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Maris’s heart bumped inside her chest.
“Her scent. Her breath. The texture of her against his tongue. Combined with the day’s frustration. The foreplay just isn’t hacking it. The guy’s dying here. So he guides Leslie’s hand inside his jeans and, to put it delicately, she gives him a hand job.”
“That’s putting it delicately?”
The huskiness of her voice brought his head up and he looked across at her. “Compared to some optional phrases, that’s pretty delicate, yeah.”
“Okay.”
“Roark tells her he loves her.”
“Does he mean it?”
“At that moment? With all his heart.”
Parker’s somber face caused her to laugh. “I’m sure. How does Leslie respond?”
“Ah,” he said, frowning. “As it turns out, the hand job is her going-away present. She dumps him.”
“Then and there?”
“It’s right here in black and white.”
“Hmm.
Does she break up for the reasons stated in the first draft?”
“Yeah.”
“Then she’s being kind, isn’t she? And smart. As much as it hurts her, she’s doing what she realizes is best for both of them, especially Roark. She’s thinking first of him and his career.”
“Maybe. But I gotta tell you, Maris, fresh after you’ve climaxed, it’s a real bummer if the woman up and walks out on you.”
“I suppose.”
“Oh, yeah,” he said, nodding sagely. “Ask any guy.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“In Roark’s mind she’s being a heartless bitch. He doesn’t need her charity, and who the hell does she think she is? He’s good and pissed.” Maris was about to protest when Parker raised a finger to halt her. “At least initially.” He picked up the remaining pages. “Shall I?”
“Please.”
“ ‘The day had started off lousy and then it had gone to pure shit.
“ ‘He thought about getting drunk, but could see no good purpose in it. Today’s disappointments would carry over into tomorrow, and then he would have to confront them with the handicap of a hangover.
“ ‘Besides, he hadn’t earned an excuse to get drunk. That right belonged to a man only if he had a circumstance to celebrate… or to mourn. One was allowed to lament a disaster visited on him by random selection, such as an act of God or a whim of Fate. But regret over his own culpability earned a man no such privilege. Responsibility for one’s sorry situation couldn’t be that easily removed.
“ ‘As much as he wanted to lay blame on Leslie, on Hadley, on Todd, for today’s miseries, Roark acknowledged that most of the blame, if not all of it, lay squarely with him.
“ ‘Leslie was wise beyond her years and experience. Moreover, she was honest to a painful degree. Their individual desires were too discordant, their dreams too disparate for them to have a future together. Their goals conflicted now. In the future they would clash resoundingly. When the inevitable separation came, they would be left scarred and embittered.
“ ‘The wisdom of her choice to return to her small-town aspirations and long-standing sweetheart didn’t make it any easier to lose her now, but ending the relationship before it actually started would spare them future heartache. At least they had parted while all the memories were still sweet.
“ ‘Professor Hadley had been well within his right to be perturbed. He didn’t want any stupid students under his tutelage. He had probably been as upset with Roark for being duped by his roommate as he had been by the tardiness. The professor’s time was too limited, his instruction too valuable to squander on fools. Taking Todd’s word for something as critical as that meeting had been nothing short of stupid.
“ ‘The challenge facing Roark now was to prove to Hadley that, all evidence pointing to the contrary, he was not an imbecile. He could learn from this experience. He must learn from it. If he didn’t, he would be as foolish, as much a waste of time and effort, as Hadley believed him to be.
