by Erin Lee
Plopping on the bed, I finally pulled my cellphone out. I knew I’d have no other calls. Everyone who worked for me knew I was on a trip. Only my executive assistant, Kim, would be in touch for the next seventy-two hours. Even she was missing in action. I wasn’t surprised when my personal messages were empty – Rob’s being the last that had come in. Since the break-up with Jack my social life had become more like my work day planner and I wasn’t sorry for it. At least in the business world you could control if you succeeded or failed.
His smug message didn’t bother me as much with the vodka helping me along.
“Of course you did. Shall I keep your bag forever or toss it in a river?”
There was a part of me tempted to dig through it. A few spare socks and probably steroids might not be worth chasing. But if I had the guy’s wallet, well, that would be different. He’d have to meet up for it.
I was shocked when he immediately responded.
“Only if I can toss yours.”
Entirely disinterested in a game of cat and mouse, and fully aware of his implication, I decided to make it easy on him.
“Look, I’ll pay you. I need my bag.”
“What makes you think I need pay?”
“Isn’t that what you do for a living? The gym and sponging off women?”
I probably shouldn’t have written that last part. But the guy was an annoying sack of shit. His silence told me I’d gone too far. With no response and the concept of rewriting my speech before Sunday kicking at my heart, I remembered the first rule of negotiation.
“Look, I’m sorry. Can we just get this over with? I’m sure this isn’t fun for you either.”
“Tomorrow. Ten. Where do you want to meet up?”
There was no way I could meet the little prick at ten in the morning. I’d be in a seminar. Why he’d assume I’d flown across the country to lounge by a pool was beyond me. Hell, if this place had a pool it would probably be green.
“Can’t do it. What about six?”
“In the morning?”
“Yes.”
“Can’t do it. Need to wash my hair.”
It was his turn to be met with silence. I cranked open my laptop and began a new draft of my speech. If I focused, I could get it done. Hell, it might even be better the second time around. It wasn’t like I had to impress Lydia. I wasn’t a magician. Some things could not be done. Nothing would impress her. And they had chosen me as the keynote speaker. This time, she was just the opening act. Her content was getting old. Fuck her. Fuck him too.
Rob
“Can’t do it,” my ass. I had no clue what made Jenner think we were doing this on her terms. From what I knew about women—and it was a lot—I knew was more than aware that they liked a man to take charge. But Jenner wasn’t the typical chick. Someday, after she realized her fancy shit wasn’t enough to fill her up, she’d pay for it. I’d seen it before and couldn’t understand why she didn’t know it. Her type was as transparent to me as Renee’s deteriorating condition. It didn’t take much to surmise all that was Jenner. I’d figured her out by hour two during her rant about “influencers” and what it took to be successful on Instagram. I rolled my eyes just thinking about her grandiose speech on ‘content.’
I had more than her speech with me now. The kind of shit men don’t normally even ask about. But she had my wallet. While I could replace my license at the DMV, the idea of cancelling my cards made me cringe. I had better shit to do than that.
I told the diva I had to wash my hair. I could chase her later. It wasn’t fair to Rena for me to spend the night on the phone. Throwing the phone in my back pocket, I quickly washed my hands and returned to Rena’s living room.
I’d been here so many times before that the place felt like home. With most clients, meetings took place only in public or hotels – depending on what kind of companionship they wanted. But after three years, Rena and me were pretty close. We saw each other twice a week – Fridays and Wednesdays. Our meetings were so frequent her entire family took me seriously. To them, who had no idea about the financials of our arrangement, I was her one and only man now. I’d been compared to her late husband and even asked when I’d pop the question. It was something we laughed about often. If only they knew. I wasn’t exactly the type to settle down any time soon. I knew better.
“What do you want to watch?” my favorite client asked, picking up a piece of shrimp tempura maki and biting at it sweetly.
“It’s your turn to pick.”
Rena was the opposite of a diva. Instead, I spent most of our time together trying to help her with her self-esteem and just plain old listening. Sure, she was older than me but she was sweet and pretty enough that she could easily have found a normal guy on her own. Most times, when she transferred her payments to my account, I felt guilty even.
“Romantic comedy? Thriller?”
“Either’s fine with me,” I said, sliding in next to her on a plush leather couch and thankful she hadn’t asked me to pick the booze up.
She rested her head on my naked chest, using her pointer finger to trace the lines of my most recent tatt. “I missed you,” she whispered.
I leaned down and kissed the top of her forehead. “I missed you too.” The funny thing was that I meant it. There was a part of me that wanted to break my number one rule and tell her about the diva. But it wasn’t appropriate to talk about other women on a paid date. It wasn’t cool to get personal either. For those reasons, I kept my lips pressed tight and helped her out. I knew what she wanted and why. There wasn’t any reason to drag things out. Rena was a good person; nothing like the diva holding my wallet hostage. “Let’s go romance this time. Something light.”
