Twelve Nights

by Remy, Carole

  “You own TransGlobe, right?”

  “Yes,” Jimmy admitted.

  “I’ve seen it on the Exchange. You must be worth a lot of money.”

  “Lots.”

  “I bet you got a lot of gold-diggers answering the ad.”

  “Almost nothing but.”

  “Well, I’m not after your money. Not any more than the one twenty K anyway.”

  “Why not?” Jimmy was intrigued. He found he liked the sound of her voice.

  “I like my job,” Aggie explained. “I like working. Big money scares me.”

  “Why does it scare you?”

  “You know the saying about power corrupts? Well, I imagine money corrupts too.”

  “So you think I must be corrupt?”

  The woman gave him a hard look. Jimmy mentally stripped himself bare before her. Their eyes held until hers lowered as her face flushed.

  “No,” she responded thoughtfully. “I don’t think you’re corrupt. At least not yet.”

  Jimmy laughed. Before he could think of an adequate response, the waiter brought their lunches. Jimmy ate raw oysters followed by clam chowder. Danny had ordered salmon and Aggie a seafood crepe. Aggie winced as Jimmy picked up an oyster shell and slid the gooey mollusk down his throat.

  “I don’t see how you can eat those things,” she commented.

  “They’re delicious,” Jimmy commented. “Just think, if Richard hadn’t rejected you, I could have made you eat them every night.”

  “Oh, God.” Aggie made a grotesque face. “I thought you just wanted sex!”

  Jimmy made up his mind on the spot. This was the one. Maybe not for the rest of his life, but definitely for the next twelve nights.

  “If you still want the job, it’s yours,” he offered casually.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Do you still want to,” Jimmy fumbled for words. “To do what the ad said, for twelve nights?”

  Aggie grinned.

  “Would you make me eat oysters?” she teased.

  “I might,” Jimmy teased back.

  “I would throw up,” Aggie warned. “My mother wanted to give me some medicine one time and I warned her I would throw up. She gave it to me anyway and I did. Throw up, I mean.”

  “What a lovely lunch table topic,” Jimmy commented.

  “I just want you to know that I mean what I say.”

  “You’ll agree to everything but oysters?”

  “Yes,” the young woman answered without hesitation. She almost sounded eager. Jimmy was glad he wouldn’t be standing up for another few minutes. It would give him time to subdue the bulge.

  “We’ll go back to the office when we’re finished with lunch. I’m sure Richard will be relieved that the hard part is over.”

  “The hard part?” Aggie’s words held laughter and double entendre.

  “The interviewing,” Jimmy clarified.

  “Oh, that hard part,” Aggie nodded. “I assume there will be other hard parts?”

  “You can put money on it,” Jimmy agreed. His cock pressed solid into the zipper seam of his trousers and he shifted in his seat. Jesus, she saw that, too. Her eyes caught too damn much. Maybe he should start tonight instead of tomorrow.

  “I brought the contract.” Danny spoke for the first time in several minutes.

  “You what?” Jimmy asked, ninety percent of his attention still on his cock and the young woman across the table.

  “I brought the contract,” Danny repeated. “You can sign here.”

  Jimmy looked thoughtfully at his younger brother.

  “You knew she’d be the one, didn’t you?” he asked.

  “I knew,” Danny admitted.

  “So you brought her to lunch.”

  “I knew.”

  “And you brought the contract.”

  Danny’s lips remained closed. He seldom repeated himself more than twice. Jimmy took the contract from his outstretched hand and offered it to Aggie with a pen.

  “Don’t you want to read it?” he asked as she flipped through the pages to the signature lines.

  “Oh,” she seemed startled. “Yeah, sure.”

  Aggie turned back to page one. Her eyes widened at the diverse list of sexual activities. She took a deep breath that tightened the sweater across her breasts and appeared to firm her resolve. Jimmy’s cock throbbed. When she came to the time specifications, she paused.

  “Twenty-four hours a day is too much,” she demurred. “We can’t do it for 288 hours straight anyway.”

  “Two hundred eighty-eight?” Jimmy asked.

