An Offer He Cant Refuse - By Christie Ridgway Page 0,81
biggies, football, basketball, and baseball."
'There's real money to be made doing that?" According to the Loanshark book, there was only debt and more debt. Many of the men - and women - her father had given money to had needed the high-interest loans to meet their gambling obligations and then to make more of them.
"There's big money to be made doing that, if you know how."
"And you do," she said it slowly, trying to determine what she felt about the revelation.
"I do, with the help of brainiacs like Cal who provide statistical analyses and a whole team of what we refer to as 'legs' - the people who walk up to the casino windows and actually place the bets. Believe me, it's very profitable. I'm on the IRS's list of favorite sons. The business's quarterly checks could fund a small country."
An unusual occupation, but not an illegal one. He regularly paid his taxes. Okay. "But why are you telling me this?"
He sent her another of his unreadable glances. "I want you to know more about me before I suggest something else."
"Suggest what?" She had no clue.
His long-fingered hand rubbed over his chin once, then moved back to its calm grip of the steering wheel. "Moving the business and my primary residence is more... stressful than I expected. I think I could use a distraction from my obligations and responsibilities. I'd like something in my life that's just pure pleasure." His eyes glinted as he aimed one of those sly-dimpled smiles her way. "And I think, Tea, that could be you. Interested?"
Chapter Twenty-Five
"Mad About the Boy" Jackie Gleason Lonesome Echo (1955)
Tea's first reaction: surprise. Second reaction: excitement. Third reaction: anger at her own inexperience.
All those years wasted on the grandsons and great-nephews left her unprepared for this kind of male-female negotiation. An offer for another early-bird dinner date was easy to field - and to refuse. A request to be a man's "pure pleasure" was something else entirely.
A request to be this man's pure pleasure was mind-boggling.
But he didn't seem to think it was as outlandish as she did. God, how thrilling was that? Despite the three reasons that would make her say no - M, O, and B - it was still a flattering proposition.
He ran his forefinger down the side of her hot cheek. "I didn't shock you, did I?"
"Of course not," she scoffed. What an actress she was. "But you mentioned that uh, one dance, so I thought it was all you were interested in."
"I decided to put my money where my mouth is. I told you self-denial was a waste of time and so I stopped trying to deny myself from being with you again."
Oh God, how ultra-thrilling was that? But a man like Johnny wanted more than a puddle at his feet, she felt sure of it, so she held herself together and suppressed her sudden urge to burst into one of Eve and Joey's silly high school cheers. So she couldn't have him. That he wanted her was enough - wasn't it?
He must have taken her silence for hesitation. "I realize running your own business takes a lot of your concentration and energy. But how about spending some... social time with me?"
That "social" sounded more like "sexual" and her face flushed hotter even as everything south of there had its own clench-and-release reaction. She was thankful he couldn't notice, though, because they'd reached the grounds of the swap meet and he was following the hand signals of the parking attendant into a nearby space.
It gave her much needed moments to cool down and think clearly. As he came around to help her out of the car, she opened the passenger door for herself. He looked down at her, his eyebrows raised. "Well?" he asked.
Well, he was her teenage fantasy and the lover who'd blown away her "better without witnesses" rule about sex all rolled into one. She'd be a fool - no, she wouldn't be a woman - to refuse him.
Except she had those three good reasons: Though Johnny knew of her mob background, he didn't fully understand the taint she carried from it. There wasn't going to be any more pure pleasure between Johnny and Tea.
"Well?" he asked again.
She stepped out of the car. "I'm thinking about it," she heard herself say.
Because her mouth rebelled against a flat-out refusal. And because it was exciting to have the upper hand with him for once. For once, to play it cool.