Mandy is a lonely software analyst. Her job keeps her pretty busy with long hours, so she doesn’t have a man in her life—as much as she’d love to have one. What she does have is an impressive collection of erotic books and sex toys. And she loves acting out parts in the books she reads. It seems to be a fun way to get off.One evening after work, Mandy stops by the book store on the way home. She needs a new book to read. When she strolls into the erotica section, she sees: him. No, guys don’t read erotica, she argues with herself. Guys read Playboy and Penthouse. But there he was, thumbing through the stacks of books on the shelves. Trying to get up the nerve to talk to him, Mandy finds out he’s a lonely guy—a very busy marketing analyst, who doesn’t have a woman in his life.A crazy thought crosses her mind. She’s longed for a male to play the role in her books. Vibrators and cucumbers just weren’t cutting it. So Mandy asks him if he’d like to join her for a night of passionate fun. He agrees, and what would have been a lonely Friday night gets a whole lot more interesting.EXCERPT:It was Friday evening, and the end to another long work week. Mandy was glad the week was over. And Friday nights meant something else: a trip to the book store to find another book to read. She managed to read about one a week. Her current book, “By Love’s Lusty Light,” wasn’t particularly long, and she figured she’d finish it tonight, and have something new for Saturday.Making her way to the far back of the store—that’s where they hid the smut; Mandy usually had the whole area to herself. Not tonight; there was a guy in her section. A guy? she thought, guys don’t read erotica, they read Playboy and Penthouse and other magazines. Guys don’t read erotica. She walked slowly, thinking maybe he was in the wrong section. Buying smut was a rather private thing, and Mandy preferred to be left alone to peruse the books at her leisure. But the guy didn’t budge; instead, he grabbed a book and looked at the back cover. Mandy almost wanted to laugh. He had “By Love’s Lusty Light” in his hands. Too funny.Terror gripped her. Mandy really wanted to say something, but the words were choked up in her throat. Getting a better look at the guy, she realized he was pretty good looking. He stood maybe six feet tall, and had dark brown hair that was reasonably short. His clothes said he was a man of indoor work—no jeans and t-shirt for him. He wore black slacks, a pale cream button down shirt, a red tie, and loafers of some description. Mandy couldn’t see his eyes, they were hidden behind fairly thick glasses. Over all, he didn’t look that bad. The question was: was he a freak? He was a guy in the erotica section of the book store.He glanced up, surprised to see someone standing there. “Uh, hi,” he said awkwardly.“Hi,” she replied, still eyeing him with some suspicion. “You read these?”“Uh, yeah.” His cheeks flushed bright crimson. “But I’m not a weirdo or anything.”“Ah.” Mandy stepped a little closer.He held up the book. “Have you read this one yet?” She giggled. “Reading it right now; about done with it.”“Is it good?”“Yeah.”He offered his hand. “Uh, I’m Robert.”She took his hand, still a little skeptical. “Mandy.”“Nice to meet you.” He flipped the book back over. “Funny, the main character in the book is a Robert.”“Yeah, strange.” Mandy grabbed a book and looked at it. Seeing it wasn’t what she wanted, she shelved it. “So, what do you do for a living?”“The most boring job in the world: marketing analyst.”“I thought I had the most boring job: software analyst,” she replied.“Long hours?”“Yup. I don’t get out much.”He shook his head. “Me neither. Kinda why I started reading these books.”She looked up at him, seeing deep brown eyes behind the frames of his glasses. “Same here.” Mandy thought that without the glasses, he’d be rather sexy looking.
