They hugged her close and Brooke sent a silent prayer to Rex, reminding him she’d always cherish his love and love him in return. She thanked him for being the example these men, her men, had needed to fight their demons and learn what love truly was so they could make their way back to it. Logan and Decklan crushed her breath out of her body and she knew.
Everything was going to be spectacular.
Get to know Riya and her subjects in the novel that started it all…“The Barter System”…keep reading for a sneak peek of the novel described as an emotional journey filled with steamy sexuality.
Chapter One – The Dissertation
Last week of August…
Riya O’Connell perused the profiles of each man she’d chosen, reviewing the data she’d gathered from them as well as her own carefully performed background checks. A photo accompanied each file and she felt as if she already knew them. Strange since she’d never met them or even spoken to any of them on the phone.
The applications submitted to her website The Barter System had originally numbered more than thirteen thousand before the deadline at the end of May. In the last two months, she’d trimmed the list to five hundred, then one hundred, then thirty. Those prospects had been painstakingly narrowed to the final eight just two weeks ago. The best selections for one reason or another. The ones that meant her overall success or failure.
Sean
Age 37, Internet Entrepreneur, Orlando, FL
Victor
Age 31, Fisherman, Savannah, GA
Joshua
Age 22, College Student, Austin, TX
Lucas
Age 42, Rancher, Billings, MT
Ricardo
Age 32, Police Officer, Los Angeles, CA
Micah & Max
Age 34, Financiers, Manhattan, NY
Bobby
Age 27, Musician, Boston, MA
There was nothing left to do. She’d said goodbye to her few friends and family. They had no idea what she was undertaking. The people who loved and cared about her would have at least a thousand questions and even more warnings. Therefore, they knew what she could tell them and no more. They thought she’d be visiting college campuses across the country, studying the sexual habits of young men coming into adulthood.
It had been implied - though not exactly stated - that she’d be doing no more than conducting interviews. And for the sake of argument, she would indeed be interviewing her subjects.
That just wasn’t the whole story.
Only one person, her best friend Tawny, knew just how extreme her research was and to what lengths she was going to gather it. Tawny knew everything about Riya but no one else knew anything about her website or her other…hobbies.
She took her time scanning her handwritten notes into her laptop, making sure she didn’t miss a single piece of information or a letter received through ‘snail mail’. She didn’t want to have to worry about searching for details later. There wouldn’t be time for that.
Everything she needed for the next three months fit snugly into a large canvas duffle bag. Her backpack protected her laptop and few research supplies.
She updated her Always the Fucking Good Girl blog and posted a few comments while she was online. This site wasn’t linked to anything else she did and she was careful to ensure no one knew she was the woman behind the scenes.
The blog was an online diary she’d kept since her senior year of high school. She’d catalogued her limited sex life, experiments with toys, been honest about her short addiction to porn, talked about things she wanted to try one day, gave voice to her forced celibacy over the past couple of years as a test of her willpower, and wondered if there were any men out there who could ever live up to her ridiculous expectations.
Lots of men offered to be her guinea pig and she always turned them down gently. Women wrote in with suggested reading. Some wrote in with suggested men.
It wasn’t long before her own books started showing up as suggested reading by her subscribers. Riya wrote steamy erotica for women. Initially, it started as a way to purge her surprisingly naughty thoughts. It gradually changed into a valid way to keep from ever touching her trust fund.
Now, it was an outlet to express her ideas because she enjoyed the possibilities of sex, though she hadn’t had much personally. She certainly hadn’t had any worth using as a plot but she was still hopeful.
The next morning, she would leave South Florida, traveling a set itinerary around the country until she reached her final destination in Boston. It was the end of August. She estimated she’d arrive to the last location right around Halloween. Her mode of travel was already arranged and her stops had been coordinated.
She was ready.
This was primarily research for her psychology dissertation but perhaps just as much for her secondary degree, and personal passion, in creative writing. The fact that she was curious as a woman didn’t technically figure into the equation. She’d been compiling her data for the past year of graduate school and anticipated the end eagerly. There was no fear of the unknown but she wasn’t completely without a little nervousness.
Sex for most women was intrinsically linked to their emotions. If you believed popular media, the recognized view of men when it came to sex was much less emotional and more juvenile. How men were typically portrayed, and her own less-than-stellar experiences could not be all there was. It was the cornerstone of her dissertation as well as the driving force behind her erotica work that men and women were not so different after all.
She scanned the last documents and backed up her files to the server maintained by Tawny who hosted multiple websites and kept her data secure. There wasn’t a hacker alive who could infiltrate the complex network. Anyone who tried found themselves, and their own systems, falling down a rabbit hole of epic proportions. When it came to hacking, Tawny had no mercy.
