by Helen Cooper
“So, Jane seems sweet.” Harry escorted me to his car. It was an Audi A4 and I sunk into the leather seats surprised. I would have thought that he’d drive a Porsche or a Mercedes.
“Yeah, Jane is great.” I smiled. “We’ve been best friends for ages. We moved here from Florida together to go to school.”
“Did she study drama as well?” Harry’s eyes remained on the road as he spoke and I studied his profile.
“No. Just me.” I paused. “I was the crazy one.”
“Why crazy?”
“Have you seen me in any movies or on Broadway?” I laughed.
“Not yet but I wouldn’t be surprised if you made it soon.”
“Yeah right.” I laughed.
“Don’t be so down on yourself, Sarah. I mean, you were able to fool the people at Zoom.”
“Yeah.” I quickly decided to change the subject as I was hoping that he would give me another job in his company. “So, where are we going?”
“To dinner.”
“Duh, where?”
“Just wait and see, Sarah.”
“Fine.” I turned and looked out of the window watching the commuters walk to their apartments from their jobs in Manhattan. I loved how alive and real Brooklyn was, even though I was anxious to move to the city as soon as possible. “So tell me why we are fooling your family again?” I turned back to face him, curious why such a good-looking and rich man would need to fool his family.
“Have you ever watched Home Alone?”
“Hello. Of course I have. Kevin!” I screamed. “Arrgh.”
“Uhm, ok. Thanks for that, Sarah.” Harry laughed. “Well the family in Home Alone is just a scratch on my family.”
“Ok.”
“And their biggest wish for me is to get married and to have kids.”
“So why don’t you?” I questioned.
“I don’t want to.” His voice was abrupt.
“Why not?” I was curious as to why he never wanted to get married. I was also strangely disappointed.
“I find that marriage just constrains people. I don’t want to be constrained. Plus, I don’t believe in love and most women want that in a marriage.”
“You don’t believe in love?” I was shocked and sad.
“No, not really. I mean, I believe in love of family, love of friends, love of sex.” He turned and grinned at me. “But one true love? Soulmates? Nope.”
“Wow, ok.” I bit my lip wanting to ask more but not wanting him to think that I cared about his answers. “Is there a reason why you don’t believe in those things?”
He laughed and his voice had a bitter tinge in it when he spoke. “I’ve had models, actresses, teachers, nurses all tell me how much they loved me, how much they wanted to be with me, when all they really cared about was the money. My billions. And my image. They liked the glitz and the glamour. I’m secondary to what I can provide. If I had nothing, they would be long gone.”
“I don’t think that’s true.” My voice was earnest. He was hot. Women would want to be with him no matter if he was a pauper.
“Come on Sarah, even you are only with me now because you want your job back.” He laughed. “Let’s be real here. Women just latch on to men that can provide something to them. Which is fine. But let’s not say its love.”
I sat back and thought for a second. What he said wasn’t untrue. I had told myself and him that I was going along for the weekend because I needed the money and because I wanted my job back but that wasn’t really the only reason I was going. I was going because I thought he was ridiculously hot and because I enjoyed sparring with him. I liked the way he made me feel. And that had nothing to do with his money. “I guess you’ll think whatever you want to,” I replied. There was no way that I wanted him to know that I was more into him than I was letting on.
“See, even you have nothing to say to that.” His voice sounded sad and then he turned on the radio. “Want to listen to some Miles Davis?”
“Say what?” I frowned at him as Jazz music reverberated through the car. “Who’s this?”
“You don’t know Miles David?” Harry looked at me and shook his head.
“Is he related to Larry David?” I thought of the bald guy from the TV show ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’
“No.” He laughed. “So what kind of music do you listen to?”
“Katy Perry, Rihanna, fun., Coldplay, The Verve.”
“The Verve?” He smiled. “Aren’t they kinda old for you?”
“I love them.” I reached over to the radio and starting changing the channels.
“Hey hey.” He swat my hands away. “Don’t you know you can’t just change radio stations like that?”
“What?”
“You never heard the saying ‘don’t ever touch a man’s radio.’”
I laughed. “Do you mean the line from Rush Hour where he says ‘don’t you ever touch a black man’s radio?’?” I burst out laughing. “You’re funny.” I had tears running out of my eyes from all my laughter and I just couldn’t stop myself.
“I’m glad you think that’s funny.”
“Oh Harry.” I stopped on a Top 40 radio and sang along to the Lil Wayne song that was playing.
“I’m thinking I should take you to a club instead of a nice dinner.”
“Yeah right.” I looked at him with a smirk. “I could not see you in a club, Harry Green.”
“Well, there are many things you couldn’t see me doing but I do them.” He licked his lips and I shivered.
