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

  “Hm. I will never look at her again in the same light.”

  Lissa wasn’t sure she wanted him thinking about another woman in that way, married or otherwise. “Now this one,” she started to say as she reached for another book to break her troubled thoughts. “This is one of my favorites. The plot is the mistaken identity type of scenario.”

  He frowned. “Explain?”

  “The hero kidnaps the girl thinking she is someone else, and they find they are attracted to each other but fight it, of course. Eventually, after various trials and tribulations, they fall in love.”

  “Naturally.”

  “Stop being sarcastic.” She swatted a book in his direction. “These are romances. They have to fall in love. Anyway, I adore kidnap plots.”

  Matt looked distracted.

  “What’s up?” She suddenly seemed to have lost his attention.

  “Huh—oh, you’re giving me ideas.”

  She laughed. “I hope you’re referring to your story.”

  He looked up, and leaning back in his seat, he suddenly grinned. “So consider this. A prince kidnaps a girl thinking she is the bride he has paid a great deal of money for because of a lack of women in his country. She struggles to escape, so he is forced to lock her in his dungeon. Naked, of course. However, it turns out she is the wrong woman, but he has fallen in love with her despite the circumstances.”

  Lissa started to smile, amused by his recitation.

  “Because she isn’t the right woman, he turns from her but then discovers she spent the night with his brother who had offered her solace.” She was now giggling. “The brothers fight over the woman and eventually they end up having a ménage relationship. Meanwhile,” he emphasized heavily, “the proper bride turns up, and they have a foursome.” He took a deep breath after that soliloquy and grinned. “Is this likely to sell well—particularly if the heroes are incredibly handsome and manly?”

  Laughing loudly, she stated, “Only if you’re doing a spoof! Although throw in some BDSM and you’ve got a winner.”

  His grin wavered, and he looked a bit stunned.

  She blushed. “Well—bondage at the very least and a spanking.”

  Matt cleared his throat and gave her another look of deep consideration. “Okay. I have clearly underestimated the female sex all my life. You like BDSM?”

  Lissa felt herself go even redder if that was possible. “I have never experienced any, but yes, I do like reading about it.”

  “Okay, what specifically? You’ve already talked about bondage and spanking, what about, oh, I don’t know, um… flogging, oral sex, sex in public, what else do these people do?”

  “All of the above. Throw in nipple clamps and anal sex, too. The only thing I loathe reading about is sucking toes.” She laughed at her own comment.

  “Holy shit.”

  “What? You like sucking a girl’s toes?”

  “Yes, but that’s not why I swore. Nipple clamps and anal sex. You couldn’t have shocked me more. Lissa, I’m stunned. I’m astonished. I’m gobsmacked. And stop looking worried. I’m teasing you. Yes, I am stunned but in a good way. I take it you haven’t actually tried any of the above?”

  She started to fidget not wanting to admit that she had.

  “You have, haven’t you?” He laughed.

  “I–I tried clamps, once. One boyfriend did oral s–sex.” She grimaced as the stutters came back.

  He waited for her to go on. When she didn’t, he asked, “And?”

  “And what?”

  Sighing, he asked patiently, “How was it? Either of them?”

  She dropped her head into her hands. “God, this is so humiliating.”

  Grinning, he leaned back again having sat upright at her comment about BDSM. “Think of it as helping me with my research.”

  Lifting her head, she quickly confessed, “The clamps were painful, and the oral sex downright embarrassing.”

  Matt laughed. “But did it put you off, or would you like to try it again with someone else? In fact, would you try any of these things with someone else?”

  Lissa went still. Was he suggesting he’d do these things with me? Surely not. “Um. Possibly. And can we please get back to discussing some more of the books?”

  He smiled indulgently. “If I understand correctly, you—and every other female reader possibly—like reading about manly heroes with beautiful heroines.” He counted these off on his fingers. “The hero has to be a leader of some sort and be dominant but caring, and there has to be some sort of conflict or misunderstanding, maybe even a kidnapping. If there is some BDSM involved and even a ménage a trois, that would be even better.”

