He watches me approach with an intensity that makes my skin prickle.
“You don’t tense up with me,” he observes.
My pulse kicks.
“You don’t shut down with me,” he says quietly. “Not because I’m safe—but because you don’t have any adverse reaction to me.”
I frown. “That’s… a lot of self-flattery.”
“It’s useful,” he corrects. “With Blake, he’s a job. A lie. And you don’t like him.”
“Which is why your current approach won’t work. You can’t seduce a man who repulses you. Not convincingly. Not without him sensing the fakeness.”
I swallow. Because that’sexactlyit.
“So what do you suggest?” I ask, frustration creeping into my voice. “Give up? Let Natalie marry him blind?”
And say goodbye to the fifty thousand dollars for Grace’s tuition?
“Listen, this isn’t about teaching you seduction,” he states calmly. “It’s about learning how to stay present while you’re performing interest—long enough to control it.”
I stare at him. “So I have to build… tolerance.”
“Control,” he corrects. “Tolerance implies suffering. This is about staying present long enough to sell the lie. Then seduction can happen.”
It’s logical. Insane, but logical. And the best part—it’s fixable. I just need practice.
“So teach me,” I say again.
“Jane, what are you even sugges—”
“I know the risks,” I cut in. “But I can’t seduce someone I don’t like if my body keeps short-circuiting. And I’m out of time.”
I lift my chin. “So either help me learn how to override it—or watch me blow the job.”
He exhales slowly. Long. Measured.
“This is a bad idea,” he says.
“Most effective ones start off that way.”
A beat. Then he nods once.
“Fine,” he says. “But we do this deliberately.”
“Deliberately… how?”
He shifts closer, voice focused.
“You learn how to stay in your body when every instinct wants you to pull away.”
He gestures to the space in front of him.
"Sit on my lap."
My brain short-circuits. "I—what?"
"You asked me to teach you." His expression doesn't waver. "So I'm teaching you. Blake will get close. He'll test yourboundaries. And when he does, you need to know how to control the situation without freezing or running."
