" What a dumbass!" was all he could manage by way of sympathy before he closed the door.Dad's OK but he's not the sympathetic sort and also makes it p...ain I'm not his favorite child. Sometimes I think he's jealous because Mom dotes on me, always hugging me and kissing me on the cheek and doing things for me. Maybe if I were him I'd be jealous too because she's one of those women who draw stares wherever she goes. At age forty, she's still a real knockout. At least that's what the guys at school. He just sat there listening to them without saying a word in response. Their demands kept increasing well past the point of ridiculousness and still he said nothing. That went on for five months.Finally one day the head negotiator asked, “Aren’t you ever going to say something?”“We’ll give each of you $500,000 dollars to rubber stamp whatever deal we put on the table.”“Deal.”Peter went over to a closet and retrieved five briefcases. He returned to the table, set them on the table, opened one,. She started at the top and wove more and more hair into it until she got to the base of her neck. From there, she sat up and went to her make-up table. While finishing the braid, she noticed the note beside the clothes.The note said to wear what he had laid out; and nothing else. Sara went over to the clothes laid out for her. She took off her towel and put on the silk stockings. They were a dark stocking that went right to her crotch. The tops were an elastic lace. There were to belts or other. "She carried her cocktail shaker to the kitchen for ice. Nathan heard some cubes fall on the floor.Iris returned and began measuring spirits. "Your hands are shaking," Nathan said. "What are you nervous about?" Oh, only about a hundred thousand things." She handed him his drink. Then, in a gulp she drank half of hers. He regarded her and saw a pulse point in her neck pounding. "It's been a long time for me, Nathan." Was Henrik your only other?"She nodded. "I was a virgin..." So, it's been four.