Weapons of Mass Seduction by Lori Bryant-Woolridge Page A

still made it a point to dress and act in ways that made her feel sexy and desirable, as the last thing she wanted to lose was her sex life
and
her self-esteem. Men still regularly approached her, initially compelled by her mystery and appearance, but later they were turned off by her restraint. Eventually, to avoid the awkward explanations of why she wasn’t having sex, she’d pretty much stopped dating, packed up her womanly wiles, and put them in storage with her libido and sexual confidence. So after twenty years of charming the pants off men, she was now in an exclusive relationship with her vibrator and a head full of sometimes nasty, sometimes romantic fantasies.
    â€œOh, come on, honey. You’re beautiful, smart, successful, and have that cool charisma goin’ for you. How bad can you be?”
    â€œWell, I haven’t had a second date in more than two years. That’s pretty bad—so bad that after my last fiasco my secretary found it necessary to stage this emergency intervention.”
    â€œWhat happened?” Becca pressed. She was curious, and concerned that if a woman as fabulous as Pia Jamison could have trouble with men, she didn’t have a chance.
    â€œLet’s just say that it was just the last in a long line of bad dates,” Pia said, not wanting to get into all the embarrassing specifics. “My dating life has been a fiasco for years now.”
    â€œHaven’t you ever been in love, darlin’?”
    â€œLove and I don’t seem to mix,” Pia admitted. She could feel her barriers breaking down as she shared her sad dating history with these women. “There was this guy named Rodney,” she began.
    Pia winced with painful anger at the memory of Rodney Timble. Even after six years, his memory haunted her. God, she had adored that man. With Rodney, being in love had the same gooey, sentimental appeal that those lovesick romance novel readers gushed over.
    And where had that gotten her? She’d given herself to him mind, body, and soul before finding out that she was not his first love but work was. When Pia confronted him, Rodney unceremoniously dumped her, making it clear that although he loved her, there was no relationship more important to him than his professional dream. The drummer, who was now on a world tour with Alicia Keys, had simply walked out of their apartment and life together with a dismissive wave and a “man’s gotta do” all-attitude pass.
    â€œThat must have hurt,” Florence interrupted.
    â€œIs he why you stopped having sex?” Becca asked.
    â€œYes. At least at first,” Pia explained.
    Devastated and with no one waiting in the wings, Pia had not found celibacy to be difficult that first year. She was too busy grieving her lost relationship to care about sex. Year two had been a year of personal resolve. To push away the body cravings, Pia kept reminding herself that she didn’t need a man to make her happy or whole. This resulted in the accumulation of a treasure chest full of sex toys and erotica and the occasional rendezvous where she allowed herself the pleasure of light kissing and gentle petting. But after far too many dates gone bad, she once again retired from the singles scene. The third year of her sexual fast turned into an exercise in spiritual cleansing and becoming one with her higher self.
    Early that year she’d met Lamar, who became the first man who truly tested her resolve. He assured Pia that while he desperately wanted to make love to her, he respected her decision. Basking in the loving kindness of his understanding, she seriously contemplated giving up her celibate lifestyle until she discovered that his patience and sexual needs were being satisfied by a long list of women he met through an Internet sex site.
    â€œEwww,” Becca commented.
    â€œWhat a pig. Pickin’ up prostitutes on his computer? That’s just a new level of sleazy and lazy. I have to