It’s almost noon and I am actively working with a girl named Harper. And I say it like that to myself because I find this woman attractive. She’s six or seven years younger than me, but that’s not bad…I hope.

It doesn’t matter. My mind can’t be on that night we met. My mind needs to be focused on work and training her properly. Although I do find it fucked up that the universe has brought us together twice now.

Oh, but she is stunning. I never imagined needing to find another woman attractive, let alone consider searching for another woman. I thought I was going to be married to Ivy until I died. And now that we are split, the world is split. She has admitted to the sex scenes being overly correct. Yet people can’t understand why she left me for another man. It’s called ‘differences’ and we had them.

As much as I hate saying it, Ivy and I did see differences between us. The sex was phenomenal, and my love for her will always be there. But we had plenty of differences. Anyone who’s read the first chapter will see she was the one who stated she never wanted a relationship. I was able to change that and marry her.

Fifteen years of sex with her could make twenty books, but I just made the one with the best sex I can recall us having.

“How do I change these numbers?” Harper asks, grabbing my attention.

“Simple,” I say, pointing to the graph. “Just take those numbers there and add them. After that, if you want, we can take a break. Maybe lunch.”

She looks bewildered. “Together?”

I chuckle. “No. I mean…unless you want to. I just meant we can have lunch. I can go my separate way. I wasn’t saying together…again…unless you want to.”

She shrugs. “Where do you eat around here?”

I turn my chair to glance out the window and point. “You see that large building across the street.”

She chuckles. “Don’t be a dick. I can see it’s a mall. And yes, malls have food courts.”

I nod and turn my chair back. “Exactly. Although I love staying fit and active, I do prefer my junk food almost daily for lunch…sometimes dinner.”

Her eyes wave with excitement. “What’s your favorite place to eat in the mall?”

This is interesting. She’s almost acting as if we’ve known each other forever, and like she’s comfortable. She’s almost acting like an excited child. And that’s a problem. Women who tend to act like that are usually submissive. And even though I’m not into BDSM, Ivy made me turn into a dominant.

Oh my God! Stop thinking about sex!

I smile and close my laptop. My favorite is the pizza. I think it’s called Papa Marco’s Pizza. They say you should only eat one slice. I have a bad habit of eating two, sometimes two cups of breadsticks too.”

She looks at my body with shock, dancing in her expression. “Where does it go?”

I laugh. “If you couldn’t tell, I work out.”

“Oh, trust me.” She says sternly. “I can see you work out. I just figured even with working out, you’d still gain weight with all the junk food you eat.”

“Not me,” I say, standing up. “I work out harder on the days that I either know I’m going to eat junk, or I ate junk the night before.”

She nods. “Makes sense.”

“You’re free to leave,” I say, gesturing my hand toward the door. “Have lunch. You get an hour.”

She hesitates but then seems to grow calm. “Are you having pizza today?”

I nod. “Now that we’ve talked about it, yeah. A thick, stuffed-crust pepperoni and mushroom sounds good.”

Her eyes seem to look into mine like she’s searching for something. “Can I join? And also, can I ask a couple of questions since you are…you know…a famous author and all.”

I exhale with disappointment. “You can. But only because I like you.”

She shakes her head with a bewildered look in her eyes. “You like me?”

An amused smile fills my face. “As a person, I do. That’s what I meant to say. Sorry if it sounded different than what I was thinking.”

“No worries.” She’s quick to say and steps toward the door.

Fifteen minutes later, we are both eating our pizza, looking around the food court, and haven’t said a word to each other yet.

I bite into the greasy but cheesy crust. I moan from the back of my throat as the addicting taste hits my mouth.

“So,” She says, finally speaking. “My friend Loryn got me to read the beginning of your book. And although this is such a deep and personal question, I feel like it’s already been aired out there. Is it true?”

I can’t hold back the smile that fills my face as I nod and swallow my bite of food. “That book went viral on social media, making it one of the biggest sellers of last year, and this year it’s still doing wonders. During that time last year, my wife’s best friend and my wife's sister both came out to make a quick buck. They talked about it and started circulating how the sex scenes were real because my wife…well, ex-wife now…had shared our bedroom life with them. Then my wife had no shame in admitting that was our sex life. She felt like a queen among other women because of the way her man was capable of pleasing her and doing whatever she wanted him to do, including BDSM.”

“I read…” She blurts out, freezing in place and widening her eyes. “I mean, I’ve heard.”

Amusement fills my face again. “Harper. Millions of people have read about my sex life. It doesn’t surprise me that you did too. I didn’t become a financial advisor knowing people wouldn’t know who I was.”

“Good point.” She says, quickly bringing the next bite of food up to her lips. “But those scenes are accurate?”

I lean back in my chair, bringing my arm up and around. “I was married to her for a long time. We were very intimate. Especially in the beginning. The past few years have still been good, but a lot less so. And the past year was hard for me because she made me who I am. She made me this person who likes to take control, and then she just stopped. I know why and…” I pause, exhaling and looking down. “I’m sorry. I know you asked about the book and the scenes, but I feel like I am giving you too much information.”

“You’re not.” She argues. “Your books have too much information. What you’re telling me is child's play compared to the two or three scenes I’ve read so far.”

I raise an eyebrow in confusion. “How much have you read?”

