Some might not appreciate sex, or they might not be particularly good at it, but no one of my acquaintance actually hates it. That’s a pretty strong emotion for something so pleasurable.”
Lana laughed slightly and nodded. “Believe it. I hate sex. And if I don’t like something, I can’t write about it.”
“Why do you hate sex?” he asked.
Lana shrugged and leaned back, avoiding his eyes now. “Because its boring, painful, inconvenient and messy.” She was stunned that she’d actually admitted something so personal and couldn’t keep her eyes downcast. She looked back up at him quickly, trying to judge his reaction to her bold statement.
She watched in fascination as his eyes traveled up and down her body. When other men had done that in the past, she’d shrunk away from the look. But with Victor’s dark eyes roving over her figure, she felt something different. There was a tingling that started deep in her belly and fluttered outward. She couldn’t define it, but it wasn’t abhorrent which was a novelty.
“I think you’ve just been having sex with the wrong men.”
“Man,” she corrected and glanced back down at the linen tablecloth. “And I don’t doubt that you’re right but it doesn’t matter,” she stated firmly.
Victor looked at her askance. “You mean you’ve only had sex with one man and you’re rejecting the whole concept?”
Lana shrugged and took another sip of her martini, really enjoying the harsh concoction now that she’d gotten used to the burning sensation it created each time she took a sip. “It was pretty bad sex.”
“And so you’ve sworn off men forever?” “Basically.” She was starting to wish she’d never been so honest. She now felt foolish. Of course this man, who could get any woman he wanted and had probably had sex with a large percentage of the extremely beautiful people of the world, wouldn’t understand her abhorrence of the act of sex. He probably liked it just fine. It didn’t work for her though.
He eyed her skeptically. “You don’t look like the kind of woman who would go her whole life without children.”
That brightened her eyes. “Oh, I’d love to have children,” she said, then her eyes saddened. “But that’s not in the future for me either.”
Victor was silent for a long moment, his eyes looking over each of her features. He was quiet for a long time until he finally said, “Divorced?”
Lana was surprised. “Yes, but…”
“And he left you for another woman?”
That hurt. “Yes. How did you know?”
There was no expression on his face as he said, “I can see it in your eyes,” he answered. “Don’t you think the best revenge is to live better than he is?”
If he’d had even an ounce of pity on his face, she would have broken down and cried, left the restaurant or maybe even slugged him in the arm. Thankfully, his face was impassive which gave her the strength to continue the conversation. She was grateful and relieved. Lana shrugged and sighed. “It would be. And I thought I had things all figured out.”
“How so?”
A soft smile formed on her face and a fingernail traced a pattern on the linen tablecloth as she worked through the details in her mind. “When he left me, he said some really horrible things.”
“And that made you hate sex?”
Lana laughed softly, shaking her head and unaware of his gaze which watched the silken strands of her hair as they moved across her shoulders with the movement of her head. “No. I’d already hated that before he said anything. In fact, not having to have sex again was one of the good things his leaving did for me. It was a relief.” She couldn’t believe she was admitting all of this to a relative stranger. Or maybe it made more sense for her to admit it to him. Since he was a stranger, perhaps she could reveal things to him that she’d never tell another soul.
His eyebrow went up again with her statement and she watched in fascination as his eyes surveyed her peculiarly. “Why did you marry a man you didn’t like having sex with?” he asked, curiosity overriding his instinct to let her tell the story in her own way.
Lana shrugged again and looked out the window but she didn’t see the people as they passed by. She only saw her tear stained face as Drew criticized her sexual performance on their wedding night. It had been horrible and painful and he’d sneered at her as she’d lain in the