Josie tried to hide her surprise. She wasn’t sure why she’d never considered the possibility herself, as desperate as she’d been lately. The only problem was, aside from her massage therapy, Erika didn’t have any qualifications that she knew of—and Josie wasn’t prepared to offer massage through the center. “That’s an interesting idea. Where do you feel your expertise is?”
“My official title could be Sex Coach. I may not have formal training, but I know I have the necessary skills. And I’ve got a hunch this will be the next big thing in couples therapy.”
“Sex coaching?”
“There are already lifestyle coaches and weight-loss coaches. Why not sex coaches and marriage coaches? The idea of going to a coach attracts people who wouldn’t want to see a therapist, either because of the stigma attached, or because they don’t consider themselves that dysfunctional. But just about anyone could see themselves using a coach for some area of their life.”
Wow, she really had something there. Josie sat back in her chair to consider the possibilities.
“Okay, let’s say we start advertising your services through the center. What qualifies you to be a sex coach?”
“My expertise. I’ve got a sixth sense about how people are screwing up their lives, especially when it comes to issues of the bedroom.”
“Oh?”
“Let’s take you, for example. I’d guess you’re in desperate need of a sex coach.”
“What makes you think that?” Josie asked, sinking down in her seat a little.
“I see how distracted and flaky you’ve been lately. You’ve got major issues with our hunky landlord, much more serious than you first led me to believe.”
“Things between us are…complicated.”
“So try me. If I can give you some useful advice for your problems with Trent, you give me a chance as the center’s first sex coach.”
Josie weighed the possible benefits against the humiliation of explaining her arrangement with Trent. She had nothing to lose except her pride. “Okay, you have a deal, but I like the title Sensuality Coach better. So how, exactly, do we get started?”
“Don’t look so worried. It’s painless. I just coach you on how to improve your sex life, then we develop a game plan on how to set things right, and you check back in with me periodically so I can make sure you stay on the right track.”
“You’ve got this pretty well thought out.”
Erika frowned. “Don’t sound so surprised. I’ve been researching this idea for months.”
“I’m impressed.”
“Go ahead then, give me a summary of what’s been going on between you and Trent up to this point.”
Josie hesitated. “I don’t know. I think I can just work this out on my own.”
“Really?” Erika said as if Josie had just claimed to have written the Kama Sutra. “Going it alone is what got you into this predicament.”
True, but she didn’t have to be so snide about it.
“Okay, fine.” Josie gulped. Could she really divulge every last pitiful detail of her relationship with Trent to a woman she had to work with day in and day out? Sadly, she was just desperate enough to try it.
After all, if Erika was really good, she could be the factor that put the center back on track. Who knew what the key to saving the business might be—even a self-styled sex coach.
Josie swallowed her modesty and began.
She started with the Ocean Beach incident three years ago, filling in the details Erika wasn’t familiar with, then skipped forward to the day when Trent walked back into her life. She explained their arrangement, their series of near misses, and finally her hand-cuffing him to a chair and making love to him.
Erika listened intently, offering an occasional “Hmm” or “I see.”
When Josie finished her sad tale, Erika sat back in her chair and expelled a weary sigh. “It’s even worse than I thought.”
“It is?”
“You, my dear boss, are a mess.”
“I think we’ve already established that. So fix me.”
Erika smoothed her green-velvet dress over her legs. She pursed her lips, apparently deep in thought. Either that or pondering how best to break the news that Josie was a lost cause.
“Let me make sure I understand this correctly… He asked you for sex lessons.”
“That’s so hard to believe?”
“Men rarely admit inadequacy in the bedroom.”
She had a point there.
Erika stared at Josie speculatively. “It sounds to me like Trent is stringing you along. Is he the vengeful type?”
Trent? Vengeful? Not under ordinary circumstances, but…
Josie thought about their lessons thus far, the odd reasons he gave for backing out of sex at the last second, the amazing skill he’d demonstrated in bringing her just to the edge of orgasm before she’d taken control of the situation.
Vengeance. Josie rolled the concept around in her head. Could it be that Trent was getting even with her for Ocean Beach? Impossible. Or was it? Now that she thought about it…
It made perfect sense.
Yes. That had to be it. How could she have not seen it herself?
“Oh. Wow. You’re right.” A stab of anger penetrated Josie’s middle, but just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared. How could she be angry at Trent for giving her exactly what she deserved? She was, after all, the one who’d ditched him in the first place, leaving him humiliated and without underwear on the beach. If she’d been in his shoes, she might have done the same or worse.
“I told you I’m good at this stuff.” Erika smiled triumphantly. “My talents are endless.”
“That must make life simple for you.”
She ignored Josie’s sarcasm. “Now that you know his secret, you can use it to your advantage.”
“To what end?” Josie couldn’t imagine what hope there was for her relationship with Trent.
“What exactly do you want out of your liaison with this guy you’ve forcibly seduced?”
“I didn’t forcibly seduce him! I just sort of, well, encouraged things along a bit. With handcuffs.”
Okay, so she’d “forcibly seduced” him.
“Answer my question. What do you want from Trent?”