  “Twelve times two for twenty four hours a day, times twelve days. I just multiplied the twelves first,” Aggie explained as Danny nodded. She added with a smile, “How do you keep track of your money?”

  “I don’t. The ad said ‘companion’,” Jimmy reminded her. “That’s more than sex.”

  “I need some privacy,” she insisted. “I don’t want to move in with you. Wouldn’t eight hours be enough? Like a regular work day.”

  “Six pm to two am,” Danny suggested.

  Jimmy thought for a moment. He would be running TransGlobe during the day anyway. He could afford to capitulate on the small points. He nodded his agreement.

  “What happens if we don’t make it the full twelve days? Do I get a prorated amount?”

  “No.”

  “No?” Aggie frowned. “What if I break a leg? What if you break a leg?”

  “The contract is all or nothing. Twelve days or no money.”

  “Are you some kind of weird pervert? Are you afraid I’ll leave? Maybe you’re going to do something awful on the eleventh day so I’ll leave and you won’t have to pay me.”

  Jimmy laughed. “You’re thinking like an American, Aggie. I’m just an ordinary rich Canadian guy. Nothing up my sleeves.”

  “Ordinary,” he repeated. “Rich.”

  Aggie shook her head, but she kept reading until she came to page four.

  “This says I indemnify you from all claims for personal injury.”

  “Lawyer talk,” Jimmy waved the words away.

  “I don’t mind signing away my right to sue you for unusual sexual practice and I agree with the privacy section. I don’t want this to become public any more than you do. I’m a librarian for heaven’s sake.”

  “In Cincinnati,” Jimmy agreed. He loved that voice. Maybe she would keep arguing through the whole afternoon.

  “But you have to guarantee that I won’t be injured. Kinky is one thing, but I’m no masochist.”

  “Give me the contract,” Jimmy demanded. He agreed with her request. He certainly didn’t intend to damage her and had told Richard to write that into the contract. He thought for a moment, then printed across the bottom of the contract. I agree that you will suffer no physical injury through this contract. This agreement supersedes all other clauses of the contract.

  “How’s that?” he asked.

  “I think that’s enough,” Aggie mused. “I wish I was a lawyer.”

  “I’m not going to hurt you, Aggie. I promise.”

  She looked again deep into his eyes and Jimmy held her gaze steadily. He would never hurt this beautiful creature. He sighed in relief when she broke eye contact and scrawled an unreadable wiggle across the signature line. He picked up the contract and tried to decipher her signature.

  “A. Trout,” she offered. “You’ve landed yourself a fish, Jimmy.”

  “The reeling in was good sport,” he chuckled as he took the pen from her fingers. “Do you mind if we move the date up? I find I’m eager to begin.”

  “No,” she blurted then blushed.

  “Tonight, then.” He pushed back his chair and held out his hand as she rose. He held a napkin carelessly in front of his trousers, then caught her look and lowered the napkin to the table. His cock throbbed painfully under her eyes. How many more hours?

  Chapter 12

  Angela tried to wait patiently for her sister’s return. She tried to watch telev
ision. She tried to read a book. She even tried to meditate. Nothing worked. Finally she gave up and paced the suite from the door down the hall to the living room, back down the hall to the bedroom and then back to the door. She was sure she was wearing a rut in the carpet. The hotel manager would make her pay for the damage. Aggie wouldn’t get the job for her. Her life would be ruined. Angela was running toward the bathroom to throw up when her sister walked calmly through the door.

  The gorge vanished.

  “Did you get it?” she pounced, grabbing Aggie by both shoulders and pulling her into the room.

  “You have,” Aggie looked at her watch, “three hours.”

  “What took you so long?” Angela asked. Then the import of her sister’s words sank in. “You got it!?!”

  “Yes,” Aggie agreed from the center of a smothering hug.

  “Three hours?” Angela pulled back and looked at her sister’s face. “He wants to start tonight?”

  Aggie nodded and turned away.

  “What’s wrong?” Angela asked. “Is he old and ugly?”

  “No.” Aggie thought for a moment. “He’s late thirties or early forties. He’s not handsome, but he’s not ugly.”

  “What does he look like?”

