Rosemary's Double Delight (16 page)

* * * *

Rosemary looked around the crowded convention room at all the colorful booths and banners representing her favorite publishers and authors. Feeling like a little kid in a candy store, she waded into the enthusiastic chaos of talking people and twittering fans. Rosemary grinned as, here and there, she spotted more cover models, all dressed in costumes they must’ve worn for some of their cover shoots.

There were lots of cowboys, leather-clad biker dudes, as well as loin-cloth-clad otherworldly Lords and Explorers, along with the requisite vampires and were-shifters. Many were decorated with wild, sexy tattoos. There were also several that had military or mercenary looks to them.

They were all sexy as hell, but not one of them did anything for her. She still tingled pleasantly with the memory of her first ménage à trois from the night before. She planned to take plenty of pictures for the girls to enjoy, though.

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Wandering around, she worked her way up one row then down the next. She stopped at the first e-publisher’s booth she recognized the name of and mentioned both Grace and Rachel. The woman she spoke with briefly explained their submission process and gave Rosemary a business card and some printed literature to take to the girls and slipped a couple of complimentary new releases in the bag she handed to Rosemary, to thank her for stopping and asking.

A handsome and vaguely familiar cover model wandered over to that publisher’s booth, and the woman enthusiastically took a picture of Rosemary with him, using Rosemary’s cell phone camera. She recognized him as the cover model for one of her favorite erotic romances and asked him for his autograph, which he gladly signed for her. She moved on, and the process repeated itself twice more with other publishers and their cover models.

A man walked by, momentarily distracting her. Incongruous was the first word that came to Rosemary’s mind. Not because of how he was dressed but because of his demeanor. She’d seen several models dressed as bad-ass biker dudes, all of them over six feet, tanned with sexy tattoos, dressed in leather or denim, looking sexy as hell, fresh from a cover shoot.

This guy was the real deal. His tats were genuine, not painted on, and fully sleeved both arms from the wrists up, disappearing beneath the rolled sleeves of his white T-shirt which were stretched tautly over his bulging biceps. The sexy hunk wore a black leather vest that was covered with patches and logos. On the back of the vest was the emblem embroidered for the motorcycle club he was a member of, along with what must be his nickname. “Bad Dog.” He looked like a bad dog, too.

He walked over to one of the booths a few feet from where Rosemary stood surreptitiously watching him while she browsed through a book cover promo poster collection. She smiled, thinking that erotic romance
was
for everybody, not just women
.

To each his own.

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His tanned head was shaved smooth, and she noticed one of his tattoos peeked above the back of his T-shirt. He must’ve had a dragon tattoo on his back because to her it looked like the tail of a dragon snaking up and twining around to the base of his skull. He laughed at something the woman he was talking to said, and his voice had a rough, gravelly quality to it. Most of the cover models walking around averaged between six foot two and six foot five, but this guy topped out at five foot nine to five foot ten maximum. Mentally, she ticked through the list of authors she knew were here today and speculated on who he’d come to get an autograph from.

He finished his conversation, and she couldn’t help but watch him as he walked by her. She wasn’t interested in him so much as she was intrigued by him. His jeans were rumpled, and his boots were scuffed as he walked past her, holding her attention. He gave her a naughty, crooked grin and winked when she couldn’t suppress a giggle and continued on his way.

She clicked a picture of him, for kicks, and went on her way, visiting with publishers, promoting Grace and Rachel and getting all kinds of information. Several of the publishers’ representatives thought she was doing a really nice thing for her friends and slipped her extra copies of books and called cover models over to take pictures with her.

Over the PA system, an announcer promoted the beginning of a question and answer panel hosted by several authors. Evidently, many of the attendees were planning to participate. Rosemary would’ve gone, but her men would be picking her up soon, so she wandered the aisles as the crowds thinned considerably.

