Denys, Jennifer - Friendly Seduction [Friends and Acquaintances 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  Friends and Acquaintances 2

  Friendly Seduction

  Sci-fi writer Matt has been told by his editor to include more sex in his stories, so he appeals to his cousin for help, who connives to get Matt alone with her housemate, Lissa, who has a huge crush on Matt. Bouncing ideas off each other, they amusingly analyze erotic romances at their meeting, like why the heroine always seems to wear front-clasped bras.

  Startled by his attraction to her, he pretends he needs assistance with an imaginary story. Each time Lissa visits, he uses a scene from the story about two bounty hunters in space who make love to a girl they are delivering to her owner. After beginning to write this for real, these scenes gradually become more intimate, involving whipping, sex toys, and more until Matt and Lissa make love.

  But is she just helping him for the story, or does she reciprocate his feelings?

  Genre: Contemporary

  Length: 24,472 words

  FRIENDLY SEDUCTION

  Friends and Acquaintances 2

  Jennifer Denys

  EROTIC ROMANCE

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  ABOUT THE E-BOOK YOU HAVE PURCHASED: Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your own personal reading on your own personal computer or device. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer.

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Erotic Romance

  FRIENDLY SEDUCTION

  Copyright © 2012 by Jennifer Denys

  E-book ISBN: 1-61926-161-8

  First E-book Publication: January 2012

  Cover design by Jinger Heaston

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  If you have purchased this copy of Friendly Seduction by Jennifer Denys from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

  Regarding E-book Piracy

  This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.

  The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

  This is Jennifer Denys’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Denys’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  This is for my fellow romance writers. You know if you are guilty, like me, of any of the writing shortcuts or idiosyncrasies that Matt and Lissa laugh about!

  FRIENDLY SEDUCTION

  Friends and Acquaintances 2

  JENNIFER DENYS

  Copyright © 2012

  Prologue

  The eight–foot-tall robot grabbed hold of the stunningly beautiful young woman, who screamed for her life as she tried in vain to escape its many undulating tentacles. Her long honey-blonde tresses floated behind her as the machine pulled her inexorably forward toward its hard, metal body. As she struggled fiercely, its hold on her tightened with an impenetrable grip from which she was unable to break free. Holding her fast, a tentacle suddenly snaked out, and without a second thought it tore her flimsy pink frock with one rip from her ravishing body. Ignoring her cry of dismay, it slowly studied her naked form. It had a steely unnerving look on its metallic face as it looked her up and down, pausing interminably at her chest as her sumptuous bosom heaved in terror. Then she could stand it no more, and raising a hand to her forehead, she swooned. The robot then lifted the limp naked woman and moved relentlessly into the spaceship. The door of the ship closed with a heavy resounding clunk, leaving the stunned man rising from the ground where he had been thrown some twenty feet away, unable to save his beloved…

  “Ha, ha, ha, ha…” The laughter that started as the man began to read got louder and louder. Finally lifting a hand to wipe the tears from his face, he began to calm down. “Oh that’s a good one, Matt. Really good. Really awfully good.” And with that, he dropped the book back on his table with a thud.

  “Not you as well! What sort of a friend do you call yourself?” Matt was getting annoyed with Sam. He crossed his arms in irritation. “I spent months on that manuscript, and it’s been panned by readers and critics and best friends alike.”

  Sam leaned forward to rest his arms on his knees, his humor abating. “Oh come on, Matt. You’re a good writer, but do you really expect me to take this seriously?” He indicated toward the incriminating book on the table.

  “Well, yes. Actually I did.”

  “But it reads more like a cross between porn and a sci-fi spoof—unless that was your intention?”

  Matt frowned. “No—o. But my editor told me to add romance into my stories. He said sex sells, and sells well, so I need to add some more into my books. He also said we need to get more women to read my stories, and they like some romance.”

  Turning to his distressed friend, Sam clarified, “Yes, but you need erotic romance, not porn. If the robot had developed any emotional attachment to the heroine other than lust, it might have worked. And as for your language… Beloved? Swooned? Don’t make me throw up.” He picked up the book again to check something. “Hard, metal body—it’s a robot. It’s supposed to be hard and metallic. I thought you were a better writer than that.”

  Ignoring Matt’s increasing frustration, Sam continued. “And another question. Why isn’t she wearing any underwear when the robot tears off her clothes? Her very insubstantial clothes I might add. Come on, man. Women will laugh this off the shelves.”