“Okay,” she said, pulling back and reaching for the remote. “I know the perfect show…”
Back on the plane
Jenner
It was impossible to get my thoughts together with slobbery Tom snoring in my ear. Even through two sets of ear buds, nothing would shut his rambling snorts down. If I didn’t know any better, the man needed a CPAP. I had no idea how a man could manage to sleep a half hour into a flight crammed up against two strangers.
I held my elbow in as far as I could from the guy and tilted my body weight out toward the aisle. Thank God the hotel had massage services, I thought, as I made small talk with the ever-rude Rob. I wasn’t sure why he didn’t like me but the feeling was quite mutual. Any guy desperate enough to ask for the complimentary headphones wasn’t my type. Sure, he was easy on the eyes. The problem was, he knew it too.
In a strange way, he reminded me of Jack. They had the same dark eyes and sharp jawline. Their haircuts weren’t so far off either only Rob’s hair was curlier and looked like it hadn’t been washed in a week. If I had to guess, I’d put him in his late twenties, maybe thirties. The same age as me, one would assume we’d find some sort of common ground. But no matter how great I was with personal and social networking, I couldn’t find a topic that would pull us through the next few hours. I wondered why I even felt it was my job. My shrink, probably the only person I talked to about anything personal these days at all, would have a field day with this.
Gritting my teeth, I went for the job. While I’d have pegged him for a part time personal trainer or even a wanna-be wrestler, he didn’t give me much there either. Instead, my question was met with a frown, not an answer.
“Well, alrighty then,” I said, hoping the stewardess would come back soon with his nasty headphones. With those in his ears, I wouldn’t feel compelled to talk to him at all. I considered putting in my own, but I knew even the very best of Beats wouldn’t be enough to drown out Tom. Fucking hell.
“You travel much?”
It was something. He was trying too in his own pathetic way.
“Yes. I get around.”
He snorted.
“Not that way.”
“Sure. That’s what they all say.”
“I’m not like other women,” I said, wanting to add that the
re was no planet on hell he’d catch me in his bed. Instead, I figured it best not to humor him. The hell I wanted him to know the idea had even crossed my mind. Just like Jack, he’d pounce on it and I was not getting involved—with anyone—again.
According to Nora, my therapist of five years who’d single-handedly pulled me through the break up with Jack and even helped me disassemble every wedding arrangement down to the special-order champagne glasses, celibacy was a perfectly valid choice. Besides, I didn’t have time. If I wasn’t working, I was sleeping.
I wasn’t a hypocrite at all. When I told people I was all about the hustle, I meant it. For me, putting in the time now while I was young and had the energy meant I wouldn’t end up like my parents – worried about retirement and wondering why all their friends could cruise all winter long. No way. I’d come too far. Not even a smart ass like Rob—someone I’d never see again and who, in all honesty, was the type of jerk I’d usually go for—could get me to change my mind. Besides, I reasoned, he wasn’t really my type. The guy was a loser. And I knew better than anyone about false advertising. Yeah. He looked good. But that was where it began and ended with him. The plane hadn’t left the ground before I’d figured that out. All set.
Rob
There was no need to get into it with her. With Tom passed out and snoring louder than the plane’s engine, I saw little reason to answer her. Telling her I was a male escort would only lead to more assumptions. But then, it’d irritate her too. I contemplated this as she rambled on, telling me about her fancy job and handing me her business card. Why she thought I’d know a thing about SEOs or social media was a whole other level of telling. Jenner was all about her. If she was into it, the world must be too.
I tried not to be rude as she explained she was an “influencer” and how her following had grown by 40,000 in the last three months alone. If Tom would stop snoring, I might even get rest myself.
“For?”
It was the first time she’d asked me about myself. I’d merely told her I went to visit my sister and you would have thought I’d planned an impromptu visit to Mars.
“Just a visit.”
“Oh.”
“You don’t do that when you’re an influencer? Too busy?”
“Well, I do have a job. I mean, I make time when I can.”
“I see.”
I wondered if being an influencer meant faking interest in everyone around. There was nothing sincere about Jenner’s questions. It was more like she was grilling me and I could not, for the life of me, understand why.
“Is she your only sibling?”
“Yes.”
I wondered how Jenner would react if she knew about Renee. It might shoot down her preconceptions. But she didn’t deserve to know. I’d had enough of shallow women picking at me. If she needed companionship so bad, well, I had cards too.
Relax, dude. Maybe she’s just being friendly. Maybe it’s the beach girl way. Maybe it’s nothing and you just need home. It’s been a long assed week.
“Do you have siblings?”
She shook her head.
Figures.
“Only child?”
“Yes.”
That explained it. Or some of it anyway. It did not, however, explain why the hell she insisted on talking to me. It wasn’t like we’d gotten off to a good start. I wanted to elbow Tom and tell him to wake the hell up. Stories of his grandkids, his years in the military—anything—would be better than another four plus hours with Little Miss Thing.
“My parents divorced when I was three,” she said, as if it explained away everything.