Oh, right. What the heck did she want from him? Hot sex obviously hadn’t satisfied her the way she’d hoped it would. And the thought that he was trying to exact revenge on her changed everything. It had become all too clear that she could no longer continue in the present with Trent without facing their past.
“I suppose I just want to get through the remaining lessons with him without making a fool of myself or developing a sexual addiction to him,” she said, trying to ignore the vague feeling that she’d just told a lie.
Erika scrunched up her thin black eyebrows and frowned. “You have a young virile male at your command, and that’s the best goal you can come up with? See what I mean? You’re a mess.”
“He and I are all wrong for each other. I just don’t want to string him along.”
“Why do you think he’s all wrong for you?”
“I don’t like gorgeous men. And I don’t like men who make me think about sex all the time.”
“I suppose you also hate chocolate.”
Josie watched as Eros came slinking out from under the couch, crossed the floor to Erika, rubbing against her leg and purring like a sports car.
“You said his favorite word—chocolate,” she explained.
The cat settled in at Erika’s feet and began kneading the rug with his paws.
She scratched his head. “Sorry, buddy, I don’t have any of the good stuff for you.”
“I don’t see what my taste in men has to do with chocolate,” Josie said, beginning to wish her new sex coach would get the hell out of her office.
“My advice to you is, let your libido be your guide. If you’re strongly attracted to Trent, put aside your silly reservations and see what happens with him.”
“And then my sex life will improve?”
“He obviously has strong feelings for you or he never would have sought vengeance for your past misdeeds against him.”
Strong feelings? Trent? Impossible.
Josie laughed. “No, he’s just competitive. He probably couldn’t stand to have me one up on him.”
“Don’t be so sure about that. His is a pretty elaborate scheme, too elaborate for simple competitiveness.”
“If you say so.” She knew Trent, though. In high school he’d always pursued girls until they’d fallen for him, then he lost interest. It was his game, and she knew better than to play along with it.
“It doesn’t make you mad that he’s out for revenge?”
“No… Well, maybe a little, but I can’t say I don’t deserve it.”
“You’re sure you want him as a lover?”
Did she?
But no sooner did the question form in her mind than she knew the answer. Yes, yes, yes. She wanted Trent in her bed. Knowing his scheme only made her want him more. A perverse impulse, but there it was.
Josie had been trying to convince herself, ever since they’d had sex, that she didn’t. That simply by denying her desire for Trent she could be nothing like her mother.
But she’d been lying to herself. “Yes, I do.”
TRENT LOOKED at his watch. He was supposed to be meeting Josie for their lesson tonight and here was his dad, Mr. Lonely Heart, camped out in Trent’s kitchen, looking pitiful. He’d been cooking all day, judging by the state of the kitchen, a sure sign that he was still feeling blue. Now he was washing a sinkful of dishes Trent hadn’t even been aware he owned.
Trent felt a pang of guilt for not spending more time with his dad lately, when he knew he probably needed some companionship. He’d let his lust for Josie dominate his waking thoughts and he’d been a lousy son. Even if his father did put a crimp in his plans when he’d shown up unannounced, Trent could have been more flexible. He could have been a hell of a lot more sympathetic.
Between Josie’s mother and Trent’s father, they were going to have to join a children-of-middle-aged-parents support group.
Her mother and his father…
There was an idea. Crazy, but still… The two were perfect for each other. Both single, middle-aged, eccentric, loved to travel, drove their kids nuts. Trent had always liked Rafaela. He wondered why he’d never taken the match seriously before. The only problem was, how to convince the two parents to get together.
“You want something to eat?” his dad asked, a skillet in hand.
“No, thanks. I have dinner plans.”
“Oh, a hot date?”
“Something like that.”
“Always so private, you. Just once I want to meet one of these girls you go out with. Good thing I’m here tonight, I can meet this one. What’s her name?”
“Her name’s Josie. But this isn’t serious, so don’t get any ideas in your head.”
“What you need is to find a nice girl to settle down with.”
“You’re one to talk.”
His father flashed him an indignant look. “I had twenty-five good years with your mother. We got married young, but that’s what kids did in those days. I never regretted a thing.”
Good years? Trent has always assumed his dad looked back on his marriage with regret, that he’d missed the passion their marriage lacked. His recent skirt-chasing behavior had done little to discourage that theory. Rather, it had tarnished his mother’s memory, and that made Trent angry.
“I didn’t think you were happy with Mom.” A stab of pain sliced through Trent’s gut. He’d come to terms with his mother’s death, but he’d never completely gotten used to it, and occasionally the brutal reality of it hit him anew.
His father shot him a look of disbelief. “We had our problems, but your mother was my best friend. There’s not a day goes by that I don’t miss her.”
Trent blinked. He’d never discussed this subject with his dad before, and maybe he’d made too many assumptions. Now that he thought about it, he had to admit that what his parents had lacked in passion, they’d made up for in other ways—strong friendship, happy family life, shared interests.
He suddenly got the feeling he’d been looking at relationships from the wrong angle all along.
