Never Too Late Read Online Free PDF Page A

but she hadn't realized he'd been using the machines.
She also noticed that the matt of chest hair that used to drive her to
distraction was gone. Obviously a last-minute defoliating in preparation for
the cruise. It came to her that Jerry had fashioned himself after the male
models on the covers of the novels she read, covers he'd poked fun at in their
earlier years, but now ridiculed with condescension. "He's not my
type," she volunteered, assuming Val pegged Jerry for her.
    "I wasn't
thinking of him for you," Val said. "I can see he's not your type.
But he'll do for me. He's a spitting image of Denzel Washington, and look at
that beefy chest."
    Andrea couldn't
dispute that Jerry resembled Denzel Washington, more so as he got older, and
her women friends had been quick to point that out. But she could dispute his
lack of chest hair. "It's been waxed," she pointed out. "Gigolos
do that, sort of a sign of the trade."
    Val laughed.
"I know for a fact he's not a gigolo. I was talking to him on deck right
after the life-boat drill. He and his wife are getting a divorce. She's a real
bitch."
    Andrea, ready
to leave a trail of claw marks down Jerry's recently waxed chest, said in a
tightly-controlled voice, "He told you that?"
    "Well, not
in so many words," Val admitted. "But she treats him like shit. And
from the way he talked, she's one cold fish in bed." Val propped her
sunglasses on top of her head and smiled at Jerry, who was looking their way.
He caught Andrea's eye, held it momentarily, then winked at Val and gave her a
thumbs up. Val leaned forward, giving him an unobstructed view of her ample
cleavage, and said, "He also looks like a man who likes to get it on. No
wonder he's dumping the mannequin."
    Andrea stared
at Val. "Mannequin?"
    "His
wife," she clarified. "Cold fish. Mannequin. Those society women are
all alike. Which is why their husbands find sugar babies. But the guy looks
really hot. I bet he'd be one satisfying stud in bed."
    Andrea almost
laughed out loud. Jerry might have been a stud at one time, but their long-ago
romps in bed had lost their appeal. Slipping into bed before Jerry and feigning
sleep had been her ploy to get around it. "Looks can be deceiving,"
she said. "I've heard that some of the hottest-looking men can't function
below the waist. If you're looking for action in bed, he might not be the one
for you. He looks well past his prime, got to be in his late forties if he's a
day."
    "Well,
frankly, I don't care whether he can get it up or not," Val said. "He
has money, so his performance in bed is irrelevant. Besides, that's what sugar
babies are for, to take men's minds off everything that keeps them from
functioning as a man. My last sugar daddy couldn't do it at all without Viagra,
but after one week, he was back in business. A twice-a-nighter in fact. He was
one happy guy, I can tell you that."
    Andrea glared
at Jerry, incensed that he'd shared what went on in their bedroom with this
woman, someone he'd never met before today. "What makes you think he has
money?" she asked, wondering if he'd spilled their finances to her as
well.
    "I spotted
him when he was coming aboard," Val replied. "His clothes were
definitely high end. He also told me he owns his own company, something to do
with cleaning up oil spills. And he has several helicopters and a fleet of
boats, and over two hundred employees."
    Andrea eyed
Jerry in disgust. He'd warbled like a nightingale to this woman while singing
his own praises. Couldn't he recognize a fortune hunter when he saw one? Ha!
Maybe he deserved the women. "He told you all that?" she asked.
    "Not
exactly," Val admitted. "I pretty much had to pump it out of him. But
once you start flattering the older guys they tell all, just to keep the
compliments coming." She gave Andrea, a discerning smile. "You really
are new at this, aren't you?"
    "At
what?"
    "The
single scene, shipboard flings."
    "Well
yes," Andrea admitted. "It's been twenty-five years since I dated,
and