A Whole Lotta Love
Page 33
“Hold on. Pizza first, then the movie. And tell me your news.” He peered out the window. “Did you park next to me?”
She nodded, opening one of the boxes. “Yep. I just hope you’re right and number 23 is away on vacation. I hate like hell to park Bud’s car on the main drag.”
Paul passed her a plate and a piece of kitchen towel to use as a napkin. “I keep telling you, it’s not Bud’s car. It’s a company rental.”
“I know.” She tore a piece of melted cheese off the top of the pizza and slurped it into her mouth with relish. “Mmm. Good. Got a beer?”
Paul opened the fridge, remembering once again why he was totally crazy about this woman. “Here.”
“Thanks.” She twisted the top off the bottle. “But the car came at Bud’s orders. Therefore, it’s Bud’s car.”
“It’s his way of saying thank you for not suing him, Nick or Four Coin Productions. And it’s only until you get your own, honey. You know that.”
“As if I’d sue Bud.” She snorted and loaded her plate. “It wasn’t his fault Nick was hyped up to the eyebrows. You heard anything about him, by the way?”
Paul led the way into the living room with his own beer and pizza in his hands. “He’s still detoxing, apparently. They’ve got him off the steroids, but his package just isn’t the same. Side effects of that shit, so they say. I reckon his career as a super stud porn star is pretty much over.”
“Can’t say I’m sorry to hear that.” Toni settled on the couch and tucked her jean-clad legs up under her.
“So.” Paul stared at the folders. “You gonna show me?”
“Okay.” She grinned. “This is it. Our very first project presentation. A series of five movies, all based in and around a beauty spa.” She picked up the top folder and showed him the cover. “Isn’t it gorgeous?”
Paul looked it over with an experienced eye, admiring the rich colors and the merest hint of a woman’s hip in the clouds scudding over the building. “Tasteful.”
Toni nodded. “That’s what Suze said she wanted. If we’re going to sell our ideas and get our movies funded, Paul, we have to place ourselves into the right niche. We’re not porn, not in the traditional sense. We’re erotica, sensual erotica, aimed at women. So we had to get the look right before we could start to market anything at all.”
Paul grinned. “You think it’ll fly?”
“If I have anything to say about it, it will.” Toni nodded her head emphatically. “I plan on putting everything I’ve got into this marketing plan. I owe it to Suze. And myself, I guess.”
“You do, Toni. You’ll make it a great success.” He leaned over and gripped her hand. “I know it.”
Paul did know it. Not long after that eventful weekend at the beach, Toni had called him and told him of Suze’s proposal. A studio producing adult movies aimed at women. Stories with plots, scripts, stars who could act as well as fuck and the best production values they could possibly manage. And when she mentioned the fact that Suze had asked her to be their Marketing Manager—well, the thought of the celebration they’d had that night still made Paul’s eyes roll.
Since then, Toni had worked like the devil, pouring every moment she had into something she was excited about. And never once had she ever mentioned appearing in front of the camera.
“Thanks. That means a lot.” She smiled. “We have the first five outlines, a few shots from each location, synopses and a list of potential stars. That’s enough for me to start making calls. Perhaps work up a solid presentation or two. It’s sooo fun.”
Crunching down on a piece of pizza crust, she leaned over and nudged him. “Your turn.”
Paul smiled as he reached over to the side table and with the air of a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat produced—a blank DVD case. “Ta da.”
“Uh…honey? Isn’t there supposed to be a picture or something on the cover?”
Paul rolled his eyes. “There will be. But you were in such a hurry to see the damn thing I had to swipe this off the pre-sale pile. They’ll label them before distribution.”
“Ahh.” Toni looked suitably impressed. “It’s nice the way you teach me things.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He reached for the remote. “You want popcorn now? Or shall we wait?”
“Let’s wait for a bit. I’m good with the pizza for now.”
“Okay.” Paul turned on his TV, the surround system, the DVD player and all the other associated electronic gizmos that a twenty-first century man needs to watch television with one elegant flourish of his phone.
