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It probably hadnothing to do with her.

But still...theknowledge that pleasuring her had left him physically aroused made her feelkind of strange.

For once, shewas able to hold back her wayward tongue. She didn’t mention it, not even tomake the snarky joke that came to mind.

Ander seatedhimself on one of the chairs next to the table and they drank their wine insilence for a few minutes.

“That was agood orgasm,” she said at last, wanting to speak and shaping the first wordsthat came into her head.

Lifting hiseyebrows slightly, Ander said, “Good.”

“I mean, I hadmy expectations pretty low. I knew it wasn’t going to be like a hot love scenein a book. But still it was really good. I liked it.”

“I’m glad.” Toher surprise, she saw the little twitch at the corner of his mouth. For someridiculous reason, the unexpected sight of it was like greeting an old friend.

“You don’tthink I’m weird or unnatural, do you?” she asked, “For having gone so longwithout having a decent orgasm before?”

Ander shook hishead and answered with cool sobriety, “Not at all. It’s more common than you’dthink. Some women are too self-conscious to let themselves climax. And othersonly have experiences with men who don’t know how to please them. With all theerotica in popular culture now, many women have unrealistic expectations aboutwhat sex should be like. So when their actual experiences don’t match with thefictional fantasies, they think something’s wrong with them. But the reality isit doesn’t happen magically, and a lot of men don’t know how to please a woman’sbody—even if they genuinely want to. You might be surprised by how many womencome to me for that very reason.”

Lori thoughtabout that and decided it was very comforting knowledge. Not that so manywomen were unsatisfied but that she wasn’t the only woman who’d somehow missedout on the orgasm-train. “You should give lessons,” she said at last, glancingback over to him and catching him studying her closely. “Teach men how to do abetter job.”

For the firsttime, she heard him laugh. It was just a low chuckle, brief and a little bitbitter. “I’ll consider it.”

“Maybe aseminar or workshop,” she added, kind of pleased that she’d managed to amusesuch an unflappable man. “Or better yet a webinar. Stream it internationally.”

This earned heran even longer chuckle.

His laugh fadedas he finished off his wine and glanced at his watch. “If you want to move onto intercourse, perhaps we should get started. We’ll want to leave time to trydifferent things, if necessary.”

Lori swallowedand stared at the clock next to the bed. She’d just been feeling relaxed andkind of pleased with herself for the evening’s accomplishments. And the thoughtof having sex now made her stomach clench sickeningly.

And sherealized that she’d done everything she was emotionally ready for at themoment. She knew herself well enough to know that if she tried to haveintercourse now—having lost her resolve and erotic momentum—she’d be too scaredand uncomfortable to have anything close to a good time.

As if he readher mind, Ander said mildly, “If you don’t think you’re up to it tonight, wecan schedule another engagement and focus on intercourse then.”

Lori exhaled inintense relief. That was exactly what she wanted to do. And the relief mingledwith her sense of irony to push her into spontaneous speech. “Ha! What a sneakyway to sell a second evening. You should have been businessman.”

When he archedhis eyebrows at her, she bit her lip. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “I know youarea businessman. I just meant at some big multinational corporation. But I didn’tmean...Sorry.”

Ander shook hishead. “Lori, you don’t have to apologize.”

Despite hisbland reassurance, she felt like an ass. “I didn’t mean to make it sound likeyou weren’t a professional. And I do think a second evening would be the bestidea.”

“We’ll arrangeit then.” Ander stood up. “Did you want to do anything else this evening? Westill have an hour and a half.”

Since sex wasoff the table, she wasn’t sure what she’d do with him for that long. Some womenhired male escorts simply for companionship, but that felt too weird andunnatural for Lori. She had friends. All she needed was sex.

She shook herhead. Then she remembered his physical condition. “Oh,” she began, stiffeningon the bed, “But you were...I mean, did you need to ...” She waved her handtoward his crotch and reddened deeply again as she remembered she wasn’tsupposed to know he was aroused.

Ander met hereyes evenly. “I’m fine, Lori. It’s nothing for you to worry about.”

“Oh.” She hatedthe thought of sending him on his way when he was still erect. “You can, uh,take a shower or something if you want.”

“Thank you. Imight do that.” He hesitated, as if he weren’t sure whether she wanted him totake the shower now or not.

“You can goahead. I’m not going to be up for anything else this evening.”

She stretchedout more comfortably when Ander shut the bathroom door. She heard the showerrunning and she figured he’d take care of his erection under the spray. Thenshe remembered the pile of cash in the envelope on the table. She got up torecount it, pulling out the amount she’d included for intercourse and puttingthat back in her purse.

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