She was finishing a conversation with a new author promoting her first release from her publisher’s booth when she looked up and noticed “Bad Dog” again. He was talking with an author as she sat at her booth, a stack of books at her left waiting to be signed. The banner behind her displayed the cover of her latest best-selling novel and her name in bold, brazen lettering, Tessa Malone.

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The
Tessa Malone!
Rosemary felt a sincere fan-girl squeal coming on.

Ms. Malone looked like any other professional person present at the convention, maybe somebody’s daughter or girlfriend, who also worked a full-time job. Her hair was styled and her nails manicured.

She obviously took good care of herself but certainly did not look the celebrity type like Rosemary would’ve expected.

She’d read several of Ms. Malone’s novels, having truly enjoyed her genius wit, clever, snappy dialogue, and larger-than-life characters. She specialized in over-the-top, alpha male heroes who took what they wanted and heroines who totally kicked ass, inspired adoring devotion in their alphas, and
swallowed
every time. Rosemary knew Rachel was a huge fan, as well.

Bad Dog stood talking privately to Ms. Malone at her table.

Rosemary felt a little voyeuristic as she observed them. Bad Dog was momentarily distracted and looked away from her and down the aisle.

Ms. Malone glanced at him with open adoration in her eyes, her cheeks blushing a soft rose color, before she looked down at her hands shyly.

Once again focused on her, Bad Dog surreptitiously stroked a finger over Tessa’s knuckles. Tessa’s lips popped open soundlessly, and she froze under his touch. The magnetism between them was palpable even from a distance. Rosemary wondered if she was watching a fledgling romance blossom before her eyes.

Tessa looked beyond him and made eye contact with Rosemary.

Oops! Busted!
Then the author glanced away just as quickly, looking up and smiling into Bad Dog’s eyes. Bad Dog leaned down to her and whispered something to her before glancing behind him and then edged away, his finger once again stroking over the top of her hand.

Tessa closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Rosemary felt a little embarrassed for having stopped to witness that intimate exchange, but it wasn’t like they’d made any attempt at being

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discreet. When she looked up at Rosemary, Tessa smiled at her and shrugged as if to say, “Men!”

Rosemary grinned back and made her way down to Tessa’s table, drawn by curiosity and a genuine desire to meet her and get an autograph. Someone else approached Tessa first, and her attention was drawn to them. Tessa lifted a paperback and signed it then spoke a moment with them.

When Rosemary walked over, Tessa held her hands to her cheeks and whispered to her, “I think my cheeks are going to be sore from smiling so much. Hi, I’m Tessa Malone.” She stuck her hand out to shake Rosemary’s.

Rosemary shook her hand and said, “Sorry, I’m Rosemary Piper. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on your moment a bit ago. I find people watching very interesting and he seems so…”

“Out of place?”
Tessa whispered and giggled when Rosemary nodded emphatically. “Oh, honey, you have
no
idea.”

“Is he your boyfriend?” Rosemary asked conspiratorially. “Or is he a cover model? He looks like the real thing.”

Tessa’s sweet, hazel eyes sparkled as she laughed gaily. “Oh, he’s no cover model, that’s for sure. But he is a biker. He rode his Harley from the hotel this morning. He offered me a ride because I’m at the same hotel, but I wouldn’t do it.”

Rosemary’s jaw dropped, and she looked in the direction Bad Dog had walked away. “Why not?”

“Well, I wasn’t dressed for it but also because I didn’t want to make a fool of myself. I’m a
bit
of a chicken. And no, he’s not my boyfriend. He keeps doing things like that and…” Tessa blushed and sighed a little forlornly, looking in the direction he’d headed earlier, then looked away.

Tessa and Bad Dog looked like an unlikely pair, to be honest. She was dressed in a body-hugging black skirt and a silky red top and tall, black high-heeled boots. Tessa was curvaceous and reminded Rosemary somewhat of Grace, except that she had long, straight, dark
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brown hair and she wore rimless eyeglasses. However, opposites did attract.

