the sea gulls walk up to her car to eye her in anticipation of her tossing out some food. Even though she had nothing to give them, they continued to sit nearby, keeping their gazes on her car until something caught their attention further along the beach, sending them up into the air squawking and wheeling away to investigate what was probably a food source of some kind.

  When she returned home in the late afternoon, she saw that Sam’s keys and wallet were carelessly tossed on the kitchen bench, a bowl and cup resting in the sink. He was obviously home and asleep.

  After quietly bringing inside the bags of groceries, she walked along the hallway to his bedroom. The door was wide open and a peek in revealed a shock of sandy hair sticking up above the covers. The doona was thrown back, the only thing covering him a thin sheet out of which one muscular, bare leg protruded. The big foot attached twitched as SJ sat up from where he’d been slumped against Sam’s thigh. Clearly not impressed at having his nap disturbed, the ginger cat eyed Sophie narrowly.

  Reaching in, she took hold of the door handle and carefully started to close the door.

  “Don’t do that,” a voice murmured right behind her.

  Sophie jumped violently, her mouth opening involuntarily to scream in fright. Faster than she could think, a hand clamped over her mouth, an arm wrapped around her waist and she was dragged backwards into the middle of the hallway where she couldn’t grasp anything to make a noise to alert her cousin. The arm around her waist tightened as she struggled.

  “Ssshh, Soph. It’s me.” The words were hissed against her ear.

  Now she registered the presence behind her, his voice familiar, and relieved, she stilled.

  “You arse!” she hissed back over her shoulder as soon as Alan’s hand shifted from her mouth.

  “Oh, not nice.” Arm still around her waist, Alan proceeded to tow her backwards down the hallway.

  “Will you let me go?” She stumbled, falling back against him.

  Give the man credit, he didn’t grunt or stumble in turn. Instead, he moved so that his arm was still around her waist but now she was snugged up against his side, and he steered her effortlessly into the kitchen before releasing her.

  “What the hell did you scare me like that for?” Sophie demanded angrily.

  “I scared you?” Arms folded across his chest, Alan leaned back against the table and raised one eyebrow at her.

  “I thought some c
reep had entered and was going to do me in!” Heart only just now beginning to slow down, Sophie braced her hands on her hips. “What did you do that for?”

  “Sam wakes up as soon as you close his bedroom door.” Alan shrugged. “He sleeps better when you move around normally - not loudly, you know, you gotta have some consideration - but just be normal and he’ll sleep like the dead.”

  “That doesn’t explain you creeping up behind me.”

  “I didn’t creep up behind you, petal, I walked up, but you were so busy ogling your own cousin that you didn’t hear me.” Alan paused, a twinkle appearing in his eyes. “Which, by the way, yuck.”

  “I was not ogling him.” Crossing to the table, Sophie stood across from him as she started unpacking the groceries. “And in return - eeewww to your imagination. That’s disgusting.”

  “So you were ogling SJ?”

  “No. I was being considerate and shutting Sam’s door.”

  “But he doesn’t like it shut.” Alan said reasonably.

  “I know that now.”

  Straightening, he came around the table to stand at her back and peer over her shoulder at the bags. His presence like that was almost unnerving, the warmth of his body seeping through her back to coil languidly low in her belly. He reached around her to dip his hand into the bag, his arm pressed briefly against the side of her breast as she automatically raised her arm to give him room.

  She felt that brush clear down to her pink-painted toe nails. Holy cow! She didn’t know whether to press closer against his arm or just sink to her knees. Who knew that kind of thing could be so lethal? Geez, even her nipples had hardened. Thank God for loose blouses.

  Striving for normalcy, she cleared her throat as, still peering intently over her shoulder into the bag, he pressed closer against her while rummaging. “See anything you like?”

  He stilled. Stopped dead. The silence in the kitchen was almost deafening, the air charged with something she was half thrilled to recognise while another part of her wondered if she was recognising it correctly, because hell, would she really know if what she was sensing was even true?

  Maybe he was just mortified at realising how close against her he was pressing?