Free BoldLust by Sky Robinson Page B

something different seemed like the smart thing to
do. But it failed. He’d lost. Again.

Chapter Ten
     
    A week later Kate and Opal sat at the table together eating
supper. Opal had never really had a woman for a friend before, but things
between her and Kate were comfortable. Kate didn’t judge her for being a
prostitute, even stood up for her to Betsy once. A woman had never done that
before.
    Hell, she wasn’t sure her own mother would stand up for her
if she were alive to see what Opal had become. Kate might have been naive about
a lot of things in this world, but that also gave her the ability to make her
own judgments, without prejudice.
    “What made you decide to become a…” Kate didn’t finish the
sentence but looked meekly down at her plate. She was probably afraid of
offending Opal by using the wrong term for the job Opal performed.
    “You mean why did I become a prostitute?” Opal offered one
of the less polite names for her career to let Kate know she wasn’t offended by
the question. She’d made her choice knowing exactly what she was getting into.
Well, for the most part anyway.
    “Yeah, that. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,
I was just curious.” Kate fidgeted with her napkin.
    Kate’s naivety was cute sometimes, and Opal had no problem
with educating the girl on some of the not-so-often-shared facts of life. The
mothers of girls like Kate didn’t talk about prostitutes or how to please a man
in the night. Opal would know. She’d been raised in a conservative, wealthy
household herself, where the word prostitute was never spoken—even after
her father brought girls into the house, no conversation about them was allowed.
    “When I was sixteen I watched my father at a party with
girls he’d hired for the night. It was about a year after my mother had died,
so he wasn’t cheating on her or anything, but I was amazed by the women. They
were smiling and laughing and having a good time with the men, things I never
saw my mother do. I’m sure my parents loved each other on some level but things
were always serious between them. My dad didn’t hug or kiss her, at least not
that I ever saw. She didn’t smile much or have any fun.”
    Opal took a breath and then continued. She hadn’t told many
people her story. Most people didn’t care enough to ask. “From that day, I knew
I wanted to be like those women. Life was too short to be bored or unhappy with
life. I wanted to laugh and love and enjoy every day.”
    “Do you feel like you’ve got that?” Kate’s eyes were wide
with interest.
    Was Kate thinking about becoming a sporting woman? Opal had
to dissuade her. Kate was too gentle, too sensitive for this profession. She
wouldn’t trade it for her mother’s life, even now that she’d seen the downsides
to the career, but she couldn’t encourage a woman like Kate to become a part of
this world, which could be very dark and lonely at times.
    “Sort of. It isn’t always as fun as I thought it would be,
but I do what I want with whoever I want, and that’s freeing. Sometimes I
wonder if there could have been a man out there who could keep me happy, if I
could have been a woman who stayed home having babies and cooking supper every
night, but I’ve given up that chance by doing this.” There was more truth to
her words than she wanted to admit even to herself. She would never have the
monogamous love of a man.
    “Well, are you ready to open up shop?” Opal forced her
thoughts to return to business, she couldn’t spend her time daydreaming about
the man she loved. It was depressing, and she already did way too much of it.
    A solid knock at the door echoed through the house. Opal
didn’t have a candle lit in the window. Anyone outside should know she wasn’t
taking customers right now, should know that they weren’t open for business
yet.
    “I’ll get it.” Opal moved across the room with determination
to let whoever it was who’d interrupted her dinner know