Beyond Seduction. Kathleen O'Reilly

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      KRISTIN WAS COUNTING DOWN, Mercedes was seated across from Sam, a mere eighteen inches across from him, and all he could do was study the tiny silver ring on her finger. Why did she have to wear a silver ring?

      He swallowed, got a last glimpse at his notes, and prepared for the camera.

      “Back in three, two, one.”

      “And we’re live.” Camera three picked him up, and Sam blinked before his innate skills kicked in to save him. “Tonight, we have as our guest, Mercedes Brooks, author of The Red Choo Diaries, a work of rather steamy fiction. Ms. Brooks, welcome to the show.”

      “It’s good to be back.”

      “So, I caught a glimpse of your book in the store, read some, and when I was reading, all thoughts worth anything flew out of my head. National debt? Not a problem. Trade deficit? No big whoop. Failure of the educational system? What’s that? Within two pages, my brain was pretty well smashed.”

      Her full lips curved into a warm, welcoming smile. “I think that’s the point, Sam. We have so many serious problems in the world now, it’s nice to forget sometime. To get so carried away with a moment, that you don’t have to worry about the national debt, the trade deficit, failure of the educational system, or even carting clothes to the laundry.”

      “It was nice to get carried away, certainly. But we’re getting messages like yours on a daily, heck, hourly basis. Advertisers are using sex to sell every product from soup to health insurance. Now how is that going to help anything? Sex shouldn’t be thought of strictly as entertainment. What happened to the emotion behind the act?”

      “Done correctly, it’s still there.”

      He wanted to change topics to something less heated, and something less Johnson-hardening, but sex was the point of this segment. It’d been his idea. Stupid idea. However, he had to stay on point. Sam swallowed and gathered his thoughts. Quickly he dove right into the mix. “But sex is one of those primitive drives. It’s not a corporate brand; it goes much deeper. If everything uses sex to sell, sex to entertain, sex to tease, then it becomes nothing more than a brand.” There, that one was safer.

      “But you’re forgetting that we need sex. We need sex to procreate, to reduce stress, to live longer, to keep our heart healthy, to make us happier, more functional people.”

      “But if we’re busily engrossed in all things sex, the function goes out the window.”

      “Has your function gone out the window, Sam?” she asked, the wicked gleam flickering in her eyes, and Sam’s brain function went out the window. Every inch of him was focused on her, the gleam in her eyes. He had to see that gleam when they were making love.

      He tried not to smile, but camera 2 might have caught it. “Do you ever feel bombarded by sexual messages, Mercedes?”

      “Sometimes.”

      “But after being filled with all that pressure, doesn’t it diminish the desire for sex? Maybe not for men, of course, we’re not that analytical when it comes to it, but what about for women?”

      “There are ways to relieve that pressure,” she reminded him in a schoolteacher’s voice.

      Sam shifted uncomfortably, because he didn’t need a hard-on right at that exact moment. Not now. He glanced up at the clock behind the cameras. Three more minutes. All he had to do was get through three more minutes. Quickly he charged into another question. An even safer question.

      “Does it bother you that you write about sex? Does anyone tease you about it being cheap or degrading to women?”

      Mercedes flicked back her hair, and he glimpsed anger in her eyes. Anger was much better than that sexy, come-hither gleam. “Sex is empowering to women,” she started. “It may take us longer to get where we want to go, but the end result is just as sweet. Why can’t women be aroused? Why should we be afraid to admit it?”

      “Personally, I don’t think you should be afraid to admit it. Do many women feel that same way? Afraid?”

      “I know I’m not the only one.”

      “So, when you write about sexual freedom, from a woman’s point of view, you’re celebrating the woman’s desire and control of sex? Interesting. Do you believe in love, Mercedes?”

      “Absolutely.”

      “How do those two work together? From an empowered, sexually liberated woman’s point of view?”

      He watched her small, white teeth nip into her lower lip. She was fascinating to watch, thoughts flying across her face, until the dark eyes widened, and the full lips split into a satisfied grin. “We all crave love as much as we crave sex. In some ways, even more. That’s deeper, more insidious than sex. People kill for love. Not so much for sex. Sex can be an expression of that love, or it can be a hit of pleasure, but just because you’re not in love with someone, doesn’t mean that sex is wrong.”

      “And the dangers of sex?”

      “You talk about responsibility all the time on your show. There’s nothing wrong with sexual responsibility.”

      “But when you get carried away? When your brain gets smashed, how do you remember? What if you forget?”

      “You can’t forget.”

      “But sometimes you do.”

      “That’s not good, and that’s not what I want to represent to my readers. Sex has consequences. Good and bad, and you have to prepare for those consequences. If you’re not prepared, you shouldn’t have sex.”

      “But isn’t that the silver, uh, brass ring for erotica? Two people so carried away that they forget the stresses and the responsibilities and they act on very deep, primitive impulses, stimulated by the very media messages that you provide.”

      She laughed. “I just write books.”

      “So did George Orwell and Sinclair Lewis. They changed the world with their books.”

      “That’s some pretty big company I’m expected to keep.”

      Out of the corner of his eye, he got the signal from Kristin. Thank God. “We’re almost out of time, Mercedes. It’s been a pleasure, and I suppose we’ll agree to disagree.”

      “I don’t think we disagree on everything,” she said smoothly. Her voice was polite, almost СКАЧАТЬ