11

I stood watching him leave, completely thrown off by him. When I had first met him, he had nearly undressed me the first chance he got. And now he was asking if I wanted a drink? Men were fickle things.

I wandered back into the condo and looked around the room. Various landscape photos hung on the wall. There was a bookshelf near the large screen television and I walked over, my fingers skimming over several classic books. I noticed a guitar sitting in a stand over in the corner and strolled over to it. I gently traced my fingers over the strings just as Alaric returned to the room. I turned around toward him as he walked in with two water bottles.

“I got one for me, too,” he explained as he held one out to me.

“Do you play?” I asked as I took the water bottle. “And thank you.”

“Yes” he replied as he opened his and took a long drink. “And you’re welcome.”

I grinned at him as I opened my water bottle. “Will you play something for me?”

He hesitated and I noticed something flicker across his handsome face. Pain? Anger? “I know how to play” he clarified very slowly in his British accent. “I don’t play it anymore, though.”

I looked between him and the guitar as I took a drink. “Why not?”

He closed his water bottle and set it down on the floor. “I don’t really want to talk about that, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure,” I quickly replied. “Of course not. We don’t have to talk about anything if you don’t want to.”

He sat down on the edge of the bed as he nodded his head and looked down at his feet. A sadness seemed to engulf him and it tugged at my heart.

I moved toward him, doing the only thing I knew to do. I dropped to my knees in front of him and unbuttoned his pants. He didn’t stop me this time.

I reached into his pants, pulling his manhood out as he grew in my hand. I took him into my mouth as he made vocal his pleasure. After several minutes, he gently wrapped his fingers around my arm and pulled me up.

I smiled, in the zone of my job as I lifted my shirt over my head and seductively dropped it to the floor. I held my eyes on him as I took the rest of my clothes off. I stood naked before him, excitement and desire racing through my body. I had never felt this way before while performing my job. It was simply an act with other men. Putting on a show and doing my job. I would detach and feel nothing. But with Alaric, I felt everything, and I wanted to feel even more.

I pulled his shirt over his head, then pulled his pants and boxers off. I gently pressed his shoulders backwards, lying him on his back in bed.

“Do you have protection?” I asked softly.

He nodded and pointed toward the bedside table. I pulled open the top drawer and quickly grabbed a condom from the box. I put it on his manhood before climbing atop him and taking him all inside me. My heart pounded as he filled every inch of me.

I leaned forward, kissing him deeply as he cupped my breast and moved within me. We were two people, joined for this short, miraculous time. My entire body responded and came alive for him and, based upon his response, he felt the same way.

He wrapped his arms around me, rolling us over while we were still joined together. He took the lead and went fast and hard as I cried out his name and ran my fingers through his dark, wavy curls.

He smiled, relishing hearing his name from my lips as he leaned down and kissed the crook of my neck as he found his pleasure and collapsed beside me on the bed.

I laid beside him, both of us catching our breath before I slowly started to sit up.

“Stay,” he said as his hand grabbed mine.

“Please, stay a while. You don’t have to rush out.”

I slowly laid back down beside him. He slid his arm beneath my head and I relished in this absolute serene moment. If only it was real and I wasn’t being paid to be here.

“Are you busy this weekend?”

I slowly rolled toward him, my heart beginning to pound in anticipation. Was he asking me on a real date? Or was he interested in another romp in the sack? “Not really. Why?”

He turned his head toward me, his green eyes studying me. “I want to spend a day with you.”

“Like a whole day?”

He grinned, a playful, lovable, heart-melting grin. “Yeah, an entire day. Sunrise to sunset.”

I opened my mouth to answer. He wanted a date. An actual date!

“How much would that cost?” he said before I had a chance to respond.

My heart dropped all the way down to my toes. It wasn’t a date. It was a business transaction. Of course it was. He didn’t want a relationship with me. I wasn’t worth that to him. How could he ever want someone like me? He was gloriously handsome and obviously well-off.

I needed to end this. My feelings were getting out of control for him. I needed to cut this out before my heart got hurt even worse. “A thousand” I threw the number out, knowing no one in their right mind would ever pay that.

His eyes studied me a moment before he spoke. “Okay” he said softly. “Done.”

I stared speechless at him as I quickly sat up. “You’re serious? You’re going to pay me a thousand dollars to spend the day with you?”

He slid his hand beneath his head, his hair messy upon the pillow, as he smiled at me as though I had said something funny. His dimples punctured his cheeks as he laughed lightly. “Yeah. Why?”

I shook my head slightly as my head spun. There was so much I could do with that money. We could easily pay ahead on rent, and utility bills. I could start putting money away for a car of my own. We could start a savings account!

Without thinking, I leaned down and kissed him good and hard on the lips. I pulled back, elated and giddy.

“Thank you!” I squealed as I leaned back down and hugged him.

I could feel his chest rattle with his laugher. “I’m taking that as a yes.”

“Yes!” I laughed as I sat back up. “Yes! Yes!”

He smiled naughtily at me. “Hopefully you’ll be yelling that a lot Saturday.”

Heat rose to my cheeks as I laughed lightly. I heard my phone’s ringtone and it broke the magical moment that had settled over us. I quickly jumped from the bed and grabbed my phone, silencing the call from Ace. Crap! Ace! Would he be angry at what I had just done? What about what I had just agreed upon? It didn’t matter, we could pay rent. We wouldn’t be homeless!

“I need to go,” I explained as I began to get dressed. “I need to go pay my rent. It’s due and I have to get it paid before our landlord kicks us to the curb.”

Alaric sat in bed, watching me with an amused look. “I need to pay you first.”

I froze buttoning my shorts. “Right. I can’t pay it without that.” I laughed lightly at my own stupidity as he rose naked from the bed and walked over to his pants to grab his wallet.

My eyes locked onto his nude and perfect body. My goodness was he handsome and absolutely perfect in every single imaginable way.

He walked over to me and held out the cash, his nude body standing proudly before me with no shame whatsoever.

“Thank you,” I said softly as I took the money.

He smiled slightly at me, his green eyes dancing lightly over me as he spoke to me in his delish British accent. “I think I need to drive you home, unless you’re going to walk.”

I burst out laughing like a crazy person. How could I have forgotten that? “Would you mind?” I asked as I got my outburst under control.

“Not at all,” he smiled at me as he grabbed his shirt and put it back on.

He took my hand into his as he led me back down the stairs and out of his condo. He was so perfect and such a gentleman as he opened the sports car door for me.

I gave him directions to my apartment and, after he parked, he again insisted on opening my door. I stepped out of the sports car and faced him as he closed the door. He looked at me, shoving his hands into his pockets as his eyes wandered over me.

“I’ll see you on Saturday?”

I nodded as he gave me a quick flash of a smile before walking back around the sports car and leaving.

I watched him drive off before I walked over to my apartment. I opened the door and found Ace sitting on the futon.

“Where have you been?” he asked.

I opened my mouth to answer him, but suddenly lost my nerve. “I picked up an extra shift and worked late. I made good tips though and made enough to pay rent.”

I pulled the money from my pocket and his face lit up. He hurried over to me and whisked me up into his arms and spun me around. He brought me back to the ground and gave me a long, hard kiss.

“You are the best girlfriend ever,” he declared with a smile.

I forced a smile onto my face as I felt like the biggest traitor in the entire world.