and Courtney turned in her seat as he pulled onto the road and headed for the freeway. The trip down to Paso Robles would take about two hours. They’d be there by eleven, time enough to hit a couple of wineries before lunch.
Once up to speed, Seth adjusted the mirror, his gaze on it longer than necessary, up, down, from Robyn’s face to breasts to legs. He glanced at Courtney. It was one of those wordless exchanges between married people. Her 37
Three’s A Crowd
heart started to beat faster. He found Robyn attractive. When he saw a woman on the street, it never bothered her that Seth looked. In fact, he’d started looking only after she’d begun pointing out attractive ladies. It was a game they played. Alternately, he made sure she didn’t miss a hot guy. Of course, she’d had to train him on what she liked. Making love, he’d honed in how she’d gotten wet fantasizing about this one or that one. She’d do the same to him.
This was different. Up close and personal. Real versus fantasy. Thrilling yet terrifying.
Courtney hooked one leg beneath her, turning in her seat. “So tell me how you started doing this.”
Seth snorted softly. Nothing like taking the bull by the horns.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” she added.
“Of course not.” Robyn shifted, the seat belt going taut between her breasts for a moment until she settled again. “It was a fantasy of mine. Sex for hire. I met a woman who said she’d help me fulfill it by finding the right man.”
“Was that Isabel?”
Robyn smiled. “Yes. I was only going to do it once.”
Seth adjusted the mirror again, listening.
“I sense a ‘but’ in there,” Courtney said.
“It gave me the biggest high, better than any drug could ever do. I wanted more of it.”
Courtney had to admit there was a certain thrill to the idea. “So you started doing it full-time?”
“No, I was still working as a financial advisor at a private investment institution. I liked the job.”
Devon had told her that courtesans often had other careers, that they were educated. They weren’t people Isabel picked up off a street corner. “Where did you go to school?”
“Brown University. However, I wanted to move out to the West Coast.”
An Ivy Leaguer. No wonder she sounded cultured. “Who wouldn’t want to live out here, especially the Bay Area?” Courtney enthused. “I’m born and bred myself.” At Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto. Seth was from Chicago. They’d met in college. “Don’t you worry that someone you work with might find out?”
“Isabel does very careful screening and discretion is paramount.” Robyn 38
Three’s A Crowd
tipped her head. “You needn’t fear that anyone will find out about this weekend.”
She zipped her lip.
“I don’t.” Courtney hadn’t thought about it. It wasn’t like she was cheating on Seth. Her parents were gone. Good Lord if the girls found out though.
“As for me,” Robyn went on, glancing out the side window, “I was a casualty of the economic downturn.” She turned back with a smile. “Now I am a full-time courtesan.” She laughed, a pretty sound. “We have our own system for paying income taxes. Isabel has figured out everything.” Her eyes sparkled with whatever ingenuity Isabel had devised to make sure the government didn’t get stiffed. So to speak. “The stress is a lot less,” Robyn went on. “You can’t imagine what it was like trying to explain a forty percent loss in someone’s portfolio. Or the guilt. Then the difficulty in convincing them when the time is right to get back in . . .” She put a hand to her chest. “In the current economic climate, pleasuring men and women sexually is a lot more fun than managing their investments.”
Women? Courtney glanced at Seth. His eyes were on the road, hands comfortably guiding the wheel, cruise control set at a sedate seventy miles per hour. Despite his relaxed pose, there was a distinctive bulge in his shorts. Oh God. Courtney