Whipped Delights [Dark Desires 1] (Siren Publishing Sensations) Read online

  She climbed over him and got off the bed. Turning her back on him, she bent down to pick up their clothing when she felt him smack her cheeks. She stood, turned, and tried to glare at him. He looked innocently at her.

  “Your fault. You put those gorgeous arse cheeks in my face. There’s no way I can ignore them.”

  In answer, Emma threw his clothes at him and left the room. Both showered and dressed. Emma thought Simon looked hot in his tux. When she finished dressing and walked into the living room where he was waiting, he turned and just stared at her.

  “My god, Em, you look…hell, you’re breathtaking!” he stammered. “You’re always beautiful but in that—wow! I’m going to have to fight off the men.”

  She was pleased she’d gone over her budget and bought this gown now that she had that reaction from Simon. She had one of the corsets Simon had bought underneath. But it was the gown that made her feel special. The gown was deep emerald green with a finely ruched sweetheart neckline that was accentuated with rhinestones. The multiple layers of the chiffon skirt fell from the bust-line to the floor. There were sheer drapes running asymmetrically along the sides, with a small train at the back. It had tiny rhinestone-covered shoe-string straps and she felt wonderful in it.

  She’d twisted her long hair into a fancy long plait down her back, with tendrils falling around her neck. She had found a set of lovely tiny rhinestone hair clips which she’d put into the braid here and there.

  “Thank you. You look pretty sexy yourself.”

  He grinned at her and kissed the side of her neck. He held out his hand.

  “Shall we?”

  Emma picked up her tiny clutch and put her hand in his as they left the house.

  By four-thirty they had left and were on their way. The function started at five-thirty. Fortunately there was valet parking at the function rooms. Simon told Emma he was glad of that because parking was notoriously hard to get in the area. Simon handed over the keys once they arrived and they made their way inside.

  Simon had his hand under Emma’s elbow as they walked through the crowded room. He leant toward her and whispered in her ear, “Not one woman here could ever beat you. You look totally amazing and so fucking sexy. I want to take you right now.”

  Emma blushed but she felt a surge of excitement at his words. She was about to reply when Bob Patterson, the owner of the publishing company, came toward them, his hand extended.

  He took her hands and kissed her cheeks.

  “Oh my goodness, Emma, you look ravishing!”

  “Thanks, Bob. This is my partner, Dr. Simon Harrington.”

  The two men shook hands.

  “You’re going to have to hold her tight, Simon, in that dress she’ll have every man here trying to get her attention.”

  “Don’t worry, Bob, I intend to.”

  They were then ushered to their seats. The room was a popular theatre and after the official awards, there would be a dinner. Bob liked to think of his awards as the Oscars of the book world. The actual proceedings took several hours. There were fiction and nonfiction genres to cover. Finally they got to Emma’s section. Her name was called along with two other writers. She had Simon’s hand in a death grip as she waited nervously for the result.

  “And the winner of this year’s award in the category of Most Popular Nonfiction Book goes to Emma Cunningham!”

  Emma felt dizzy but managed to stand and walked to the stage with dignity. She thanked everyone for their help, remembering to thank Greg, the photographer, and the editors. With shaky hands, she took charge of the lovely glass statuette of an open book on a plinth. She kissed the presenter and went back to her seat amid cheers.

  Simon was standing and kissed her with relish as they sat back down. She could finally relax and enjoy the remainder of the evening. There were only two awards left—the Fiction and Nonfiction Author of the Year.

  A very popular crime writer won the Fiction Author of the Year. It was a well-deserved win. Emma loved his books and knew how well-admired he was. The room stood and applauded him. The presenter came on and announced the final winner.

  Simon was nudging her and grinning like crazy.

  For a moment, she wondered why then she realised what she had heard and jumped to her feet.

  The presenter had announced the Author of the Year for Nonfiction and it was her!

  The people sitting near them were laughing. They knew she had almost missed hearing her own name. She walked back on stage, stunned. Stammering her thanks, she managed to give an impromptu speech. As she left the stage, she was given a standing ovation. Walking back to her seat she was kissed, her hand shaken, and she was hugged by practically everyone she passed.

  She was in a daze as she sat beside a grinning and very proud Simon.

  “My clever, clever, wonderful girl. I’m so proud of you!”

  They left the auditorium along with the other guests. She and Simon were directed to a small area where photographers were waiting to take pictures of all the winners. Once that was done, they were escorted to the dining room. She and Simon were shown to their table. Greg and Nina were already sitting there along with two other couples. An author of popular sci-fi fiction and his wife plus a charming elderly lady, with her husband, who wrote erotic fiction.

  Simon was stunned. He whispered to Emma that he never expected a sweet little old lady to be the author of such racy books. Emma had to laugh. She’d known the famous author was an older woman, but Simon’s reaction was so amusing.

  “She could probably teach you a thing or two, mister,” she whispered back.

  Dinner was a relaxed event after the excitement of the awards ceremony. Lots of people came over to their table to offer their congratulations. When the meal was finished, Emma was certain she had danced with every man in the room. She did notice that Simon was getting a lot of interested looks from the female contingent.

