Free Beauty and the Baritone by Lori Green Page B

made her shake. The pleasure David created was more than any man had brought from her before.
    “Does he want a woman?” Carolyn asked, when she could speak.
    “He’s playing the cripple in that house of his.” David’s face twisted in displeasure. “The best of our generation and now he’s a waste. Fucker had it all, now he has nothing.”
    “Oh my god.” He tapped high and hard and it was a turning in her body. More sensation than she knew tumbling hard inside.
    “You should see yourself,” David said smugly. “You’re so hot. What man wouldn’t want you?”
    She’d been crazy. There was no other way to accept it.
    Her suitcases were on the floor by the bed and Carolyn opened the larger one. A woman had an arsenal of weapons against a man and her dresses were the beginning of her tricks.
    David had opened the door. She hoped Mateo would take her to the other side of it.

    *** *** ***
     
    He never had guests. David had forced himself in on more than one occasion and Mateo had accepted that he was unstoppable. But this woman, this Carolyn, was sitting at his table wearing a dress of demure white lace, a dress made for a virgin to be worn with a chemise underneath. Not to be worn as Carolyn wore it with nothing under, her skin playing peek-a-boo with the fabric.
    She was a red headed devil sent by a man who probably sat at Satan’s right hand.
    “Do not turn around.” Mateo entered the room from the doorway behind Carolyn. “I have something I must say and you must promise to listen.”
    “I promise.”
    “I don’t believe you are here for why you say. I am not the man to keep a woman as a play-thing. That is David. If you are here to steal from me, whether my money or my privacy, you will be unsuccessful. If you plan to take advantage of me, it will be to your detriment.”
    “I hear you,” Carolyn said. She rose and again the grace of her movements struck him.
    Her hair was hanging loose and it swayed to the center of her back. He could see her ass through the dress, the sweet curves of her cheeks, the hollow of her lower back and spread of her chest.
    “I know about your accident, Senor, David told me. You don’t need to hide from me. Just as I don’t intend to hide from you.”
    She turned slowly, allowing him to see the fullness of her body below the lace. The slimness of her waist, the triangle of red hair between her thighs.
    She turned and faced him and he waited for her revulsion, her disgust.
    “Will you be joining me for dinner?” she asked.

    *** *** ***
     
    He was ugly.
    The pictures of Mateo Lopez before the accident were of a handsome man with a beautiful smile, an olive complexion with flashing dark eyes. He had curly, black hair and with his beauty and his voice, he no doubt captured the interest of any woman who interested him.
    His face was no longer the flawless, Mediterranean perfection of the past. A scar twisted one side of his mouth into a sneer. Another scar circled his left eye which drooped. His face had needed massive reconstructive surgery and despite life saving measures and brilliant doctors, there was no way to save his looks and his life.
    He dragged his foot when he walked. Although he tried to hide it, he massaged his fingers after a few minutes of using his utensils.
    She didn’t know how to talk to him. With most men she could flirt or tease, compliment their suit or play to their egos. Mateo ate slowly, his face turned away as often as he could. It was ridiculous and if this was anything but her life, she’d be amused.
    “Your house is beautiful.” It was a conversation starter.
    “Thank you.” He bowed his head but didn’t look at her.
    “I’m grateful that you’re letting me stay with you. I’m hopeful that you understand I’m sincere in everything I’ve said.”
    “Miss Gibbs, this is an impossible situation.”
    “No Senor Lopez, it’s not.” She laid her cutlery down. “I’m not as good as a singer as I need to be. I’m good but I’m