with you.”
“Jayni, don’t.” He puts his head in his hands. “I am a
broken man. I warned you. I should have known this would never work.”
“Why? I know you care for me.”
“You’re right. I do. You are a lovely girl, but I am not
interested in love. I will never be a serious boyfriend or lover for anyone. I
can’t give you more than this.”
“Is it because of Eileen?”
The room goes quiet. Mike’s eyes cloud over and he is
sobbing. “How did you hear her name? Google?”
“There was an article....”
“I killed her.” He is hysterical. He is a broken man and I
want to fix him, to make him whole again. I hold him as he cries. “It was all
my fault.”
“The article said it was icy.”
“I was on the phone. A work call. If I had not been
distracted, I could have-”
“Mike, even if that were true, it has been twenty years and
it was an accident. You can’t close yourself off forever.”
“I chose work over my family. Now I must live with that
choice.”
“I know what happened, and I still love you.”
He looks at me, heartbroken. “You do?”
“I do. I love you. I have fallen for you quickly, but I
adore you.”
“Jayni, I want to be a man to you, a lover. Not just
someone you sleep with because it is your job.”
“Mike, the first time I touched you, I could have told you
that it was more than a job.”
“Last time, I had an assistant, she fell for me. But I did
not care for her the same way. It got dangerous and I was scared to try again.”
His confession shakes me.
“You promised you would not hurt me, and I will not hurt
you. If this turns out to be better as a business deal, we will keep it that
way. But I need you to know that my feelings are real.”
He kisses me and I undress him. When he enters me this
time, it is as a lover. He is gentle and our lovemaking is sweet. I feel him
dip into the folds of my vagina and he slowly teases me, getting me wet and
warm. I wrap my arms around him and he makes love to me like I will be the
thing that saves him. I come when he whispers that he loves me. He holds me after.
We fall asleep that way, and he is on his way to healing.
6.
Mike’s local client is older than me and younger than Mike.
He is dark and he answers his door wearing only black silk pants. Even after my
confession of love last night, I can’t deny that this man excites me. I feel
guilty, because I would not want to see Mike with another woman. Still, I
remind myself, I am getting paid to entertain this man. And man, do I want this
kind of entertainment.
“Hey Mike,” he says as he lets us in. His home reeks of old
money. I imagine he has a summer place on Nantucket or in Newport.
“Craig, I would like you to meet Jayni. Jayni, this is
Craig.”
Craig looks me up and down. “Jayni, it is a pleasure to
meet you.”
“The pleasure is all mine,” I say.
“I hope I can make it so,” he says. He is not subtle and I
realize I am out of my depths here. “So, Mike, what is it I can help you with?”
“I have a contract I would like your assistance with. I
think I can make it worth your while.”
Craig eyes me again and brushes a hand along my ass. “Oh I
certainly think you can.”
“Business or pleasure first?” Mike asks.
I can see Craig’s erection as he checks me out. He comes up
behind me and it pushes into my ass. It is huge and I am terrified. I want this
man, but I don’t think I can handle him. His voice is husky as he says,
“Pleasure.” I almost swoon right there.
“Pleasure it is,” Mike agrees and the three of us head
upstairs to a luxurious bedroom. Craig’s four-poster bed is giant and covered
in satin sheets. There is a large box beside the bed. He leads me to it and
starts to undress me. I reach out to pull down his pants but he stops me.
“I told you the pleasure will be all yours,” he says and he
finishes undressing me and then lifts me up, placing me down in the center of the
satin sheets. I am surprised when I see
James S. Malek, Thomas C. Kennedy, Pauline Beard, Robert Liftig, Bernadette Brick