  “He’s not very tall, probably about our height, maybe shorter. Not thin but not fat. But he probably will be in a few more years.”

  “Ugh,” Angela made a face. “Does he have any hair?”

  “Lots,” Aggie smiled. “Salt and pepper. Very thick. He has a big nose.”

  “For a hundred and twenty thousand dollars, I’ll close my eyes and pretend he’s Richard Gere.”

  “He’s nice, Boo,” Aggie protested. “I liked him.”

  Angela brushed the comment aside. “So, tell me everything that happened. Did you make the tape?”

  Aggie pulled the tape recorder out of her purse.

  “I got the interview with the lawyer, but the tape ran out before Jimmy and Danny and I had lunch.”

  “Jimmy and Danny and you? Sounds chummy.”

  “I got you the money, Angela.”

  At last the weariness in her sister’s voice penetrated Angela’s excitement.

  “You poor thing!” she exclaimed. “Lie down on the sofa while we listen to the tape.”

  Aggie hung her coat in the closet and flopped back onto the couch. Angela pressed the play button and they listened together to the muffled and mostly silent walk to the apartment.

  “Danny doesn’t talk much,” Aggie commented. “He’s a little odd, but he’s sweet.”

  “One brother’s ‘nice’ and the other’s ‘sweet’,” Angela teased. “I’ll buy you a thesaurus for Christmas.”

  “Shh,” Aggie hushed her. “Here’s the interview.”

  The recorder had worked well through the purse.

  I’m afraid there’s been a mistake. A deep rich voice filled the room.

  “Mmmm,” Angela commented. “I like him.”

  “He’s okay,” Aggie agreed. “He’s the lawyer. Mr. Urbano. He rejected me.”

  “I thought you said…”

  “Just listen,” Aggie interrupted. “I’ll tell you the rest after the tape.”

  The twins sat in silence as the tape replayed Richard’s questions and Aggie’s responses. The ninety minute tape had run out during Aggie’s walk with Danny to the Beach House Restaurant. Angela’s twin recalled as much as she could of her lunch-time conversation with the two Buko brothers. When she was finished, Aggie handed Angela her copy of the contract. Angela put on her glasses and read the pages quickly but carefully.

  “When did you get glasses?” Aggie asked.

  “A few months ago. Shh.” Angela returned to the document.

  “I didn’t wear glasses when I read the contract in the restaurant today. Jimmy knows I don’t need them.”

  “I’ll manage,” Angela insisted impatiently. “I don’t think he wants me to read to him. Oh, God.”

  “What?”

  “It’s all or nothing.”

  “I tried to argue that one. He wouldn’t budge.”

  “So if he’s really bad and I can’t hack it after a few days, I get nothing.” Angela swallowed down the anxiety that rose up her throat.

  “He’s not really bad, Angela,” her sister insisted. “I liked him.”

  “Then you go!” Angela challenged.

  “No thanks. I’ll get my man the old-fashioned way.”

  Angela noticed but refrained from commenting on the fact that her sister didn’t mention her boyfriend, Andrew. She read further.

  “You got him down from twenty-four to eight hours a day. Good.”

  “Actually, Danny helped. He suggested the hours.”

  “I start at six o’clock tonight.” Angela looked at her watch. “That’s two hours!”

  “Is there anything on the sex list you would have said ‘no’ to?”

  Angela heard the anxiety in her twin’s voice. She read the list again.

  “I don’t like anal,” she commented. “The rest is okay.”

  “I told the lawyer I didn’t like the idea of discipline,” Aggie explained. “Spanking.”

  “Spanking’s okay,” Angela said.

  “You’d better pretend you don’t like it.”

  “Yes,” Angela agreed absently. She looked down the rest of the list. Nothing she couldn’t handle.

  “I don’t even know what some of this stuff is,” Aggie commented.

  “That’s okay. You’re not the one doing it.”

  “What’s a fist fuck?”

  “When the person puts his fist inside your vagina.”

  “Ouch.”

  Angela laughed when her sister crossed her legs. “Usually another woman does it. Most guy’s hands are too big and inflexible.”

  “I don’t think you need to worry about that one then. Jimmy isn’t the type to delegate.” Aggie paused. “I don’t think….”

