Bootlicking

New Jersey City

Clothed in one of Delly's expensive dresses, Samira walked out of the airport. She still couldn't believe that she was in this kind of situation, acting like a winning actress of the year, taking on the role of Delly. Just yesterday, she was in the boutique attending to customers, and now here she was, in another city, far from home.

The whole thing began to feel scary, and she was deciding whether to leave or stay when a man dressed in black approached her.

"You must be Miss Delly?" the man asked. She nodded.

"I am Mike, head of the security team to Mr. Rays, your fiancé. I have been ordered to accompany you to the hotel," Mike said, showing her a card to verify his statement.

She followed him and got into the Mercedes he had driven to the airport. In the car, she took off her glasses and stared at the city of Brookside.

All her life, she had lived in one place. She never had the time or money to travel, but now here she was, doing just that. She smiled to herself, unaware that Mike was watching her through the mirror.

*What am I thinking? It's not like I'm here for leisure. I'm here to help my friend, and I better revise the things the patron gave Delly regarding her date.*

Chris Rays was a man who made his money by buying shares in small quantities until he made it big. He was the son of a single mother and a grandmother.

"Mr. Rays told me to apologize on his behalf for not coming to pick you up himself. He's being held up with work but will surely make it for today's date," Mike informed her, causing her to sit up straight.

"Today? I'm meeting him today?" she asked quickly. Mike nodded in reply.

She had thought she would have this day to familiarize herself with things and would be meeting him tomorrow. But it turned out she was meeting him today, she thought as the car stopped in front of the Royal Hotel. The attendants stood at the entrance, waiting for her to arrive. She felt like crying. How on earth did she choose to accept this situation? How does a man treat a stranger he knows nothing about like a queen?

"Miss Delly!" one of the hotel men, probably the manager, cooed as he came to greet her.

"Hello," she greeted, knowing it took a lot of practice to say that, even though she's used to greeting her clients professionally.

"You look a bit tired. The flight must have taken a toll on you. Your suite is ready," the manager informed her.

Though they had the same figure and height, Delly was quite slim while Samira was a little busty.

"Thank you in advance," she said dismissively.

"Will you be back to pick her up this evening, or should we prepare the hotel service?" the manager asked Mike, who had passed her suitcase to the hotel staff.

"I won't be the one, but Mr. Rays will be doing that himself," Mike said, excusing himself and leaving.

"Let's go in," the manager said as they escorted her into the hotel.

For a while, Samira was distracted by the elegance of the hotel. It wasn't until she was being steered to the elevator that she finally stopped to ask them what was going on.

"What's with all this bootlicking?" she asked, wanting to know why they were sucking up to her.

"It's your fianceé, Mr. Rays," the manager spoke as he directed the other staff members to use the other elevator.

"What about my fiancé?" Samira asked.

"Mr. Rays visited the hotel and strictly asked us to treat you like a queen," he laughed nervously. "But I'm sure Mr. Rays already told you about it."

*How I wish I was aware of all this. I would have liked to make a decision too,* Samira thought silently. She nodded to the manager, trying to hide her nervousness.

"We are sorry we didn't inform you earlier, but you should know that our decision was made for your benefit. Mr. Rays is a man of power and wealth, and I am sure he will take very good care of you. So you should trust the orphanage for this and just accept him. You'll get to know him and certainly like him," she nervously recalled Delly's voice while mimicking their patron.

A while later, she was shown to the suite room. She called Delly and told her what was happening.

"I doubt it. Miss Mary and my foster father have never tried to meddle in my love life. There was once a case where someone approached my father asking for my hand in marriage, and the patron asked me what I thought after my father had called and told her all about it. When I refused, they went along with my decision. There must be something about this Rays and Miss Mary's sudden agreement to my sudden marriage. Find that out," Delly told her.

Now dressed in a clinging gown which Delly had chosen for her, she combed through her hair.

Her mission tonight was to do things men hate, and one of them was the strappy red dress.

