His Final Seduction

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

1

Something Sexy in the Air

—Eros Airlines

SEX HAD NEVER LOOKED so intriguing.

Or so scary.

That’s precisely the point. You need to step outside your comfort zone.

Jorgina Gerard closed the glossy brochure, featuring Eros Airlines and Fantasy Resort erotic vacation packages, and fanned herself with it. She was alarmed that her body was suddenly aroused at—of all places—the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport ticket kiosk. Mentally, she gave herself a shake. What was the matter with her?

Um, could it be because you haven’t had sex since your boyfriend dumped you?

Cringing, Jorgie bit down on her bottom lip. All around her there was bustling activity—business travelers rolling their carry-on bags toward the taxi stands, separated lovers reuniting with heartfelt hugs, harried moms and dads herding ebullient children away from the enticing dangers of escalators and baggage carousels.

What was she doing? Why had she let her best friend since kindergarten, Avery Bodel, talk her into this? Was she insane? Embarking on an exotic itinerary dubbed with the provocative title Make Love Like A Courtesan. She didn’t need sex lessons. She was twenty-five. She watched cable television. She’d been in a serious relationship and…and…

And as Brian had walked out the door he’d tossed the accusation over his shoulder. “You’re just too damned conventional in the sack, Jorgina. Men need variety, excitement, danger.”

Danger? Jorgie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Maybe she wasn’t the problem, maybe it was Brian.

And if Brian was the problem, then she didn’t need to be here, right? She just needed to find some guy who could appreciate conventional.

“You know,” she began, turning to her friend. This week, Avery’s hair was dyed the color of muscat grapes—a deep hue of acrid purple. As a hairdresser, Avery changed her hair style and color as often as most people changed clothes. “Maybe this—”

“Oh, no,” said Avery. She wrapped a restraining hand around Jorgie’s wrist. “You are not!”

“Not what?” Jorgie asked, but her voice came out high and squeaky, giving her away.

“You’re not fooling me. I’ve known you too long. You’ve got that I’m-gonna-run-away-from-fun look in your eyes. Same look you had in eighth grade when we played Spin The Bottle at Miley Kinslow’s birthday party and it pointed to the guy you’d been mooning over.”

“Quint Mason,” Jorgie supplied, wondering if he liked conventional girls.

She’d had a puppy-love crush on Quint for the entire school year and he barely knew she existed. If she squeezed her eyes closed tightly enough, she could still see him as he’d looked then—lanky, medium brown hair, a devilish grin that melted tweenaged hearts. Of course as a tenth grader, he’d never given her the time of day and she’d been far too shy to even say boo to him, but she’d been besotted. Jorgie sighed. She’d been getting it wrong with the opposite sex ever since.

Wonder what ever happened to him? Then she remembered something her brother Keith had told her in passing after his ten-year high school reunion the previous fall. He’d heard Quint had been stationed in Afghanistan, but that he’d recently left the air force and was working for some private airline. That did not sound like a conventional guy.

“Yeah.” Avery tapped her temple with an index finger. “Quint Mason. That’s him. This trip is just like that. You have the chance to grab life by the throat and really live.”

“But is an erotic destination vacation really the answer?”

“Look at this.” Avery snatched the Eros brochure from her hand and shook it under her nose. “Look at all the opportunities you’d be running away from.” Her friend flipped through the pages, reading the copy as she went. “Learn the sex secrets every courtesan knew. Find out how to hold men completely in your thrall. Dance the seductive dance that brought kings to their knees. Become an exotic woman of pleasure.”

Embarrassment heated Jorgie’s cheeks. She snatched the brochure back and stuffed it inside her purse. “Shh, someone will hear you.”

Avery shrugged. “So what? I’m not ashamed.”

“There are kids around.”

“Hey, I’m not their mother. It’s not my job to censor their exposure to life.”

“Maybe not, but you don’t have to announce to the entire airport where we’re going.”

“Seriously,” Avery said, “don’t run away. This is your chance to show that dork Brian that you’re anything but conventional. And where does he get off calling you conventional? You two met at an accountants’ conference, for crying out loud. He’s just as conventional as you, or he was before he—”

“But I am conventional.”

“Conventional is as conventional does.”

“Huh?”

“It’s something my grammie says.”

“Your grammie says ‘conventional is as conventional does’?”

“No, she says ‘pretty is as pretty does,’ I just substituted conventional, but the advice still applies.”

“It doesn’t make sense either way.”

“Sure it does. Act pretty and you’ll be pretty. Act conventional and you’ll be conventional. Act unconventional and—”

“I get your drift.”

“So stop having cold feet. Actually, stop thinking. You think too much, Jorgie.”

“And you don’t ever look before you leap, Avery.”

“But I have a lot more fun than you do.”

Jorgie sighed. True enough. “You know this is just a variation of the same conversation we’ve been having for twenty years.”

“I’m the accelerator…” Avery said, starting the quote their mothers spoke over their heads as they’d played in the sandbox together. Avery was the kid who flung herself headfirst down the slide. While Jorgie was the crying girl who hovered on the top rung of the ladder, too scared to climb back down, too fearful to take the plunge.

“And I’m the brake,” Jorgie finished.

“We balance each other out. It’s the secret to our lifelong friendship.” Grinning, Avery slung her arm over Jorgie’s shoulder.

Avery’s grin bolstered her sagging confidence. The truth was, she didn’t know what she’d do without her. Avery had such a life force. Whenever she was around her, Jorgie felt stronger, braver, more adventuresome. What few risks Jorgie had taken were due solely to her best friend’s influence. Avery was like an exuberant leader, barreling her way through life on her magnetic charm and sheer good luck.