  “That’s it in a nutshell.”

  “What about aliens, monsters, or robots? They’re my usual bad guys.”

  Rummaging in the pile of books, she came up with a manuscript. “This is an e-book, but I printed it off. It has aliens in it. You quite often get a story plot of falling in love in difficult circumstances, for example, while fighting off aliens, like this one. Sometimes you get the hero being the alien, particularly if the girl has been kidnapped by the alien to be his mate—there’s one of those in this pile.” She waved a hand over the books. “And the aliens in those circumstances are always humanoid.” She laughed. “I’ve never come across a story yet where the girl falls in love with a ten-armed, purple, blobby-like monster.”

  “Very funny!”

  She frowned. “Not sure I’ve ever come across any with robots in them. I suppose because it is difficult to get the robot to experience any emotions.”

  He considered that. “Hm, that’s pretty much what Sam said about my book that bombed. Okay, so who are the bad guys in your books?”

  “Um, more humans, I guess. Similar to contemporary stories, you can have criminals and bad people in space, even jerks. But you don’t have to have bad guys in a story, the conflict can come from the tension between the hero and heroine.”

  “Yeah, I guess. I’ve tended to write straightforward action stories where the hero from Earth goes into space and the plot revolves around him getting out of difficult situations involving bad guys, space wars, space disasters, and so on.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  He looked at her surprised. “What do you mean you know? Has Gina told you about my books?”

  Lissa knew she had gone red again and cursed her fair complexion. “Well, I’ve read them.”

  “You have? All of them?” He sat silent for a moment after she nodded before clearing his throat. “And what did you think of them?”

  She groaned to herself. She knew that question was coming. She had read his books because they were written by him, but how could she admit they weren’t really her type of book?

  Clearly realizing her conflict, he stated quietly, “You hated them, didn’t you?”

  “No! It’s—it’s just they lacked the softer emotions,” she admitted equally quietly. “They were all about hostility, aggression, winning.”

  “Hell.” He took a deep breath. “Okay. Thanks for being honest. This has been a terrific help. You’ve given me a lot of food for thought.”

  * * * *

  After Matt left the apartment, taking some books with him, Lissa ruminated on the evening. It had been fabulous having him to herself, and she thanked her lucky stars that the others had all been detained. She had thoroughly enjoyed her discussion with Matt, even if it had been a bit embarrassing in places. She chuckled, remembering, but then sobered as she noted that he had left in deep despondency and would probably never want to discuss these things with her again. Oh well, at least I had one evening with him.

  Or maybe she could get Gina to ask him over for dinner and get her to pretend her car broke down. That’s an idea.

  Chapter 3

  Matt picked up the phone and put it down again. His hand was shaking. He had been thinking about Lissa ever since the other night. So much so he couldn’t get on with his writing.

  Turning from his phone, he pi
cked up a sheet of paper which was supposed to contain the first words of his new novel. The only thing written on it was—Lissa, Lis, Li, Lissa-Li, Lissa-Lu, Lula, Lulabelle, Lissabelle, Bella, Bella Lissa, and back to Lissa again. What he learned about her that night had been mind-blowing. He had never really talked to her properly before the other night and found her incredibly intelligent. He had thought her reasonably attractive in the past, but he was amazed how much he was aware of her now as if a lightbulb had switched on. How her hair curled at the ends as it fell about her chin, how red it appeared when she stood under the light, how her eyes turned gray when she was embarrassed but more green-gray when she was relaxed, how gorgeous her butt was in her jeans. He smiled to himself. And she still stuttered around him.

  Reaching out for the phone again, he took a deep breath, let it out slowly to calm himself, and then dialed. It took so long before anyone answered he nearly put the phone down.

  “Hell—o?”

  His heart jumped. He thought for a moment it was Gina answering. He panicked, trying to remember the excuse he had made up in case it was his cousin who answered and not Lissa.