  It was almost three in the morning when they collected the car from the valet and made their way back to Emma’s. She was still floating on the excitement of winning two awards. She had never even considered that she may win Author of the Year.

  Simon couldn’t stop telling her how proud he was and how excited. They tumbled into bed, exhausted but on such a high.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Emma was blissfully happy. The past eight and a half months had been amazing. She was in love and, as far as she was concerned, in the perfect relationship. She and Simon spent all their free time together.

  They had worked out any problems and now things were sailing along wonderfully. On Simon’s week off, he stayed at her house. They had talked about him selling his flat and perhaps her house then buying something they both liked. They would spend that week exploring the countryside, visiting his parents at least once a month. They took Greg and Nina to meet them once.

  Emma was really surprised with Simon’s parents. She had been hesitant to meet them but discovered they were a wonderful couple. Within an hour of meeting them, she knew they welcomed her into the family as a daughter. By the end of the first visit, she was comfortably teasing Simon’s father and laughing with his mother. She had even dropped over to see them a few times while Simon was working. She missed that special relationship she’d had with her own parents and now Simon’s were filling that void

  They often ate with Greg and Nina and the rest of the time were doing all the things that couples like to do. Greg and Nina really liked him. They told Emma often that he was the best thing that ever happened to her. They were more than overjoyed to know he could control her and that under him, there was no chance of her being hurt during their sex games. For his part, Simon found the couple great friends. The four of them often went out together. They all enjoyed similar things as well as each other’s company. The only fly on the ointment was Alison.

  She hated him.

  Actually that wasn’t exactly true. It wasn’t Simon she hated. It was the fact that he stopped Emma from working that one week in ever
y three. She was greedy for more money and expected everyone else to be the same.

  Emma had finally finished the next book and it was with the editors. She had a few days coming up when it would be bedlam. It was when the photographs would be taken. The few days it took were usually totally insane. Dishes were prepared and photographed every which way until both she and the photographer were satisfied.

  Simon had rung her once in the middle of a heated argument over which way was best to photograph a particularly delicious dessert with chocolate and strawberries among other things. She wanted it one way and the photographer the other. They were almost coming to blows when Simon’s call had come.

  She had gone outside, and was practically in tears, telling him what had happened. He suggested they take both photographs and see which looked the best. Just hearing his voice had calmed her down and when they hung up she went back inside. The photographer agreed to take both poses then both of them burst out laughing when they realised that both looked awful.

  The rest of the shoot went off without a hitch and Emma was glad when it was finally over. All that remained was to check the final edits and proofs and then the book would be released.

  The idea was to have it out a few months before December, so her book tour would be starting soon. That was the downside.

  Now that Emma’s book was about to be released, unfortunately for her and Simon, it was time for her to do a publicity tour. Simon was going to arrange to have a few weeks off toward the end of the tour and would join her. He loved the fact she had called this book Whipped Delights—it was a recipe book of desserts so its title was apt, but its title was a private joke between her and Simon.

  Simon was going to arrange having a month off early in the New Year when Emma had to travel to England. He would go with her and she was excited to know they would have a month together even if she had a lot of public engagements.

  It was a tearful evening the night before she was due to fly out. She promised to text him each evening to let him know she was okay. She also gave him Alison’s number in case there were any problems.

  * * * *

  The first two weeks flew past. Alison had booked so many book signings as well as demonstrations, Greg said she was trying to make up for lost weeks. They were both used to the schedule but this time it really was filled to the brim.

  Emma was just finishing up the last fifteen minutes of a book signing when she noticed someone hovering near her bag and tote. She thought nothing of it until after the signing had finished and she went to send Simon a text. Her phone was missing.

  Fortunately she had her wallet in her pocket otherwise that would have gone, too. She reported it stolen to the police but knew there was no chance of getting it back. Greg lent her his phone so she could contact her phone provider and report it stolen. She arranged to get another phone the next morning.

  After leaving the phone company, Greg told her Alison’s number and Emma rang her.

  “Hi, Alison. My phone was stolen yesterday. This is the new number.”

  “What? That’s terrible.”

  “I know. Look, I’ve lost all my contacts. When Simon rings you, can you give it to him please? He’s at work for the next two weeks and I can’t ring him at the hospital. I can’t remember numbers and his is private so I can’t get it from the book. If he doesn’t hear from me, he’ll ring you. I gave him your number.”

  “Okay. While I’ve got you. The book signing for next Tuesday is now at three instead of two, but still for the same length of time.”

  “Oh, okay. I’ll change it in my diary. Anything else?”

  “No. That’s it.”

  “Good. Don’t forget to give Simon the number when he rings.”

  “I won’t. Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  Three days later Emma was getting worried. She hadn’t heard back from Simon. She guessed he must be really busy at the hospital. Greg told her not to worry but she couldn’t help it.

  They moved on to the next city on the tour. Nina was meeting them at the end of the week and would join them for a week. She had arranged time off with her boss and the next week was the slowest as far as Greg was concerned. There was only one full day and two half days of demonstrations that he would be needed at. The rest were signings and Emma had already told him he could spend those days with Nina.

