by Dyanne Davis
It was obvious she wasn’t going to talk, so it was up to him. “You want me to do what?”
“I want you to make love to me, Mr. Stone. In return, I will go along with your milking this feud. I will return on your program.”
“Lady, are you crazy? Or are you on something?”
She smiled at him then. A sweet angelic smile from those lips that had just issued a hellish proposal. He felt a pulling at his groin. Now he was the one who was crazy.
Okay, time for a little reality check. He decided to revert to their original formality, which in light of what they were discussing seemed stupid to him. But he couldn’t call her Toreas without wanting her.
“Ms. Rose, are you asking me to be a male whore?” There now. Maybe that would shock some sense into her. He pulled his lips into what he hoped was a leer. He needed to scare some sense into her.
“Male whore? I never thought of that.” Toreas almost grinned before stopping herself. “But I think I like the sound of it.”
Jared was getting angry. Toreas was toying with him. “I thought you were serious. I thought we came here to discuss putting an end to this nonsense.”
“We did. I listened to your proposal and you’ve listened to mine. That’s the deal, Mr. Stone. Take it or leave it.”
Okay, so she wants to play with me, does she? Jared allowed his eyes to travel over her body, undressing her as he went. The task was hard even for his vivid imagination. It was difficult for him to imagine what lay beneath the bulky sweater and baggy pants.
He was rewarded when he noticed the tinge of color finally coming to her cheeks. He smiled inwardly and continued his perusal, only more slowly. He noticed she was staring into her cup.
Just what I thought, a prude. “Okay, Ms. Rose, excuse me, Toreas. I think since I will be helping you-” He stopped and smiled. “I should at least continue calling you by your first name.”
Good. Now the ball was back in his possession. This was his game. So she wanted to mess with his head, did she? Well now, we’ll just see who has the last laugh.
“There’s a motel a couple of doors down the street. We could go there if you like. That is, if you’re finished with your tea.”
He watched as she lifted her eyes to his and replaced her cup on the saucer.
“No, Mr. Stone. Not today.”
He was enjoying this now. There was a slight tinge of fear in her voice. So she wants to play chicken. Let’s see who backs down first. “Hey, my schedule is free,” Jared declared. “Right now is as good a time as any.”
He leaned back, grinning broadly at her. “That is, unless you’re afraid, or just messing with my head. If you’re serious, let’s do this thing now.”
“You must be crazy if you think I’d sleep with you without checking out your medical background.”
Toreas’s hand disappeared into her briefcase in the chair beside her. Jared glanced at it, then her, wondering why he’d not noticed it before.
He frowned as she pulled up at least a twenty page questionnaire and plopped it down in front of him.
“You need to fill this out. Also, I’ll want to make an appointment with my own doctor for you to be tested.”
“You’re asking me to take an AIDS test?”
“Of course, but I also want you tested for venereal disease.”
Jared glared at the woman. Now he truly was angry. She had proposed the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard and now, this. “What about you, Toreas?” This time he did not caress her name.
“Well, I don’t sleep around. But of course I’ll make an appointment for both of us.”
She was now glaring at him. She’s insulted, he thought. Well, I’ll be. She asks me something like this but she’s insulted that I ask her. His anger before had been only on simmer. Now it was at the boiling point.
Who did she think she was with her holier than thou attitude? And to just assume he slept around. He was the one who should be insulted.
“I don’t really know you and you’re asking me for what exactly, Toreas, stud services? Well, who knows how many other men you’ve been with?”
The fingers of her right hand curled into a ball and Jared braced himself, waiting, not believing she had the nerve to be angry.
“I’ve never done this before,” Toreas said softly. “I’ve never propositioned a man before.
“So am I to be your personal guinea pig? Every time you want to try something new, you’ll call me? You want to try out a new punch you learn from Kelle and you’ll call me to beat the hell out of me? Is that the way you see this thing going?”
Jared was furious. But there was something else. He’d never been this excited about a woman in his entire life. He continued glaring at her but he would give anything right now if she would take him up on his offer to find the nearest motel.
Stop that, Jared. What was he thinking? Of course he wasn’t going to sleep with this woman, be her lab rat. He had some pride.
Yet he couldn’t deny the tightening of his loins, the irresistible urge to take her in his arms and kiss her, really kiss her just to see if she did taste like strawberries.
“Why me, Toreas? Have you been secretly lusting after me? Is that the real reason you called the station, so it could finally come down to this?”
He was hoping she’d get up and run. Her face couldn’t be any redder if he’d colored it. He was amazed. He’d never seen any woman of any race as red as Toreas was at the moment. He had been right in his assessment before: Romance writers were pure evil, through and through.
Yet here she sat bundled up like Frosty the Snowman. In the midst of people eating around them, just as calmly as you please, she was asking him something no woman ever had. And part of him felt dirty.
Her opinion of him shouldn’t matter, but for some nutty reason it did. Maybe she wanted revenge after the article in the morning paper. Possibly she only wanted to make him think he would get to sample her, then pull away. Perhaps they’d actually get to a motel one day and she’d cry rape and have him arrested.
