When Lightning Strikes by Brenda Novak Read Free Book Online

anxiety
rose until the muscles in her back felt like rubber bands twisted to maximum
torque. “I’m sorry. That’s not going to happen.”
    He jiggled one knee, an obvious sign of agitation. She’d seen
him do it before when he was on edge or growing impatient—or anytime he had to
sit still for too long. “What if I let you keep the ring? A big diamond. One of
your choosing.”
    Of course he’d think he could buy anything he wanted. He was
richer than God. And every decision they’d arrived at so far had been reached
through negotiation. But he had to understand that this was different. She had
her limits. “I won’t trade sex for money.”
    “Oh, quit being such a prude,” he said with a roll of his eyes.
“We’ll be married. It’s not like you’d be standing on a street corner. And if
you won’t let me get it anywhere else, I need to know we have some sort
of…arrangement, in case I get desperate.”
    “Desperate?”
    He didn’t bother to apologize. He’d been cross all morning,
supremely unhappy with the problem as well as the solution. But Simon was always
cross these days. The only thing that mattered right now was procuring a
commitment to the no-sex rule, just as she had with the no-alcohol rule, so
they’d both be going into this with the same expectations.
    “I understand that you’re trying to be practical,” she said.
“And I realize two years is a long time for…a man of your age and, uh,
limitations.” She smiled, knowing she’d just jabbed him back. “But our
relationship isn’t real, so we won’t be sleeping together no matter how
desperate you become.”
    “Why the hell not?” he demanded, finally losing the battle with
his temper.
    “Because I’m not an object! And we don’t even respect each
other!”
    There was more to it. For one thing, after the sex goddesses
he’d been with, he was certain to find her lacking. And what could she possibly
gain? Nothing. Sleeping with Simon would only set her up for future
disappointment. It wasn’t as if she could expect the relationship to last, even
if she wanted it to.
    Fortunately, she could stand on principle and wouldn’t have to
explain the more embarrassing reasons behind her refusal. “Look, don’t make a
big deal out of this, okay? This is acting. You don’t really get to sleep with the female leads you pretend to make love
to in the movies, do you?”
    Too late, she realized that might not be true off-set and
couldn’t believe she’d let her tongue get so far ahead of her brain.
    “Only eighty or ninety percent of them,” he responded, and Ian
began to laugh.
    When she shot Simon’s manager a dirty look, he laughed even
harder but tried to speak through it. “Come on, we all know the number of women
who fall at his feet. Why pretend otherwise? In any case, you can’t expect him
to give up the good life—”
    “You were with me on this!” she complained. “We talked about it
last night.”
    Obviously sensing how easily their deal could fall apart, Ian
sobered. “I agreed that he couldn’t have any extramarital affairs. I didn’t agree that he couldn’t screw his own wife.”
    She’d said no sex, right after no alcohol, and he hadn’t
corrected her. “But I won’t really be his wife!”
    “You’ll be legally married.”
    “That doesn’t mean anything.”
    Finished emailing her the photos, he closed his computer. “It
means he should be able to sleep with you if he wants.”
    “No, it doesn’t.”
    “Then what else is he supposed to do?”
    “He could try exercising a little self-restraint!”
    “Like you?” Ian asked. “Someone who wouldn’t know how to have
fun if it came up and bit her on the ass?”
    Fun had never been her top priority. Her mother had walked out
when Gail was eight. Since then, she’d had too much to prove to her father and
brother. “That won’t change my answer.”
    Ian expelled a loud sigh. “He will be exercising some restraint. If he gives up booze and refuses