  “Is anyone there?”

  “Sorry, Lissa?” he queried. Even though he thought it was her he had to be sure.

  “Yes. Is this M–Matt? How’s the story going?”

  “Well, it’s about that I wanted to speak to you.”

  “Oh?”

  “I am stuck on a scene and need your help.”

  “Hey that’s great. That you are working on a story, not that you are stuck.” She giggled. “So you want me to organize the girls again?” He thought he heard sadness in her voice when she suggested this.

  “Um, actually, I hoped you would be available tonight.” He only wanted to see Lissa again, no one else. He actually hadn’t written anything but had plotted in his head a scheme to get her to come round to his place so he could see her again. Well, he was a writer. He came up with plots all the time.

  “Tonight! That’s a bit soon to arrange the others.”

  “No!”

  There was silence before she continued. “I beg your pardon?”

  “Sorry, I meant just you. You were so helpful the other night, so I thought just you could help me…” he finished lamely. It sounded like a pathetic excuse even to him. And you call yourself a writer, he chided himself.

  “Me!”

  “Yeah, you were very supportive and insightful. It was incredibly useful. So can you come, say 7:30?” he asked hopefully but without much confidence that she would agree.

  “Okay.” His heart plummeted—she didn’t sound very interested. Then she continued, “That would be fine. I’d love to. Do you need me to bring more books?” He was confused. She now sounded keen. He’d never work women out.

  “No more books. Just yourself.” He groaned to himself. She’s going to get suspicious if I insist it’s just her one more time. “Do you know where I live?”

  “Yup, I’ve been to a party with Gina at your place before now. See you then.” She put the phone down, leaving him with the dial tone in his ear, wondering how the hell he was going to play this one now it was actually happening.

  His plan to get her by herself to his place had required him to come up with an imaginary scene from his nonexistent book. Well, he was the creative one. He needed a scene where the hero gets to touch the girl. He grinned. Lissa knew he was writing erotic scenes, so she shouldn’t be too startled if he just happened to touch her breasts or, better still, her butt, or kissed her maybe. Or even all three. His grin faltered. Of course, she could turn round and slap his face and storm out. Did things like that happen these days? I’m going to have to stop watching old films.

  * * * *

  “Y–You want me to do what?”

  Matt grimaced. This wasn’t boding well, and he wasn’t a charmer. The reason he and Sam got on well was that neither of them were good at chatting up girls. He was still surprised that Jessie had fallen for Sam. Although she was very shy, he had always found her to be intelligent so it amazed him that Sam’s lines worked. But that took him back to the fact that he didn’t understand women. His attention was brought back to Lissa, who was waiting for him to explain. “Let me clarify it better. My hero is a bounty hunter in space, and he has kidnapped a girl who is resisting him. So he has bound her to a wall of his space ship.” He paused. “And I need help practicing it.”

  Lissa cleared her throat. “You want to tie me up?” Her voice appeared to be a little high-pitched, and her face was flushed.

  “Yup. Are you okay with that?”

  “Okay. Where are we going to do this?”

  “The bedroom.”

  “The bedroom!” she squeaked.

  “Well, that’s the only place where I have a hook on the back of the door to recreate this scene.”

  “I understand. I think. Lead on, MacDuff,” she declared as she stood.

  Matt frowned, not understanding the reference.

  She clearly noticed and rolled her eyes, her hands on her hips. “It’s from Macbeth—and you call yourself a writer.”

  “Hey, I’m the writer, you’re the reader.” He grinned as they bantered, and he led the way into the room in question. Lissa followed slowly.

  Going to the chest of drawers, he picked up a tie he had gotten out earlier to bind her with. Turning back, he stepped forward and pulled her out of the doorway she was hovering in so he could close the door to reveal the hook on the back.

  “I need you to get into character. Remember, you are resisting capture, so don’t hold back as I need to know how easy it is to grab hold of a resisting girl.”

  “Stop right there then.” She crossed her arms.