  The twins sat in silence for a moment. Angela didn’t know what her sister was thinking. She herself was waiting for the anxiety in her belly to metamorphose into arousal. She would be having sex in about two hours, she estimated. She had better get the juices flowing.

  “I’m going to stay for the twelve days.” Aggie’s words broke Angela’s concentration.

  “Thank you.” Angela realized as she heard her sister’s words how much she had dreaded being abandoned. The truth was she was nervous. A guy who spent three hundred dollars a night thought he could ask a lot. What would a man who spent ten thousand expect? She stood up and shook herself, an old trick to relieve tension.

  “Okay,” she announced. “Time to get dressed. Let’s pick out something sexy.”

  “No,” Aggie disagreed. “Wear the same outfit I wore today. He liked it.”

  “He’ll expect me to wear something more arousing, Aggie.”

  “No, he won’t.” Aggie spoke with conviction. “He expects a librarian, not a prostitute.”

  “I have to remember that,” Angela agreed.

  “Besides, the outfit will reinforce that it’s the same person. He won’t look at you as closely.”

  “There’s nothing to see. We look exactly the same.”

  “Your eyes could change color,” Aggie reminded her.

  “That’s true.” The twins’ eye color changed by some internal chemistry to match their clothing, shifting from gray to hazel to almost blue. “By tomorrow he’ll be used to me. Then I can wear other colors and it won’t matter. You’re right, I’ll wear the gray tonight.”

  Angela and Aggie reversed their usual roles as the librarian helped her twin decide on accessories and makeup. They settled on a simple pearl necklace and a matching pearl ring, a light dusting of powder, pale lipstick and some mascara. Angela felt too much her real self to be comfortable. She realized that she preferred to put on her hooker glamour before she met a man for sex. She felt vulnerable.

  The twins agreed that Angela should take a taxi from the Vancouver Hotel, rather than w
alk the few hundred yards from their hotel to the apartment. She climbed into a cab in the basement of the Sylvia and directed the driver to the larger hotel. Inside, she took an elevator up to the fifth floor and then back down. She lingered in the lobby. Then at 5:50 she climbed into another cab and directed the man to 2071 Beach Avenue. Aggie had noted the address on the building as she left.

  The anxiety in her stomach refused to abate but instead built as the taxi inched through the late rush hour traffic. By the time the cab pulled up to the apartment, she was squeezing the elbow rest in a death grip. Her legs wobbled when she swung them out of the back seat of the cab. She clutched her purse, rooted to the curb as the taxi nosed back into the traffic.

  “Aggie!”

  The eagerness in the man’s voice startled Angela. She turned and saw him holding open the door to the apartment block. He was short, almost dumpy, with a fleshy face and thick black and gray hair. This must be Jimmy. As she came closer, she saw that his eyes glowed with warmth. She had never seen that look in a john’s eyes. Her anxiety turned into a hard lump in her stomach as she realized that the man really liked Aggie. He wasn’t here just for the sex. He actually liked her. The evening would be ten times more difficult than she had thought. Angela pasted what she hoped was an Aggie-smile across her face.

  “Jimmy!” She opened her arms wide.

  The man’s smile lingered but the glow in his eyes dimmed. What had she done wrong? She turned her offered hug into a hand on each of his broad shoulders. Then she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Yes, that’s what Aggie would have done. The man put his hand on the small of her back and ushered her into the apartment lobby. She began to walk to the elevator, but he steered her instead down a side hallway. When he pushed the button on a smaller side elevator, she wondered what else Aggie had forgotten to tell her.

  Inside the elevator, Jimmy pushed an unmarked button and then turned Angela to face him. She unbuttoned her coat, trying to be innocent and seductive at the same time. After all, it was warm in the elevator. It was a natural thing to do.

  “I’m glad you wore the same outfit,” Jimmy commented. Angela mentally thanked Aggie. “I’ve been imagining you out of it all afternoon.”

  Angela smiled in relief. After all, he was a man. She could handle men. She tried to imagine what Aggie’s reaction would be to the suggestive comment. She ducked her head in mock-shyness, then looked out under her eyebrows.