Now that Samira was wearing her dress, she understood why Delly said garters wouldn't work. It was silver and short-a micro-mini, and strapless.

"Men hate women who show a lot of skin, and someone like Chris Rays would certainly hate it, so make sure you show a lot of skin tonight. Wear that dress I bought you. It certainly will put him off," Delly had told her earlier on the phone. She stood staring at the red clinging dress. It clung to her like a second skin, and the deep V at the front made Samira uncomfortable.

She heard a deep voice in the suite's living room and was about to leave the room when she changed her mind, deciding to wear a coat over her dress. She opened the door to see the manager there.

"She's here, sir." Samira raised her brows lazily, looking at the strange man in front of her. He was throwing daggers at her, and she felt chills running down her spine. *Make sure you get along with him tonight,* she said to herself, as she took in a deep breath before flashing her date one of her pure, delicate smiles. After he nodded at her, she took it as a cue and started walking out of the room. She was immediately pulled back, the sudden pull causing her to fall into his arms.

"I know you're mad at me, honey," he licked her cheek before taking her hand into his. "I promise to make it up to you." Samira felt like puking her guts out. She was about to step on his toes when she remembered the hotel manager was still around. She bit her lip before looking at him.

"I hope so, my dear." The manager took it as a cue and silently left. Chris Rays, Samira's date, looked at her for a long time as he played with a few strands of hair on her forehead with his fingers. He was muscular, with broad shoulders and strawberry blond hair. And like what she had read on the file, he was tall and handsome-so sexy. When Samira thought of him as sexy, she meant that in the most exotic way possible.

"Why must I get along with him? I might not like him," Samira said to herself, her attention on his feather-light touch. She didn't notice that he had moved away from her and was just staring at her. She coughed lightly and started walking out when her heel got caught on the thick carpet. She found herself losing her balance. Even with her quick reflexes, that she always loved to brag about, she couldn't balance herself. She closed her eyes, expecting to deal with pain and embarrassment later.

She opened her eyes to stare into a pair of deep grey eyes whose face looked exactly like that of an angel, but she knew he was far from being an angel.

"Are you okay?" Ray asked as he held her in his arms.

"I am," she replied, feeling a bit mesmerized by his gaze, which was solely trained on her.

'Get a grip, girl! You shouldn't be mesmerized by him. You should be doing things that will get him to dislike you,' a voice said to her.

"Can you let me down now?" she said, and he did that, still having his arms around her waist.

"I only tripped. It doesn't mean that I am clumsy. You can let go of me now," she said rudely.

*Act one: be rude to him,* she thought as she moved away from him.

"I only kept my arms around you because I find that I like it there," Ray said smoothly. Smiling at his cool reply, she frowned at his frankness. It seemed her rude reply hadn't done a thing.

"You're not my type, Mr. Rays." She adjusted her coat and resumed walking. "Too late, you're already my type, Missy," he replied, trailing behind her.

They got to his car, and instead of heading to the passenger door, she went straight to the driver's door.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I prefer to drive. I like taking the wheel," she said, giving him a sexy smile.

"But I will like it when it's on my bed, but on the road, I like taking my own wheel," he told her. She moved to stand in front of him, even though she was burning with sensations from his remarks.

"Change is something that comes to people, and a change has come into your life, which is me. Just sit back and enjoy the drive," she said, taking the key from his hand.

"Do you even know how much I would love you to be in control when-" She was about to hit him when he ducked her slap, laughing.

"Missy, do you even know where I am taking you?" Ray asked.

"I don't, but I am sure you will direct me," she said, getting into the car. Ray got into the passenger seat with a smile.

Act two: show him how independent you are. Men always want their women to rely on them and often derive pleasure from it.

Ray is someone who certainly likes a woman who depends on him, but she would show him a different side tonight."Do you know we didn't introduce ourselves earlier?" he asked as she drove, following his instructions."Do we have to? I had my research done on you, and thanks to the internet, I got to know things about you that are beyond my age.