Pleasure for Pleasure (16 page)

Josie glanced down at her notes. Thank goodness she'd placed a thumb where they had left off, and it was still there.

“Okay, now that we've heard from a few of the brave female spouses, how about we have a few volunteers from the husbands among us share your favorite fantasies?”

Todd West's hand shot up. No surprise there.

“Okay, Todd. Go ahead.”

“We're in the woods,” he began, and instantly Josie's thoughts turned to Trent.

What was it about men and wilderness sex fantasies? A relic from their caveman days, possibly? Josie felt her entire body heat up at the thought of the day Trent had described in such vivid detail his own favorite fantasy. Oh, how he'd reeled her in. Never once had she guessed his true motive.

Ever since her chat with Erika, Josie had been trying to wrap her mind around how she felt about Trent, about his possible motives, about everything. And now, especially about last night. So much for Erika's advice to stay out of bed.

Since she'd stopped focusing on trying to seduce Trent, the chemistry between them had been different. They'd felt like old friends, lovers, companions—all the things she imagined real couples feeling when they were truly, deeply happy. It had been perfectly natural for them to have sex. Josie had never experienced such a satisfying relationship with a man, but she'd always weakly held out the belief that they existed. Until now.

Now she was confused. What she and Trent had was
based on sex, nothing more. So, she kept reminding herself, it must have just been that her desperate libido was making a lot more of their relationship than was really there. Oh, but was she ever enjoying herself in the meantime.

And she realized with a start as she sat there among her students, she wanted the center to succeed almost as badly as she wanted Trent in her bed. Maybe more so, because where sex with Trent would surely be fleeting, the legacy of the center would live on for years to come.

The
legacy?
Where had that idea come from? In the space of a few months Josie had gone from carrying around an adolescent resentment for this place to thinking of it as a second home.

She was absolutely not going to let the Lovers for Life Center go out of business, no matter what she had to do.

She guided her way through the rest of the seminar, said all the right words to the students as they spoke to her on their way out, then headed straight for the door herself.

She drove to her mother's house, hoping Rafaela could offer a little guidance, or at least a little moral support. Besides, she'd sort of been missing her mother lately.

Not that she could ever tell her such a thing.

At her mother's condo, the lights were on and she could see someone moving around in the bedroom. Josie knocked, then let herself in with her personal key. She found her mother finally unpacking bags from her trip to Prague.

Rafaela's idea of unpacking was to open a drawer and dump the contents of the suitcase inside. Tonight,
though, she was being extra organized. Josie sat on the bed and watched her mother fling dresses into the closet, cosmetics onto the dresser, slinky lingerie into a drawer. She must have been angry, because that was the only time she made any attempt to create order in her life.

“Why are you just now unpacking?” Josie crossed her legs on the bed and settled in to watch the show. Her mother's anger never failed to provide one.

“I just haven't felt like it until now, Josephine.”

Her mother was the only person who called her by her full name. She said it was strong, the name of a woman with a backbone; that “Josie” was only a proper name for a milk cow.

“Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?”

Her mother continued to work without acknowledging the question.

Finally she said, “It's that Tony O'Reilly, actually. Trent's father.”

Oh, right. Josie suppressed a smile. She should have known better than to try her hand at matchmaking.

“What did he do to upset you?”

“I don't want to talk about it.”

Uh-oh. “That bad, huh?”

Rafaela halted her unpacking, a black lace bra dangling from her hand. “That man is infuriating.”

Josie decided she'd better change the subject before her mother flew off the handle. “I have some new things going on at the center.”

“That's nice, dear.”

“Trent and I designed a weekend getaway for couples. It's sort of a wilderness experience, combined with sensuality seminars on site.”

“Sounds like a good idea, although I'd prefer my adventures to take place in a hotel with room service.”

“There's been a lot of interest so far. The trip is next weekend, and it's fully booked already.”

Her mother began to rummage through her closet, rearranging things by color and type of clothing, a completely unheard-of practice in the Marcus household before today.

“I was hoping you might lead seminars once a week next month. It would draw in a lot of business.”

“Sure, Josephine. I can do that,” she said, sounding distracted.

“Mom, why don't you just tell me what you're so angry about? It'll make you feel better.”

“Fine, you want to know what he said? That man made insinuations that I've had plastic surgery to stay young-looking! Can you believe that? Never in my life!” She clenched her fist tight, crushing a silk dress in the process.

“I'm sure he was just teasing. Maybe he meant it as a compliment. I wish you'd give him a second chance.”

“Wish all you want, it doesn't matter. I'm quite sure he won't want to go on a date with me after what I said about his hairpiece.”

“Mom! He doesn't wear a hairpiece.”

“No? Well, you could have fooled me. He's got quite a head of hair for an old fogy then.”

“Isn't he your age?”

She slammed her empty suitcase shut and hauled it off the bed. “Men age faster than women—it's a known fact.”

 

T
RENT HAD SPENT
the week since their last lesson trying not to think too much about the feelings that had been
stirred up during his little extra-credit project. It wasn't going to do him any good to daydream about having a real relationship with Josie until she showed some sign of being interested in one.

But now that they were here together again, he couldn't help feeling as if they were more than just casual lovers.

“Tonight's lesson begins with a pop quiz,” Josie said, looking inordinately pleased with herself.

“Great.”

She frowned at his sarcasm. “You don't like my quizzes?”

“When I asked for sex lessons, they weren't what I had in mind.”

Trent jabbed a fork into his pasta, while Josie twirled fettuccine onto hers, seemingly unable to summon an appetite.

“First question. When does a woman like to begin foreplay?”

“Before sex?” He grinned when she shot him a warning glare.

