by Candy Caine
* * *
Adam was late for dinner. What a surprise, Jill thought sarcastically as she curled up on the den sofa and booted up her Kindle to the story she’d been reading. She might even finish the book while she waited for “his highness” to come home.
A little voice inside her head chastised her for her attitude. It would only press the wrong buttons and start another argument like the doozy they’d had on Saturday. That was the last thing she needed. She wanted peace and harmony. But most of all, she desired to return to the days when they couldn’t keep their hands off one another. Just thinking about it made her horny.
* * *
As Adam sat on the train taking him home from Manhattan to Locust Valley, an upscale suburb on Long Island, he thought about the arguments he and Jill had been having frequently over the long hours he'd been putting in at work. He knew she was lonely, but there was little he could do to change that.
So many times he wanted to tell her about how stressful his job had become. When he had first joined Roberts, White and Gould Advertising Agency, the firm felt like a second home. The CEO, Joseph Roberts, had taken Adam under his wing, obviously having detected his potential. During that time Adam worked his butt off and was rewarded with handsome raises as he rose from the rank of account manager to account director and eventually a group account director. He was definitely on the fast track to becoming the director of client services.
Unfortunately, Joseph Roberts succumbed to a heart attack and died. The agency continued without Roberts for nearly a year before the economy took a downturn and revenues fell. White and Gould sold the agency to Hartford Advertising, a larger, more global agency.
Everything changed with the sale of the company. Things became very volatile. The director of client services was let go, along with several other account directors. Even though Adam was spared, more stress was added to an already tense situation. The new director of client services was a ball buster and constantly on Adam’s back to speed up the timelines of projects and bring more revenue into the agency. Fortunately, that guy had lasted only several months, but during those months, he’d expected one hundred and twenty percent from Adam and his team of account directors, which had been decimated.
It was as if Adam had to prove himself all over again. It was his responsibility to ensure that all the work for over a dozen accounts was completed on time and within budget. It was his head on the chopping block if the clients weren’t happy.
With the economy so sluggish, most companies had to cut their spending. Advertising was the first expense item to go, and the agency was feeling the pinch. People who had been there as long as he were being let go. For a long while, when he walked in each day, he felt his guts liquefy, wondering if it was his turn to receive a pink slip.
Adam was taught by his father it was a sign of weakness to tell anyone—especially women—of your flaws. “Never tell your problems to a woman, boy. They'll just use them to emasculate and eat you alive,” his daddy had said. And lately things with Jill hadn’t been so hot. So, he'd told her none of what was happening at work. There was no way he'd want to worry her or have her think of him as anything less than a success. He'd rather die than lose his job and fulfill her parents’ low expectations of him. Therefore, he kept all his apprehensions about work to himself.
It mattered little to Jill’s parents that he had provided their daughter with a beautiful home in an affluent area of Long Island, because they’d never forgiven him from taking her away from them and her culture. To them, Adam was white trailer trash and would remain so. They’d tarred him with the same brush as his father, an alcoholic, who couldn’t seem to hold a job for long. Adam was worthless in their eyes and they never turned down a chance to let him know it.
How could he even hint to Jill his job had been in jeopardy? There was no way. He loved Jill, but blamed her attitude on her parents, who he felt had filled her pretty head with unrealistic expectations about marriage. Adam was doing everything he could to make her happy. But, unfortunately, he was human and not a superman. And he doubted that those black guys her parents had hand-picked for Jill were, either.
Chapter Three
Jill had always loved to read as a child, so she merely continued to do just that as an adult. She devoured one romance book after another. It was a poor substitute for everything she felt was lacking in her own life, unless she was happy having sex once or twice a month— if she was lucky. Reading allowed her to escape reality for a brief time and vicariously live the life and loves of the heroines. It wasn't too different from when she was a child and craved her mother’s love. Too bad the woman had just enough for herself and her causes. Many times Jill and her sister, Lynne, had to raid the refrigerator for dinner.
However, Jill didn’t consider reading to be a hobby—at least not in the classic sense like sewing or scrapbooking. So despite her outward reluctance, she continually searched for something more that she could tailor to her needs. Something that would sustain her interest longer than a few days and get her creative juices flowing. Perhaps something that would make Adam stop and take interest.
She wasn’t certain when the idea first began to germinate in her mind, but after having read her zillionth romance, and disappointed with the ending, she found herself thinking of an alternate one. Realizing what she was doing, it occurred to her that she should try to write her own book. Why not? After all, she had nothing to lose. So Jill decided to write her own romance novel.
And from that moment on, she became a lady with a mission. She had given herself a goal and would stop at nothing to achieve it. With Adam away from home so much, she felt as if she had all the time in the world to pursue this dream—and pursue it, she would.
* * *
Knowing absolutely nothing about the technique of writing, Jill went to the library after work and picked up several books on the subject to get her feet wet. That night she read way into the wee hours. By the time she had to shower and dress for work, Jill was hooked. She truly wanted to write.
The next day after work, she marched into the Apple store and purchased a laptop. Adam had a computer at home, but she wanted her own. And honestly, she felt more comfortable keeping her writing plans a secret—especially from him. That way, if she failed and didn’t complete a book, there would be no embarrassment.
With her new computer safely stowed in the trunk of her Sonata, she drove home excited about her new venture. In fact, there was so much excitement bubbling inside her that it nearly made her giddy. The feeling reminded her of Christmases past when she was a child about to open her first present. She could hardly wait to set up her new laptop.
This idea of writing and creating a story that could transport people into the time and place of her choosing was quickly becoming a passion—a vehicle into which she could channel all her needs and desires. And it made her feel good—really good.
Because of You by Candy Caine is available at MyRomanceStory.com and wherever e-books are sold.
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Because of You
Defying her parents by marrying Adam, a white man, Jill Stone believed love could conquer all. And throughout Adam’s rise as an executive in a large New York advertising agency, Jill bottled up her unhappiness about his long hours and many trips out of town. But when their sizzling love life fizzled, she couldn’t keep quiet anymore. She wanted him home. More. And in her bed.
Adam recognized his marriage was going down the tubes, but couldn’t exorcise the demons of Jill’s parents thinking he wasn’t good enough for her, and the fear that he might somehow end up a failure like his father. He had to succeed. At all costs. To compound his problems, his latest boss was a gorgeous blonde who took one look at Adam’s buff, six foot-two body and didn’t make any bones about wanting him. Anyway she could get him.
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HEATED PLEASURES
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Claudia Bell finds passionate love with widower, Henry Williamson. The strength of their love is soon put to the test by the machinations of both their adult children to keep them apart. Henry is black and Claudia is white. Why can’t they stick to their own kind? The children grumble.
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When a tall, handsome, hunk in cutoff sweats gets in Marnie Davis’s face for hijacking his Laundromat dryer, sparks fly. She calls him a barbarian. He calls her a hooligan. Imagine her chagrin then, to find the barbarian, Scott Langley, dressed like a GQ model in her law offices the next day. It turns out Scott is the godson of one of the partners of her firm.
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