***
“So, how’d you like it?” Harry smiled at me paternally as I licked the residue of chocolate off my spoon. My stomach was full and I was completely satisfied. Every course had been delicious and the chocolate cake had been the most divine and silky cake I’d ever had.
“Hmm, this meal was so good.” I beamed at him. “Thanks.” I smiled into his eyes as I remembered my manners.
“Good.” He called the waiter over to the table. “Two glasses of Champagne, please.”
“Oh I don’t know,” I protested.
“But we have to celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?”
“Our new partnership.”
“What new partnership?” I looked at him in confusion.
“The one we are about to make.”
“Uh ok.” I felt a chill run through my spine. Oh no, I thought. Here it comes. He’s going to tell me that he wants me to be his submissive. I’d read ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ along with everyone else. I knew what this was about. I bit my lip and thought hard. I’d never done anything that kinky before but there was a first time for everything, right? Though I didn’t think I’d make a very good sub. And I didn’t particularly want to get beaten.
“So I figured the partnership would last for the next two months.”
“Oh.” I’d never heard of a Dom/sub relationship lasting two months, but I guess I didn’t really know much.
“It would start this weekend. Then you would accompany me to a family reunion next month and then to a family wedding in two months.”
“So three trips?” I looked at him suspiciously. “And what do I have to do on the trips?”
“All I will require from you is that you will pretend to be my girlfriend. Kiss me and hug me when appropriate; anything extra is up to you.”
“Hmm.” I was slightly disappointed that he didn’t seem to be begging me for anything extra.
“I’ll pay you $50,000 to play the role. $25,000 up-front and $25,000 when we break up.”
I sat there with my mouth wide open, that was a hell of a lot of money. “Whoa, what?”
“Think of it as your first real paying acting gig.” He smiled at me. “And if it goes well I will recommend you to a producer I know in Hollywood and see if we can get you an audition.”
“Omg, really?” I knew my eyes were popping out but I couldn’t control my excitement. “Wait, how are we going to break up?”
“I’m going to be overcome with exciteme
nt at my cousin’s wedding and propose to you.” Harry grins. “And then you are going to say no and leave me broken hearted as young girls always do to older men.”
“What?” I squirmed in my seat. “That’s going to be so embarrassing. Your family is going to hate me.”
“Sarah, you don’t know them, do you really care how they feel about you?”
“I guess not.” I paused. “$25,000 up-front and sex won’t be required?”
“No required sex, though it is an optional add-on.” He grinned. “Though I won’t be paying for that, of course.”
“Of course.” I growled at him. “I’m not a hooker.”
“You could play one for a night, if you wanted.” He smirked.
“I don’t want.” I retorted but I felt my body flush. That could be kind of exciting. I’d always wanted to role-play but had never been brave enough to bring it up to any of the guys I had dated.
“Let me know if you change your mind.” Harry grinned at me and thanked the waiter for the two flutes of champagne. I grabbed my flute and chugged down half of the glass.
“So, do we have a deal?” he questioned me. All of a sudden, he looked very serious and his eyes looked at me intently. “It goes without saying that you cannot tell my family the truth and you cannot act like an idiot and pretend you are being possessed by ghosts at any point.”
“I wasn’t acting,” I lied, thinking back to the encounter in his office.
“One good thing is I know you have the lying part down.”
“Excuse me?” I said offended. “I don’t lie.”
“What’s that?” He started counting on his fingers. “Lie number one hundred and five?”
“Whatever.” I finished my champagne and chided myself for having downed it so quickly. I could feel my head get light. “But yes, we have a deal.”
He grinned at me. “Great.” I stared at his teeth and wondered about the fact that this man would want to hire me to pretend to be his fiancée. He must be really messed up in the head.
“No problem.” I grinned back at him, leaning towards him and licking my lips. “I’d like the first $25k tomorrow, please.”
He burst out laughing then. “Well then, there you go. A woman who is not afraid to admit she is only after the money.”
I frowned at him then and took his hand. “You know, not all women are gold diggers and after your money. I mean, really what can you do with oodles and oodles of money? Only so much.”
“There are shoes and clothes and jewelry.” Harry allowed me to stroke the palms of his hands as I spoke to him earnestly.
“Not all women care about that.” I sighed, suddenly overwhelmed with tiredness. “I want to go home. I’m sleepy.”
“Oh?” Harry looked at me in disappointment. “I was hoping we could spend the evening learning facts about each other for the weekend.”
“Tonight?” I groaned yawning.
“Well, we only have a few days until we leave and I know my family, they will smell a rat if we don’t seem to know anything about each other.
“I guess we can try.” I yawned again. “Though I may be asleep by the time we get back to Brooklyn.”
“Then let’s go to my place first.” He cocked his head and studied my face. “Okay?”
