Unknown - Cat_In_A_Midnight_Choir-spaces_ru

“You don’t whine.”

“Apparently I don’t impress you either.”

“You do! I can’t say how much you impress me.”

“But.”

“But…I’m a special case.”

“I’d figured that out. Most men — in other words, my usual clients — fall into two or three, categories.”

Matt drank a bit more of the red wine. It was amazing. He glanced at the label, resolved to memorize it so he could find it again, although he might not be able to afford it again, not after tonight.

His watch said a quarter to ten. He didn’t have to go to work. It was Monday. The most beautiful woman in the Goliath Hotel was sitting across from him, and if he could get it together, by tomorrow morning when he checked out he’d be a Real Man. A sinner. A human being. A ruined priest. Ex-priest, rather. And no longer Kitty-bait.

All he had to do was what came unnaturally.

“Your usual clients?” he prompted politely, as if he were counseling someone on the radio help line.

“They’re powerful men. Rich men. They have insecurities along with many securities of the financial sort. They crave the best of everything to prove their worth, in both senses of the word. I’m one of the bests they can afford. Then there are the other men. They have issues. They can’t afford me, but they will. Now I have to add the dot-com geeks who’ve never felt desired in their lives. I’m something they can’t afford not to have. I’ll make them feel like the billion dollars they made overnight.”

“So sometimes you’re a reward, sometimes you’re an extravagance. And sometimes you’re a therapist.”

“Oh, you are a quick study, Thomas. Doubting Thomas.”

He ought to have gone on red alert at that, but the meal and the wine had made him mellow.

“The problem is,” she continued, “you don’t fit into my client profile.”

“Why not?”

“You’re a combination of all three. You have some money, but not enough to keep this sort of thing up. You have issues, but you hide them like a pro, like me. You’re not a geek, but you need to be babied along like one. You don’t want a trophy, loathe trophies; you’re not desperate to lead the high life, la vida loca dinero; and you don’t want a therapist. So what do you want? Or should I say, need?”

“Hmm. Cards on the table.”

“This is Las Vegas.”

She leaned forward, elbows on the immaculate linen, like a saloon girl in a cheap Western.

“You’re pretty accurate,” he said. “I wouldn’t be here if I weren’t forced to be. You’re not my trophy, or my reward, or my Cracker Jack prize for accidentally being somebody. You’re my…savior.”

Her eyes narrowed. He still couldn’t see their color, but it didn’t matter anymore.

“Savior? I’ve never been called that before.”

“You’ve never had a client like me. I’m an ex-priest.”

“I’m not Catholic.”

“But you must know that priests make promises of chastity, to live as celibates.”

“Catholic priests.”

“You sound like you were raised Episcopal.”

“As a matter of fact…but that’s history.”

“Childhood religion is never history.”

“You are a priest!”

“Ex-priest.”

“But not ex-celibate.”

“Right.”

“So some friendly neighborhood Catholic spinster wouldn’t be ecstatic to help you out?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. There’s an…impediment.”

“Oh. You’re impotent.”

“How the heck would I know?”

“Don’t be testy, we’re getting somewhere here.”

“If I am impotent it’s situational. I’m trapped.”

“How? You’re an ex. You can do whatever you want.”

“Leaving the priesthood isn’t like leaving a religion. You don’t throw over all the traces. You’re still obligated to be a moral person.”

“‘A moral person.’ Listen to yourself. Get real.”

“So I’m a geek. Apparently there are a lot of them out there nowadays, cyber and otherwise.”

“Okay. So you need someone to break you in to normal life. I’ve been hired for that before. You’re not my first virgin.”

“Maybe not, but I’m your first reluctant virgin.”

“Why? I’ll give you a night to remember. I am very good at what I do.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

“Thomas.”

“And I do believe you’re a product of Vassar. And I do understand you’re an attractive lady.”

“But. You’d prefer another lady.”

“Maybe I would, but I can’t.”

“Because you’re impotent.”

“Because I don’t know, and I don’t much care. I’ve got a psycho in my life, my work. A woman who likes to corrupt priests.”

“Even ex-priests?”

“Even ex-priests. There aren’t too many innocent men out there anymore.”

“Tell me about it. Women, either.”

“So…she’ll hurt any woman I have anything to do with. Anything, anyone! My landlady who’s sixty-something. A preteen daughter of a friend.”

“Unless —”

He nodded.

“So you need to sleep with me first.”

Silence.

“But you don’t want to.”

“I don’t want to be coerced into sleeping with anyone.”

“I get you. I was there once. Yeah, I was a virgin. Everybody was. Almost everybody gets over it, one way or another.” She poured some more wine in her glass, her face softening under the makeup. “There was a guy I dated, my freshman year in college. Big, gorgeous guy, football player. Said I was a prick tease one night. Maybe I was, maybe I was just a virgin. I wasn’t after that night.”

Her eyes of no color were black holes.

“Date rape?”

“Didn’t have the phrase all over the newspapers then. I believed that I’d got what I deserved. It’s true. I wanted a boyfriend, but I didn’t want to sleep with him. Not yet. I didn’t know what it was about. I wasn’t ready.” She smiled over her glass rim. “That’s why I’m so good at my job. I can tell the guys who aren’t ready from the ones who’ve always been ready.

“I’m sorry, Thomas, but you’re not ready.”

“I’ve got to be. This woman is dangerous. I’ve got to disarm her. I’ve got to take away the thing in me that she covets.”

“You can sleep with me but you won’t lose your innocence.”

“You think so? She doesn’t really care about innocence, just the fact of it. Did I mention she was insane? Someone told me to try this. There’s no way she could suspect that you were in my life, no way she could hurt you. You’re the only safe woman in Las Vegas for me.”

“Now you’ve gone and made me feel my work is a duty. I’ve gotta save you from a date rape. I don’t know, Thomas. I work better when the goals are more crass. Orgasm, power, money. Sure, I can handle the insecure. But you’re not insecure, just…inexperienced. And you don’t want to do it. That’s kind of insulting. It doesn’t exactly turn me on, and I work better when I’m turned on.”

“You actually…enjoy your work?”

“Yes.”

“Because you’re in control?”

“How can I be in control? I’m bought and paid for.”

“Oh, come on. You’re leading the willing sheep by the fleece.”

“We call it short hairs in the business.”

Matt shook his head. Apparently sexual transactions allowed for no dignity. “You’ve got to admit I’m an interesting client.”

“Unique.”

“So, now that you know my problem, can you do anything about it?”

“It takes two. You’ve got to be willing and able to hold up your end of the bargain. I’m a very sexy lady, but if you really don’t want to get into it, I can’t make you. How have you managed to remain celibate anyway?”

“I’ve been looking for the right woman.”