Read Online Ecstasy (A Contemporary Romance) by Bella Andre - Free Book Online Page A

get into his
pants.
    “I’m not in love,” she said aloud. “I’m in
lust. Big difference.”
    Feeling a little better, a little saner,
Candace took a sip of java. Suddenly words began to dance through
her mind.
     
    Jolene was a good girl. She was the kind of
girl boys took home to their mother’s and said, “I’m going to marry
her, Mom.” They took one look at her angelic blue eyes and smooth
golden hair and knew she was pure as driven snow.
    Jolene had spent her entire life with nuns.
In Catholic school uniforms. When she was a little girl, she
thought every other little girl got ready to go to school in the
exact same way she did, automatically reaching into their closet
for the blue and white plaid jumper and white cotton shirt. She
thought the only clothes in the world were white cotton knee socks
and black patent leather Mary Janes.
    Mary, Jolene’s mother, was pleased with how
well-behaved her daughter was. They were more like sisters than
mother and daughter, and Mary thought Jolene told her everything.
But if Jolene ever had secret thoughts in her pink and white
ruffled bedroom late at night, under the covers with a flashlight,
reading the latest Nancy Drew mystery about a mysterious boy who
kidnapped her and gave her forbidden kisses, she never told her
mother about them.
    The day Jolene turned twenty-one, she was
offered a full-time position playing piano for the church. For the
first time in her life she was torn. She loved the nuns with all of
her heart. Growing up in the safe environment of her private school
had brought her nothing but happiness, but lately she had begun to
feel a yearning inside of her that grew stronger every day.
    Unbeknownst to her teachers, to her parents,
and to her few chaste and respectful boyfriends, Jolene had been
sneaking off to the used bookstore downtown and spending her
allowance on books.
    Jolene had long ago outgrown Nancy Drew. Her
fingers trembled as she read Judy Blume. And then Jude Deveraux.
And then Katherine Woodiwiss.
    Jolene would have sworn that no one liked
sex, that her parents had copulated only to create her and then
settled back in their separate bedrooms as soon as her father’s
sperm sunk into her mother’s egg.
    In these books she saw a far different
reality and knew it was something she had to experience for
herself. Before she agreed to marry one of the boys who wanted her
only as a wife and mother. Before she agreed to spend the rest of
her days playing piano in accompaniment for little girls as they
sang their hymns.
    Bravely she told her parents and the nuns
that she was going to spend some time in the city. She told them
she was going to work with a local church there—which in fact she
was, part time—and they were all so proud of her. Her parents found
her an apartment and paid for six months’ rent and didn’t worry
about their precious daughter. Why would they, when she had never
given them even the slightest bit of trouble?
    Jolene Mackenzie was a good girl.
     
    * * *
     
    Zane stood behind the bar and wiped another
glass dry, sliding it beneath the counter in preparation for
opening the bar. His bar.
    He still couldn’t believe “Piano Man” was
his. Every time he pulled up underneath the neon sign on his
Harley, he got a rush. But as he wiped down the brass counter one
more time, he frowned at his reflection. If he didn’t find a great
piano player, and fast, “Piano Man” would be a laughingstock among
piano bars. Unfortunately, the last five guys he had auditioned
stunk.
    Hell, he could play better than them, and he
could barely read a note.
    Someone from outside pushed the door open
slightly and a shaft of blinding light hit Zane across the
forehead.
    “ Excuse me,” he heard a timid little voice
say.
    “ We’re closed,” he said gruffly. “Come
back at five.”
    But the girl disobeyed him and walked through
the door.
    Zane looked at her in disbelief. The last
time he’d seen someone as prim and proper as the