5. Privacy

Damon Valentino

~•~

Dahlia nodded like she was in a trance. It intrigued me. I had a lot of doubts about our meetup and I almost stood her up, but Juan persuaded me to come. It was my first meet up and with how shy she was, I could tell that it was her first as well.

She was easy to see through and while I could tell that she was soft-spoken and naive, I could also tell that she was trying so hard to come across as brave. She wanted to take matters into her own hands when she would prefer I do so instead.

I sucked on my teeth, not wanting to scare her off on her first, dare I say, date. “I didn’t mean for that to come out so harsh.” It was obvious she really needed money if she needed to be at work in an hour. I hadn’t been so sure about the app thing, but as soon as I saw her, all my doubts were cleared. I wanted her.

She shook her head. “It’s fine. It’s fine.”

“Where do you work?”

Dahlia looked at me suspiciously. “Why? Do you want to kidnap me when I’m going home alone at night?”

I rolled my eyes, something I barely did. “I’m wondering what kind of job would require a pretty lady like you to have to go home alone at night.”

“I work at a bar.”

Knowing that was all the information she was going to give me, I nodded. There were millions of bars in New York. There was no way I could find out which one. “I guess we are giving vague answers then. I teach.”

“Where?” She moved closer to the table.

“Where is your bar located?”

“Fair enough.”

I could not stop the smile that spread across my lips. Dahlia intrigued me greatly. I wanted to know more about her. I wanted to see her again. I had to.

Shortly after, our food was brought and we stayed silent as we ate, stealing glances at each other. It was nice to know she couldn’t keep her eyes off me as I shamelessly stared at her. She looked young, but that was the point of the app.

“How old are you?” I asked midway through our food.

“You already know.”

“I was hoping you didn’t put up a fake age.”

She was twenty, turning twenty-one in a few months. Dahlia chuckled slightly. “I’m also hoping you’re thirty one as you said.”

“I am.”

“That’s good to know.”

The last thing I’d do is lie about my age. That was something only kids would do.

When we were done eating, Dahlia was the one to initiate the main conversation. “So how would this work?”

I stroked my chin, deliberately taking my time. “You seem to be in a hurry to be done with me.”

“If it’s not going to work, it would be best if we didn’t waste much time on it.” She shrugged. “Besides, I still have work.”

I decided to let her off. “What do you suggest?”

She blushed at the question, as though she wasn’t expecting me to ask that, but she pushed back her embarrassment and put on a bold face. “You’re doing this for regular casual sex and I’m doing this for money, right?”

“Right…” I drawled off. She would be just as into the sex as she was into the money.

“Then, is fifty thousand per month okay?”

I arched an eyebrow. I just told her I was a teacher. Did she think that career paid that much? Teachers and lecturers alike were underpaid. My little sister wasn’t even working yet but she got more money monthly than teachers did.

“What? Is it too much?” Dahlia asked hesitantly.

“I told you I teach.”

“But your watch is worth more than a hundred grand.” I looked at my wristwatch. She was right. She had an eye for good things. “Your suit is just as expensive. From the way you carry yourself, it’s quite obvious you are rich even if I don’t know how.”

“If you tell me what you need the urgent money for, I’ll make it a hundred thousand.” I would only end up spending a lot of money, but I was just so curious about her.

Her mouth fell open at the offer.

“With a bonus of ten grand per week.”

“Tuition.” She blurted out at once. “Tuition and accommodation.”

“Where?” I pressed.

“I still have to have some privacy, don’t I?”

I guess. She still saw me as a stranger so it was only natural she was careful with her information. I wished I had met her sooner. By now, she would have been more comfortable being in my presence. I wanted her to feel secure when she was with me.

“I’ll know as time goes on anyway.” I brought out the paper from my suit jacket and placed it on the table. When she saw this, she dug into her bag to bring out her test papers as well.

A laugh slipped past her lips, making her look more beautiful. She was dressed in the most basic clothing, as though she didn’t care about impressing me, but I was more impressed than ever,

I could only call it lust because I wasn’t even interested in being in a relationship any time soon. My last relationship had been nasty. It ended up with my girlfriend trying to exploit me for my money. At least, I knew what I was getting into with Dahlia. As she said, she was there for the money and I was there for the sex.

It was not a parasitic relationship. We would be benefiting mutually and would stick to our agreement.

“We need a contract for things like this, right?”

She nodded. I didn’t really care for the contract because it made things a little too serious, but I wanted her to feel secure.

“I’ll have my lawyer draw one and send it to you so you can revise the things you don’t want.”

She nodded again.

I guess she wasn’t much of a talker but I didn’t mind talking. “By the way, I’m guessing you know we would be exclusive?”

“Of course.”

“I guess that’s all,” I told her, staring at her lips. They were a pretty shade of pink, just like her cheeks were at the moment. She was easily embarrassed. It was cute. I wanted to kiss her, but I wouldn’t touch her until the contract was signed.

She looked at the time on her phone. “I’ll be late if I don’t leave now anyway.”

I stood up along with her. “Let me drop you off.”

“No, thank you.” I raised my arms in surrender but followed her to the elevator, bidding her bye when she entered. She waved at me, but just when the elevator was about to close, she said, “By the way, I’m a virgin.”

The first thing I did was stick my arm in the elevator to stop it from closing, even if my feet were rooted to the ground in shock.