“You’d be surprised at what beauty can do for business,” she told him.

“Oh, yeah? Tell me about it. I got all night,” he responded.

Lucina stared at him. “What do you want to know?”

Ivan paused and wiped his lips for the grand moment. He said, “Well…I’ve just heard some things about you and your girls, that’s all.”

“Things like what? Be up-front with me.”

Ivan was suddenly nervous. He felt ridiculous bringing up suspicions and opinions, but he had to. Partners needed to know what they were getting into.

He said, “I’ve just heard that things may be a little loose around you.”

“A little loose?” she asked him, and frowned.

“Yeah.”

Lucina took a breath and said, “Let me tell you what I’ve learned. As a woman who looks good, I know that guys are always interested in talking to me if they think they can take me to bed. So, while I have their attention, I talk business. But as soon as they feel that they will never get me in bed, some of them no longer want to talk business. So I’ve learned how to let rumors fly where they fly, while I find a way to make my living here.”

Ivan said, “So…what does that mean, ‘find a way to make your living here’?”

“I work whatever angle I have to work,” she told him.

He said, “Well, be frank and up-front with me. I mean, what are you really talking about? Are you and your girls sleeping around for deals or what?”

Lucina told him, “The most important business of a woman is never to tell. Just like an accountant can never tell on his clients. But if I say I don’t play the game at all, will the client still be interested in business with me? You tell me that, Ivan.”

It was a good question. Ivan said, “A good businessperson would.” And he considered himself to be one.

Lucina asked him, “Then how come I’ve lost so many partners?”

“You’ve been meeting the wrong ones,” Ivan answered. “But not anymore,” he hinted.

She smiled and grunted, “Hmmph, we’ll soon see. Already you want to treat me like everyone else, with twenty-five percent instead of what I give you.”

Ivan smiled back. “I told you already I’d do half.”

“No, you cursed at me,” she reminded him.

He felt embarrassed. “That was just a knee-jerk response. But I agree to it. What’s fair is fair, right?”

“Not with men and women,” she told him. “Men can always go further.”

“You don’t really believe that, do you?”

“Yes, I do. I’ve seen it happen too many times.” She said, “I did plenty of meetings with those football players, then I call you for one meeting with us, and finally they agree to do it.”