The Earl's Outrageous Lover Page 0,56

he?”

Jessica shook her head, letting her breath go in a whoosh. “No. Of course not. He’s a very gentle and considerate man. It wouldn’t occur to him to do anything abusive to me or anyone else.”

James laughed and shook his head. “You don’t know his business practices. The man is brutal.”

Jessica grinned. “Coming from one brutal real estate mogul about a brutal financier?” she quipped.

He conceded the point with a shrug. “I don’t let the small things stand in my way.”

She laughed, but moved on, not wanting to critique his business style which she knew to be completely ethical and legal. Both Edward and James were financial geniuses and if someone else had a weakness of which either man manipulated, that was none of her business.

“No, this is something else I need your advice about.”

“Okay. Tell me.”

James was nothing if not blunt. He didn’t beat around the bush about anything and became irritated when anyone else wasted his time while they dilly dallied around the subject. “I need your advice about sex,” she said with a blush.

James was silent for a moment before he burst out laughing. “I had it all wrong about the old man I guess. Not that I thought about it long and hard, but Edward was probably the last man who would need advice on moves for a lady.”

Jessica shook her head. “Not that way,” she whispered. “Edward is very…..adept,” was the only word she could come up with.

“So he always leaves you satisfied, right?” he asked with his usual bluntness.

Jessica wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. “Yes,” she started off. “Well, no, not really.” She sighed and shook her head. “It's more complicated than that.”

James covered her hand with his, trying to reassure her. “What’s on your mind?”

She looked into James’ kind eyes and took a deep breath. “Well, you see…Edward…”

When she still had trouble forming the words, James took pity on the lovely woman and urged her on, trying to be open and honest about a subject many found embarrassing. “Because of our previous comments, I’m guessing this has something to do with sex, am I right?”

She nodded her head.

He tried to hide his amusement at her blush as he continued probing. “Something about it you don’t really like.”

She nodded again.

James laughed softly and squeezed her hand. “I can’t guess any further. You’re going to have to give me some specifics if you want me to help you out.”

Unfortunately, the waitress arrived with their meal at that moment and Jessica took the time to figure out exactly how to ask him the question. By the time the woman had left after offering fresh pepper and grated cheese, both of which were impatiently declined, Jessica decided to go about this a bit differently.

“So…if I wanted to make a guy crazy, what would I need to do?” she asked, picking up her fork and stabbing a tomato almost violently.

James was looking down at his plate but her words caused his head to snap up. “Are you telling me that Edward isn’t interested in you? Because if that’s the case, I’ll definitely have words with him. I thought he was more intelligent than that.”

Jessica quickly shook her head. “It's without doubt nothing like that. He’s very interested. Almost too interested in….well, you know, satisfying me.” She sighed and took a long swallow of ice water. “It’s not right,” she finally got out.

He looked at her curiously. The images that popped into his mind regarding sex that might not be ‘right’ were disturbing because everything he did regarding sex was definitely ‘right’. He knew that there were some troubled people in the world though. “What’s not right?” If Edward was doing something that made this woman uncomfortable…well words would not be adequate to appease the rage he was feeling at the idea.

Jessica sighed and put her head down on the open palm of her hand. “The way he makes love to me now. It’s not….passionate,” she finally got out. “He’s so focused and intent. So precise about the whole process. But before we were married, it was passionate and crazy and wonderful. Now it’s just….controlled and almost methodical.” She grimaced and put down her fork. “I want to know what I can do to drive him crazy, so I can get the other lover back.”

There was still a moment of confusion, but as she spoke, understanding dawned in him and he smiled, intensely relieved that there wasn’t anything dysfunctional going on. “So Edward likes to control the situation