Wanted: Kept Woman

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Released: 2005-10-01

On her own after her abusive marriage had ended and her ex-husband jailed, Suzanne Montgomery wasn’t even sure she wanted to meet another man. Her best friend Wendy encouraged her to get out of her funk, so she began looking through the personal ads.

That’s when she came across a strange one: “Wanted: Kept woman for wealthy businessman.” Repelled and intrigued, she called – and met Brian, a fascinating man who was the complete opposite of Sam, her ex.   As they began to fall in love, her ex was released from jail –  determined to get even for his incarceration.

By reading any further, you are stating that you are at least 18 years of  age. If you are under the age of 18, it is necessary to exit this site.

An Excerpt From: WANTED: KEPT WOMAN
© Copyright J.W.  MCKENNA, 2004
All Rights Reserved, Ellora’s Cave, Inc.

The women flew from store to store, trying on outfits and  shoes and giggling like high school kids. Suzanne bought a new dress, plus  a skirt and a pair of shoes. She used up her clothing allowance for the  next six months.

“Don’t worry about it,” Wendy had told her. “When you  meet your sugar daddy, this won’t matter.”

“Oh, yeah, right,” she retorted. But she did feel more attractive now. The small changes had helped break her out of the doldrums.

“Here, the new issue’s out,” Wendy said suddenly, grabbing a free Bayside Weekly off the rack. “Let’s find you a man, okay?”

Suzanne blushed and looked around. “Come on,  Wen. Not so  loud. You make me sound desperate!”

Wendy looked up from the paper. “Oh, sorry.”  She  grinned. “But we can’t let another day pass without sharing your new look  with a brand new man!”

“I’m an independent woman, I don’t need…” she started to  mutter, but Wendy had already walked away. She followed. They sat down on a  bench, their heads together as they read the ads.

“Here’s one, ‘SWPM ISO fun-loving, smart,  athletic  SWF ages 26-36. NS preferred’.”

“Nah, ‘athletic’ means he doesn’t want anyone who’s…”  Suzanne didn’t want to say the “F” word as she no longer thought of herself  that way. Yes, five pounds made that much difference. “...not really skinny.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. You look great.  Okay, try  this one, ‘SWDM seeks SWF for fun, walks in the park, movies,  games and  possible LTR. Must like kids’.” She paused. “Uh oh.”

Wendy put the down the paper and both women looked at  each other. Simultaneously, they shrieked, “He wants a mom!”

“Yeah,” Suzanne gasped. “He probably has four rotten kids and sole custody!”

“Can you imagine who’d respond to that ad? She’d be a woman with three rotten kids whose husband just ran off!”

They laughed and slapped their thighs. Other shoppers looked at them as if they were crazy women.

“Okay,” Wendy said, tears in her eyes from laughter, “I’m willing to concede maybe that’s not a good one!”

She began reading again. Suzanne was ready to chuck the  paper in the trash and head back to work. It was amusing to read them, sure, but to actually answer -

“Hey!”

Wendy looked up from the paper. “Here’s that ad again. The one you were talking about last week.” She showed Suzanne the paper.

Wanted: Kept woman…

“Wow! Two weeks in a row! He must be really desperate!”

“Or maybe he just signed up for two weeks originally, not knowing how many responses he’d get. You never know,” Wendy pointed out.

“Yeah, well, he probably looks like a toad. Or he’s a perv.”

“Well, I’m going to call to find out.” Wendy fished her cell phone out of her purse.

Suzanne gasped. “No! You can’t!” She started to rise. Wendy caught her arm and pulled her back down, then punched in some  numbers. Suzanne tried to get away, but Wendy grabbed her arm again and  held it.

“Hello? I’m calling about the ad? Uh-uh.” She listened  as Suzanne sat there, eyes wide.

“Yes, I can do that. Okay, here’s the email address…”

Suzanne was stunned to hear Wendy give out Suzanne’s email address. “You - !”

“Shh!” she said quickly, her hand over the mouthpiece. To the phone she said, “No, someone was talking. It’s all right.”

Wendy made a few more agreeable comments and hung up. She smiled at Suzanne.

“Well? What? What’d they say?”

“Oh, now you’re curious? You, the girl who’d never answer another personal ad?”

Suzanne brought her hands up and made choking gestures in mid-air.

“Okay, okay,” Wendy laughed. “She was very nice…”

“She?”

“She was the secretary. Or personal assistant. I’m not  sure. Rebecca something. I’m telling you, Suze, this guy does sound rich.”

“Why don’t you date him then?”

Wendy put her hand over her heart. “Because I’m doing this for you. I know you’d never do this for yourself. You need a push and  I’m pushing. Look at you. In a week you’ve lost some weight, gotten a whole new look and I’ll bet you’re feeling much better about yourself, right?”

Suzanne had to agree.

“So think of this as the next step in making the New  Suzanne.”

“I don’t want to date this stranger! You’re the one  complaining about men lately! Why not go after him yourself?”

“Well, I could. We both could.”

“What do you mean? A threesome?”

Wendy laughed. “God, no. I love ya, dear, but not like  that! No, the secretary said we have to fill out a short questionnaire and send in a photo in order to get to the next step.”

“Oh, right. I’ll be sure and do that!” She’d already dismissed the idea as dangerous and stupid.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Wendy said. “I’m going to make sure you fill it out. And if you won’t send in a photo, I’m sure I can find one  in my collection somewhere…” She paused and looked toward the ceiling. “I  can think of a time when you got drunk in Santa Barbara…”

“You wouldn’t!”

“I would. Look, girlfriend, I’m going to bust you out of your rut if it’s the last thing I do, okay? You don’t have to marry the guy  or even date him more than once, but you gotta get out there and try, you know?”

Suzanne nodded, secretly pleased that Wendy was pushing  her into this. She would be far too shy to promote herself. Despite her grave misgivings, she thought she’d humor her friend and let her do this  for her. It wouldn’t go any further than this first step.

“Okay, but only if you fill it out on yourself as well.”

Wendy shrugged. “What the hell. It could be fun. If it  will make you do it, I’ll do it too.”