Trent hadn’t met a woman yet that he could envision himself having a happy marriage with—passionate or not. He sometimes doubted he ever would, and occasionally, that thought bothered the hell out of him. Other times, he figured he was lucky not to have to endure the pain of losing a loved one all over again.
“Are you seeing someone now?”
His father waved a hand in the air. “Women—who needs ’em.”
“Why did you break up with that last girl?”
He frowned, drying his hands on a towel. “She stole money from my wallet.”
“Sounds like you had yourself a real winner.”
“Hey, she was cute. That’s all I knew.” He pulled out a chair and took a seat at the table.
“I know someone I think you’d like.”
“Oh, yeah? She got big knockers?”
This was the kind of thing that made Trent less than thrilled at times to have his dad around. “That’s not exactly a politically correct way to say it.”
“So does she?”
Trent cringed. “She has a nice figure.”
“How old?”
“Does it matter?”
“I don’t want some divorcée on the rebound. They spend the whole night complaining about their exes.”
“She’s not a recent divorcée, and she’s about your age, maybe a little younger.”
“Why are you so interested in fixing me up all of a sudden?”
“I think you’d like this woman, that’s all.”
His dad shrugged. “Okay. Why not? Introduce us.”
That had been easy—too easy. His dad must have been even lonelier that Trent had first suspected.
He grabbed the cordless phone from the wall and went into the bedroom to call Josie. The phone rang three times before she picked up with a breathless “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me. What’re you doing, running a marathon?”
“No.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I had to run for the phone before my mom picked it up. I didn’t want her to hear if it was you.”
“Don’t want her to know about us?”
“I don’t want her getting the wrong idea, thinking we’re an item when we’re not.”
His stomach twisted and he told himself it was just his pride that smarted at the thought that Josie didn’t want them to be “an item.”
“Sure, makes sense. I’m calling because my dad is moping around my apartment, and I hate to leave him here alone like this. I was thinking, your mom…my dad…”
“I’m listening.” From the sound of her voice, he could picture the perplexed crease forming across her forehead.
“Maybe we could fix them up.”
“Oh. Jeez, I don’t know. I mean, I can’t remember the last time my mother dated someone her own age.”
“Yeah, well, same for my dad. They’re perfect for each other.”
Josie sighed. “She hates matchmaking.”
“So we’ll make her think their meeting is accidental.”
“But how?”
Right—how?
“Uh, invite her to dinner with you tonight. I’ll take my dad along, and you guys will walk by our table and you can act like you’re just bumping into us. Then we’ll invite you to join us.”
“Hmm. But what about our lesson?”
“I’ll buy you dinner instead, and we’ll reschedule the lesson.”
“Isn’t that breaching our student-teacher relationship?” she said, her tone teasing.
“Most student-teacher relationships don’t involve sex lessons, so I think we can make up the rules as we go.”
“And our rules allow dinner on you?”
“Absolutely.”<
br />
“Tell me where you want to meet, then I’ll call you back to let you know if I can talk my mom into dinner.”
“How about that new Italian place on Irving?”
“Trattoria Venezia?”
“That’s it.”
“Okay, I’ll call you back in a few.”
Trent disconnected and sank back on his bed. He stretched his arms over his head and closed his eyes, indulging in thoughts of what he’d hoped to be doing on his bed tonight. Images of Josie, the arch of her back, the fullness of her breasts, the honey-colored triangle of curls he longed to bury his face in… He groaned and sat up. No, if he kept on thinking like that he’d have to kick his dad out on the streets and drag Josie in here pronto.
What he needed was patience, distraction, a bucket of ice down his pants.
The phone rang and he snapped it up and pressed the on button. “Hello?”
“She’s up for dinner. But this has to be authentic looking. If she suspects it’s a setup, she’ll never go for it.”
“I’ll see you there around seven-thirty then?”
“That’s fine.” Her voice dropped an octave lower. “Oh, and by the way, I was looking forward to our lesson tonight. Just so you know, I won’t be wearing any underwear.” And with that she hung up the phone.
Trent flopped back on the bed and let out a frustrated groan. Another month of this temptation and he’d go insane.
JOSIE HAD NEVER FELT so scandalous in her life. Sure, she’d done some pretty eye-popping things in the past month with Trent, but that was all in the name of his sensual development.
None of it felt nearly as scandalous as walking down a San Francisco street with no underwear on, the breeze whipping at her bare lower half. She’d chosen a short, body-hugging black dress for the occasion, the sort of outfit she decided a woman who didn’t wear underwear would choose. And of course, that outfit would not be complete without a pair of black heels, the kind with straps that wound up around the ankles.
Okay, so having her mother in tow sort of dampened her bad-girl mood. But as they made their way to the restaurant, Josie entertained herself with thoughts of what she would do with Trent once she finally got him to admit his feelings for her. Oh, the scandalous things they would do…
Thanks to Erika, Josie understood Trent more than she ever had before. Erika had a surprising talent for this sex coaching stuff. She’d told Josie to avoid having sex with Trent again until they’d resolved their conflicts and admitted their true feelings for each other. It was sound advice, and remarkably simple, if not exactly simple to execute.
Pleasure for Pleasure Page 14