Her Secret Life, Parts Five and Six

Cyberfriends!

I hate it when my mind goes blank. It just did. Please stand by for technical difficulties…Nope. Not happening. I must be tired. We’re dealing with another heat wave and this part of the country doesn’t get that hot, so none of us have air-conditioning. When it’s hot here, it’s HOT. And I don’t sleep well. The kitchen was 85 last night. Thankfully, the ocean breeze picked up and it cooled off. Some. But I’m not complaining. I don’t mind a few days of heat. Better than having hurricanes and that humidity most of you are enduring.

We can only brag so much about the weather here. Our compensation for great weather are earthquakes. Of course, we haven’t had an earthquake in awhile. Thank God, because they are TERRIFYING. I used to like them until the Loma Prieta earthquake. Small ones give you a rush and don’t hurt anything. But now I know how strong they can get and you never know at the beginning how wild it will get. Eeek. Why am I thinking about this???? Nasty.

Okie-dokie, so here is the next chunk of Her Secret Life, found in Bad Girls 3. Almost half of what’s left of the story, double the normal amount I post. I’ll give you the other half next week.

Hugs to all you great people out there! I hope you have a fantastic Labor Day Weekend!

Michelle


Heather stared into the sharp blue eyes of her lover. Her mind became a cascade of questions. How did he find her at the erotica convention? Had he heard her keynote speech? When did he find out she wrote erotica? Was he going to break up with her?

Then the biggest question pounded her mind. Was Gary going to spank her again? She could barely sit as it was. She couldn’t imagine what he would do to her ass now. Now that he’d actually caught her in a lie. He’d warned her what would happen if he did. What would be her fate? Would he dump her or spank her? Or spank her then dump her?

She broke out of her stunned daze and came to her senses. Behind Gary was a huge line of her fans, all waiting for her to sign their books. She had to get it together. She had to cope and focus. At least until the signing was over.

“Uh… So, you’d like it made out to Gary Hammer? Or just Gary?” she finally stammered.

“How about just Gary?” he said, his blue eyes steely.

“G-good. Just G-Gary,” she said, the pen shaking in her hand. She could feel the sweat break out on her forehead.

“Hey Heather, you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost,” joked a fellow writer Sara, who sat next to her.

“Uh, no. I… Oh, Sara, this is my boyfriend or was my boyfriend, Gary. Gary, Sara.”

Sara stuck out her hand to Gary, who graciously accepted it. “Pleased to meet you, Gary. Ooo, you’re cute. Hey, you’re the red-haired guy in Heather’s latest novel, aren’t you? Man, I can see you really inspired her. This is her best book ever. What do you think of it?”

Gary flushed as red as his hair.

Heather wanted to die. “He hasn’t read it yet, Sara. I didn’t want him to until it was published.”

“Why? He came out really well in it. Honey, you have improved this woman’s writing, let me tell you. That last boyfriend, well, let’s put it this way, she had to work to make her story work. You, well it was clear the story just poured out of her. You aren’t a cop, though, are you? Not like the guy in the story.”

“No, I’m not a cop. But I do believe in certain rules. And that there are consequences when someone breaks a rule,” he said, leveling his stare at Heather. She shifted in her seat.

“Oooo, sounds like you guys are into B and D, very cool,” Sara said. “I’m gonna look forward to your next book, Heather. Sounds like it’s gonna be very spicy.”

“Yeah, spicy,” Heather repeated, now terrified.

Gary said, “Well, honey, sign the book, I’ll wait for you to get done.”

“Are you coming to the dinner tonight?” Sara asked Gary. “Your girlfriend is up for an award.”

“Uh…” he said, staring at Heather.

“He had to work, so I didn’t invite him, but he’s welcome to come,” Heather said awkwardly.

Gary said, “I was hoping to spend a little time with you before the dinner, honey. Maybe in your hotel room?”

“Ooo, I like the way this man thinks,” Sara said, elbowing Heather in the ribs. “Hold onto him and never let him go, girlfriend.”

“Yeah. My hotel room. I will have a couple hours to kill.”

“Just make sure she can walk, talk and sit, Gary,” Sara joked. “She may need to accept an award.”

“I’ll bear that in mind, Sara. Honey, I’ll just be waiting in the lobby bar, okay?” Gary asked.

“Okay, honey,” Heather replied mechanically.

The next hour was a blur. Heather put on a fake smile and made small talk with her fans while signing autographs, but all she could think about was that her life was over. Well, her life with Gary, anyway.

When the book signing was over, Heather checked her watch. It was four, the dinner was at seven. Three hours to be killed, dumped with just enough time to put herself back together again for the awards ceremony. Neat.

She walked out to the lobby bar and easily found Gary. That flame red hair stood out against the sea of suits at the bar. His expression was unreadable.

“Shall we go up to your room?” he asked.

“Can I have a drink first?”

“I’d rather have you clear.”

“Okay, I’ll drink afterwards.”

“You’ll probably need it.”

