The Barter System (41 page)

Max and Micah retrieved
their places on either side of her and said firmly, “Ladies and gentlemen,
you’ve done exactly as I asked you
not
to do.  She is totally
overwhelmed and she needs to eat, I suggest we find a table out of the way and
settle in.”  Max hailed a server as Micah pulled her protectively to his side.

They found a table near the
orchestra that seated ten and the women sat while the men went to get them
plates and drinks.  Blythe and Melody were looking at her in awe. 

Riya was smiling and ringing
her hands. 

Blythe finally said, “You
have no idea, huh?  How hot you are and how many fans you have?”  She looked at
Melody and smiled, “I really, really like her.  I want to keep her.”  Melody
nodded in excited agreement.

“I’m, well, I’m just me.  I
didn’t even think some of the books were that good,” Riya insisted.  “I…I write
the books for myself, I don’t even read my royalty statements.”

“Oh you should, Riya.  Can I
call you Riya?”  She nodded and Blythe gave her a megawatt smile.  “It started
with your blog.  Melody was the one who found it when she was doing research
for Robert for a coffee table book about the blog phenomenon.  You know how
surfing the blogs goes, you go from one to the other, and suddenly there you
were.” 

The men were heading back,
followed by a waiter holding a tray of drinks.  Micah set a plate in front of
her and Max took a drink for her off the tray.  She didn’t care what it was,
she sipped it. 

Blythe petted the men on
either side of her and continued on, “We wanted to kick that jock’s ass you
dated in high school.”  Blythe looked so upset one would have thought it
happened to her.  “Did that asshole really leave you to go play football with
his friends after your first time?” 

Stopping a passing waiter
abruptly, Riya reached behind her and grabbed something that looked stronger
off the tray.  A shot, excellent.  She was going to need it.  Knocking it back,
she savored the burn.  Then she shook it all off.  These people gave a shit
like they’d known her all her life and she truly liked them already.

“Yes, the asshole did
exactly that.  But I fixed him.”  She sipped the water from her goblet before
pinning Blythe with a sly smile, “I spiked his jock with preparation h powder
and loosened the stitches from his practice pants.  Boy, was the quarterback surprised
when he went for the ball and his center really was wide open and drawn up like
a raisin.” 

Three people out of the nine
snorted their drinks through their noses.  Everyone else was laughing hard and
loud, drawing attention to their table.  Melody looked like she was dying to
ask another question and Riya smiled encouragingly at her. 

“In college the quantum
physics graduate…also an asshole.  You said he stood you up forty-eight times
in one year, was that an exaggeration?”

“Nope, as a matter of fact,
I think I missed a few in my final count.  I kept him around to avoid the frat
boys, not one part of me was really interested but he was non-threatening.” 

Leaning into the table, she
said softly, “I also never mentioned, out of respect for the creepiness of it,
that the last time we were together, he slipped and called me by his sister’s
name…who was also a nun, by the way.  There is nothing that will kill a moment
dead as a squashed roach as a man yelling out, ‘I’m coming, Sister Mary
Abigail!’…I could not get out of there fast enough.” 

The entire table was
hysterical and Riya was glad the moment was now one of laughter.

“So the years of celibacy
were…interesting,” Galen said with a small tilt of his head.  “You just about
lost it, didn’t you?” 

Riya was nodding.  “I can’t
tell you.  It started out of necessity.  I couldn’t handle another loser.  I
thought I’d take a break since I sucked at picking men.  I know I never really
tried.  There were always more important things to do.  I figured going without
would be no problem.  Then it became a challenge.  I threw down the gauntlet to
myself and stupidly picked it up.  It gradually morphed into my own private
hell.”  She took another sip of water, “That’s when I started writing
full-time.  And kickboxing.  And running.  And cooking.” 

Everyone was asking her
questions and laughing.  Melody asked, “Does your pen name have significance?”

“Charlize is my middle name,
Rojos was my mother’s maiden name.  She was a very passionate woman about everything
she encountered.  She would have had a lot of fun with what I write.  I chose
the name as a nod to her memory.” 

Max’s arm was over the back
of her chair and his finger was lightly tracing her spine right below her
neck.  Micah’s hand was on her thigh and he was kneading her through her the
fabric of her dress. 

“So, the project.  How the
hell did you go from celibacy to that?” Blythe wanted to know. 

Riya told them a little
about her life and her father.  She gave them the breakdown about how she’d
made her choices, especially Micah and Max.  “First of all, I could tell they
were gorgeous…not nearly as breathtaking as they ended up being…but it was more
the looks on their faces in both the pictures.  They looked like they loved
life and I hadn’t seen men like that in a long time.  Micah’s smile in the
hiking picture is as captivating as Max’s picture while they were skiing.”

She absently twirled her
finger over the rim of her glass, “Granted, their combined application scared
the hell out of me, but it also made it stand out.  Anyway, from the moment I
read their submission they went in my ‘first choice’ pile and never moved.  It
was because I accepted them together that I expanded my project from six
subjects to eight.  In for a penny, in for a pound at that point.”   

“Well, I love the idea and
I’m pretty sure you’re the ballsiest woman on the planet.  Still, tell me what
you were thinking when you were headed to the first subject’s place?”  Melody
asked with breathless curiosity.

