A stream of French, too rapid and passionate for Shari to follow, issued forth while Therese’s eyes snapped and her hands gesticulated madly. Shari let the torrent flow, understanding the sentiments underneath the incomprehensible words. At last Therese wound down, her eyes filled with tears and she whispered, “Yes. Idid.”
Shari had intended to tell Therese about Luke’s latest exploits, and the surprising way he’d gone from acting like Mr. Shy to moving on her so fast that she was crying out in ecstasy almost before she’d realized where his hands were. A close girlfriend’s take on the whole situation might help her sort out her feelings, but she couldn’t do it. Not while Therese was incrisis.
She had no idea what chapter they were on in Luke’s how-to book, or even if they were still following the curriculum. The episode on his couch the other night felt like a whole differentbook.
From where they were, it wasn’t far to full-fledged sex. Was she ready for that with Luke? She’d thought she was after their hiking trip, but what with the fainting and the mixed messages he seemed to send her, she wasn’t certain. Looking at Therese bravely holding back tears, she had to accept that sex made hervulnerable.
Shari couldn’t allow a man into her body in a casual way. Maybe she was old-fashioned, but to her intimacymattered.
The more she grew to like her downstairs neighbor as a friend, the more dangerous sleeping with him might turn out to be. Sure, she could help him become a wonderful lover, but what would she do when he was ready to graduate from herschool?
As the hours ticked by, their regular Friday night lesson/date was starting to loom like a dentist’sappointment.
FRIDAY.Luke savored the word as he planned the evening in his mind. Friday had become his favorite day of the week. This one was the day they’d makelove.
“About Friday,” he said when he called to make the arrangements. “Why don’t you come to my place and I’llcook?”
He could call it dinner. He could invite her in to play Parcheesi. Didn’t matter. They both knew what he meant. In this case, dinner was the appetizer. He wanted to tease her by telling her he was planning to serve a double batch of oysters, but he didn’t suppose a guy who needed a book likeSex for Total Moronswould be so flippant about sex he’d make jokes aboutaphrodisiacs.
Besides, Shari sounded strained on the phone. In truth, he didn’t feel as calm and casual as he normally did when planning an evening that was destined to end in bed. For some reason he couldn’t fathom, this time wasdifferent.
“Well, um…” shesputtered.
Please don’t be trying to think up an excuse to cancel our date.Please,he silently pleaded withher.
After a long pause she said, “Do you want me to bringdessert?”
If things went according to plan, she was going to be dessert. This was his night to seduce her into his bed through food and a few other tips outlined in hisbook.
“No,” he said. “I’ve got it under control.” Thanks to the Danish bakery he jogged by mostdays.
He’d flipped through chapter six earlier and had found himself becoming stirred reading the chapter he’d written. He was planning to ease Shari into the chapter as though the pages were satin sheets—although he didn’t own satin sheets. Good old navy-blue cotton did the job for him. He always felt if he was doing the seducing correctly, a woman shouldn’t notice what kind of sheets were on the bed—or if there were sheets, or whether she was even on abed.
Of course, since he’d met Shari, his confidence had been knocked down a mile or two. With his luck of late, he’d probably burst his appendix on the way to the bedroom. With a suggestive see-you-later, he hung up and gave his belly a tentative poke. Everything seemed to be at peace, including his appendix. Only his libido wasrestless.
Oh, he had big plans for tonight. And, he realized, he could finally bring out those candles. Shari was definitely a candles-and-moonlight kind of woman. He ached to see her in bothlights.
SHARI HUMMEDalong to Katy Perry on her phone, and slipped into a silky tank that clung where it touched. Her marathon exercise regime was definitely starting to show. She hadn’t seen her triceps in so long she’d forgotten she owned apair.
Her shoulders had a little more definition and her belly was definitely more taut. Her cheeks were a healthy pink and even her eyes glowed a richer brown than usual. Torn between hip-hugging pants and a tiny excuse of a skirt, she found the thought flitting through her head that she should pick the one that was easiest to remove in the heat of passion—thenstopped.
Wait a minute.Whoa,girl.
Eyes narrowed now, she stared at herself in a new light. Seduction was almost certainly on tonight’s menu, she suspected. She simply wasn’t certain what she intended to do about it. Sure, Luke was sexy, and the more she got to know him, the more she liked him, but she wanted the sex on her terms. Based on the other night, they were past chapter four and she’d fulfilled her part of the bargain. She might teach Luke about loving a woman properly and she might not. She hadn’t decidedyet.
With a frustrated oath, she dragged the silky tank off and tossed it onto thebed.
She stood there in her bra and panties and, in that second, saw Luke’s eyes roll back in his head as he crashed to the floor of her apartment. She shuddered. No way she was putting herself through thatagain.
Digging into her closet she flipped right by her fun clothes to the clothing hinterland in the hard-to-reach section where the boring, unflattering and out-of-style garments stuck together like stale slices of sandwich meat. She peeled a red velour jumpsuit away from a designer knockoff that wouldn’t fool anyone and realized she was seriously in need of a closetpurge.
Deeper she went until she caught sight of a large expanse of denim, and nodded. Perfect. Huffing, she maneuvered the long, loose denim skirt out of her closet and paired it with a baggy, white cotton sweater from the bottom of her sweaterpile.
Shoving herself into the billows of fabric, she had the dubious satisfaction of knowing there was no way this outfit could incite lust in Luke or anyone else. Once again she checked herself out in the long mirror and grimaced. After tonight she was going to chuck both the sweater and the skirt, along with the other horror stories in the back of hercloset.
If she and Luke were going to become intimate, and it was a big if, it would be on her terms and according to hertimetable.
Even so, she couldn’t quite suppress the shudder of anticipation as she walked down to his floor and knocked on hisdoor.