“Fine.” I yawned. “No funny business though.”
“I promise.” He grinned. “No funny business.”
“Fine, let’s go.” I jumped up and waited for him to pay the bill before we left. I was excited to be going back to his apartment again but didn’t want to question my excitement. A part of me was wondering if I was getting into something that was out of my depth but I ignored the voice warning me to tell him no to his plan. I figured nothing could really go wrong. It was my first real acting gig and he was paying me handsomely for it. Perhaps I’d even get a real role in a real movie after this. That would be amazing.
Chapter 8
“Would you like anything to drink?” Harry called out to me from his kitchen as I settled into his couch comfortably.
“No.” My voice was soft as I answered him. “I’m fine.” I closed my eyes and snuggled into the comfy pillows.
“Oh no you don’t, Sarah. Wake up.” He walked back into the room and I opened my eyes. I had to stop myself from jumping up as I ogled him. He had taken off his t-shirt and was bare-chested. I just wanted to touch him. He looked even more magnificent then I had remembered. More manly than any of the boys I had dated in college. Wowzers.
“Can we make this quick?” I snapped at him, mad at myself for feeling sexy thoughts about him, when he didn’t seem to be feeling torn by lust for me.
“Well we can if you have a good memory.”
“My memory is fine.” I decided to hold off on asking him he had onset dementia, just in case someone in his family did and it hit a raw nerve.
“Ok, so let’s start.” He settled into the couch, next to me and it was all I could do to not touch him. I wanted to stroke the hair on his chest to see if it felt as silky as I remembered. I flushed as I remembered what he had done to me in his bedroom and office. “Earth to Sarah.”
“Oh sorry. I think I drifted off to sleep,” I lied and sat up straight, determined that I wouldn’t be distracted by his hot body.
“Okay, so my full name is Harry Bradley Green.” He grinned and me.
“Ok, Bradley.”
“But everyone calls me Harry.” He paused. “Especially my good friends and of course my fiancée.”
“Why of course,” I purred. “Why don’t I call you naughty Harry, for a more personal effect?”
“No Sarah.” He sighed. “Just Harry.”
“Ok, Just Harry.” I grinned. “Like those books Just William.”
“Who?” He looked confused.
“They are English books about this rascal of a boy William and he does all sorts of crazy things and…”
Harry held his hand up. “Okay, okay. I get it. And no. Not Just Harry. Just call me by my first name, please.”
“Fine, asshole.”
“That’ll do.” He smiled at me sweetly and I looked away. He had no right to look so handsome and boyish when he smiled. “I’ll call you, Sarah.”
“That is my name.”
“Sarah dearest, would you like a cookie?” He reached over and caressed my face, staring at me in wonder. My heart started beating so quickly that I thought I was going to have a heart attack.
“Uhm what?” I swallowed hard as I stared back into his eyes.
“Would you like anything to eat, my love?” He moved in and lightly kissed my lips. “I just want to make sure you are okay.”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I relaxed under his mouth and kissed him back tenderly, telling myself it was the alcohol making me lose my inhibitions so quickly. I pressed my lips against his harder and pushed my tongue into his mouth. I ran my hands up and down his chest and melted into him as I kissed him. “Mmm,” I moaned into him happily. I felt him gently push me away, eyes sparkling and a huge grin on his face.
“Don’t get too carried away, Sarah. My parents are pretty old-school, that don’t need to see us make love.”
“Oh.” My face flushed red. He hadn’t been kissing me because he wanted me but because he was practicing his act. “Well, I want to be convincing, seeing as you are a sex-God and everything.”
“Sure.” He laughed and traced his fingers across my lips. “I must say you are a very good actress, Sarah. Very good indeed.” He slipped his finger into my mouth and stared into my eyes. It tasted salty and I imagined that his cock would probably taste pretty similar at that point. I felt myself getting horny and bit his finger hard.
“Ow.” He yanked his finger out of my mouth and frowned. “That hurt.”
“Oh did it?” I smiled at him sweetly. “My bad.”
“So, what’s your middle name?” He pulled away from me slightly and I suppressed a smile. There was no way I could keep my hands off him if he was so close to me.
“Ja
ne.” I sighed. “Sarah Jane Smith.”
“Cute.”
“Plain and boring.” I scrunched up my nose. “My parents had no originality.”
“Sure they did, Sarah Jane.” He teased me. “At least it wasn’t Pippi Longstockings or something.”
“Yeah, there’s that I suppose.”
“Ok, so you’re twenty-two.” He looked at me. “When do you turn 23?”
“Next week.”
“Oh, so I’m not as much older than you as you thought.” He grinned at me mischievously.
“Yeah. You are only 14 years older, I guess.” I stuck my tongue out at him.
