Ecstasy Read Free Page B

to doing the work she loved, or to wimp out by continuing to write the same old stories she’d been pumping out since college.
    “If she can do it, I can do it,” Candace told herself firmly. She squared her shoulders, fluffed up her orange curls with one hand and set off for the door.
    Candace was so focused on her goal, on making it past the threshold of her current comfort level, she didn’t see the attractive, muscular man who was just about to step through the doorway. They collided as Candace bumped into him in a particularly graceless way, the full-body impact knocking them both to the floor. Candace tried to catch her breath as she lay in a heap atop the stranger.
    Absolutely mortified by her clumsiness, Candace scrambled to get up off the man, but not before she became aware of the firm muscles of his butt, back and shoulders rippling beneath her.
    Overcome by both embarrassment and a rare jolt of lust, she blathered on and on without being able to stop herself. “Oh! I’m so sorry! I can’t believe I didn’t see you and then I walked right into you and then I fell onto you and now we’re on the ground and are you okay?”
    Pushing himself up on his palms and then spinning around so that he was sitting on the cement floor, the stranger gave her a devastating smile. Brushing the dust off of his slacks, he stood up and said, “I’m just fine, thanks.”
    Candace was bowled over by the dimple in his left cheek and could do little else but gape.
    “Besides,” he added with a mischievous glint in his eyes, “who wouldn’t want to have a gorgeous woman lying on top of him first thing in the morning?”
    Candace felt her cheeks turn pink, and she covered them with her hands, hoping to cool them down.
    Looking slightly repentant, he said, “I hope I haven’t made you uncomfortable. I’m just joking around. You looked like you were heading into the Coliseum to face the lions.”
    Candace dropped her hands from her face and gave him a small smile. “I feel like such an idiot for knocking you over.”
    The blond hunk held up his hand to stop her from lambasting herself any further. “I can’t stand to hear you insult yourself. Especially since I don’t even know your name yet.” Holding out his hand he said, “I’m Charlie.”
    As the warmth of his skin covered her cold hand, she relaxed for the first time since she’d parked her car that morning. “Candace. It’s nice to meet you.”
    She could tell he was trying to put her at ease as he picked up her leather bag and handed it to her. “Is this your first conference? I’ve never seen you here before.”
    Candace nodded. “Is it that obvious that I’m a newbie?”
    “Nope, that’s not it. I’m just pretty sure if I’d ever met you before, I’d have remembered.”
    Candace blushed again and silently admonished herself to cut it out. “I’m sort of new to this genre.”
    “To erotica, you mean?”
    “I’m really excited about making the switch from young adult fiction to sensual romantic fiction, but I guess I’m feeling a little overwhelmed today by it all.”
    Charlie smiled. “I know exactly how you feel.”
    “You do? Are you new to erotica also?”
    “Nope. I’ve been going at it,” he stopped and cleared his throat. “What I mean is, I’ve been writing erotica for a little over five years now. I can honestly say it is the most enjoyable, challenging writing I’ve ever done. But when I first made the switch from crime to erotica, it was pretty daunting.”
    While he talked, Candace thought there was something vaguely familiar about Charlie, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. In any case, although she was greatly enjoying talking with him, she was worried about monopolizing his time.
    Rather briskly she said, “Thanks for the pep talk, Charlie. But I don’t want you to feel like you have to baby-sit me all morning. I’m a big girl. I’ll be all right.”
    Giving her an enigmatic look that set her heart pounding