Chapter 7

Jumping at this suggestion since it might provide me a way to get past my strangely embarrassed afterglow, she said, “Yes, please.” I reached over to turn on the light beside the bed so Oyin could see more clearly to pour the drink. “You have another one too,” I added. “If you want.”

I noticed he walked a little stiffly as he came back over to hand me the wine. “You’re really good at that,” I said, smiling at him with real appreciation. Despite my emotional discomfort at the moment, I was deeply relieved to know I was capable of having an orgasm like that. And Oyin’s professionalism really had made the whole process as easy as possible and quite pleasurable. “The oral sex, I mean, not the wine. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he said mildly. There was a slight sheen of perspiration on his face, and I wondered how much effort it had taken to get me off. The whole process must have taken almost forty-five minutes since it was now nearing ten o’clock.

As he walked over the few steps to pour himself some wine, I studied him carefully. His clothes were barely even wrinkled, the expensive fabrics and taiSallyng standing up well to even this sort of activity. But he definitely was missing the cool grace that had always possessed him before. His shoulders looked a little tense.

As he faced away from me,standing in profile against the expanse of windows, Sally suddenly realized what it was. The sleek, urban cut of his trousers left little to the imagination, and I could see the bulge at the front of them quite clearly.

He was aroused.

Sally blinked and looked away quickly, my cheeks burning at the realization. It made sense, I supposed. He’d been engaged in an intimate activity. And maybe he had some sort of mental thing he did to get himself ready for intercourse. It wasn’t like with women who could take it whether they were aroused or not. He had to be erect in order to do this part of his job.

It probably had nothing to do with me 

But still... the knowledge that pleasuring me had left him physically aroused made me feel kind of strange.

For once, I was able to hold back my wayward tongue. I didn’t mention it, not even to make the snarky joke that came to mind.

Oyin seated himself on one of the chairs next to the table, and they drank their wine in silence for a few minutes.

“That was a good orgasm,” I said at last, wanting to speak and shaping the first words that came into my head.

Lifting his eyebrows slightly, Oyin said, “Good.”

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

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

“You don’t think I’m weird or unnatural, do you?” I asked. “For having gone so long without having a decent orgasm before?”

Oyin shook his head and answered with cool sobriety, “Not at all. It’s more common than you’d think. Some women are too self-conscious to let themselves climax. And others only have experiences with men who don’t know how to please them. With all the erotica in popular culture now, many women have unrealistic expectations about what sex should be like. So when their actual experiences don’t match with the fictional fantasies, they think something’s wrong with them. But the reality is it doesn’t happen magically, and a lot of men don’t know how to please a woman’s body even if they genuinely want to. You might be surprised by how many women come to me for that very reason.”

Sally thought about that and decided it was very comforting knowledge. Not that so many women were unsatisfied but that I wasn’t the only woman who’d somehow missed out on the orgasm train. “You should give lessons,” I said at last, glancing back over at him and catching him studying me closely. “Teach men how to do a better job.”

For the first time,I heard him laugh. It was just a low chuckle, brief and a little bit bitter. “I’ll consider it.”

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

This earned me an even longer chuckle.

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

Sally swallowed and stared at the clock next to the bed. I’d just been feeling relaxed and kind of pleased with myself for the evening’s accomplishments. And the thought of having sex now made my stomach clench sickeningly.

And I realized that I ’d done everything I was emotionally ready for at the moment. I knew myself well enough to know that if I tried to have intercourse now having lost her resolve and erotic momentum i’d be too scared and uncomfortable to have anything close to a good time.

As if he read my mind, Oyin said mildly, “If you don’t think you’re up to it tonight, we can schedule another engagement and focus on intercourse then.”

Sally exhaled with intense relief. That was exactly what I wanted to do. And the relief mingled with her sense of irony to push her into spontaneous speech. “Ha! What a sneaky way to sell a second evening. You should have been a businessman.”

When he arched his eyebrows at me, I bit my lip. “Sorry,” I mumbled. “I know you are a businessman. I just meant at some big multinational corporation. But I didn’t mean... Sorry.”

Oyin shook his head. “Sally, you don’t have to apologize.”

Despite his bland reassurance, I felt like an ass. “I didn’t mean to make it sound like you weren’t a professional. And I do think a second evening would be the best idea.”

“We’ll arrange it then.” Oyin stood up. “Did you want to do anything else this evening? We still have an hour and a half.”

Since sex was off the table, I wasn’t sure what I’d do with him for that long. Some women hired male escorts simply for companionship, but that felt too weird and unnatural for Sally. I had friends. All I needed was sex.