Toni settled in next to him, nursing her beer. “This is cool.”
He put his arm around her. “Yep. A new movie on a big screen TV, my girl next to me, beer and pizza. What more can a guy ask for?”
They leaned back together as the movie began.
“What’s that?” Toni nodded at the odd frame references appearing one after another.
“The cues for the coming attractions. They’ll be added to the commercial release.”
“Oh.” She nodded. “Okay.”
“Er, Toni?”
“What?”
“If you keep your hand there, the attractions aren’t going to be the only things coming.”
The music swelled, muffling Toni’s giggle and the sound of a zipper being lowered. Her head dipped downward. “Mmm. I sure hope you’re right…”
About the Authors
S.L. Carpenter and Sahara Kelly began their writing collaboration going on fifteen years ago. It was unexpected, since they live about as far away from each other as it’s possible to get in the USA without getting your feet wet. But it worked.
Since then, they’ve explored a wide and colorful variety of subjects, and written stories that entertain, amuse, and sometimes astound their readers. One thing will always be a part of their writing—that touch of humor. Sometimes unexpected, sometimes blatant, both Scott. and Sahara believe that laughter is essential, especially when it comes to sex. Because sex is, without a doubt, one of the funniest activities humans engage in on a regular basis. If one excludes salmon tossing, of course. If you’d like to find out a bit more about these two strangely charming and absurdly attractive people (one of whom is writing this paragraph) then you can check the websites below and satisfy your curiosity about their books.
Sahara suggests you subscribe to her newsletter. It’s available without charge, and free is always good. Plus she won’t pepper your inbox with incessant political opinions, recipes or pictures of their cats. (Link below). And it’s worth noting that if you enjoyed the stories you just read, you’ll absolutely want to follow these two authors on Amazon, since they are currently at work on more fun projects, and you don’t want to miss the latest news or release schedules, do you? We didn’t think so!
Website: S.L. Carpenter
Where you can find out more about S.L. Carpenter, his books, his art and his off-the-wall observations on life, baseball and rubber chickens. (The fundamental components of happiness—as we all know so well.) He has quite a few single titles available and encourages you to check them out if you haven’t already.
You may subscribe to Scott’s Amazon Page here and his author page on Facebook here. Both good places to keep up with his slightly twisted and funny look at life!
Website: Sahara Kelly
This is where Sahara Kelly shares none of the intimate details of her life, but will present you with a list of books she’d like you to buy so that she can go do research on a beach in Aruba and be pampered with massages and drinks with umbrellas in them. She’ll send you a postcard. Thank you.
You can get on Sahara’s newsletter list here and see what she’s blogging about here. It usually has nothing to do with her books. Refreshing, huh? Oh, and don’t forget to follow her at Amazon.com here.
ALSO BY S.L. CARPENTER AND SAHARA KELLY
Whole Lotta Love (series page)
Love In the Cards
Love on the Road
Love under the Lights
Happy Endings Anthology
Feels So Right Anthology
So Into You
The Working Stiffs Series
Hired Help
Open House
Full Service
Showing Off
(As a postscript, both authors would like you to know that they are currently reviewing, re-editing and re-releasing more of their older books to which they have now retrieved their rights. So if you have read some of their earlier stories and can’t find them, please be patient? Many novels from the early days need a bit of updating – pagers and Walkmen anyone? – along with editing for a new generation of readers. Thanks and Happy Reading from Scott and Sahara.)
And as a final note (we promise) Scott and Sahara would like to mention that they are now co-owners of a slightly different kind of venture, blending another of their shared passions— art. If you’re interested in seeing what they get up to when they’re not writing something twistedly hot and sexy, they’d like to invite you to come visit their little Art for Authors and Others business at the link below. It’s been going for over five years now and both of them are thrilled with the new friends they’ve made and the great covers now out there from their company. They’re certainly never bored…
P and N Graphics, LLC