They went up to her room in silence. Poor Gary had to endure several fans stopping her for more autographs and their obvious appraisal of him as he stood next to her. She had no idea what he was thinking. It couldn’t be good.

She let him into her hotel room and reluctantly followed. He walked across the room and looked out of her window, which afforded amazing views of the San Francisco Bay and the Bay Bridge.

“Nice view,” he said.

“Uh, yeah.”

“So how long have you been writing erotica?”

“Thanks for not calling it ‘porn’. Uh, twelve years. Just really got popular in the last four. Erotica has seen a real boom in the past few years. Used to be hard to sell the stuff, now they can’t get enough.”

She sat on the edge of her bed and regarded his stiff shoulders at the window. He still had his back to her.

“You lied to me,” he said without turning around.

“I did.”

“Why?” He finally turned around to face her.

“Because I didn’t think you’d approve. Not many do. I lie first, then see if the people are cool. Erotica puts off most people. And especially erotica writers.”

“You had a long line of fans there.”

“I did.”

“So why didn’t you think I’d find out?”

“I… don’t know.”

“This is the same excuse you gave me a few nights ago. Why don’t you know?”

“I guess I didn’t expect you to hang around that long. They never do.”

“Who never does?”

“Guys. Normally I’ve been dumped by now. Well, by the guys I care about. The other ones, I dump.”

He regarded her and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“Are you angry with me?” she asked.

“Yes. But I guess I’m more hurt that you didn’t trust me. So what else is there? What other secrets do you have? Could you please just tell me everything so I don’t get blindsided like I did today and last week?”

“How did you end up here?” she asked instead of answering him.

“I had lunch with Tom in the restaurant at the top of the hotel. Tom was cracking all kinds of jokes about your conference. We decided to peruse the book signing to see what kinds of people wrote those books. We were both surprised by all the older ladies sitting behind tables. And you can imagine my surprise when I saw you sitting there with that huge line of fans. Luckily, Tom didn’t see you. I pretended to have somewhere else to go. I walked him out and then came back and got in line. So you were the keynote speaker, too, huh?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Some lady standing behind me really enjoyed you. So how do you think you did?”

“I got a standing ovation. Sorry about Sara. I…”

“So did you really put me in that book?”

“Kinda.”

“Kinda. You either did or you didn’t.”

“I did.”

“Huh.” She couldn’t tell what he thought about that.

“So you don’t do any tech writing, do you?”

“No.”

“All those books, those papers—”

“Window dressing. All fakes. I put them out when my parents come to visit.”

“Or me,” he added curtly.

“Or you.”

“So you do smoke pot, don’t you?” Gary asked. “You bought some from Melvin, didn’t you? That’s why you were there.”

“Yes.”

“I thought I smelled pot on your breath a few weeks ago.”

“I normally don’t indulge when you’re around. I don’t like to keep stuff from you.”

He snorted. “Really? Sounds like you’ve kept a lot from me.”

“I got used to hiding myself from people. Guess it’s a habit now.”

“Nasty habit.”

She said nothing.

“What else? Do you have a criminal record?”

“No.”

“Let me put it this way, what about you is the truth that you told me?”

“That I love you.”

“Aside from that.”

She sighed. “That I’m a writer. That I like weird action figures, riding my motorcycle and hiking. You met my parents. And one of my friends from high school, Melvin there. I’m not leading a complete double life. I smoke pot and I write erotica. Okay, fine. All my dark secrets. You’re gonna probably dump me so I’ll just tell you all of it.”

“Might be nice,” he added with an acidic edge.

“I dealt pot from when I was twelve through college, I guess, twenty-five. It’s how I made my money. I put myself through school that way. Never was caught. Quit as soon as I could, basically as soon as I made money through the erotica. I belong to NORMAL, I vote Green Party and I have no record. I graduated with a degree in creative writing, not tech writing. I was never a girl scout. I am the top grossing erotica writer in the country. I make appearances several times a year at various conventions. I do radio and some talk shows, but on cable networks and under my pen name, Lissa Dubois. I like metal music, not that crap I play when you’re around. And I’ve been proposed to three times, all by guys I didn’t love. Oh, and I hate sushi. And light beer.”

“Anything else?”

“No, I think that covers it.”

“Wow,” he said. He got up and stared out the window for a few moments. Heather didn’t know what he thought or what to do. So she just sat there and watched him.

“Do you want to accompany me to the dinner later on?”

“Am I invited?’

“Certainly. But…”

“People will assume I am the model for the character in your book.”

“Yes.”

“And they would be correct.”

“Yes.”

“O-kay.” He still didn’t look at her.

He put his hands on his hips. Then ran a hand through his hair. He paced. She waited.

He finally turned and looked at her. He was clearly not pleased.

He walked over to her and gazed down at her with disapproval. Abruptly, he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her to her feet.

He sat down, yanked her across his lap and she knew what was coming next.

Gary pulled up her skirt, pulled down her undies and got her settled over his knee.


©2010, Michelle Carlyle