Let me tell you a secret...(warning: includes a pumpkin porn reference)

I'm having one of those, "OMG where am I going with this???" moments because I'm trying to figure out where to take the new series.  The thing is, I have a secret and it's messing with my plans.

To explain: I'm going to write novellas centred around the Arlington family. They're hot, aristocratic, filthy rich, and in trouble. And  I have just the curvy girls who're going to sort them out.

The books are dying to hit the page! But the dilemma is that I'm not sure if I should go for steamy or straight romance.

With straight romance it's all about the  progression of the love affair. It's how they get to know each other, how they fall for each other.  There may be kissing but that's pretty much it.

With steamy you get that plus hot scenes that runs from kissing to sex but without the wealth of detail you get in erotica. So they'd "come together" and he'd have "male hardness" instead of lingering descriptions rich with words like "cock".

Okay, so here's the secret I'd like to share: I ghostwrite erotica. Yup, for the last few years I have been writing oodles and oodles of super hot, pornographic sex scenes. I write romantic porn, BDSM, toy stories, fetish - everything.  My clients are authors who need a sexy scene but who can't or don't want to write them.

I have written erotica involving a demon, a pumpkin and a witch. I also wrote up an orgy involving three soldiers and five girls in a desert oasis - and I kept track of who was doing what with whom throughout. Never lost track of a male hardness. So there. That's what I've been doing.

Now, for my own novels  I want to indulge in Romance rather than erotica. I'm prefectly happy to put in a little steam, but I'm not sure how much to put in. What is further complicating my indecision is that I write super dark romance as AJ Adams. AJ is very much full-on and I don't want my AJ head to lead me astray as to what sweet romance readers want most.

So I have a question: if you've read His Competent Woman and His Laughing Girl, can you tell me which you preferred? Emma is plain romance and Sophie  leans towards steamy. If you preferred Sophie, was she your level of steamy or would you like it a teeny bit hotter?

In a nutshell, tell me if you're looking for:
1. Straight Romance, like His Competent Woman
2. A Little Steamy, like His Laughing Girl
3. Whoohoo, Full Steam Ahead! Pile it on for the Arlingtons, lady!

Let me know?