“Okay,
when
before sex?”

“I don't get it. Are you looking for a time here, like ten o'clock?”

She shrugged. “Just whatever you think.”

“A half hour before sex,” he said, sure that if he wasn't right, he was close enough.

“No.”

“No?”

“If you learn nothing else from me in the course of our lessons, learn this—a woman becomes aroused differently than a man.”

He made a show of mouthing what she'd just said as if committing it to memory. “You're not going to ed
ucate me about the clitoris now, are you? Because I'm pretty familiar with it already.”

She blushed. “I've noticed.”

“I bet you have.”

“Let's not get cocky. You have plenty to learn.”

“So what, then?”

“A woman's arousal begins in the mind. And it's not necessarily connected to physical sensations, although they do play a role.”

“Okay, you like to think about sex before you have it.”

“That isn't what I mean.”

He gave her an I'm-listening look.

“The process of arousal for a woman is complex. It can begin with any affection, affirmation or positive interaction she has with her lover throughout the day. The more, the better. Especially if he goes out of his way to be solicitous, to behave like the Ideal Man.”

“The Ideal Man? That's me, right?”

She suppressed a grin. “Ha, ha. We hope it will be by the end of these lessons.”

“Aside from knowing his way around the clitoris, what qualities constitute the Ideal Man?” Trent asked, making a show of appearing eager to learn.

“He's truly interested in his lover, he cherishes her, he cares deeply about her thoughts and opinions…”

“And this has what to do with his being a stud in bed?”

“For a woman, it's all connected to how strongly she can respond to him sexually.”

Josie sat back in her chair, watching him. She must have thought she could confuse him with all her pop psychology mumbo jumbo, but he'd heard it before.

“So the more devoted the guy, the stronger her orgasm is?”

“That's not what I'm saying.”

“Can a woman have great sex without all this stuff you're talking about?”

She frowned. “Of course, but—”

“Then that's what I want to know. How to turn a woman on without all this extra out-of-bed stuff,” he said, just to rile her for the fun of it.

“Aren't you interested in having a happy, committed relationship to go along with your great sex?”

“No,” he lied.

“No?”
she mumbled with her mouth full of fettuccine Alfredo.

“Okay, I'd be happy with either or both, but tonight I'm interested in the great sex part, and it's your job to teach me that.”

“I can't in good conscience teach one without touching upon the other. They go hand in hand.”

Trent raised an eyebrow. “What about the great sex you've had with me? You could hardly call what we have a happy and committed relationship. Or was it not as good for you as it was for me?”

Josie gave him a funny look and stabbed a noodle with her fork. “Of course we had great sex, and you have a point there, but our situation is pretty unique, wouldn't you say?”

“Yeah,” he said, ready to skip over the subject entirely before he made a complete fool of himself.

“Why aren't you interested in the relationship aspects of my lesson?”

He blurted, “Why should you care? I've never known you to have any interest in serious relationships, either.”

Josie opened her mouth to speak, then seemed to reconsider what she was about to say. “I'm not the student here—you are. I wouldn't be a good teacher if I didn't present the best information I know about sexuality.”

She was getting annoyed with him. Trent tried to hide his smile, but she noticed.

“What's so amusing?”

“You've got a little something on your front tooth, that's all,” he lied.

Josie wiped at her tooth with a napkin. “Still there?”

“Nope, you got it.”

“Could we please get back to our lesson now?”

“Sure, you were about to tell me how to have great sex without all the commitment.”

“No, I wasn't. You're the one having problems in the bedroom, remember?”

Ouch. She had him there, even if they were imaginary problems. He couldn't very well admit the truth now. “How could I forget?”

“And I'm the expert you turned to, so will you at least try it my way? That is, unless you have anything you need to
tell
me?”

Huh? Did she know more than she was letting on? “What's that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, nothing.” She paused. “
Now
can we get back to the lesson?”

“Sure.” He offered a conciliatory grin.

“Where were we… Oh, right, the Ideal Man. As I was saying, he's a man who understands how to give physical affection without it always leading to sex. I admit, you did a very nice job of that in your extra-credit project, but you don't even have to go to such
lengths on an everyday basis. Just a simple back massage would do.”

“Sounds pretty easy.”

“You'd think so, but most men fail miserably in this arena.”

Trent finished the last of his dinner and downed a few gulps of beer.

Josie continued after a pause for effect. “Men tend to become physically affectionate when they're ready for sex. Women need and want close physical contact as part of all their interactions.”

“How close?”

“It could be any physical contact, especially holding hands, touching her hair, kissing, hugging, little caresses for no apparent reason.”

“If I do all that, I'm gonna be ready for sex.”

“But see, that's the problem. Women need that kind of contact to not always be a direct prelude to intercourse.”

“So how will this make me a better lover?”

“Because when it is finally time for sex, the woman will come into the experience far more enthusiastically.”

“Ah. Interesting.” Trent thought about how he normally interacted with his girlfriends. Did he do even half this stuff Josie was talking about?

Okay, so maybe he'd been lagging a bit in the Ideal Man department, but no one had left unsatisfied yet.

At least, not as far as he knew.

Oh, hell, what was he doing letting Josie's mumbo jumbo get to him like this?

“I think I've given you plenty to work on for now. I'd like to see you put these suggestions into practice.”

“You want me to be the Ideal Man for you?”

She shrugged and smiled. “Well, you can
try.
”

“Will I be rewarded with a night of unforgettable hypothetical sex?”

“Hypothetically, anything could happen.”

Yeah, didn't he know it.

Josie stood and took her plate to the sink, then rinsed it off and put it in the dishwasher.