Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 103661 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103661 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
"So you ask me to go to your apartment at midnight and leave at two a.m.?"
He lets out a low chuckle. "That's not nearly enough time."
Ahem.
"Say I ask you to show up at my flat at midnight. And you do. I may ask for more."
"A blow job?"
His eyes pass over me slowly. With humor. Something I've said is funny. "I won't say it in a way that sounds like asking. It will sound more like…" His gaze meets mine. His voice drops to that dirty tone. "Get on your knees, vixen. I'm going to fuck that pretty red mouth."
Holy shit. I…
He…
Holy shit.
My cheeks flame. Then my chest. That's so incredibly dirty. And he's so casual about it.
And I…
I'm in so, so, so far over my head.
"Hopefully, you'll want to do whatever I've demanded," he says.
My body screams yes. Everything. All the things. Let me fill every one of your dirty desires.
He continues, "If you don't, you use a certain word."
"A safe word?"
He nods. "You can think about yours. Something easy to remember and hard to confuse. I won't push you to start. But I will eventually."
"You'll say something like that?"
"Yes."
"Oh." Words are impossible.
"I need to know you're ready to drop your safe word."
"So… it's on me to say no?"
"Partially. I'll read you the best I can. Try to stay within the bounds of what you can handle. But sometimes… people don't always know what they can take until they try it. I might push further than you can go. If that's not what you want…"
It is. But it's terrifying. Why do I want this stranger to order me onto my knees? "What if it isn't?"
"I can go slower."
"What if I keep using the safe word?" I ask.
"Then you keep using the safe word."
"You'll still pay me? If I never sleep with you? Or touch you? Or let you touch me?"
He nods.
"So you'll pay for my virginity… even if you don't actually get it?"
"On one condition," he says. "You agree not to sell it to anyone else."
More than fair. It's not like I want to go through this again. "You still haven't said a number."
His lips curl upward. A smile that should dissolve the sexual tension. Only it doesn't. At all. "For thirty days at my beck and call, playing by my terms?"
I nod.
He stands. Moves to his desk. Picks up a tiny blue notebook and an expensive pen.
In one quick motion, he writes a number. Then he returns to the couch and hands the notebook to me.
Almost half a million dollars.
Rent for the next decade.
Plus enough for mine and Addie's college and a trip to the Bahamas. A trip to the Bahamas every year. At a private resort. A luxury resort.
I trace the edges of the leather cover. I'm negotiating. I should counter. That's the rule.
"Can you do better?" I bite my tongue. Wait for the words to shatter glass. "Did I really say that?"
"Yes." He chuckles. "You did."
"Oh. Well… uh… I guess I stand by it."
"You guess?"
"I do."
His smile widens. He's charmed by me. For some reason. "I can."
I hand the notebook back to him.
He takes the pen. Scribbles a new figure on a new sheet of paper. Ten percent higher.
That's fifty grand in my bank account today.
A hundred grand after a contract.
Six-figures in my bank account.
"What's to stop me from running off with the cash?" I ask.
"That money is yours as soon as you have it." His eyes meet mine. "I like you, Eve. I want to enjoy this time with you. If you get scared, I'll understand. But if you're trying to play me…" His voice shifts to something low. A threat. "I'm not a man you want to cross."
That, I believe.
"I'll have the contract sent to your place. Take the week. Find a lawyer. Protect yourself."
"Is that… part of the contract?"
"Condoms?"
I nod. "I've never… I want to be safe."
"Are you on birth control?"
"Yes, but that doesn't protect against STDs."
"It's been a few months since I've been with someone."
Why? That doesn't fit anything I know about him. But maybe I don't know anything.
"I'll get tested again this week. Send you the results. If you still want to use condoms, we can. I'd rather not."
"Okay."
"Yes or okay?"
"Yes." My cheeks flame. My chest. My entire body. Is it possible to blush everywhere? "And the thirty days. That's fine. But I need next weekend free. I'm going to the beach with my sister."
"We'll meet the following Monday."
"I assume this is a secret?"
He nods yes. "I want you to quit that job right away."
I should argue. Insist he can't tell me what to do until I've actually signed. But I hate the job. The thought of not showing up tonight… hell yes. "Okay."
"Anything else?"
"I don't know what you have in mind for the thirty days. But I always go as me. I'll take nicer clothes. But I decide what I wear."