Her best friend was also her emergency contact in case of trouble. Riya doubted she’d have trouble, but that’s why they were called ‘emergencies’. Tawny was scared for her but kept it well hidden, knowing doubt only pushed her lifelong friend further toward her goals. Each of the women had a throw-away phone that would be their only method of communication if there was a problem. Riya would upload data direct to the website while in the field, but nothing else could impact her research. She had phone numbers for local cab companies in each location, hotels, and airlines.
Her father, Archer, had been warned she’d essentially be on ‘radio silence’ until further notice. This fact had made him very unhappy. She was the only family he had with exception of Tawny and her mom and he was fiercely protective. That he hadn’t locked her away until he could ‘talk sense into her’ was both a surprise and a blessing.
She placed the hard copies she’d scanned into her file box and returned it to the spare room, taking a final look around to make sure she’d remembered everything. She’d lived here for two years. Riya owned half of a duplex right on the water in Deerfield Beach. If she stepped out her back door, she stepped onto sand. Archer often told her she was ‘slumming’ and offered to buy her a high-rise condo on the water. She always rolled her eyes and ignored him. He totally loved when she did that.
Turning off the lights, she left the envelope for Tawny on the kitchen counter. She’d also be keeping and storing Riya’s few valuables until she got back. She’d already called her dad again to say goodbye. Her regular cell phone was now in the envelope. Her few bills were paid.
Her trusty 1998 Toyota Corolla was at her dad’s place in the garage, the rental parked out front, gassed and ready to leave.
She had one credit card with no limit and access to cash if she needed it. But she wouldn’t, or rather, she shouldn’t need it. If she did, the entire project was pointless, after all.
She went into her small bathroom and took a long look at herself in the mirror above the sink. She was pretty, but didn’t consider herself beautiful. Long brown hair almost to her waist that tended to curl, greenish
hazel eyes set in a heart-shaped face. Her body was well-proportioned, fit, and gold-toned from the sun and her mother’s Brazilian roots.
Her ex-boyfriend during her freshman year of college had described her as “just right”. Enough curves to please without becoming a caricature. Neither tall nor short, standing five-six in bare feet. She assumed she generically appealed across a broad range of men, symbolizing the ‘girl next door’ which would work to her advantage over the next couple of months.
Riya was confident about her ability to complete her research, but she wasn’t arrogant. There was a nervous knot in her stomach. Her dissertation and her fictional writing were the main things she’d been focused on for so long. She wasn’t a virgin but she wasn’t promiscuous either. In most things, she considered herself very average.
Years of work, months of planning, and it was time to get on with it. She brushed her teeth and ran her fingers through her hair before pulling it into a loose braid that fell down her back. She laid down on her bed and thought about tomorrow. Staring at the ceiling for a while before drifting off to sleep, the sound of the ocean behind the house singing a lullaby. Her sleep was dreamless, as if her subconscious knew a blank slate was necessary.
Dawn arrived warm and humid. She took her run like she did every morning, watching the sun rise over the ocean and people-watching. Five miles up the beach and back had her soaked with sweat as she stretched on the sand before heading inside to shower and dress. Today was the beginning of the last phase.
It was already ninety degrees as Riya loaded her duffle bag and backpack into the car her father had insisted she rent for the drive to Orlando. Tawny stood next to the driver’s side door, doing her best not to show the stress she was feeling.
“Is there anything I can say to convince you to call me every couple of days?” She asked. Her accent was a sing-song of her mother’s heavy Irish brogue and her late father’s Georgia drawl. “Just so I know you’re okay?” The pleading look in her bright green eyes almost convinced Riya to reconsider but she hugged her friend tightly instead.
“You know I can’t. No matter how much I’ll want to. It would influence my research results if I had an outside opinion…and you know you can’t keep from giving your opinion.” She squeezed her again before letting go. “I’ll miss you so much. We’ve never been apart this long. Remember our disastrous attempt at separate summer camps when we were thirteen?”
They both smiled as they remembered their pleading to be switched to the other’s camp. Eventually, their frustrated parents brought them home. They’d spent the rest of the summer swimming and laughing like idiots at the beach. “I thought our moms were going to flip out when you threatened to hitchhike from Georgia to North Carolina to be with me.”
Their moms had been best friends, raised together in New York City. Tawny’s father died of a heart attack when she was six, and Riya’s parents had helped Margaret raise her daughter.
When Riya’s mother died in a car accident her senior year of high school, it almost killed Tawny’s mother along with the rest of them. Now she loved and looked after Riya like she was her own, repaying a debt only she thought she owed for all their help with Tawny.
“Mom keeps questioning me about where you’re going. Will you have enough to eat, will you be around people you don’t know. That kind of thing. While you’re here, she isn’t being too persistent, but I shudder to think about how bad things will get before you resurface.” She paused, watching two elderly women power-walking down the beach. “What if she gets it out of me?”
“Simple, if you tell her what I’m really doing, I tell Aunt Maggie about those piercings to your kitty and your nipples that I held your hand through a few months ago.” Riya said mischievously. Tawny would be subjected to withering glares and ‘are you on drugs’ questions from her old-school mom if she ever knew. Her friend had to laugh despite herself.