  Matt was fuming. He hoped his so-called best friend would be more sympathetic but at the same time was annoyed with himself for the problems with this book. His four sci-fi stories had sold reasonably well—not best sellers, but they did okay. He was in his early thirties and had started writing professionally two years ago, having been intensely bored in his job for a
n ad company. Despite these good sales, his editor had told him a few months ago that he needed to spice them up more, had insisted on it actually. In fact, he had told Matt he needed to add some women to his stories in the first place as he had a tendency to just write about the adventures of his heroes and their enemies, all of whom were male.

  There was a very good reason for that—Matt had no idea how women’s psyche worked. Every time he attempted, he couldn’t get into the head of his female characters, so he had given up including any. Bringing his thoughts back to his friend, he asked, “So what do you propose?”

  Sam stood, moving swiftly to his bookcase, and after a moment’s browsing, he brought back a couple of his paperbacks, which he handed over. Matt looked at them—they both had half-naked people entwined around each other in erotic poses on a background of deep space. The titles were The Pleasure Planet and Space Courtesan.

  He frowned. “You want me to write one of these? I don’t write this sort of book,” he added, dismissively flinging the books down on the table to lie alongside his wretched offering.

  With his hands on his hips, Sam continued, “That’s the problem. You need to add more elements of this sort to your story. I’m not saying write a romance. Just add more to your books.”

  Glancing up at the man standing in front of him, Matt intoned in despair, “You know I can’t write romance. I’ve tried it before.” He dropped his head into his hands. “In fact, that’s what I tried to do with this one, and it clearly didn’t work.”

  “Okay, so we need to find a way to help you,” Sam stated decisively, his chin in his hand. He mused for a moment as he sat down again.

  Matt stared at him with disbelief. There was no way in a million years he was going to write an erotic romance.

  “Why not talk to a few female friends and find out what they read, and if it’s romances—particularly erotic romances—then ascertain what works for them in those books.”

  He goggled at his friend. “You’re kidding me! I have to talk about these things to women?” His voice rose to a squeak on the last word.

  Sam chuckled. “Yup, got a problem with that? You do know some women, don’t you?” he asked patronizingly.

  Glaring at him murderously, Matt declared, “If I don’t kill you before I leave here, it will be a miracle.”

  His friend laughed louder. “I know you hate the whole dating game, but you must know some women.”

  Matt rose to his feet and paced. “Of course. But I’m not going out with a girl just to take her to bed and then showing her out the door while saying, ‘What part of what I did worked for you?’”

  The laughter got worse. He scowled and crossed his arms angrily.

  Looking up at Matt’s clearly angry face, Sam calmed down and said, “You could try talking to Jessie.” He referred to his wife. “She adores reading erotic novels. It was these types of books that brought us together. She reads tons of them. In fact, why not talk to her group of friends which includes your cousin, Gina?”

  He stumbled while pacing. “Gina! How did she get to know Jessie?”

  “They met at the wedding. You brought Gina as your plus one, remember, to avoid having to ask any proper date to the wedding. Well, as it happens, they hit it off, so Gina invited her to join her Friday night champagne evenings, which is where she is tonight.”

  “Her what?”

  Sam chuckled. “They have what they call Champagne Fridays. Rebecca and Ellie are part of the group. You know them, don’t you? I believe Rebecca is an old friend of Gina’s. I dread to think what the group—about six or so—talk about. Us guys probably!”

  Pushing a nervous hand through his already-ruffled light brown hair, Matt cried, “Oh God—I can’t confront all of them in one go! And not Rebecca—Jon might be able to handle her, but she scares me.”

  Laughing even louder again, Sam responded, “Yes, you can. You write about guys getting into all sorts of adventures, fighting hostile aliens, dodging ray guns, stranded on jungle planets, running from giant reptiles. Be brave like them.”

  Matt gave him another look—this time one of exasperation. “No.”

  Sam chuckled again.

  Shaking his head emphatically, Matt paced again while he thought through his problem. “I’ll just talk to Gina or maybe Jessie by themselves.”

  He ruminated further to himself. He could cope with one woman but not all of them, or possibly just Gina and her flat mate, Lissa. Yes, Lissa. She was very sweet and pretty. Actually she was more than pretty. She had a lovely heart-shaped face and turned-up nose that he found adorable. He smiled to himself. Every time they crossed paths she blushed and often stammered. And yet he had heard her having perfectly normal conversations with other people. It was a shame because he wanted to get to know her better. He’d never understand women.