Rosemary asked, “So is he a fan of yours?”

Tessa’s eyes twinkled. “Well, I suppose, but if you keep wandering around, you’ll probably see him again,” Tessa said with a smile and a giggle then changed the subject, peeking in Rosemary’s bag. “That’s quite a collection of publisher’s literature you have there.

Are you a writer?”

“Me? No! But I have two dear friends who are. I’m here with my fiancés at the Home Builder’s Convention on the other side of the Center, and I happened—”

“Wait.” Tessa held up a hand then crooked her finger at Rosemary and giggled before whispering to her, “Your
what
? Did you say

‘fiancés’ as in
plural
?” Tessa drew out the last word into two long syllables and held up two fingers.

Rosemary giggled and felt her cheeks tingle with heat. Suddenly,
she
was the one under the microscope. Rosemary looked around before leaning in closer and nodded conspiratorially. “Uh-huh! That’s
exactly
what I said. Wes and Evan.” Their handsome faces flitted through her mind as well as glimpses of their explosive and beautiful lovemaking the night before. Her cheeks went red-hot at the reminder.

Tessa leaned forward eagerly, glancing around quickly. “What kind of work do they do?”

“Custom-made furniture. Bedroom furniture is their specialty.

They built a big, custom bed for my friend and her three husbands,”

Rosemary said with another wicked giggle at Tessa’s reaction. She looked about ready to jump out of her seat.

“
Holy shit!
The hell you say!”

“Yeah!”

“And you’re
engaged
to two men? Where are you from, near here?” Tessa asked, sounding hopeful.

“We’re all from Divine, a few hours northwest of here.”

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“I’d love to be able to talk to someone who actively, successfully lives that lifestyle. You don’t know me at all, but would you mind if I contacted you online via e-mail sometime or on the phone? I promise I wouldn’t stalk you or anything. I’d love to be able to do a little research. It would mean an awful lot to me.”

“I’d be happy to talk to you and put you in touch with my friend. I can
guarantee
you she’d love to meet you,” Rosemary said, taking a pen and small notepad from her purse and writing her e-mail address and phone number on it.

Tessa got a dreamy look in her eyes but straightened up as an elderly man came to her booth and said hello and then asked her to sign a copy of her book for his shy, little wife who hovered nearby.

When the man departed, Tessa took a promo card from the stack in the middle of the table and wrote her e-mail address and Web site address on the back of it then handed her two more with the same information for Grace and Rachel.

Tessa whispered, “I live in Austin, but I’m this way all the time because I have family here. Maybe you’d like to get together for supper or lunch sometime. It would be a golden opportunity for me, and I’d be really grateful.”

“Oh my gosh, they’re gonna be so excited. They’re both huge fans of yours!” Rosemary said, looking at what Tessa had written, realizing she’d written down a private e-mail address, as the e-mail address her fans could write to her at was already printed on the back of the card.

“We should take a picture for you to send to them. Gimme your camera phone. Max, come here for a second, would you?”

Rosemary looked up as Bad Dog made another sudden appearance. He grinned wickedly at Rosemary before turning his intense, dark gaze on Tessa.

“What is it, baby doll?” he asked in a rough, sexy voice.

Oh, mama, that voice! He called her baby doll.

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The way he’d said it was equally as sexy, his intonation implying that he’d do
whatever
she wanted him to do.

“I want to take a picture with my new friend, Rosemary. She’s going to help me with some research. Would you do the honors, please?”

“Sure, baby doll, anything for you.” Bad Dog, also known as Max, took the camera from Rosemary and snapped several shots.

“You know, you should take a couple with Max, too, Rosemary.

Tell your friends you got a picture with a real, bad-ass biker dude.”

Max rolled his eyes, grinned, and handed Tessa the phone and murmured, “Sweet cheeks, you’re getting my hopes up. I’m gonna get you on the back of my Harley one of these days.”