The Cost To Play (Slivers of Love) Read Free Page A

chest in mock chivalry, but it was really an effort to quell the rapid beating of his heart.  She smiled as she delivered the words, “you are an asshole.”
    He reacted as if he had been slapped.  She pushed him to the side and walked passed him heading into the conference registration area. He watched her sashay away with more than a casual interest. The initial assessment had not changed. That was still the most perfect ass he had ever seen in his life, but the woman who owned it, was a handful. He found himself with a very wide grin that harbored a very playful thought. That ass was a perfect handful as well .
    Toshi felt stimulated by her.  Her words had hurt his feelings. That was something that had never happened before and he did not like the idea of her thinking of him as an asshole. He called after her. “There you go again, just walking away from the team.”
    The lady stopped dead in her tracks.  Giving just enough of a turn. “I was never truly a part of the team.”
    She walked away.  The faint scent of her perfume still lingered in the air.  It was mixed with whatever she used on her hair.  Toshi’s body reacted. Emotions flooded through him and confusion was knocking at the chunks of blockades that had grown into his cerebral cortex.  He had slept with a black woman before, actually, all races of women, but never really considered it anything other than a physical release. Yet that creamy skinned vixen, moved him. For the first time in several years, he felt something stirring him up.
    This was going to be a great weekend.

    Jayne was an artist and a very good one, but there were two things Jayne was not; easy and easy going. Comic books and painting were her first love, cosplaying was her second, with costume designing coming in a close third. Men were something she had little time for, although her body frequently reminded her of the important role they played in the life of a woman. More so if she planned to procreate. However, children were nowhere on her list of things to get done in her lifetime.  Her experience with men had been limited, with only one serious sexual partner to her credit, whom she seldom spoke of nor had many fond memories.  Alex had been the first man she been intimate with. Time was moving along at such a clip, that there was little time left to worry about the insignificance of a warm body next to her in bed.  Although most conferences served as hookups for the lonely and disenfranchised , for her, this conference was her opportunity to display her newest anime outfit, make a few contacts, and hopefully have a remote chance of winning a prize.
    The insulting man in the vendor shop had been just another testosterone filled moron who wanted to get into her pants before getting into her head.  Her eyes grew wide at the mere thought of the stories she could tell about the misunderstandings from men who wanted to be a part of her world, but really did not understand what she was trying to accomplish. Jayne wanted to be a costume designer and design an original comic book character.
    She lived art.  She drank art.  In her free time, she breathed comics and she knew this year was going to be her swan son g .   This year she was going to debut her comic book even if she had to self-publish it on Kindle or Blurb. The work was good.  The script was even better.  The art work was high caliber, but it was lacking something.  She could not put her finger on it, but there was still some time to figure out the defunct.
    At 28 years old, Jayne had scored her job with Cawley Public Relations after an internship her senior year in art school. She had not planned to stay with the company for five years, but it was a good fit.  Moving back home had not been an easy decision, but her Grammy was getting up in age and the break up with Alex had nearly cost her the small amount of sanity that was left over after sketching and scribbling fictional characters.  Occasionally, she would