Aerin raised her eyebrows at that. I gave her a faint smile. “No, not what you think.”

I paused and looked at her for a minute and then asked, “But if I did, would that affect the way you see me?”

She bit her lip and shook her head. She edged right next to me, and this time, dropped a full-on soft kiss on my lips. The suddenness and tenderness of it took my breath away.

It was over before I realized it had happened and when she drew back, I touched my lips with my fingertips, as if trying to feel for any residual contact there of her lips.

“Do it again,” I said softly.

She smiled. “I will. But later, after we talk about that stuff. I just wanted to kiss you to show you I wasn’t judging you.”

I hadn’t recovered, so I said the first thing that popped in my head, “I liked it.”

She smiled again, “Mmmm…. I liked it, too. Maybe too much.”

And then she let a veil drop from her eyes. “Nothing you say will affect the way I see you, Harley.”

And I could see lust, want, yearning, and desire swirl in her eyes.

“Don’t hide that from me,” I whispered.

“I want you, Harley,” she said quietly, but did as I’d asked, and kept her guard down.

“I know,” I said.

We continued to look at each other in this open, vulnerable way. I continued, “She had several male clients who were important people in their fields, but, for one reason or another, had to keep their sexual preferences hidden. These men often needed girls to take to social functions or events; girls who could pretend to be their girlfriends or lovers.”

She interrupted me, “So Jack was one of them.”

I nodded. “There were others, and eventually, I took on some “regulars.” There were about four of them.”

“There was a rule that she considered inviolate, and this was none of the girls could get any of the clients for themselves. The clients had to remain clients of the firm.”

“So when I left, I told these four “regulars” that I was leaving, and that someone else would take over from me.”

“They pleaded with me, and begged this lady, but she declined them.”