Cheryl's Secret (Two Stories Series) Read Free Page A

apartment no less. God, if it weren’t for Richard…
    Mark was wearing his dress pants and dress shoes, with a blue shirt and a black tie. He had not worn these clothes for quite some time, but he wore them for her.
    “You look great Mark ,” Cheryl said with a smile.
    “ You look stunning .”
    I can’t make a move. God this is torture!
    As if she had read his mind, Cheryl responded, “I want to be absolutely clear: No having sex with me! So please, try to relax.”
    Although Cheryl’s words were anything but relaxing, he did his best to try. To ease the tension, he lit up a cigarette and offered one to her, which she accepted.
    They ate their pizza and sipped their wine. Mark thought her brave for eating pizza with a white dress on. He also noticed that when she ate, she had perfect table manners, and was graceful, neat and tidy. Mark had a near miss of getting pepperoni on his shirt, and with some embarrassment, picked the piece off the floor.
    “Please be careful not to stain my floor,” she said politely.
    “Excuse me !” Mark interjected. “This is not your floor.”
    “My work my floor. Don’t let me see the rest of this place messy the next time I come here!”
    Mark was charmed by this, but also taken aback.
    Before Mark could wander further into his own thoughts again, she continued to speak.
    “Now that we ’ve eaten, we’re clean, and your place is clean, I can begin teaching you how to handle a woman.” She then sat on the couch and motioned him to join.
    Cheryl took note of his discomfort.
    “Look,” Cheryl said “You’re an intelligent, well-spoken man. You already know how to carry a conversation, so you don’t need much help there. But you need to learn to be just as relaxed and in control regarding what you do with your body.”
    “I thought you said we weren’t having sex ,” Mark said with a wink, suppressing his laughter with a half-smile.
    “ Get your mind out of the gutter! I’m talking about your hands.”
    O.K. , I’m going to have to give my wit the night off and refrain from my comments about groping or hand jobs, I suppose.
    “Now the first thing we’ re going to do is hold hands. Put your hands on my hands, and I’ll hold them in my lap until you feel comfortable. During this time, we’re going to talk.”
    Mark obeyed, and he put his hands on hers. He felt even more nervous than before. After a few minutes, his hands started to sweat. Hers didn’t.
    “ Now talk to me, Mark.”
    Their conversation lasted about an hour or so, du ring which she reminded him several times to put his hands back on hers while she faced him on the couch. To ease things, he made conversation.
    He asked , “I know you’re half Japanese, do you speak any?”
    “A little. My mother taught me some when I was a kid, but I’ve forgotten a lot of it. My half-sister Akiko is full Japanese, and she speaks it too. She was born over there where she grew up with her father. She’s only been in America for a few years. We speak some Japanese sometimes. You probably speak more Japanese than I do, from what I read on your profile.”
    Mark felt relaxed, and continued the conversation saying, “You know it’s interesting that you see more American men with Asian women than you do the other way around. You know why that is?”
    “No, I never gave it much thought ,” replied Cheryl.
    “It’s a cultural thing. American men like women who are more traditional. Asian women like the fact that an American man is not as dictatorial as an Asian man would be. Now, on the other hand, you have an Asian man trying to be the boss of the relationship while his Cosmopolitan magazine flinging American woman is trying to reduce him down and cut his balls off, turning him into a ‘sensitive man’. It’s a total power struggle.”
    “Well, don’t you worry, Mark ,” Cheryl said with a smile, “I don’t read Cosmopolitan magazine.”
    “I could kiss you for that .”
    “Don’t kiss me yet! You have