She hadn’t answered, so he asked again. “Why me?” She didn’t look at him but at least this time she answered.
“I thought about what you said, about my research, and I decided it’s conceivable that you’re right. Perhaps I should do some field research. Like I said, I don’t sleep around.”
She was insulted and hurt. Why should she be hurt? Did she think because he was a man he wouldn’t have any feelings?
Jared glared at her again, knowing her low opinion of men, of him. It was possible she really did think that this would all be okay with him, like ‘It’s party time, let’s go.’
“That still doesn’t tell me why you chose me to be your field assignment.” He wasn’t going to let her off the hook on this one.
Toreas brought her eyes up to look directly into his. This time she didn’t turn away. “That’s easy. I can’t stand you, I think you’re despicable.”
“So why would you want to sleep with me?” Jared was forcing himself to continue looking at her. That remark hurt.
“I’m in the middle of my book and my heroine is involved with a jerk. A jerk that, by the way, she sleeps with, one who makes her eyes roll to the back of her head. So I need to know what it’s like to go to bed with a jerk. I need to know for myself the feelings my heroine has. I need to know if it’s possible to have one’s eyes roll to the back of their head.”
“So your character’s a slut?” Why should he be nice and polite when she wasn’t? He was waiting for her to glare at him or to redden even more. She did neither.
“No, she’s not a slut, just a woman looking for Mr. Right. On her journey she meets Mr. Wrong.”
“The jerk?”
“Yes, the jerk.”
Jared leaned back in his chair waiting for the desire he felt to wane. He was not going to be the pig she evidently thought he was. He watched her fiddle with the napkin, tearing it into piles and then sweeping the piles into her bag.
&
nbsp; “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” Toreas almost whispered.
He continued glaring at her. So she thought he had feelings after all? How nice.
“Well, exactly how did you mean it?” Jared asked. “Was I to feel honored by your request?” He noticed that at least now Toreas did have the good taste to appear contrite.
“I thought it would be easier to do this with you. You see, I’m not attracted to you and there would be no emotional attachment. I’m sorry about the way I blurted this out, but I just need to use you for research. Just once, Mr. Stone.”
Jared bristled. “You’ve already said just once. I understand that.” He lifted the lengthy questionnaire. “You want me to go through all of this and go to the doctor for just once?”
“I couldn’t do it any other way.”
“What if once is not enough?”
“It will have to be. I’m not looking to have an affair with you. I just want research--”
“Please don’t use that word again. Tell me something. Are you a virgin?”
“Of course I’m not a virgin.”
“Then why don’t you just use your memory?”
“Because frankly, Jared, at the risk of hurting your feelings again, I’ve only slept with nice guys. My heroine is with a jerk and I find I’m stuck on exactly what he does differently.”
She attempted to turn away but Jared caught her chin in his hand and held it, making her look at him. “Exactly what is it you think a jerk does differently from nice guys? Do you think I tie my women up, or maybe beat them?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking you to do this. Listen, you’re going to get something out of this deal also. I’ll even sign a contract with you saying I’ll come on what, four, maybe five shows? That should make us even, don’t you think?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t know what the going rate for prostitution is nowadays.”
“This isn’t prostitution, Mr. Stone.”
“What would you call it?”
“A business agreement between adults. No money will exchange hands.”
He watched her as a horrified look crossed her face. Surely she wasn’t thinking of saying what her eyes clearly told him she thought.
“Is that the problem? You want money?”
Before he could think about it Jared grabbed both of her hands and yanked her toward him, Kelle’s teachings be damned. Her legs were pinned under the table and he had her hands, so he should be relatively safe.
He watched as her lips thinned again in disapproval. She had a way of looking at him like a schoolmarm, making him feel guilty. And this time he was the one in the right. Jared had honestly come wanting to make peace with her. Well, that and he had wanted to go to bed with her. Once.
So what’s the problem, Jared? She’s offering you exactly what you want. You can have her and never see her again.
He knew what the problem was. She was beginning to worm her way under his skin. He didn’t think having her only once would be enough.
“You are the most annoying woman I have ever met. You’ve punched me, and now you’ve insulted my very ethics. How dare you assume that I would just grab an opportunity to jump your bones?”
Jared was talking to Toreas through clenched teeth. “For your information, I’m not the least bit attracted to you either. I prefer women. You look more like a scared child.”
He was aware he was being mean, but this mere slip of a woman was making him feel about as welcome as an ant at a picnic.
She was trying to pull away from him but he tightened his grip. “Not every man will accept sex just because it’s offered. Who the hell do you think you are coming in here and saying you want to use me for research? I am not going to be part of your research.
“And whatever fancy word you want to use, it’s still prostitution and the last I heard it was illegal. I could have you arrested for solicitation. Imagine if I put your proposition on the air.”
He released her then. He saw the fear enter her eyes and something glistened. Oh hell, he hoped she wouldn’t cry. Sure, he’d been hard on her. But she was treating him worse than a piece of meat. She was treating him like dirt.
