Hothouse Orchid (Holly Barker 6)

“And how did you handle that?”

“I told him I’m seeing somebody, which is true, and he backed off.”

“Just tell me how you see this playing out, Lauren.”

“Okay. I let Jimmy know that I’m newly available.”

“That you’ve stopped seeing your friend?”

“No, I don’t think that’s the way. I think Jimmy should think that I’ll see him even though I’m seeing somebody else.”

“Then you’re forbidden fruit?”

“Exactly. I think he might find that more exciting.”

“I can’t disagree with that,” Hurd said, “but…”

“Yes, I know. There are a lot of buts.”

“But how do we control this? We could have a squad of people following you and Jimmy around, waiting for him to try…”

“Yes, and that would be awkward. And we have to remember that Jimmy is not stupid; I’d have to be a pretty good actress to pull this off.”

“And are you a pretty good actress?”

“Yes.”

“That’s not enough, Lauren. Jimmy is a big guy, over six feet, muscular. He looks like he spends a lot of time at the gym.”

“Yes, he does.”

“Why do you think you can handle him? Physically, I mean.”

“I’m not at all sure I could; I have to keep it from coming to that.”

“Let me tell you bluntly why I can’t authorize this,” Hurd said, “either officially or unofficially.”

“Tell me,” Lauren replied.

“In order to pull this off, you’re going to have to make Jimmy believe that he’s going to…”

“Yes.”

“He has to believe that you want him to fuck you.” Hurd blushed. “I said I’d be blunt.”

“It’s all right, Hurd; be blunt.”

“If he thinks that’s going to happen and you try and stop him, you could make him very angry.”

“That’s kind of the idea.”

“You’ve seen his victims. He wasn’t gentle with them before he killed them. There’s no reason to believe he would be gentle with you.”

“I suppose it would be up to me to control him,” Lauren said.

“And you think that, if you led him along, you could stop him from fucking you without… consequences?”

“The consequences would have to be for him.”