"Bullshit" Bill Paxton snorted, as he flipped the cooked burgers from the grill to a plate. "Any woman can be seduced."
"That is the most sexist thing I have ever heard, and I can't believe it just came out of your mouth" the young blonde behind him exclaimed.
Bill turned and set the plate of hamburgers at the patio table, then pulled up his chair to sit. The 48 year old settled into his chair with a heavy sigh. His eyes never looked up from the food piled before him. Hamburgers, potato salad, and sliced watermelon made for a simple but filling meal on a hot Saturday afternoon.
"It has nothing to do with being sexist" he replied to the figure across the small table. "It has to do with mindset."
He began to assemble his burger one piece at a time on his plate; not looking across the table.
"Look, first of all anyone can be seduced" he said. "Power, money and yes sex; are all lures and can seduce someone. For somethings, women have a stronger mindset; for men others."
The slim blonde snorted and shook the curls of hair from her face as she dug into the food. "I don't buy it" she told the man sitting across from her. "Remember, I was a psych minor in college. People have the ability to resist temptation, they just choose not to."
Bill looked up finally into the blue eyes searching the table for what she wanted. "Remember" he laughed. "Baby, I paid for that college education if you recall."
At that, the blonde finally looked up at him. "Dad" she admonished. Bill could only laugh softly at her words.
Miranda Paxton reminded him a lot of his late wife. They were both built a lot alike; slim, blonde, with piercing blue eyes. Both had hips that swayed when they walked, and a rack that would draw any mans' eyes. More, they had the same sharp wit and keen mind that was rare in any person; willing to verbally duel, hating to lose.
As his eyes followed her movements, he felt a stirring in his groin he felt whenever she was near. He mentally tried to push the thoughts from his mind. The loss of his wife four years ago from ovarian cancer; had been hard for the entire family, but especially hard for him. He hadn't been with a woman since his wife's death, and having an almost spitting image around him now and then, didn't help his raging libido.
Her father's silence settled on Miranda, she raised her eyes to stare at him. His chiseled features were deep in thought, she watched as his broad chest rose and fell with his breathing, the hint of muscles rippling beneath the thin shirt he wore. She looked at his face, seeing the direction of his smoky gaze.
"My eyes are up here dad" she told him softly.
"Sorry baby" her father muttered as he tore his glance away.
His eyes had followed the swaying movement of her braless breasts beneath her tank top as she moved. Watching her nipples press against the thin material. Jesus, he needed to get laid.
"It's OK" Miranda half laughed. "They tend to draw attention."
"If they didn't look so damn good" she heard her father reply softly.
She decided silence was the better reply and pressed back into their debate. She loved spending time with her father, especially the spirited debates they would often get into. She had sought other men who could charm and persuade her the way her father could. She had yet to find a man who could match him. One day she hoped to, and when she did, she planned on marrying him.
"I just think people can resist, if they really wanted to." She reopened their discussion.
"Look at this, all of it. You have to admit, life has been good to the Paxton family." Bill settled back in his chair, waving one hand around himself.
"Yeah, so what's the point?" She asked as she shoved a forkful of salad into her mouth.
"My point is" her father replied. "All this is because people, especially women; can be seduced."
He saw the puzzled look on his daughters face. "Baby" he told her "I sell advertising, advertising that sells products to women. It's all in the pitch, the approach."
"You mean all in the lie" Miranda laughed back.
"Hey" her father seemed taken aback. "I don't lie. Fudge maybe, lie no. I tell you this dress is going to make you sexier, more desirable. I don't say who for, and I don't say compared to what. So, it does make you sexier in its own way."
"You lie" Miranda laughed as she took a small bite. "You tell me that I am the most beautiful woman in the world, then I see Angeline Jolie and I am shattered."
"Ahhh" he father said. "But you ARE the most beautiful woman in the world; to me. Isn't that all that counts."
Miranda snorted again. "Semantics; and you know it. I don't buy it, and I wouldn't fall for it."
Bill's eyes looked sharply at his daughter. "Are you telling me, you don't think you can be seduced?" he asked.
"Nope" his daughter said confidently. "I don't think I could be seduced, I believe it's a con and anyone can see through it."
Her father let the remark go unanswered, and as the afternoon flowed on, the topics changed from advertising, to politics to the art world Miranda circled in every day. But his daughters comment never left his mind as he watched and listened. For perhaps the first time, he began to look at her as not his daughter, but as a woman. Young, beautiful, intelligent; his eyes followed her every movement as his mind registered her every word.
Twenty-eight years ago; his wife had called him beguiling and seductive. She had told him he could sell ice cubes to an Eskimo and they would buy them happily. The pair had enjoyed a loving and adventurous marriage together. Some of which their beautiful daughter had never been aware of. The fact his wife loved sitting in the soft easy chair in their bedroom, and watching as her husband makes love to another woman. Or that her father, had loved the taste and feel of his wife's soft body, after another man had driven her to the depths of pleasure.
His wife had claimed that Bill Paxton could seduce any woman, and now his daughter had just issued him a challenge. Without even a second thought, his mind shifted gears. He watched how Miranda moved about the patio, the swing of her hips, her gait. How her heavy 36D breast swung to an enticing glance. The way she smiled and laughed.
He watched as she sipped her wine, noting her reaction, and then offering a red merlot, seeing her approval in her eyes. For the first time in four years, Bill felt himself back in the game. This time, he didn't intend to lose.