  He stepped back, wondering if she was now going to say no to this venture before he had started. “What?”

  “Well, if you’ve suddenly come upon me, presumably you’ve taken me from behind. Otherwise I’d be running away from you. I’m hardly likely to stand here meekly and be tied up, am I?”

  “Yeah.”

  She turned obediently. “Will you already have the tie, rope, whatever in your hand or somewhere on your body?”

  “I’ll attach it to my belt. Good thinking. Keep going, Sherlock.”

  “I aim to please, Watson.” She then squealed as he suddenly grabbed her, one arm across her arms, over her breasts and the other around her waist.

  “Urgh,” he exclaimed as she kicked him in the crotch in her struggles. He let her go so he could bend down and regain some sensibility.

  As she turned round, a hand went to her face in horror. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry.”

  “Actually,” he squeaked then he dropped his pitch trying to appear untouched, “this is useful. If I was doing a spoof, that would fit in well, but since I’m not, my heroine will amazingly avoid doing this to the hero who, if I remember what you said correctly from our last discussion, has to remain manly at all times.”

  She giggled.

  He stood upright taking a deep breath. “Okay, back in position please, and remember no feet off the ground.” This time she struggled with her upper body only. She still managed to do this very violently. Matt cursed. He was so busy keeping hold of her he couldn’t get hold of the tie. He stopped and told her.

  “Well, he’ll have it in his hands when he grabs her then,” she suggested.

  “Yes—and I’ve thought of something good. It can be a self-binding rope that will seal the instance he brings her hands together.” He grinned at his cleverness.

  “A what?” She had her hands on her hips.

  “This is the future, and he’s a bounty hunter. He’s bound—forgive the pun—to use the latest technology for his profession.”

  Lissa laughed and obediently held out her hands to be bound.

  “Uh-uh. Turn round. I need to know how it works with the guy taking her from behind.”

  “I beg your pardon,” she responded incredulously at his comment.

  “You know what I mean.” Turning
her forcibly, he resisted the urge to slap her butt despite having a huge desire to do so. After she turned, he took hold of the tie and moved in close, wrapping his arms around her. Taking hold of her hands, he tied them. This time she didn’t struggle much, just shuffled around.

  “Now what?” She wriggled against him. He tightened his arms to hold her still and felt her take a silent gasp as she clearly became aware of his erection, which, amazingly, was hard despite the earlier setback.

  Pretending it hadn’t happened, he continued, “What would you be doing if you were the girl?” he asked softly, his head close to her ear. He tried to breathe normally, but her closeness was arousing him.

  Silent for a moment, she then stated in a breathy voice, “It depends how hunky he is. If she wanted him, she wouldn’t struggle much.” She giggled.

  He did slap her butt this time, but gently. “Stop it, you minx. She doesn’t want to be taken because it will mean being sent back to her owner.”

  She turned in his arms, her face showing her astonishment. “Her owner! What sort of future is this?”

  Grinning at her fierce expression, he quickly invented a story. “She put herself into servitude to pay off debts but then ran away from her cruel and ugly master who wants her back—hence the bounty hunter.”

  “Okay, so she doesn’t want to be taken, then. Particularly if her owner is ugly,” she retorted with a mocking tone. “Therefore she’ll be screaming blue murder and continually struggling to get free.”

  Turning her back, he continued, “Let’s assume I am incredibly muscular and no amount of struggling will get you free. In fact, she is so busy struggling she hasn’t noticed he has managed to pin her hands to the hook in the wall of the spaceship.” He proceeded to move her back to the door. Turning her to face him, he lifted her bound hands and tied them to the hook and then stepped back a pace. God, she looked gorgeous standing there tied up with nothing to stop him touching her body. Maybe there is something in BDSM after all.

  “That’s a cop-out.”

  He was confused. How did she know what he was thinking? “What is?”

  “When the guy manages to get the girl to where he needs her to be because she is too busy struggling, looking around her, or distracted by something.”