Chapter 1

The matter-of-fact remark left me stunned. Sure, I knew that the girls at the office found me attractive, because that was part of the territory of being single. Plenty of these women were married, engaged, attached, or just recently divorced, but that didn’t stop them from looking.

Anyway, the statement in question affected me, although I’ve grown accustomed to being propositioned since my divorce. Casey, a sassy brunette in her late twenties, simply pointed out that I had quite a fan club. When I asked her to elaborate as to why I’d have such a following, she simply said that I was a superstar in her dreams and those of her colleagues.

“I would have thought that you’d dream about your husband,” I teased her.

“Hey, milord, we’re getting a divorce! Besides, he’s not a dream, but a nightmare!” she retorted.

“Hence the divorce, I see. I wouldn’t know anything about that. In any case, where do I come in?” I probed out of sheer curiosity. I should have known better.

“For one thing, Sir Cecil, you’re the first knight I’ve ever met. It’s not every day that a girl runs into the real thing. You’re the closest thing to a celebrity that I’ve ever known and the same goes for my friends. That’s where you cum in,” she punned.

“Actually, I’m not a knight at all. I’m a baronet. I was born with the title and if I’m ever naturalised, I’ll have to give it up. Don’t look toward to being ‘Lady Evans’, even if I were to marry you, should I decide to go for it. There’s already two of those, anyway. The first is my mother and the second is my ex-wife,” I corrected her.

“Do you have a castle? If so, can you take me there?” she continued with the double entendres.

Erica, another of the associates at the firm, overheard that and giggled.

“Really, Case, you’re shameless! Your divorce isn’t quite final yet. You have a month to wait. Shouldn’t you give it a little time before acting on your fantasies?” she teased Casey.

“Yeah, right. That’s a technicality. The marriage is over. Percy was a damn prick! Why should I wait for the red tape or some emotional watershed? I have needs and I’m a full member of the club now. I’ve paid my dues. Remember?” Casey retorted.

“I was just kidding! Though I guess that joke is rooted in too much conventional morality. Don’t tell June. She’ll start lecturing me about it,” Erica blushed.

“I won’t tell her if you help me a sister out. You know, sharing this stud here some time,” Casey offered.

“I could go for that. He’s doesn’t seem like he’s eager for another turn at holy matrimony, anyway. Just remember the rules. It’s up to June and ultimately up to Cecil, of course,” Erica shrugged.

Foolishly, I didn’t wait around for the rest of their discussion. If I had, I would have learned some useful facts sooner to counter my wrong impression of the women. Then again, things turned out alright in the end. I had my reasons for fleeing the scene.

Both ladies were very hot and their attraction flattered me, but I was still a bit jaded from the dissolution of my own marriage, as Erica observed, despite four years having passed. I caught Gwen in bed with my mate Dafyd and that was over with both of them. I certainly didn’t become celibate when I left Cardiff and Gwen behind me. Quite a few ladies gave me whatever I wanted.

Erica was a rather sexy blonde and Casey had her share of charms, but her wounds were fresher. As for the former, well, I thought that she was “husband-shopping” as well. The last thing that I wanted was a new wife, damn it!

Not surprisingly, I wasn’t to be left alone. It was that kind of day. June Thomas was there. At the time, I assumed that June was a lesbian. This meant that I wasn’t as annoyed to see her. However, I still wanted some time alone with my thoughts. I didn’t feel like having a conversation, even with the one girl that I felt certain wouldn’t try to snare me into wedlock.

“Cecil, you can’t run away from the girls here forever. You’re going to have to deal with their obsession with you. I know what you’re thinking. You just want to meet the ladies at the pub, drink with them, and have as many one-night stands as you wish.

“You’re not too thrilled with the women here, because you think they’re looking for Mr. Right ... I can understand that. You’re still bouncing back from your divorce and betrayal. You’re jaundiced on the whole idea of marriage.

“I can’t blame you. I felt the same way when George left me. As a matter of fact, I’ve been chasing people off for the same reason. I still don’t want to marry. Then again, I have my own reasons. Be that as it may, you’re going to have to confront their pursuit of you,” she explained.

“Seriously, June, what’s your interest in this? You’re a lesbian, right?” I expressed my bewilderment.

“Honey, we’re good friends and all, but you don’t know me as well as you think. I’m bi, dear, not gay. I share their fascination with you. In fact, I’m the president of your fan club,” June commented.

