Howard was courteous as he introduced himself at my front door in Dallas, Texas. He was clearly a man with refined manners. But I'd been around long enough to know the man I met in my doorway was never the man that'd be screwing me a few minutes later. After a word or two of small talk about his law firm, his tongue was down my throat and his arms pinned me against the wall. "What do you want, Victoria?"
He'd be shocked to know an honest answer. What I want is a stack of crisp hundred-dollar bills, an eight ball of coke and a couple bottles of Chardonnay. But I learned early that when clients ask this question they mean something specific. They're looking for me to figure out what they want. They need me to decide what'll get them off without them having to say it out loud. What I really wanted was a big life, a life the size of Texas--one of adventure and success far away from that little Ohio town my family seemed to accept without much of a fight. One that my parents said I'd never escape. But that wasn't something Howard would ever give me.
Through my moonlighting, I learned to figure out my clients' (often odd) desires on the fly while concealing my own dreams, secrets, and addictions. At turns comedic, tragic, gritty and erotic, Victoria of Dallas explores male desire through the stories of client encounters in vignettes after every chapter, as well as the desires of myself and how I finally learn in middle age who I really am. My memoir is inspirational and gives hope through the challenges I faced and overcame. The story takes you through my childhood in a small Ohio town to life as a Dallas call girl to life on the road and ultimately to Italy to discover what is most important to me and whom I really am.
