“Wife number one; we met at college and she became a nurse. She was pretty and funny and I fell head over heels. After two kids and six years we both realised we’d changed. We were more like roomies than anything else and needed different things.” He sipped some of the wine in his glass. “Wife number two was knocked up, so that was a bigger motivator than love.”
She almost choked on her wine.
He patted her back. “She miscarried after we married, but I did care for her. She wanted children, but it never happened again. That was more of a concern for her than the fact our marriage was falling apart around us.”
“I’m sorry,” Tasha offered with genuine sympathy for his and her loss.
A dismissive wave of the hand suggested he didn’t want or need her apology or sympathy. “Wife number three was an actress, well, I say actress… Pretty, but lacking in talent, as a real actress anyway.” His tone and expression suggested genuine distaste and remorse at that marriage.
Tasha looked confused. “Real actress?”
“Yeah. She auditioned for parts before we married. She got a couple of commercials but no more. I refused to let her use my studio or contacts to further her career which I think came as a surprise to her. I would never have expected her to be cast in a part just because she was my wife. I encouraged her, supported her to go back to school, to take acting lessons if that’s what she wanted. She didn’t. She seemed a little lacklustre in terms of ambition and drive, which I’m sure I don’t need to tell you is totally necessary for an actress. So, she settled for spending my cash and enjoying lots of lunches withfriends.”
The last word left her in no doubt that her idea of friends and his were very different. Tasha resisted the temptation to offer her sympathy or condolences and he continued.
“Things went downhill pretty quick. We divorced and she rediscovered her desire to act and ended up in the porn industry and whilst I have no moral objection to porn, it’s not something I’d want for my wife. I’m still not entirely sure how I didn’t see that coming, but we managed a year.”
Tasha laughed at his perplexed expression. “Number four?”
“Ooh number four. You’ll like this one I’m sure. She was a very beautiful and smart accountant for another studio. We hit it off straight away, but she wouldn’t let me touch her beyond kissing and making out. It was like being fourteen again, so I married her within a month in order to get her into bed.”
Tasha stared at him wide-eyed, amazed and slightly disbelievingly before her lips curled into a smile that he’d married her so soon simply to have sex with her. “Really? Was she a virgin?”
“No, she was not a virgin and it’s not funny. She was the worst lay I’ve ever had and the most expensive. Less than a year there,” he said with a straight face, unlike Tasha who was laughing long and hard now.
He laughed back, making her think he looked much younger than his years. Awareness and arousal was on the climb again with his eyes boring into her while her own gaze became fixed on his lips, she could have sworn they were moving closer, across the table, but then nothing. If anything, he settled back in his seat.
“Divorce number four was already in sight before the ink had dried on the marriage certificate,” said Jim. “Wife number five, my secretary.”
Tasha laughed, holding a succulent piece of steak on her fork. “Ah, the clichéd secretary. I expected better of you, James.”
“Jim,” he corrected, watching her draw the pink meat into her mouth. “I know. Things become a cliché for a reason. Within six months of marrying her I realised she was a mistake. She started as fun and a distraction and as my secretary, assistant, she was brilliant.”
“She was okay when she was just the secretary you were screwing, but not the wife?” Tasha spoke with a bluntness she didn’t recognise, but why? Was it his attitude to his failed marriages and ex-wives? The way he seemed to be able to reason the failings and dismiss the women and the relationships? She wanted to be able to confirm to herself that it was exactly that. That she was outraged by his sexist and disrespectful attitude, but she couldn’t because she knew the truth. She was jealous.
“Miss Winters, I don’t know that I approve of that language from such a sweet and beautiful mouth.”
She gulped down a large mouthful of wine, suddenly embarrassed again. Being chastened reminded her of their difference in their ages, especially when she was battling the green-eyed monster within.
“And number six?” She aimed to sound as casual as she possibly could.
“She was beautiful, had been very beautiful. A real lady, or she had been. She was a divorcee too, and a few years older than me. I was hoping maturity might work in our favour. It didn’t. Her first husband was a member at my golf club and Esther and I played a few rounds of golf together. We talked and laughed. Got along and that’s how number six happened.”
He looked awkward and uncomfortable discussing this wife. He didn’t dismiss her in quite the same way he had most of the others with the exception of the mother of his children.
“And divorce number six?”
“No divorce. She died.”
His eyes darkened. Tasha felt guilty, worse than that, but was grateful that she hadn’t made a jokey comment about themplaying a roundwhich had been in her head when he’d mentioned them playing golf together.
“Sorry, I didn’t know, sorry.”
“It’s okay. We were married for a year and a half, but had already separated before her death.” He smiled again now, allowing Tasha to relax a little. “It was an odd situation because I had chosen someone with lots of common interests, mutual friends and someone older and still it failed.”
“Are you on the lookout for number seven?” Her mouth was agape at her own question, clueless as to why she had thought it, never mind asked it.
Jim on the other hand grinned while amusement danced in his eyes. “Always looking, Tasha, always looking. But what about you?”