“Fan club? That’s the second time I heard that phrase. Is this an inside joke or do you gals hold meetings?” I wisecracked.

“Believe it or not, there is an official Sir Cecil Evans Fan Club. It started as a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ thing when you first joined us, but it has mushroomed to the point that we have thirty members and a website dedicated to both your virtues and your vices. They elected me president a while back.

“I can’t believe that you didn’t know this. Then again, you’re blind to things like that. That’s one of the things that we love about you. You’re not a conceited prick. Confident, yes, but not a jerk,” Ms. Thomas stated baldly.

“Jupiter! You’re not joshing me? This thing really exists, a fan club devoted to me. What the bloody hell for? I’m a strapping bloke, but I don’t think of myself as a celebrity, whatever Casey said. Having a title and an accent isn’t reason enough for that,” I teased her, albeit gratefully in light of her information.

“See what I mean? You have healthy confidence, but you still underestimate yourself in terms of how women see you. You have a strong natural charisma and a real manliness about you that draws women in. Your title and accent are something out of fairy tale fantasies, too.

“We women still dream of Prince Charming at times, even if we know better. It’s something ingrained by culture, I guess. Not sure what women in other cultures dream about, of course. But that’s women here, at least. Blame Walt Disney, if you must. Works in your favor, however, so don’t gripe too much.

“There’s something deeper at work, though. A natural attraction to rich and powerful men. That’s an innate thing. Alpha males are very real, even if the feministas and others hate the fact.

“The biggest resentment of that ironically comes from the strongest advocates of monogamy, who contradict themselves by then urging such romantic notions of a knight in shining armor. They don’t know their history, of course. If they did, they’d know better. I suppose that ignorance is bliss for them.

“I have no such illusions, as you can see. I’ve seen the real world and know the difference between most guys and those who are thankfully throwbacks to what we’ve lost with the domesticated, herbivore male thing. Not the judgmental side, of course. That crap is sadly still around.

“What we’ve given up is something great: backbone. Men these days are gutless and spineless. They drift without any purpose or character.

“I can’t picture John Wayne or Winston Churchill putting up with such rubbish as political correctness, for example. Rock Hudson is another case in point. See? He was gay, but still very masculine. It’s not about their stupid morals. It’s about strength of character and manly virtues.

“I guess that I’m a Stoic at heart, or at least an adherent of Aristotle. What we admire about you is your virility as well as your pride and intellect. You don’t seem to have doubts about your role in life. You haven’t let the feminists emasculate you.

“There’s a Nietzschean Superman quality to you. I mean that how Nietzsche himself did, not how his sister and the Nazis twisted it. It comes down to individuality, which you have and the wimps these days lack.

“On a different note, to think of something less depressing, I have a proposition for you. As president of your fan club, I would like the honor of being your first friend with benefits or booty call. Whatever you want to call it. You know, sex without any romantic obligations.

“Not to say that I’m ruling it out, but I’m a practical woman. If you needs, you take care of them. You don’t wait for Mr. or Ms. Right. You leave that door open, but you enjoy yourself in the meantime.

“So, that’s my offer to you. We fuck, but don’t ask questions about whom else we have. This is not about love or commitment, certainly not about monogamy. It’s just friends fucking friends for fun. How does that strike your fancy?” June declared.

So, there it was. The one woman that I thought didn’t want my body was just like the others in that respect, though not in the other aspects. Then again, lust was never the issue that bothered me. I’m not a bloody prude, after all.

I just didn’t want some controlling bitch insisting on a rock in two months and spying on me. I wanted to have the right to come and go where I pleased, enjoying my new freedom. After all, I sacrificed that to be with Gwen and look what she did to me! I was in no mood to trade in my newly recovered manhood for the prospect of regular companionship.

June, however, proposed something wonderfully different. She always struck me as being unusually down-to-earth and this proffered arrangement was no different. It was vintage June Thomas: candid, direct, and practical. Once again, she impressed me with her common sense, realism, and honesty.

“Very well, June. I trust you in a way that I can’t with the other women here. You’re not politically correct or sanctimonious. You’re straightforward, gutsy, and pleasantly concise about things. You’re strong and smart, but not emasculating. And you’re attractive without being prissy or vain.

“I have to admit to finding you sexy, so let’s go ahead with this idea and see where it leads. It would be nice to sleep with someone who isn’t given to bullshit,” I smiled at her.