“Honestly?  A combination of
excitement, which surprised me, fear, which didn’t surprise me at all, and
complete self-loathing.  I started questioning why I was doing it.  Was it for
my dissertation?  Was it a ‘screw you’ to celibacy and the grand total of two
losers I’d been with?  Had all my writing and sexual research turned me into
some kind of nympho?  Suddenly, I wasn’t sure.  Then I helped someone who
didn’t know how to get out of an unemotional rut, another with serious
insecurity, and on and on…I realized that I actually wasn’t the only one
totally lost and confused.  That it wasn’t a male or female specific problem. 
This project has given me an understanding and appreciation of men and myself I
hadn’t realized I was lacking. 

“In my blog…which I thought
no one read, by the way…I talk about other people, other women and men, and do
what I can to help them.  I wasn’t helping myself because I didn’t realize
until this project that I’d withdrawn so much into myself.  I have a doctorate
in Human Psychology and Sexuality but my own sexuality was pathetically
undeveloped.  I’d been unable or unwilling, and I can own up to that, to allow
real men to impact my life.  I created a little shell house and crawled inside
it.” 

Taking a deep breath, she
glanced around the table, “If there is one thing this project has taught me,
it’s that men aren’t all uncaring jerks just waiting to screw you over or even
unable to connect to the female psyche.  I’ve realized women may be more
willing to ask for help but that doesn’t mean men don’t need it, too.  And
seeing a good man get what he wants, despite his belief that basic happiness is
out of his reach, that is a beautiful thing to watch.” 

She held her glass up and
said, “To real men and happiness.”  There were cheers at the table that drew
the further attention of people around them. 

Laughter still bubbled
around their group when Max pulled her up to dance.  He snuggled her into his
embrace before whispering in her ear, “I gave you a little alcohol.  I didn’t
want you to be nervous when you realized you weren’t anonymous here.” 

Her face went hot, “Thank
you…I was about to die.  Knowing people standing right in front of me know
about my porn addiction or what toy I prefer while masturbating, well, it’s
disconcerting.”  Warm hands slid over her back in a gesture of comfort that
sent tingles racing over her body. 

Closing her eyes, she
regulated her breathing before trying to talk, “I needed to talk and own the
person I really am that I don’t let anyone see.  Only Tawny knows everything
about me, including this project.” 

With a slight tilt of her
head, she met Max’s intense blue eyes, “I like your friends very much.  I think
it’s wonderful to have a club where ménage couples can meet and spend time
together without idiots and intolerance.  What’s it like?”

“You’ll see for yourself,
Micah and I are taking you,” he told her.  “I think you’ll like it.  The women
there are all like Blythe and Melody.  And
you
, Riya.  Women in these
types of relationships have to be strong to handle two alpha males.  They are
also natural facilitators that make lasting friendships easily.  They always
seem to have a lot of fun together.”  They danced in silence as another song
began, “Riya, why aren’t you asking me about us pretty much stalking you?” 

She shrugged prettily,
“Because I can’t imagine two men like you truly stalking anyone.  That implies
you’ve tried contact and been rejected.  I can say with certainty, I would
never have rejected either of you.  I think what you were doing was kind of
getting a read on me from a distance.  I must have intrigued you, writing so
freely about sex while having no actual basis of comparison at the time. 
Before I started this portion of the project, I took surveys for over a year. 
All of them were numbered; all a person had to provide was age and gender.  I
learned everything beautiful and sordid about human sexuality and still, I’m
not fully in touch with my own.”

Max hugged her close,
dropping a light kiss on her lips.  “When your research is done, you’ll know
exactly where you belong.  We plan to spoil you rotten so you come back to us
for good.”  The second time he kissed her with heat, teasing her lips until she
opened for him and he devoured her alive.  Pressing her body closer, she slid a
hand along the nape of his neck and sucked gently at his tongue.  Brandy and
his own scent flowed over her senses. 

“May I cut in, you greedy
bastard?”  Micah laughed from behind Max’s shoulder.  Both men smiled and Max
transferred her smoothly into Micah’s waiting arms.  “I thought he would never
leave,” he said before Max had let her go and they laughed.  Max made his way
back to the table.  “Are you having fun, Riya?”

“Oh yes, more than I thought
I would actually.  Everyone is wonderful and I love to dance.  It was something
my mother worked on with Tawny and I since we were little.  Now I mainly dance
in my living room, but I love it,” she confessed.

“A woman like you should go
dancing all the time, Riya.  Thank you for being so great to Blythe and
Melody.  You’ve made quite an impression.  They were half in love with you
before.  Now?  They’ll happily bear your children for you.”  He spun her over
the floor as the tempo picked up.  “You are so graceful on your feet.  Most
women can only bump and grind these days.”

Winking she replied, “Oh, I
can bump and grind, Micah.  Down and dirty or elegant, exotic or classical.  I
can dance pretty much anything and everything.” 

“Good to know…they’re about
to play a salsa.  I hope you have energy left,” he told her as the Spanish beat
suddenly kicked its way into the room. 

Smiling more to herself than
him she said, “No problem.  Take off your jacket, baby.”  He tossed it to Max
and she gave him a taste of how she’d danced with Ricardo, lifting the long
skirts of her dress a bit to keep from tripping over them.  When the other
people on the floor realized how quickly she was moving, they paused to watch
her. 

Micah spun her out, brought
her back, pulled her in his direction, pushed back into hers.  They were flying
around the floor, people watching them and clapping with the music.  When the
music built in crescendo, they came together hard and posed on the last note to
loud applause all around them. 

They were breathing hard but
had the most primal looks on their faces.  Micah watched as a small bead of
sweat slid from her collarbone down into the bodice of her dress.