Hers for the Evening Read Online Free PDF Page A

why you want to do it.”
    Why? Courtney leaned in, both hands on the table. “It turns me on. That’s all I can say. I don’t care why. When Seth and I fantasize together about another woman, I get excited, and we need some excitement. I don’t want to hit menopause and get all saggy and only wish I’d done it.” All right, it totally defied logic.
    Devon touched the back of Courtney’s hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit a sore spot.”
    Courtney realized Devon had pushed a button. Maybe it was the girls growing up and starting their own lives. She was forty-five and feeling old, a little afraid Seth had lost interest in her. Sex made her feel young again and proved she was still desirable. “I will tell Seth when I’ve got it all planned. I won’t spring it on him. If he says no, then we won’t do it.”
    “All right.” Devon picked up her fork again. “Tell me what you’re looking for, and I’ll talk to Isabel about the arrangements.”
    “Isabel?”
    “She runs Courtesans. I’ll ask her to personally set up the match. If you want, 25
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    you can meet the woman she chooses.”
    Courtney’s pulse beat fast through her veins. She’d come up with a whole fantasy as she was falling asleep last night. It was all she could do not to crawl over to Seth’s side of the bed and have her wicked way with him, but he’d come home late with a tension headache, and all he’d wanted was dinner and an extra-strength aspirin. This job was killing him.
    “Here’s what I’ve been playing with. I want to do an overnight trip, on a weekend, to the wine country. Down south to Paso Robles and Templeton instead of up in Napa.”
    Devon picked up her champagne, considered the last fizz of bubbles. “A weekend will require a larger gift.”
    “I was considering using the Italy fund.” She’d been saving for a Europe trip, but she no longer believed Seth would even consider taking three weeks off. A weekend was easier to manage. This seemed so much more important to do. Funny, though the idea had only come to her yesterday, she felt consumed by it. She needed it.
    “Do you want a bisexual thing?”
    “Bisexual?”
    Devon rolled her eyes. “With you and the courtesan.”
    “No!” She screwed up her face. “Not me.” She traced a fingernail on the white tablecloth. “I do want things like . . .” Oh God, she couldn’t say this to Devon.
    “Come on, girlfriend. If you want my help, you’re gonna have to tell me everything.”
    “She and I”—she glanced around to make sure everyone was engrossed in their own conversation, not hers—“oral on Seth. Together.”
    A smile grew on Devon’s lips. Men always thought she had the sexiest smile, but she never used it at work. There, she was all business. “You are a very dirty woman. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
    Courtney’s stomach clenched. “You think I’m bad.”
    Devon shook her head slowly. “I’m freaked out that you’d want to screw up your marriage this way. However, if you really believe it’s the right thing, I’m honored that you’d reveal all this to me and ask for my help.”
    “So you’ll do it?”
    “On two conditions. First, you tell Seth before you book the deal with Isabel.”
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    “I will.”
    “Second, I want to pay for the courtesan.”
    Courtney gasped. “No.”
    “Yes. I love you and Seth. You’ve got the best marriage I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m actually jealous. If you both really want to do this, then I want it to be my gift.”
    That was sweet and generous, but . . . “That’s too much, Devon.”
    “Take it or leave it.”
    Courtney thought about it a long minute. “This is what you truly want to do?”
    “Yes. If it’s what you really want to do.”
    “Thank you.” She sensed Devon’s certainty. “I accept.”
    Seth would kill her when she told him. Now she had to figure out how to tell him.
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    4

    IT HAD BEEN ANOTHER