Page 119 of Fall Into Temptation
They guided Eva to a tufted ottoman in front of the marble fireplace. Her wine glass was magically refilled as the crowd settled itself into the room.
“Attention. Attention.” Mrs. Nordemann clapped her hands like a school teacher.
When the chatter failed to die down, Ellery stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled. “Hey!”
Everyone quieted down.
“Thank you, Ellery,” Mrs. Nordemann said. “First I would like to thank you all for being here. I know we’re very excited to have tonight’s guest author with us. The refreshments for this evening are all available in the formal dining room, and the wine has been generously discounted by Davis Gates at Blue Moon Winery.”
Eva spotted Eden off to the side. The woman glared at the wineglass in her hand and put it down on the writing desk next to her and stomped out of the room. She returned a moment later with a beer. Ellery caught Eva’s eye and nodded in Eden’s direction in a telegraphedSee? I told you so.
“Now, on to the exciting part of the evening. I’d like you all to welcome our very own Eva Merill who writes under the pen name Ava Franklin. A secret I’m sure that we’re all more than happy to keep,” she said, giving the audience a steely-eyed look. With no dissenters she smiled sweetly. “Eva is the author of five novels, including my personal favoriteFated Fools, which we will be discussing tonight.”
There were finger snaps instead of applause, and Eva wondered if it was because most of the audience was busy clutching wine glasses.
“Now without further ado, Eva will read a selection fromStrings of Destiny.”
“I will?” she asked over the finger snapping.
Mrs. Nordemann handed her a paperback with a book mark. “Just the highlighted portion, dear.”
She sat on her pink and ivory tufted ottoman and read aloud from an incredibly sexy passage that the group had voted on. She’d never read her own work in front of an audience before.
Sure, during the writing process she’d muttered dialogue out loud, trying out the words, the inflections. But it was a whole different experience to say “rigid length of cock” out loud. Especially when a good portion of the audience was old enough to be her grandparents.
The accolades went straight to her head as did the seemingly bottomless wine. The Blue Moon Book Club was a well-read group. While they preferred romance or erotica, they also dabbled in thrillers, cozy mysteries, and women’s fiction. It was refreshing to see a handful of men jumping into the discussion on character motivations and theories on after the epilogue.
This was her first sort-of public event as a writer, and Blue Moon was kind enough to walk her through it while feeding her heart-shaped appetizers. They were as enthusiastic about her stories, her characters, as she was. It was a heady thing to have kept something under wraps for so long only to unveil it to the world and be accepted.
It was the most enjoyable kidnapping Eva had ever experienced. Also the only one. But still.
She answered questions, both the insightful and the ridiculous.
“Who is your favorite hero?”
“What do you read for fun?”
“Do you ever base characters on people you know in real life?”
“How do you research your sex scenes?”That one was asked by the very serious, very interested Mrs. Nordemann.
“What are you working on next?” Eden asked from the back of the room where she was crowded around a table between Fitz and Julia from the juice shop.
“I’m actually working on a small-town series inspired by Blue Moon,” Eva told them.
The crowd chatter got louder and more excited. Mrs. Nordemann fanned herself with a napkin. “I can only assume that our sheriff will play a starring role?”
“He was definitely an inspiration for the main character,” Eva admitted. The chatter increased to deafening levels. Titters of laughter erupted.
Oh, hell. Had she just admitted that Blue Moon would have a front row seat to the fictional version of her sex life with Donovan?
“I believe we have time for a few more questions, and then perhaps we could talk Eva into signing just a few books while she’s here,” Mrs. Nordemann announced.
A hand raised from behind the yellow and purple settee. Eva couldn’t see the woman’s face.
“Uh, yes. You in the pink?”
“Just how well-endowed would you say Sheriff Cardona is?”
