Page 17 of Sweet as Sin (Bad Habit 1)
Oh, crap. I knew that tone. I gulped down the dregs of my margarita, motioning to the passing waiter to bring me another.
Grace folded her manicured hands over the tabletop and leaned forward, piercing me with a death glare. With her flaming red hair, steely gray eyes, and take-no-prisoners vibe, she always reminded me of an Amazon warrior. I could totally picture her in a Raquel Welch fur bikini and boots, sword fighting a saber-toothed tiger. I bet she scared the shit out of the husbands who came to see her, seeking help for failing marriages. Maybe that was the secret to her success.
That, or that she’d suffered a traumatic brain injury in the car accident that killed her parents when she was a teenager, and had no recollection of life before her senior year of high school. Tragedy has a way of toughening you up. If it doesn’t kill you in the process.
Which was one of the reasons Chloe was so sweet and happy. Nothing bad had ever happened to her. Knock wood.
Grace continued, “I see this every day in my practice. You take a rich, handsome, charismatic man, who’s used to getting whatever he wants whenever he wants it. His ego is galactic. He thinks he’s invincible. Everything comes so easily, he’s frankly a little bored. Then one day someone tells him ‘no,’ and he simply can’t fathom it.”
Grace talked like this all the time. She actually used words like “galactic” and “fathom” in regular conversation. She was the one in our little group who read those Pulitzer Prize–winning novels with all the incomprehensible words and big ideas.
I love books, too. The movie versions of them.
“So how does he react when he hears a ‘no,’ this man who’s so assured of his power?”
Chloe made a few guesses. “He starts to drink heavily? He hits things? No? Um . . . he sinks into a deep depression?”
“He digs in his heels.”
This sounded ominous. Chloe and I exchanged a worried glance.
“He’s so used to a yes-filled life, a ‘no’ simply isn’t acceptable. He does whatever it takes to turn that ‘no’ into a ‘yes.’ And, as soon as it is, he loses interest. End of story.”
The horrible mariachi music playing in the background began to annoy me. I really needed that drink. “So, this is good! I kissed Nico back. He got what he wanted. Now he’ll leave me alone.”
“You think so?” Grace didn’t sound like she thought so.
“But you just said—”
“Let’s recap. So far in this story of meeting Mr. Wonderful, you’ve said it was you who walked away when you first saw each other. And the first words you spoke to him were to ask him to leave, followed by calling him a dick. With me so far? Then, when you informed him you were leaving the shoot because your services were obviously no longer needed, he offered you a job.” She paused for dramatic effect. “And thirty thousand dollars.”
“Like she’s going to say no to that kind of money!”
Chloe always stuck up for me when Grace pointed out my lapses in judgment. She was a good friend.
“Then, you had
to lie on a bed with him, and pretend you had absolutely no interest in his bare-chested, muscular, sexalicious body. And the director commends your performance, no less! At which point Nico breaks out the really big guns, so to speak, and starts talking like he’s auditioning for the part of Christian in the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey.”
“They already made that,” Chloe pointed out.
“My point is that he’s digging in his heels! Every time Kat gave him a verbal or nonverbal ‘no,’ Nico upped the ante. And finally, when she flat-out said she didn’t want to kiss him, he couldn’t stand it anymore. He made her say ‘yes’ by taking away her choice.”
Nico was beginning to sound like a rapist.
“So you’re saying in order to get rid of him for good, I should sleep with him?” That was vaguely insulting.
“No. I’m saying you should stay the hell away from men who are used to always being told ‘yes.’ You don’t have the necessary level of conniving bitch to manage them.”
So it was unsuccessful, unattractive losers for me for the rest of my life. Great.
“I don’t see how a little flirtation could hurt.” Chloe sounded crestfallen by the turn in the conversation.
“She’s right, Lo.” I sighed. The waiter brought my fresh drink. I smiled at him as if he’d handed me a winning lottery ticket. He seemed disturbed by my enthusiasm, and skittered away. “Aside from the obvious mismatch of Adonis with a mere mortal, he has a girlfriend. And we all know I’ve had a bit too much experience being on the other side of that equation. Plus, you know. My dad.”
I cleared my throat and studied the hideous velvet Elvis on the wall above Grace’s head. “It was just a weird . . . fun . . . crazy day. And now I’m thirty grand richer. That’s it.”
Chloe hadn’t heard enough of the story yet. “But you didn’t even tell us what happened after the bedroom scene!”