“I skip a lot of the boring stuff and get to the good parts. But I think I just made it to page eighty.”

I chuckle. “If you’re only at page eighty, you have hardly broken the ice.”

           Her face looks shocked. “You mean it gets more intense than what I just read?”

I nod. “You read where she made me mad, and I had to lightly punish her?”

She slowly nods her head. “That didn’t seem like a light punishment. Did she bruise from the belt?”

“It’s not that hard,” I say, fighting to hold back another laugh. “It’s pleasurable for her. And thanks to her, it’s become pleasurable for me.”

I watch as her swallow is visible. Her eyes have this look of fear yet interest. “Would you ever do that to another woman? Like, are you fully into that stuff now?”

I exhale, sliding my plate over. “I feel like you’re interviewing me right now. And it’s not an interview I’d ever expect to have with someone I am training. How about we talk about something else?”

She leans in with a determined look on her face. “How about you answer the question?”

Okay, she is reminding me of Ivy with her determination and attitude. Even the control in her tone brings back memories.

“Are you ‘sex-crazed’?” I ask, fighting to skip her question.

She shrugs. “As my trainer, you shouldn’t be asking me that question. I mean, here we are, hardly knowing each other, and you want to know if I enjoy sex?”

“Wow!” I’m quick to interject. “You have no fear of me, do you?”

She shakes her head slowly, her eyes burning deep into mine. “Fear is something that I have a lot of. But I know how to control it. I’m asking the questions thanks to your book. You aired your sex life out there. That doesn’t mean I have to air mine out.”

She’s right. Just because she’s asking me questions that I mostly answered in my books, doesn’t mean I get to ask those questions.

“I’ll answer.” She says while giving a cocky smile. “I do enjoy sex. But I haven’t had sex in a while. I do sleep with men that I hardly know from time to time, like a one-night stand, except I prefer to get to know them beforehand. And I’m always safe and very particular about who I choose.”

 I lean back in. “Let me get this straight. We met each other last week, had a conversation, managed to end up in the same work field, which has me training you now, and we jumped to sex talk? How did this even happen?”

She points at me. “You’re the author who wrote about his sex life.”

           “Wrong!” I argue. “I wrote a romance novel which included heavy sex scenes, which were later admitted to being my real-life sex. There is a difference.”

“I’ve only read two scenes.” She says and inhales a deep breath. “And you’re telling me it gets more intense. Would you do that to other women?”

“If they wanted me to,” I say softly, feeling almost disgusted. “I was never a fan of hurting my wife. She loved it. She was or is a freak. And there are few women like her. If a girl wants regular sex, I’ll do that for the rest of my life. But I guess you can say I’ve been trained in BDSM and trained to have a woman orgasm before I sleep with her.”

She begins to laugh, trying to control it but struggling. “You’re right. I cannot believe we barely know each other but are having a deep conversation about sex. But as messed up as this sounds, I feel like because of what I read, I already know you…nakedly…if that makes sense.”

I exhale an amused breath. “I’ve gotten that from other women. I’ve had women who’ve never met me beg me to sleep with them. It was like they knew my entire anatomy and were comfortable with me tying them up. Those women scare me.”

She narrows her eyes, inclining toward the table and crossing her arms. “Have you slept with any of your fans?”

“Now it’s more personal,” I say, stopping that part of the conversation. “Remember, my wife just left me a little over two weeks ago. That means if I slept with any of my fans, it would have occurred over the past week. And I’m not saying I did, but I am saying that part of my life is off limits.”

“Okay.” She says, agreeing. “Would you sleep with a fan if you knew it could become something more, but knowing they wanted the sex you give in the books?”

“Harper. These are deep questions. I would sleep with a fan. I would tie them up and do whatever they told me to do. I don’t know if I could have a relationship with a fan knowing they were a fan first because I don’t know if it’s true love or infatuation.”

“Fair enough.” She says while bringing her drink to her lips. “FYI, I met you before I started reading this book, and I am not a fan. That does not mean I am trying to hook up with you by any means. I’m just stating, there might be people out there who met you before reading the book, and they like you for you and not the book. So, before you go off thinking you’re sleeping with a fan, get the facts first.”

Okay, I’m going to be blunt with her and make her blush.

So, what you’re saying is if I fucked you the way you wanted me to, it’d be because you like me as a person and not because of the intense sex you imagine when you’re alone in your room? You’re not thinking of me when you…”

“Jesus, Noah.” She roars, quickly slapping her hand over her mouth, her wide eyes looking around the food court. “I…you…this…”

I chortle. “Relax. I knew it’d turn your face red. Have you asked enough questions now? We do have a professional job to return to.”

           “We still have half an hour, " she argues, and I can hear the slight shakiness in her breath as she exhales.

“Maybe,” I say, standing up. “But I have a few things to do before I continue training you. Take your time and go walk the mall, or you can come back to the office. We have a breakroom with a TV and a couch. I’m not going to lie. I can get you back on the computer after lunch, but it might be a bit while I’m on the phone. So, if you'd be okay with that, you might have a little longer lunch.”

“I’m not going to argue.” She’s quick to say. “I’m getting paid to sit around and watch TV or stare at my phone. I’m not going to complain.”

“Good!” I say and gesture my hands toward the exit. “Then I can make these calls I was supposed to make.”