minutes.
“That was a
good orgasm,” she said at last, wanting to speak and shaping the first words
that came into her head.
Lifting his
eyebrows slightly, Ander said, “Good.”
“I mean, I had
my expectations pretty low. I knew it wasn’t going to be like a hot love scene
in a book. But still it was really good. I liked it.”
“I’m glad.” To
her surprise, she saw the little twitch at the corner of his mouth. For some
ridiculous reason, the unexpected sight of it was like greeting an old friend.
“You don’t
think I’m weird or unnatural, do you?” she asked, “For having gone so long
without having a decent orgasm before?”
Ander shook his
head and answered with cool sobriety, “Not at all. It’s more common than you’d
think. Some women are too self-conscious to let themselves climax. And others
only have experiences with men who don’t know how to please them. With all the
erotica in popular culture now, many women have unrealistic expectations about
what sex should be like. So when their actual experiences don’t match with the
fictional fantasies, they think something’s wrong with them. But the reality is
it doesn’t happen magically, and a lot of men don’t know how to please a woman’s
body—even if they genuinely want to. You might be surprised by how many women
come to me for that very reason.”
Lori thought
about that and decided it was very comforting knowledge. Not that so many
women were unsatisfied but that she wasn’t the only woman who’d somehow missed
out on the orgasm-train. “You should give lessons,” she said at last, glancing
back over to him and catching him studying her closely. “Teach men how to do a
better job.”
For the first
time, she heard him laugh. It was just a low chuckle, brief and a little bit
bitter. “I’ll consider it.”
“Maybe a
seminar or workshop,” she added, kind of pleased that she’d managed to amuse
such an unflappable man. “Or better yet a webinar. Stream it internationally.”
This earned her
an even longer chuckle.
His laugh faded
as he finished off his wine and glanced at his watch. “If you want to move on
to intercourse, perhaps we should get started. We’ll want to leave time to try
different things, if necessary.”
Lori swallowed
and stared at the clock next to the bed. She’d just been feeling relaxed and
kind of pleased with herself for the evening’s accomplishments. And the thought
of having sex now made her stomach clench sickeningly.
And she
realized that she’d done everything she was emotionally ready for at the
moment. She knew herself well enough to know that if she tried to have
intercourse now—having lost her resolve and erotic momentum—she’d be too scared
and uncomfortable to have anything close to a good time.
As if he read
her mind, Ander said mildly, “If you don’t think you’re up to it tonight, we
can schedule another engagement and focus on intercourse then.”
Lori exhaled in
intense relief. That was exactly what she wanted to do. And the relief mingled
with her sense of irony to push her into spontaneous speech. “Ha! What a sneaky
way to sell a second evening. You should have been businessman.”
When he arched
his eyebrows at her, she bit her lip. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “I know you are a businessman. I just meant at some big multinational corporation. But I didn’t
mean...Sorry.”
Ander shook his
head. “Lori, you don’t have to apologize.”
Despite his
bland reassurance, she felt like an ass. “I didn’t mean to make it sound like
you weren’t a professional. And I do think a second evening would be the best
idea.”
“We’ll arrange
it then.” Ander stood up. “Did you want to do anything else this evening? We
still have an hour and a half.”
Since sex was
off the table, she wasn’t sure what she’d do with him for that long. Some women
hired male escorts simply for companionship, but that felt too weird and
unnatural for Lori. She had friends.