“We’re all worried, of course. I’m going to ask once more and then I won’t be a mother hen anymore…much. Are you sure you’re going to be okay, Riya?”
Riya placed her hands on Tawny’s shoulders, slightly lower than her own. “I promise to be careful. The phones have a built-in GPS so if I go too long without uploading data, you’re allowed to check on me, but please don’t worry. I’ll see you in Boston for our celebratory ‘chick weekend’ around Halloween and we’ll road trip back together.”
She hugged her once more, took a final look at her little beach place, and got in the car. She’d rolled the windows down to remove some of the sweltering humidity and the AC was cooling things down a bit. When she turned on the stereo the CD player was blasting one of Tawny’s mixes.
Riya smiled and said, “You made me a compilation.”
All her friend did was nod and held back the tears shimmering in her eyes. She leaned out the window and said, “I’m a clever girl and I won’t let anything happen to my best friend’s best friend.” Putting the car in reverse, blew her a kiss and added, “See ya, Tee.”
Chapter Two – The Internet Entrepreneur
She pulled away and allowed herself one final glance in the rearview mirror, then wished she hadn’t. Tawny dropped her face in her hands and cried in the driveway. She was soon out of sight and Riya was relieved to be on her way. Much more ‘memory lane’ and she might have begun to question her motives.
She got on the interstate and headed north toward Orlando. Tawny’s mix was a selection of hits popular in Florida to remind her of home. Flo Rida, T-Pain, the Bad Boys soundtrack, and Will’s Smiths Miami thumped through the speakers and had her singing along.
The drive took three hours, counting the stop on the turnpike for gas, a shake, and a bathroom break. She’d purposely made the first leg of her journey close to home. This was her first face-to-face exposure to one of her subjects and she didn’t want to be too far away to turn back. She kicked herself for the self-doubt that had necessitated this safety net, but felt she’d made the right decision all the same.
When pooling her research, she’d automatically weeded out the web liars. Men who said they were a certain age, income level, etcetera but were something else altogether. She was admittedly discriminating about looks but not race, religion, status, or age.
If someone lied about the little things, they were more likely to lie about the big ones. She needed truth if the data was going to be accurate. All the rejected applications were numbered and comprised the first fifty pages of her research. Nothing would be wasted.
Each of the chosen eight had agreed to complete surveys for her research. All had signed releases to use their anonymous data for her dissertation. Of course, it wouldn’t be a one-way street. They would get what they wanted just like her. This was the first experiment of its’ kind to her knowledge.
Entering Orlando around noon, she took her time finding the house she was looking for. Traffic here was always congested because of the various theme parks, but most of the houses were lovely and the people generally friendly.
She found the street and kept going, stopping at a convenience store to freshen up. It wouldn’t do to arrive looking like a wayward traveler. She brushed her hair and teeth then added fresh deodorant. Once she was certain she was ready, she got back in the car.
She pulled out her file and read the correspondence between herself and her first subject. Her standard acceptance email had been sent to each subject, with approximate dates of her arrival.
Good afternoon, Sean:
I’m pleased to tell you that your application has been accepted. I’m due to arrive one week from tomorrow. I look forward to finally meeting you in person. Please remember the following terms, as outlined in our signed agreement:
1. I will arrive on a Friday morning and stay a minimum of one (1) week.
2. You are expected to cover all expenses during my time with you, up to and including non-typical clothing for occasions requiring more than casual attire.
3. You must have Internet access in your home throughout
the duration of my stay.
4. You will provide safe transportation, of your choosing, to my next destination.
5. Sexual intercourse must include the use of condoms at all times. There are no exceptions.
6. A current physical and blood work, dated no more than three days prior to my arrival, showing a clean bill of health should be emailed to the above address.
7. Sexual preferences will be accommodated as long as my personal safety is not at risk at any time.
8. You agree to complete two surveys. The first is to be completed before my arrival. The second is to be completed at the halfway point of my time with you and will be audio recorded.
Let me know if you have any additional questions. I’m sure our time together will be mutually beneficial. I’ve attached the first of the surveys to this email. Please get it back to me before Thursday of next week.
Kind regards,
Riya
She read his response right behind it:
Hi, Riya:
I look forward to meeting you, too! I understand and accept the conditions in both the contract and your email. I’m very curious to meet you in person and think we’ll get along great.
I’ll take very good care of you while you’re here and can’t wait to see what your other survey includes. The first one is included in this email. Wondering how I did. I’ve always been rather good at tests.
See you next week!
Sean
SURVEY ONE
Subject Name: Sean
Subject Age: 37
Subject Career: Internet Entrepreneur
Marital Status: Divorced
Children (Y/N): N
Annual Income: $150K
Location: Orlando, FL
What was your primary motivation for applying to this study?
I was intrigued when I found your site and was convinced by an old Army buddy to apply.
Yes to Everything Page 41