  A groan left him—how on Earth was he going to write about them if he didn’t understand them? He was in deep shit. He blamed his editor, and he blamed Sam, who was sitting on the sofa with a huge evil grin on his face.

  Once this book was done, he was definitely going back to the adventures of Jerry and his nice, safe, all-masculine adventures.

  In the meantime, he snatched up the two books Sam had offered as examples and strode out of the apartment—with his friend’s laughter following him.

  Chapter 1

  One week later

  The doorbell rang. Gina looked up in surprise, and she glanced at the women lounging around her apartment.

  Her flat mate, Lissa, was sitting on the floor in her usual relaxed manner, her back to the armchair in which Jessie sat with feet tucked under her. On the sofa next to Gina was Rebecca, while the latter’s sister, Kat, was in the kitchen getting a drink and Rebecca’s friend and business partner, Ellie, was in the bathroom.

  It was Friday night—Champagne Night. Well, actually any drink would do, but they called it Champagne night. And they were all here.

  So who on earth was at the door?

  As she rose to answer the doorbell, Rebecca stopped her. “Hey. If that’s Jon, tell him we’ve barely started,” she called, talking about her fiancé, a Dom who kept close tabs on what she was up to, but only because she did outrageous things. Rebecca might come over as indomitable to some, but Gina knew Jon was deeply in love with her. She grinned in response and continued to the front door.

  Jessie laughed. “Well, there’s no chance of it being Sam. He’s out with Matt tonight.” The rest of the women were unattached.

  Gina opened the door. “Oh.” She was surprised to find Matt on her doorstep—particularly after what Jessie had just said. She looked around him, expecting to see Sam, too, but it was just Matt. “Not that I don’t love seeing you—but what are you doing here?”

  He kissed her cheek lightly and walked into the apartment, breezily asking, “What sort of welcome is that?” Stopping suddenly when he noticed the women inhabiting the room, he turned back to Gina, his previous lightheartedness gone. “Ah. Sorry, I didn’t know you had company.”

  Gina glimpsed Lissa sitting up straight, her face flushed, and Gina stifled a knowing grin. She knew her flat mate had a crush on her cousin—a huge crush. She and Lissa had shared this place for three years. Both of them were in their mid-late twenties but very different in personality—Lissa being a little on the shy side while Gina flirted outrageously with any man. She sighed. It didn’t mean she could find her Mr. Right, though.

  “Hey, Matt. Where’s Sam?” cried Jessie, clearly bemused by his lone appearance.

  “What?”

  “You know, Sam—my husband.” When she didn’t get a response, she continued slowly and patiently, “You’re out with him tonight doing guy things. Or at least I thought you were.” She finished this with a frown.

  Gina watched Matt go pale as he cried, “Oh shit!”

  The women laughed hilariously at his exclamation as they suddenly realized he had forgotten what he was supposed to be doing.

  Jessie rummaged hurriedly in her
bag. “Oh God. I’d better ring Sam.”

  “Hell—it’s Friday night, isn’t it?” Matt queried to Gina as he ignored Jessie’s call to her husband explaining that Matt had turned up there instead.

  Gina looked bemused at this comment and smiled. “Yup, all evening.”

  “Sorry about this, but I need your help and was hoping to talk to you alone.” He lowered his voice on the word alone. She frowned. He was clearly not worried about letting his best mate down, but anxious about something else altogether.

  “What’s up?” she asked. She knew Matt had a tendency to get distracted when he was working on a story.

  “Um.” He looked in despair at the women who pretended that they weren’t trying to listen in. Gina snorted to herself—she knew them better.

  “We can go into the other room if you like,” she offered. Ellie, who had appeared from the bathroom by now and was listening in, too, stuck her tongue out at her.

  Unaware of what was going on behind his back he ignored this offer and, running a hand through his disheveled hair in need of a cut, Matt continued, “Well, my editor has told me to write a different kind of story, and I’m stuck. I was hoping you would give me inspiration. But you’re busy, so I’ll contact you tomorrow.”

  She grabbed hold of his arm before he could leave, jerking him to a halt. Her cousin was like a brother to her. She knew him well, and it didn’t sound like a personal problem, only a writing one. She also knew he’d never think to ask Lissa out, so she tried to put them together whenever possible, and this seemed to be a good time. “So—ask us,” she suggested, waving a hand at the others but looking in Lissa’s direction. “We can be your muses.”

  “What!” He blanched and glanced nervously around the room. Gina felt sorry for him—he looked like he was in a lion’s den. She turned to the others, who all waited excitedly for his response, one more nervous than the others, she noted wryly.