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
I had no interest in telling her how my folks had never been married and how growing up as the man of the house had basically changed everything for me. She’d never believe me if she heard my story anyway. People from Cali probably knew nothing about chronic disease.
“Yeah. Sucks,” she said, turning back to her speech. With a fat pink gel highlighter she went crazy. Out of the corner of my eye I watched her as she highlighted pretty much the entire thing.
Turning toward the window, I closed my eyes and did the best I could to sleep. Fuck the free headphones. There wasn’t enough music in the world to drown out Little Miss Thing.
***
Present day, Saturday morning
Jenner
…Seduce my senses. See me, touch me, taste me, hear me, and smell my arousal. Pull me against you, so that I can do the same to you. Stoke my fire. Arouse my passions. Build my need. Make me a slave to your desires.
Capture my imagination. Change my perspective. Show me what is possible between us. Show me that you are different, that you deserve to be worshiped. Shackle me to your passions.
Show me your strength. Make it clear that you can handle me; that it is safe to be myself. Teach me that I can trust you. Give me as much of you, as you desire from me. Quiet the demon in me that is ravenous.
Take me to that place where mental, emotional, and physical intimacy dwell together in balance. Don’t be my good time, or my release when I need to scratch an itch. Be my everything.
Make me crave you like my next breath. Make it impossible to walk away from you. Be the masculine to my feminine. Be the wall that I crash against, when the storms drive me. Be the arms that hold me safe…
…Strong arms spin me around and push me down on the bed. Rob has draped a towel over my mid-section. Disappointment begins to build. He is going to reject me again. Why do I keep letting him do this? What about Jack?
"Why do you kee...” The question dies on my wet lips.
Rob takes my exposed breast in his mouth, sucking on my nipple gently. Every contact sends a flash of heat between my legs. A pressure builds. It is torture and pure bliss combined. I am rubbing myself on Rob’s leg; the heat building below begging for relief.
Rob seems to know what I need. He licks a trail down my belly, taking the towel with him. My mind races with thoughts of what he might do as fear starts to take over my body. I haven't had anyone down there before. Not even Jack.
What if there is something wrong with me? Rob lets out a strangled groan and I have no idea why. My legs try to close on their own accord, but Rob stops them as he rubs his along the inside of my thigh.
"Lay back, Jenner. Leave your legs open and try not to think too much. Just feel for me. Feel what I am going to do to you. Don't think," he whispers blowing air on my exposed flesh.
"Oooooh" and "ahhhh" are the only noises in the room.
Rob definitely knows what he is doing.
Every time I think it can't get any better, he does something that brings my mind and body higher. I am rocketing towards a climax. Everything becomes clear as I hurtle over the edge of the cliff into oblivion. Floating in that space of utter bliss, I do not want to come back down to earth ever.
Finally, Rob slides my body up the bed, covers me in childish pink blankets I haven’t seen in ten years, and sidles in next to me. He tells me to rest and that we have had enough fun for one night. “Let’s sleep and see what tomorrow brings.”
Tomorrow.
Today.
***
Beep!
Beep!
Tomorrow.
Today.
Beep!
The alarm went off. Or, as I came to, I realized, it had been going off while I had some messed up, never-gonna-happen dreams about the man holding my bag hostage. As my eyes sprang open panic raced through me to realize it had been going off for more than an hour. Between the three hour time difference and the travel, worrying about my bags and then the bar, well—hell—I didn’t have a shot. I shot out of bed, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and wondering what the hell that dream had been. On no planet would I ever sleep with Rob. Not even a guy like him. I had standards.
Racing to the bathroom to splash water on my face, I made a mental list of things I’d need to achieve for any hope of making it to the first panel on time. I should have stayed in the Convention ho
tel. Here, I had a bit of a walk ahead of me. A few blocks – but still. Time was not on my side.
Rob
Meet her at six. Isn’t that what she said? Christ, it’s after seven. It’s not like she could have walked by. No way. There’s only one main entrance.
I’d been waiting since 5:45 am. The evening with Rena ran late and there was no point trying to cut to the other side of town without bringing Princess her bag. Her meticulous itinerary was revealing. It told me she was too good to stay in the convention hotel; something that shouldn’t have surprised me. Instead, though, I was shocked to see how normal the front entrance to her weekend lodging was. It didn’t look like the castle I’d imagined her accustomed to. She was slumming it. Something. Maybe they messed up on these tickets too? I grinned at the thought of it.
Life can be shit for princesses too.
Of course, the place wasn’t a dive either. It just wasn’t anything like the places my clients stayed in. If Little Miss Thing thought she was first class, she had another thing coming. Even Rena, the most down to earth regular I had, who drank from plastic champagne glasses in bed, would have smirked at the tired leather couches that lined the hotel foyer.
Deciding she’s not going to answer my texts and that she’s probably decided she never want to hear from me again, I turned to leave the building. I still have the weekend to track her down. Or, I could try over at the convention hall. Maybe Princess liked to over prepare in that way too. The whole thing was getting old and I was exhausted after listening to Rena’s worries about her mother’s cancer.
