Chapter 3

I CHECKED INTO my room in an upscale Seattle hotel at about six o’clock on Friday evening. I wanted to get there early enough to relax and prepare before oyin arrived.

I’d started to change my mind about this encounter about twenty times over the last three days. But I’d never done things the conventional way, and I was determined to go through with this. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t the traditional way or even a likely way for a woman to lose her virginity.

It made sense to me, given my situation. I was going to do it this way.

After putting the appropriately counted wad of cash in an envelope on the table, I took a halfhour bath in the jetted tub, making sure to shave carefully and ensure I was presentable for sex. While I had no need to impress oyin or try to attract him, I didn’t want to embarrass myself with excess hair. The bath helped to relax me, as did the second glass of white wine I poured from the bottle I ordered from room service. I’d turned off my cell phone when I arrived, knowing that pestering calls from Kelly would only make me more nervous at this point in the process.

I wasn’t sure what to wear. Maybe feel stupid in sexy lingerie. But my street clothes hardly seemed appropriate. So I brought my favorite pajama set with my camisole and flowing pants in soft lavender cashmere. They were comfortable and flattering, and it was the best I could come up with.

For the moment I covered them with a long, belted sweater so I wouldn’t feel so silly when oyin arrived.

I put on some melonscented lotion. Combed out my hair. Brushed my teeth. Decided to go without makeup.

Then took halfdrunk glass of wine and sat stiffly on a chair by the window. Recounted the cash.

Hoped there wasn’t going to be a sick Sally.

Before I could work up any truly debilitating nerves, there was a knock on the door. oyin. Five minutes early.

“Good evening,” he said with that same urbane, sensual smile he’d showed me before. He wore black and gray again—this evening a thin charcoalgray sweater with a sleek black jacket over it.

“Hi. Good evening. Thanks for coming. Come in.” I cringed at how stupid I’d sounded but made push through the discomfort. I was paying a lot for this evening. It was a business transaction. There was no reason to worry about whether I sounded stupid or whether oyin knew how nervous I was. This was my deal, and I was in control of it or maybe notttttt.

All the same, I hurried back to my glass of wine.

oyin glanced around the room as he walked in, apparently making note of the kingsized bed with white duvet, the clean lines of the sofa, and the large entertainment center against the wall. When he turned back to me and saw me taking a long sip, he asked, “How much of that have you had?”

It was an unexpected way for him to begin this encounter, but it actually made me more comfortable. smiling dryly. “This is just my second glass. I didn’t want to be schnockered, but I thought a very mild buzz might help.”

He nodded with another smile, this one a little less practiced.

“Do you want a glass?” I asked, sitting down on the edge of one of the chairs beside the small round table.

“Thank you.” oyin sat down in the other chair and put the black leather case he carried on the floor at his feet.

Sally peered at it curiously as she handed oyin a glass of wine.

Noticing her look, he opened the case and pulled out a couple of DVDs. “Since you weren’t interested in any particular fantasy or role play,” he explained, “I thought it might be helpful to bring these.” He slid them over on the table so I could see the covers. “They’re femaleoriented erotic films. I don’t think you’ll find them tacky or vulgar. And the more aroused you are, the better this evening will go. Does this sort of thing work for you?”

“I don’t know. All I’ve ever seen is p**n with big bouncing boobs. I hope that’s not what this is like.”

The corner of oyin’s mouth did that appealing little twitch. “No big bouncing boobs. Why don’t we try one of them if you don’t have other ideas?”

I nodded, ridiculously relieved that I wouldn’t immediately have to get naked and spread her legs. I took her wine and went over to sit on the sofa while oyin walked over to the DVD player.

“Do you prefer businesstypes or manual laborers?” oyin asked, looking at her with cool courtesy over his shoulder.

“Business types.” I curled up my legs to get herself comfortable and idly started to imagine how I would describe this to Kelly tomorrow morning. It was certainly better than pretending to be out on a romantic date with oyin before having sex. But still... watching p**n with a male escort was definitely an atypical experience.

oyin slid the appropriate DVD into the player. “The film is just under two hours, so we can watch the whole thing and still have plenty of time to move on from there. But let me know if it’s not working. And if you decide you want to move on before the film is over, just tell me that too.”

Sally nodded, swallowing an overly large sip of wine. She couldn’t imagine herself so overwhelmed with desire that she’d want to jump up and hit the bed in the middle of an erotic film. While her body reacted the way it was supposed to when exposed to sexual stimuli particularly the smutty parts of wellwritten romance novels she’d never felt particularly urgent about physical arousal.

She’d read thousands of love scenes in books. Some hot and some laughable. After reading one of the purpleprose variety in college, she’d vowed she could write a better one, even without any reallife experience. So for fun she’d written a sex scene. Then she’d written a novel to go with it. Not a very good novel. She’d tried and failed to get it published. But it was a start. She wrote two more unpublished novels in college. But it wasn’t until the year after she graduated, working as a copyeditor at a local paper, that she actually made progress toward publication. She’d met a literary agent who’d asked to look at the fourth, and best, novel Sally had written. That novel ended up, by one of the unpredictable flukes of the publishing industry, becoming a romance best seller. As did the three that followed.