Chapter 15

“You know, Jane,” Brad says, while getting up for more champagne. “I am really impressed by you. You have a determination to go after what you want.”

“Thanks,” says Jane, feeling a bit tipsy. “Not many have seen it that way.”

“It’s often lonely when you’re out doing your own thing while everyone else is just plugging away at their regular lives. You have passion inside of you. A true zeal and a sense of who you really are.”

“Well, you’re far too kind. I wish the world would support ballet the way you do. It seems to be a dying art, and that really doesn’t make much common sense,” Jane remarks.

Brad reaches over to touch her chin, and she raises her head.

“Listen. Whoever was so hard on you and made you doubt yourself was a small, mean-spirited person,” Brad says, staring right into her eyes. “You are beautiful, Jane Bryden, in body and spirit, and you have such guts, something I haven’t seen in all the women I’ve met in my life. You haven’t given up, and you haven’t let them bring you down. You have a grace and a dignity up there for the art, not just some movements you learned because your parents told you to, like the other girls.”

Nobody has ever stood up for her this way. Her dad was a pretty quiet guy, always taking direction from her mom. And her mom was only interested in living a mediocre existence and telling everyone else what to do, but not paying attention to what they needed.

Jane was an only child and would often spend her days playing with dolls and dreaming up a fantasy life far, far away.

Tears start welling up in her eyes at the memory, and she worries she is going to ruin her mascara and look like hell.

“Excuse me, I have to go to the washroom,” she says.

“Jane, did I offend you?” Brad asks, concerned that he’s messed something up.

“No, I just need to take a bit of a break. I think the champagne is getting to me,” she replies.

Brad realizes how lonely and sensitive she is. He knows she needs a man to hold her and make her feel loved and safe. He wants nothing more than to be that man.

He can see she has never been treated as the beautiful young woman she is, and is thrilled that he gets to be the first person in her life who shows her what love really feels like.

When she comes back, he wants to pull her into his arms, drape her across his lap, and comfort her while she sobs and lets out all of her pain. He would stroke her shoulders, kiss them, and help her feel secure in this world that has been so mean. He would help her melt away the neglect and the critical words that have wounded her heart, until it all went away.

Jane returns, still dabbing tissues around her eyes. Brad reaches out his hand to her.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine. Just had to get myself back.”

“You don’t have to be fine with me, Jane. None of us are perfect. You can just be yourself around me, you know. I’m not afraid of a few tears,” says Brad.

Jane laughs a bit. “Well, that’s what you say now. You don’t know what floodgates you may be opening.”

“I can take it. Really, I can,” he says, still holding her hand.

His hand feels warm, strong and comforting, like all the problems in the whole world could just melt away.

Jane wishes she could pull herself closer to him, where he could wrap his arms around her waist, as she cries out all the pain of her life, her hurts, her desperate loneliness, and her fears, feeling like she can relieve herself of it all with him, then rest safely in his embrace.

She would kiss him all over and passionately fall right into him, straddling him with her dress hiked up, stroking his cock to make him feel wanted.

She wants to show him, even if it’s only for a moment, how special he is to her right now. She would get on her knees, unzip his pants, and lick and suck his cock the way she has seen in those late-night movies. She would make him feel like the most special and important man alive, because he is the only one who has ever really seen her.

“Brad?”

“Yes.”

“I am starting to really like you.”

“Thanks, I’m really liking you, too,” he says.

“I think we’ll have some fun this week.”

“Me, too. I’m glad you’re with me.”

“Thanks.”

They stay in a place of silence, not sure what is supposed to come next. Jane leans back in the chair and watches the clouds through the window.

“What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?” she asks him.

“In what way?”

“Craziest, wildest, something so bold nobody would have thought you would ever do anything like it.”

Brad is not sure if he wants to share that truth. He’s done a lot of things, and the last thing he wants to do is give her the impression he is some kind of player or that he’s dangerous. Money just provides a whole lot of freedom, and he’s let himself push his limits because of it.

“Well, I don’t really know what to tell you. Craziest adventure or craziest sex?”

“Well, now that you mention it, both.”

“Ohh. Hmmmm… I’ll start with craziest adventure. I did a 24-hour binge one time where I travelled to Australia to swim with sharks, then went to Thailand to learn about snake charming, and then did a fire-breathing class on the beach. That was probably the craziest 24 hours of my life. And yes, alcohol and drugs were involved.”

Jane’s eyes went wide open.

“For real? You did those things?”

“Yes, and I lived to tell the tale.”

“Thankfully!” Jane says, still shocked. “I’m not sure now if I still want to hear about your craziest sex.”

“Let’s just say it involved five women, five hours, and lots of fluid,” Brad says, not wanting to share all the details.

He has banked on the fact that Jane probably hasn’t heard much about sex play.

Jane put her hands up to her ears, shaking her head and smiling.

“I don’t want to know,” she half jokes. “It’s too much for my innocent ears.”

“Yes, I agree,” Brad says, smiling. “No need to know all the juicy details. Yet…”