“What if I offered to pay you more than your friends are paying you?”
“No dice, honey. I like money, but once I’ve made a deal, I stick to it.”
“I was afraid of that,” I sighed. I reached the end table and poured her a good-sized drink. This time I’d carried my own glass with me and I filled it, then put the bottle down on the end table. “If you’d only let me put on my pants … there are such a limited number of things a man can do well without any clothes at all.” She laughed as I thought she would. I held my glass in my left hand and picked up her glass with my right. “Well, at least, let’s drink a toast to the next meeting you mentioned.”
“All right,” she said, “but remember—nothing funny.”
“Nothing funny,” I said seriously.
She propped herself up higher on her left elbow so that sh