Her lips were open slightly. She had a pleading look but he wasn’t going to relieve her fears. He wouldn’t deny the possibility of airing her proposal. If she thought that he was that big a jerk, then to hell with her. Let her think whatever she wanted.
Jared sat waiting for her to gather her things and run out of the restaurant. She gathered her things all right, but she didn’t run. She turned toward him, her right hand extended.
“Thank you for meeting with me, Mr. Stone.”
He continued to watch as she opened her purse and placed money on the table. He let her. He was relieved to see the slight tremble of her fingers.
For some strange reason he was relieved to know that she’d never asked another man to go to bed with her. He didn’t doubt her honesty. She’d barely been able to ask him, and then only because she thought he was a jerk. True, it wasn’t a compliment for him, but still he was glad.
Jared sat at the table alone, watching her as she made her exit. She was walking naturally, unhurried, but the trembling in her fingers had given her away. This was probably the hardest thing she’d ever done.
He knew he was right about her. There was something fierce inside of her that gave her a strength that he admired. With a groan, Jared closed his eyes, realizing how close he’d come to having her. He fingered the papers she’d left, smiling at his own bruised ego.
She’d offered exactly what he said he wanted. He should have been happy, but he wasn’t. Suddenly it was important to Jared to prove to this woman, this tiny romance writer, that he was not a demon.
When I prove that to her, when she trusts me completely, then I’ll have my fill of her. It won’t be for research and it won’t be once. No, Ms. Toreas Rose, I may be a jerk, but before I’m finished with you, you will be begging this jerk for more.
Chapter Nine
Toreas walked out the door of the restaurant counting slowly to herself. She wanted nothing more than to run but Jared was watching her. She’d already made a fool of herself. To run would be like slapping her own face.
Liz was right. He had turned her down. It wouldn’t hurt so much if it was only the sex he didn’t want. It was her he didn’t want. He said she looked like a scared child. And he’d called her a pimp, or was it a john?
It didn’t matter. He’d actually used neither of the words but he had told her she was soliciting. And he’d been angry. Why, she wondered, should he be so upset? It had been his suggestion that she get more experience.
Oh my God, she thought. Liz. She wished she had kept her big mouth shut. Then she wouldn’t have to explain that he’d turned her down cold.
What if Jared made good on his threat and told his audience what she had said? Stupid, stupid, stupid. She’d forgotten who she was talking to. The man could have been taping every word she said.
All Toreas wanted to do was go home and curl into a ball and not come out. She wouldn’t talk to Liz. She didn’t want to lie, but she wasn’t going to admit that the man had more or less told her flat out that he wouldn’t sleep with her if she was the last woman on earth.
She felt a tiny twinge of conscience. She always told Liz the truth. What did it matter now? Liz wasn’t the one critiquing her behavior.
Toreas lifted her eyes toward the heavens. “Back off,” she yelled, ignoring the curious looks on the faces of passersby. “Can’t I sin and be humiliated in peace? Do you always have to get in on the act?”
Toreas wished suddenly that she were Catholic. She could find a church, confess her sins, pray the rosary and be given absolution. That was the way to go.
But Baptists, nope, they had to milk sin and guilt to death. You sinned when you were three and you remembered that sin always and took it to the grave.
She had a whole pile of sins now, but in all her twenty-nine years she had never
sworn. Not swearing was the one big thing her father had drummed into her head.
“Damn, damn, hell and ahh…shit.” There, that should do it. She looked up again at the blue sky. Now all I have to do is go and covet my neighbor’s house and commit murder. That should take care of my breaking some more commandments.
The next day Toreas forced herself to turn the television on to Jared’s show. She had to know if he was going to mention their meeting.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it wasn’t Jared hosting the show but his boss, Derrick. She quickly turned up the sound, hoping that this meant Jared was fired.
What she heard instead was an edited version of her conversation with Jared Stone when she’d left her number for him to call her.
“How do you prepare for interviews? Most people take notes.”
Toreas listened with disbelief to her voice answering, “Kelle teaches us karate.”
She turned the set off in disgust, vowing never to watch Channel One again. Jared had told her he wasn’t taping her. Liar. Now he’d completely twisted her conversation, making her seem violent and stupid. God, what a mess.
“Please Lord, help me out of this!” Toreas stopped in mid prayer. Hadn’t she told God yesterday to stay out of her life? Wasn’t that what this whole thing was about? She’d wanted a man who could finally upstage God and make him leave her alone.
She was tired of doing what was expected of her, saying what everyone thought she should say, doing what they thought she should do. And she was tired of God and her father being in her head, critiquing her life. Why on earth would she want Jared? The last thing she needed was another critic.
Toreas waited for the bolt of lighting to hit her. Surely it must be coming. Why was God involved in every aspect of her life that she didn’t want him in?
She closed her eyes tightly, wondering why God was never there when she sent out manuscripts. He was never there when she received the numerous rejection slips that were vague, just “Sorry, we don’t want this.”