Writes of Submission (34 page)

He took the cell phone out of his pocket, checking for messages and regretting losing Dante’s phone number during the whirlwind of activity over the last few days. Losing it had been semi-intentional. He’d known that he wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to call and let Dante know what was going on. Amazing how someone who’d been a loner for so long could suddenly not even keep a secret. He’d spent the whole morning pacing, calculating how long it would take them to fly out from California, and cursing the association for not meeting in Los Angeles this year.

He began dialing Ellen’s number once again. She had told him when the plane had landed, but surely they should have had time to get here and changed by now. Had they refused to come in, once they’d heard what was going on? Maybe they were angry at him and he’d miscalculated this whole thing.

As Ellen’s phone started to ring, he saw Dani and Roger slip in the back and hurry up the side toward his table. At the same Alice Thornton, the president of the association, took the podium and began her welcome speech. Kane reluctantly turned his phone off and accepted a quick hug from Dani as she slid into the seat next to him.

“She’s adorable!” Dani hissed into his ear, as he shook hands with Roger across her plate. “And that hunk with her—I’d do a threesome with him anytime!”

“Thanks, Dani. That makes me feel loads better,” Kane muttered out of the side of his mouth as they all turned to face Alice, who was introducing the various authors present and announcing what workshops and social events would be taking place.

“No, seriously!” She wrapped her fingers around his arm in what felt like a death grip as she whispered urgently, although her lips barely moved from the ostentatious smile pointed toward the stage. “He’s a major hottie! Can I get him to pose for my next cover?”

“We’ll see.” Kane rolled his eyes. “Where are they, anyway?”

But Alice was announcing the BDSM workshop that Dani would be teaching later, and Dani stood, waving and blowing kisses toward her fans, who were screeching ecstatically at seeing their hero.

“And now we have a special surprise for you,” Alice said when the authors she’d been introducing had all taken their seats again. The room went quiet and Kane turned for the thousand and first time to check the back door.

“We had an unfortunate cancellation from the author who was going to do our opening keynote,” Alice went on. “However, we’re all extremely fortunate to have someone here today who has graciously agreed to address us for a few minutes. This person is very well-known to almost everyone here, but many of you probably wouldn’t recognize this speaker in the lobby, at least if you weren’t watching television over the last couple of days. We’ve all read the wonderful books, but only a very select few were lucky enough to have actually met the author. That is about to change. I’d like you all to welcome Mr. Kane Harris, or as he’s been known to us all for years, Candee Appelbaum!”

Kane let out a sigh as he rose to his feet. He’d imagined this moment a million times before, but he’d never expected to be so nervous when it actually happened. He regularly communicated with many of the people in this room. They were the closest thing he’d had to a family since high school, but he’d never felt so alone. The room had gone completely silent as he squeezed Dani’s hand and stood. He froze, looking around to see if the crowd was lighting torches and tying nooses in preparation for the punishment he’d always half expected when he announced that he, a normal, average guy, wrote romance novels.

* * * *

Nikki had a tight hold on Dante’s hand as the elevator descended to the lobby. She looked nervously down at the beautiful, flowing green dress that had been laid out on the bed of the room Ellen had showed them into. There had also been lingerie, a hairstylist, and a pair of comfortable black flats, in consideration of her injured ankle.

Dante looked gorgeous in a suede jacket and silky dress shirt. He ran a hand through his hair and smiled down at her. “Are you ready for this?”

Nikki glanced at Ellen, who was bouncing impatiently, watching the numbers flash by as if her life depended on it. “I just wish I knew what I was getting ready for,” she murmured.

Dante squeezed her shoulders. “Guess we’ll find out. I think we can assume, though, that Kane wouldn’t have gone to this much trouble if he was dumping us.”

She tried to return his smile, but her insides were quivering too much. “This is all so confusing,” she said. “Why couldn’t he have called? What’s with all the mystery?”

The door opened then, and Ellen jerked forward, dragging her out into the hallway. Dante hurried to keep up, holding Nikki’s elbow so she wasn’t thrown off-balance by the frantic assistant.

They turned to the door of a huge room. It was so quiet that it took Nikki a second to realize that there were hundreds, possibly thousands of people at the round banquet tables. There was a woman standing at the podium at the front, smiling down at someone who was making his way to join her.

Suddenly the room burst into thunderous applause. The man on his way to the podium stopped and turned, and Nikki gasped.

It was Kane. His face, even from this distance, was as white as a sheet, and he looked around in apparent confusion, frozen in place. Then his eyes found Nikki’s and he glanced from her to Dante and back again.

His whole demeanor changed. His shoulders relaxed and a huge smile spread across his face. He loped easily the rest of the distance to the podium and kissed the woman there on the cheek.

Ellen was tugging at Nikki’s sleeve and pointing to the table that Kane seemed to have just vacated. “That’s your table, where Dani is sitting. See it?”

Nikki heard Dante whispering thanks to Ellen for her help as they began to make their way to their seats, but she couldn’t focus on anything other than Kane standing at the front of the room, smiling around at the crowd as if he’d just been given a reprieve. She took Dante’s hand and together they went to sit next to Dani and Roger, who gave them friendly smiles.

At the podium, Kane was beginning his speech. “I can’t tell you how much this welcome means to me. Thank you so much for forgiving me for being a man.”

He stopped, allowing the crowd to laugh at his statement. “Seriously, this may be a sexist statement, but I think I have a much better appreciation for people like Jane Austen and George Eliot than most modern people, men or women—not to mention those brave souls, female impersonators. I want to thank you all for giving me the opportunity to practice my chosen profession without serious fear of rejection. Romance fans are a special breed. You don’t care if we don’t resemble the heroines—or even heroes—that we write about. You make us feel like rock stars, whether we have one book or fifty, and we love you just as much for being willing to read our books as you love us for writing them for you.”

