‘A what?’
‘A five-date rule. You know, I won’t sleep with a guy until we’ve been on five dates.’
‘Seriously? Girls have those?’
‘Apparently, yes. Yvonne told me about it. Lots of girls have them. Sometimes they’re three-date rules.’
‘Huh! No one’s ever used that on me,’ he said smugly.
Claire ignored him. ‘Anyway, that gives me more time, but I’d like to get as much done as possible in the next couple of weeks. I’ll have more free time while my mother’s still in the nursing home.’
‘Okay, then. You can come over as many nights as you want to for the next two weeks – as long as you check with me first.’
‘You’re sure that’s not too much? I’d pay you more.’
Luca shook his head. ‘No need for that. Consider it a fixed-price job. Five hundred to turn you into a sexpot or your money back.’
It didn’t seem fair when she would be taking up so much of his time, but Claire could tell he wouldn’t budge on this. Maybe she could find other ways to pay him extra –she could buy him groceries, give him presents… ‘Okay,’ she agreed. ‘Now, one last thing – I made a list,’ she said, bending to fish it out of her bag.
‘A list?’
‘Of things I want to learn.’ She had typed it on the computer and printed it out. She unfolded the sheet of A4 paper and smoothed it out.
‘Okay, let’s see,’ Luca said, taking it from her. To her mortification, he began reading the list out loud. ‘Basic sex, hand job, blowjob, positions, e.g. woman on top, doggy style, sixty-nine… How much of this stuff have you done before?’
‘I’ve had sex – I told you that. But I don’t think I was doing it right.’
‘Okay.’ Luca’s lips twitched as he placed a tick beside ‘basic sex’. ‘Hand job?’
‘Um… same thing. I tried it, but it didn’t work.’
‘It didn’twork? What exactly happened?’
‘I tried to do it, but I wasn’t any good at it. The guy… he kind of gave out to me.’
‘What? You were giving him a hand job and hegave outto you?’
‘Yeah,’ she said, in a small voice. ‘I think I was doing it too lightly. He kept telling me I didn’t have to be so gentle, but I was scared of hurting him. Plus, I don’t have great upper body strength. My arm was aching and he just kept complaining, so… well, I just gave up. He was really pissing me off. I mean, I was doing my best. He didn’t have to be so critical.’ Her cheeks flushed. She could still feel the burning shame. It had been so humiliating.
‘Arsehole!’
‘Well, I suppose it’s like you said – if he’d faked it and pretended he was enjoying it, I’d have just kept doing the same thing.’
‘He didn’t have to fake it. He could have just shown you what to do, given you a bit of encouragement.’
‘Anyway, I just left ? got out of bed there and then and never saw him again.’
‘Serves him right.’
‘I don’t think he’d have been crying after me, considering,’ she said. ‘He was probably happier on his own.’
‘Wankers usually are.’
‘I’m not telling you this to make you feel sorry for me, by the way. You have to tell me if I’m not doing something right. I want to learn.’
‘I’ll be firm but fair.’ He grinned. ‘Was that the half?’
‘Sorry?’
