The Naughty Girls Book Club. Sophie Hart

She turned in the doorway to look at him. ‘Changed your mind already?’

      ‘No, sorry,’ he apologised. ‘I was just wondering …’ He broke off, unsure how to ask the question. ‘This probably sounds ridiculous but … I mean, I’m sure you haven’t, but I was just wondering …’ Reggie pushed his glasses up his nose self-consciously, as the heat rose in his cheeks. Selena was staring at him curiously, and his words tumbled out in a rush. ‘Have you read Ten Sweet Lessons?’

      Selena took one look at his terrified face and burst out laughing. ‘Oh God, yeah. Of course I have!’

      ‘Really?’

      ‘Absolutely. Pretty much everyone I know has read it. All the girls definitely have, and quite a few guys too. Even my mum’s read it!’

      ‘Oh.’ Reggie couldn’t hide his surprise. ‘So … um … what’s it like?’

      ‘Filthy,’ Selena replied with a grin. ‘Really graphic, and dirty – and great fun, of course. Totally addictive.’

      Reggie stared at the floor, suddenly finding that he couldn’t meet Selena’s eyes.

      ‘But … But it’s very badly written isn’t it?’ he stammered. ‘That’s what I’ve heard.’

      ‘Well, it’s not great literature, but it isn’t pretending to be. You don’t read low-brow erotica thinking it’s going to be Tolstoy. You read it for … other reasons. And it does exactly what it says on the tin,’ she smirked, her eyes twinkling. ‘Why? Are you thinking of letting it entertain you?’

      ‘No, no. Oh gosh, no, it’s not my sort of thing,’ Reggie bumbled. ‘Not my sort of thing at all. Just something I’d heard … for research … my thesis …’

      The microwave pinged and Reggie span round, grateful for the distraction.

      ‘Well I’d offer to lend you my copy, but my friend Sarah’s got it at the moment,’ Selena explained. ‘And then Gemma wants to borrow it after that, so …’

      ‘Oh, no, it’s fine,’ Reggie insisted, as he tipped his bolognese into a cereal bowl, hastily washing a fork as there were no clean ones left in the drawer. ‘I wasn’t asking to … It’s fine.’

      ‘Okay. Well, I’d better head to the shower. You’re sure you don’t want to come to the pub?’

      ‘No, thank you. But you guys have a good night.’

      ‘Will do,’ Selena smiled, then turned and walked out into the hallway. ‘Oh, I nearly forgot,’ Reggie heard her shout. ‘Something arrived for you from Amazon today.’

      She came back through to the kitchen, holding out the distinctive brown package. ‘What is it? Ten Sweet Lessons?’ she teased.

      ‘No, of course not,’ Reggie panicked, almost snatching it out of her hand. ‘It’s … something very serious and academic.’

      Selena pulled a face. ‘Rather you than me. See you later,’ she called over her shoulder.

      Tucking the parcel under one arm, and grabbing his dinner firmly with the other hand, Reggie sprinted upstairs to his own room, locking the door behind him.

      He sat down on the single bed and placed the package on the far corner of the duvet, eyeing it warily as though it was a bomb that might explode at any moment. Then he switched on his laptop, loaded up an episode of Game of Thrones, and slowly ate his meal.

      Fifteen minutes later, Selena called out, ‘Bye Reggie,’ and the front door slammed.

      Reggie paused his laptop and sat for a moment, listening intently, but the house was silent. Cautiously, he eased himself towards the parcel. The bed springs squeaked and Reggie froze, guilt surging through him, before he told himself not to be so ridiculous. Recovering himself, he leaned over, grabbed the cardboard package, and swiftly tore it open.

      There it was. The oh-so-familiar book cover he’d seen everywhere recently – in the window displays of Waterstones, in the number one slot at WHSmiths, even on the shelves of his local supermarket. It had been discussed endlessly on TV talk shows, the subject of innumerable newspaper features and magazine articles.

      It was dark grey, with a single red ribbon snaking across the front: Ten Sweet Lessons by CJ Jones.

      Reggie realised he was holding his breath as he stared at it, unable to shake the feeling that he was doing something very naughty. Then he reached forward and picked it up, flipping it over to read the blurb on the back.

       When innocent university graduate, Christina Cox, lands a job as PA to reclusive millionaire Alexander Black, she imagines a boring role looking after an elderly invalid all day. She doesn’t expect Alexander to be a handsome and charming bachelor barely older than she is, or the intense sexual attraction that develops.

       It soon becomes clear that Alexander has a much darker, more dangerous side than Christina could ever have imagined, as she finds herself drawn into a world of desire and depravity that’s impossible to resist …

       As Christina pushes her female sexuality to the limit, has she fallen too deep into seduction and does she have the power to surrender?

      ‘Jane Eyre re-imagined by the Marquis de Sade’ – The Independent

      ‘Erotic literature has come of age … The Story of O, brought skilfully and scandalously into the twenty-first century by CJ Jones’ – New York Times

      Casually, Reggie flicked though the book. Words seemed to jump out at him: tongue, licking, wetness, hot.

      Heart pounding, Reggie snapped it shut. This was far too embarrassing. There was no way he could do this. To put himself through the mental torture of reading such … trash, and then to go back to the book group and discuss it with those gossipy women … No. That was simply not going to happen.

      Reggie hadn’t even made up his mind about whether or not he would return to the Cafe Crumb book club. The previous meeting had been excruciating enough, without adding a sex-fuelled novel into the mix.

      He jumped up off the bed, opening his wardrobe and taking out the bottle of wine he’d stashed there (Reggie had learnt the hard way not to leave any alcohol in the communal areas of a shared student house). He poured himself a large glass and took a calming sip of the rich, fruity Shiraz, closing his eyes as he savoured the flavour.

      When he opened them again, Ten Sweet Lessons was sitting right where he’d left it, like a piece of evidence from a crime scene.

      Stop being so ridiculous, Reggie told himself sharply. It was just a novel, like any other. Okay, so it was erotica, but so were works by Chaucer, DH Lawrence and Anaïs Nin, all of which he’d come across during his undergraduate degree in English Literature. There was nothing at all to be ashamed of.

      Whether or not he decided to attend the next meeting, he might as well read the book now that he’d bought it. Just for research purposes of course. He would think of himself as an impartial investigator, detaching himself from the content and examining the novel from a purely academic point of view.

      Yes. That’s what he would do.

      Reggie opened Ten Sweet Lessons and began to read.

      5

      ‘Come on, Joe! That’s it – run! Come on, come on … hit it … Yeah! Goal!’

      Estelle jumped up and down on the freezing touchline, whooping loudly as she threw her arms in the air. She was barely recognisable, buried beneath layers of clothes to combat the crisp, early morning air, as she watched her son tear around the football pitch. His teammates jumped on him triumphantly, wrestling him to the ground, and as Joe eventually climbed out from underneath