Page 74 of Tainted Princess
“Wait,” Derek piped up again, “back up. Who’s paying me to get naked?”
Scowling at Lexi, I tried to salvage the situation. “That’s not entirely accurate. I understand you are familiar with the services available atA Taste of Eden.” Watching Derek’s eyes light up, I laughed. “Some more than others, apparently. What I’m proposing is offering similar services, but with an audience of women in mind.”
“Uh, babe,” Derek cut in again. “I’m a fan and all, but I don’t know that I can do what those girls do. They are some supremely talented ladies, but I’m not nearly flexible enough to...you know-” he began to try and fold himself in half backward, apparently trying to see his own ass.
Instead, he ended up falling on it. The guys laughed as Derek got tangled in his own feet and tipped over backward on to the rubberized floor in the weight room.
“Thank you for that exhilarating demonstration, Derek, but that won’t be necessary.” He climbed to his feet and received a punch in the arm from D’Andre for his efforts. “What we are looking for is things women can’t find anywhere on the internet, never mind at home. We want to give women their ultimate dream. Show them the fantasy. Do you know what women fantasize about, Derek?”
“Double penetration,” he said without the slightest hesitation.
I responded, “No,” at the exact moment that Lexi practically shouted, “Yes!”
I stared at her, but she only shrugged, then turned to wink at Derek. He licked his teeth and nodded.
I was gonna have to put a leash on her.
On second thought, she might actually like that.
“That’s a good answer, Derek, but not exactly what I’m looking for. There is more than enough DP online for anyone, man or woman, to enjoy. I’m talking about things a woman would never expect to watch a man do.”
They were quiet, contemplating the ultimate question of ‘What Women Want’ when the other man at the back answered quietly. “Dishes.”
All three guys in front of me turned to look at him, giving me the opportunity to take him in properly for the first time.
He was easily the best-looking guy in the room, but he lacked the swagger of D’Andre or the cocky arrogance of Derek. Instead, this guy exuded quiet strength, a fortitude that made me wonder just what, exactly, he had been through to create a man who didn’t feel the need to strut and preen when the opportunity arose.
“What did you say, Micah?” Derek asked, but I could see D’Andre and the last unnamed man nodding.
They got it.
Holding strong under the scrutiny of every person in the room, Micah maintained eye contact with me when he replied, “Dishes. My mother worked a full-time job, just like my old man, yet every day after work, she’d come home and cook dinner while he watched the game. After we ate, he’d be back on the couch for the rest of the night, leaving her to clean up the mess.” His eyes darkened, shadows of his past rising as he spoke, but no one interrupted him. “She said to me once that she’d probably die of shock on the kitchen floor if that man ever washed his own dish.”
“Exactly,” I said, smiling gently at Micah. “Dishes. Laundry. Watching a chick flick. These are the things women long for from their men. These are the things I am hoping to give them when they log intoLilith’s Playground, a subsidiary ofA Taste of Eden.”
After a bit more talking, and a lot of questions, from Derek, in particular, we had arranged to meet two of the guys, Derek and D’Andre, at the offices on Monday morning. Micah, surprisingly, declined the invitation, but I thought I detected hesitation on his face when he left the room, as if he wanted to do it, but something was holding him back.
I’d keep my eyes open for him.
“Well, that went better than I expected,” Lexi said as Vinnie drove us out of the campus and headed toward her apartment. I hadn’t felt the same eyes on me when we left the Athletic Center as I had on our way in, so I chalked the whole thing up to my headache.
The small goose egg that had formed on the back of my head wasn’t helping matters either, but I refused to mention it to either Lexi or Vinnie because I still had one more stop to make today.
Pulling up in front of Lexi’s building, she gave me a quick hug, then opened her door to exit. Before she was fully out of the vehicle, she spun back to me.
“And don’t think for one second my hangover and our productive morning means I have forgotten the explosive drama between you and husband dearest last night. I know something went down because you didn’t get back to my messages until this morning.” I opened my mouth to apologize, but she cut me off. “Don’t bother now. I have a shower and a waterproof vibrator calling my name upstairs. But I plan to hear all about it when you pick me up tonight.”
“Tonight,” I croaked. I was exhausted from one night out with Lexi; I couldn’t imagine what multiple nights in a row would entail. “What the hell is going on tonight?”
“Oh, Francesca, baby. Just you wait. Tonight is the best night of the week.” Lexi smiled wide, looking for all the world like this was the moment she had waited her whole life for.
Though to be honest, I think Lexi lived her whole life experiencing moments like that. I kind of envied her.
“Okay,” I conceded. “But, seriously. What is so special about tonight?”
Her grin widened even more.
“It’s Fight Night.”
