Sudden Pleasures by Bertrice Small

think?”
    “I think Ashley and I need to speak alone for a while,” Ryan said.
    “Yes, we need to get to know a little bit more about each other before we make any decisions,” Ashley agreed. “Even if this isn’t a real marriage in the strictest sense, Ryan and I have to see if we can be together without grating on each other’s nerves.”
    “Good!” Joe said. “I’ve ordered lunch in for you two. We’ll come together again at two thirty and see how it’s gone and what you think.” He stood up. “Ray, Rick, come on. I made reservations for the three of us at the inn.” Joe walked out in the company of the other two men, closing the conference room door behind him.
    “He’s a decisive guy,” Ryan remarked with a small smile. “A lot like Ray.”
    “I hadn’t planned to be away from the shop for so long,” Ashley said.
    “What do you get from a convent in Madeira?” he asked her. “Lace,” she answered him. “Exquisite handmade lace. My first ex-fiancé found it for me when he and his partner were traveling in Europe.”
    “You’re still friends with a guy you were once engaged to?” Ryan asked, surprised.
    Ashley giggled. She couldn’t help it. “Carson is gay,” she told him. “I was young and didn’t realize it, and he had asked me to marry him. He says he was in his ‘I can beat this’ stage of denial over his homosexuality. But he couldn’t. He ran off with the best man a couple of days before the wedding. I thought it was so sweet that he wanted to wait until we were married to have sex.” And she giggled again.
    He grinned at her. In retrospect it was pretty funny, and she was certainly being a good sport about it. It said a lot about her character that she could laugh at herself. “I’ve heard you had a couple of other fiancés,” he noted.
    “Yep, number two was Chandler Wayne.”
    “The pro quarterback for the Chicago Razorbacks?” he asked.
    “One and the same,” she responded.
    “Didn’t he die in Vegas after…Oh, yeah. Great tragedy.”
    “If Chandler had to die young, and he did, he wouldn’t have wanted to go any other way. The guy loved sex. I’m a little surprised at the circumstances, however. He wasn’t the most creative guy in the sack,” Ashley said.
    “You’re not a virgin,” he said.
    “I’m thirty-three,” she answered him dryly. “How many thirty-three-year-old virgins do you know? But in answer to the unspoken question on your lips, I am not promiscuous. I have slept with only three guys in my thirty-three years, and two of them were going to marry me. The first was my college boyfriend. We did it twice, and then he broke up with me. I assume you’ve had a few adventures of your own, Ryan.”
    He laughed. “You are one candid lady, Ashley,” he told her. “You haven’t answered my question,” she said.
    “Am I a virgin?” he teased her. “Nope.”
    Now Ashley laughed. “I think, to be fair, we should both have physicals if we decide to make this arrangement. Including tests for STDs. That okay with you?”
    “Agreed,” he said as the door to the conference room opened and their lunch was brought in.
    The two waiters quickly set hot mats before them, covering them with linen place mats. Next came the silver, perfectly folded napkins, water, and wineglasses. Salads were set in front of them, and a small dressing boat was put on the table.
    “Your entrées and the desserts are on the cart, Miss Kimbrough,” one of the waiters said with a deferential bow. “I’ll pour the wine, and then we’ll be gone. Rick said you could serve yourselves.”
    “That’s fine, Artie,” Ashley said with a smile. “Thank you. The salad looks delicious, and you brought raspberry vinaigrette, my favorite.” She poured a dollop on her salad.
    While Artie poured them glasses of Pindar Winter White, the other waiter filled the water glasses. Then the two men hurried from the room.
    “All the comforts of home,” Ryan noted. “Your guys are