The crowd clapped and whistled again, and Kane appeared to relax some more. “So I am thrilled to have the opportunity to welcome you to the North American Romance Writers’ Convention, as well as having the opportunity to hang out here with you, for the first time with the ability to admit who I am. This is a very special time for me, for many reasons, and I am glad that you, my friends, are here to share it with me. Before we go any further, though, I want to ask you all a huge favor.” Kane paused to allow the shouts to die down. “Thank you all. This year my publisher held a contest. We wanted to encourage more of you readers to find and embrace your inner author. They got many excellent entries, which I believe have resulted in numerous book contracts. Personally, however, I had a slightly different agenda for the contest. I wanted to find someone whose writing style would complement my own. I was tired of writing by myself and I suspected that a writing partner would help me improve my meager abilities. What I didn’t realize was that the contest would lead me to not one, but two new partners, and teach me the real wonders of the ménages we write about. When I read this woman’s writing, I knew she was just what I needed to push me to be the best writer I could be. We’ve been working together on a new book that I am confident is going to be the best book I’ve ever done, although I sincerely hope it’s just the first of many. In the process of meeting and working with this woman, though, I also met someone that would make the ménage lifestyle a reality for me. I would like you all to join me in welcoming two people who are my partners now, in life as well as in writing. They are the best partners a guy could ever ask for. Put your hands together for Nikki Sutherland and Dante Hunter, the best things that have ever happened to me.”

The sounds of applause thundered throughout the room as he motioned, beaming, for the two to join him on the stage.

Nikki stood and began walking toward him, half in a daze, only barely aware of the applause, Dani’s happy bouncing in her seat, and Dante walking behind her. It seemed to her that she must be dreaming. Any minute now her bedroom door would open for real and Dante would call for her to wake up. But she knew that if she were dreaming, there would be no memories of how she got to where she was. She could remember the whole day, with Allie racing around to secretly pack their bags, playing cards and chatting with Dani and Roger on the plane, and Ellen flitting around like the White Rabbit bemoaning the time. Dreams didn’t work like that, but still, this couldn’t possibly be real. It just couldn’t.

Kane took the few steps to the edge of the stage and offered his hand to Nikki, helping her up the stairs. When she was standing next to him, she became aware again of the huge crowd in the room and her knees became weak. As she swayed slightly, Kane’s arms went around her and he swept her into a hug, claiming her mouth for a smoldering kiss. The audience went crazy as he kissed her, and the sheer noise brought her back to her senses. Was she really on stage with a popular writer, being introduced as his new partner and coauthor? It didn’t seem possible. Kane pulled away a little, staring into her face.

She had the sudden, inexplicable urge to slap him and ask why he’d put her through so much uncertainty over the last few days, but she realized the audience might just lynch her if she seemed not to appreciate the hot kiss she’d just gotten.

“Are you okay?” Kane mouthed to her and she blinked at him.

“I’m not really sure I didn’t die in my sleep and go to heaven,” she murmured back. Kane laughed, turning to pull Dante into a bear hug that again sent the crowd into another round of clapping. It lasted until they broke apart and Kane motioned for the crowd to quiet.

Picking the microphone back up from where he had set it down to help Nikki onto the stage, Kane began to speak again. “Nikki is my writing partner and we will be bringing you the hottest, sexiest, steamiest book that you’ve ever read. She is the inspiration for every sexy lady I have ever written about and now you can see why.”

He twisted a little to pull Dante forward. “This is my main man, Dante. He helps us keep all of you in the loop of where we are, what we are doing and where we can see one another. He is the marketing mastermind behind me and Nikki and helps me keep her in line.” He then gave an exaggerated wink to the audience who hooted and laughed at the act.

“But seriously, I want you all to know that if you dream big and never give up, you can, with some luck, find the people who will make your life complete. For me, it was these two—yes, that’s right, these two. As you all know I have always written ménage books, but what you may or may not know is that when you live a lifestyle with multiple people outside of just the sex it is called polyamory. I—no, we—are polyamorous and each of these people are just as important to me as the other. I have grown over an amazingly short time to love and cherish both of them. I haven’t had the chance to tell them that before and wanted the first time to be public and memorable. Hopefully, with the help of all of you kind people, it has been.”

As Kane turned back to Nikki, she became aware that tears were streaming down her face. Her hand came up automatically to try to wipe them away, feeling horrified that she was openly crying in front of thousands of people like this. Instead of looking horrified, though, Kane simply smiled at her and pulled her to him for another kiss. Then he shifted his arms enough to allow Dante to join them, wrapping his arms around Nikki as well. She went from one to the other, kissing them both in turn. With that, the crowd erupted yet again in thunderous clapping that lasted far longer than any of them could believe.

Kane smiled at them as they waited for the noise to die down. Nikki thought that she’d never seen him so happy. It must have taken more of a toll on him than she’d realized, never being able to be public about who he was and what he really did.

Dante had suddenly turned his head up and she followed his gaze. Projected on the wall above and behind them was a twenty-foot image of a book cover. She began to wonder whose book it was and why they were showing it during Kane’s speech when the names at the bottom caught her eye. Candee Appelbaum and Nicky Hart.

It was the first time she’d ever actually seen and not just imagined her name on the cover of a book and Nikki felt her mouth drop open. She stared up at it until Kane moved, turning them all to face the audience again.

His voice had thickened a little when he continued. “This is why you are the best friends an author could wish for. I know my identity threw everyone for a loop and I want you to know that it was never our intention to mislead you. I think you will all agree that with the support of these two, we will continue to provide you with the best stories and hottest covers possible. We have many years of sharing our worlds and characters with you if you will have us.”