A story for a story

"Well, a joke like that would be distasteful, don't you think?" he said jokingly, trying to a little like her as he said it.

He then just smiled a little at her "That's an awful lot of questions, you know? But I'll try to make it short. The reason why I'm living this way is because I like it, I get to choose when or where I like to work and then there's a lot of money in it. It's as simple as that.". This really was the truth and by keeping it simple like this, he was able to avoid talking too much about how he originally ended up living like this.

"And as for the part about you, then I haven't quite decided yet, though I must admit that having you around to pay for the food is quite handy." He added, still smiling teasingly at her.

"How about your story then? I'd love to here what a fine lady like you was doing all alone in that cottage just outside a dangerous forest."