  Emma rang Alison and asked if Simon had rung. Alison said she had given him the new number but Emma hadn’t heard from him, which surprised her. She tried to push her fears aside as they worked on.

  By the middle of the following week, Emma knew something was definitely wrong. There was no way Simon would have gone almost two weeks without contacting her. That evening just before dinner, after a long book signing session, Alison rang.

  “Hi, Emma, how’s it all going?”

  “Fine. Just tiring.”

  “Look, I hate being the bearer of bad news, but there’s something I have to tell you.”

  “What? What’s happened? It is Simon?”

  “He’s okay, but I’m sorry, Emma. He rang yesterday evening.”

  “Yesterday? But you gave him my new number before. What happened?”

  “Yes. Over a week ago. He rang me to leave you a message. Emma, he doesn’t want to see you.”

  “What?”

  “I’m sorry. He was going to speak to you, to tell you. I guess he chickened out. Anyway, he doesn’t want to continue on. He said it wasn’t working out and now that you’re away he realised that he didn’t love you and wants to call it quits.”

  “No! No, you’re wrong.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “This is crazy! He wouldn’t do this, Alison, I know he wouldn’t. Give me his number.”

  “He didn’t leave it. He also told me he’s left the hospital, transferred to another and wouldn’t tell me which one.”

  By now Emma was in tears, she was sobbing down the phone.

  “I don’t understand. He’s not like that, he wouldn’t do this to me.”

  “Sorry, Emma, but he did. He even said he waited until the transfer came through so you wouldn’t be able to trace him.”

  “I don’t believe this, you’ve got to be wrong.”

  “I’m not wrong. The guy dumped you!”

  “No!” Emma was devastated. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “No, he wouldn’t.”

  “Sorry, Emma, but he did.”

  With that, Alison hung up.

  Emma sat down on the bed in the hotel room. She was in shock. She couldn’t believe that he would do that. She was numb, sitting on the bed, unable to even cry again.

  She heard someone knocking on the door. Getting to her feet, she opened it. It was Greg and Nina, ready for dinner. Nina took one look at Emma’s face and knew something terrible had happened.

  “Emma! What’s wrong?”

  As soon as she heard Nina’s voice, the floodgates opened. She sobbed and sobbed and it was a good ten minutes before the others could get any sense out of her.

  “I don’t believe it!”

  “Neither do I.” Emma sniffed through her tears. “But what other reason could there be for the fact I hadn’t heard from him for almost two weeks? He’d be on his week off, so there’d be no excuse not to ring.”

  Nina sat alongside Emma, putting her arm around her shoulders. Greg went out to get coffee for them all so Emma and Nina could talk. He was angry that Simon took such a coward’s way to break it off with Emma. He found it hard to believe the man would do it that way. He really liked him.

  Nina sat with her arm across Emma’s shoulder.

  “I’m so sorry, Em. I really thought he was the right man for you. Just shows how very wrong I was.”

  “I did, too. I thought he loved me. I mean he hadn’t actually said it but the way he acted, the things he did.” She started sobbing again. “We’d even talked about buying a house together and he was coming with me to England.”

  Nina was shaking her head.


  “I still can’t quite believe it, Em. Simon just didn’t seem like the sort of man who would just dump you, especially through someone else.”

  “What am I going to do without him?” Emma wailed.

  “I don’t know. I guess you have to forget him. Move on, sweetheart. You can’t do anything else. It’s going to hurt but you have to try and forget him.”

  “I don’t want to.”

  “I know you don’t. Oh, sweetie, this is awful.”

  They sat together until Greg returned with the coffee. He handed them out and sat opposite the girls. He looked as shocked as they did.

  Nina looked at Greg then Emma.

  “Come on, Em, wash your face. Come and have something to eat.”

  “No, sorry, guys, I don’t think I could. You two go. I’ll be okay.”

  “We can get some take-out.”

  “No. I think I want to be alone. Might lie in the tub and soak. I’ll see you both tomorrow for dinner after the book signing.”

  Nina looked worried. “If you’re sure.”

  “Yes, I am. Go.”

  She gave them a watery grin. Nina and Greg kissed her and gave her a hug then left. She drank a mouthful of coffee then sat staring into space. She was all cried out, nothing left. She felt drained. Maybe she should have that bath.

  No, instead she crawled into bed.

  After tossing and turning all night, she woke listless and still tired. Today was a book signing in the afternoon then in the morning, she and Greg would fly to the next city on the tour map. Emma tried to cover her blotchy face with makeup, then she went down to join the other two for breakfast. Nina hugged her.

  “You look terrible!”

  “Thanks.” She grinned wryly at Nina. “I don’t think I slept and I feel awful.”

  Greg looked over the table at her.

  “Want to give today a miss? We could say you’re sick.”

  “No. It’s not until this afternoon. I don’t want to disappoint people.”

  “Okay, you’re the boss.”

  “What time’s your flight back home, Nina?”