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“It wasn’t really a date. He kind of paid me to go with him.”
“What?” She saw the horror on her mother’s face. “How could you agree to do that?”
“It was a business deal. That’s all it was suppose to be. We needed the money, and it seemed like easy cash.”
“Coda?”
“I know, it sounds bad but everything was legitimate. I have the checks to prove it. It’s a lot of money, Ma. At first I thought it was a scam, but it wasn’t.”
“I feel awful that you think you had to accept money from a stranger to get us out of our current situation.”
“He overheard our conversation on the phone last week. He knew I needed the money and he needed a date. Could some question my morals? Probably, but he was hard to refuse, and I figured a chance like that would never come up again. We’ve struggled for so long. It seems every time we turn around we get the short end of the stick. I’m tired of scraping to get by.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. You’ve worked hard your whole life. I saw an opportunity to help you, to make things better, and I took it. I can’t apologize for that.”
“What went wrong?”
“I slept with him.”
“Please tell me that wasn’t part of the deal. Please tell me you didn’t sell—”
“Of course not! Spencer made it very clear sex wasn’t part of the agreement. He was the one who tried to resist because he said it would complicate things. He wanted to be a gentleman.”
“What happened?”
“I pursued him. I couldn’t help myself. His looks aside, he’s charming, polite, and he knows how to treat a woman. There’s something about him that pulled me to him. I’ve never been so attracted to anyone the way I am with him. He’s so incredible.”
Her mom shook her head and smiled.
“What?”
“You really like him.”
“Yes, but we would never work.”
“Why not? He looked pretty interested in you yesterday.”
“Everything was fine until I took his money.”
“Isn’t that what you were intended to do?”
“Yes, but it didn’t feel right. I know what I agreed to but after getting to know him I wasn’t there for the money. I thought maybe he’d feel the same way. Maybe he’d want to forget about the deal and see where we could take things.”
“Did you explain that to him?”
“No, I think I made him feel bad.” Coda couldn’t get that look on his face out of her mind. The one she witnessed before he got into his car. She had gone too far when she gave back the gift.
“Your Italian temper made an appearance?”
She nodded, feeling ashamed about the way she’d acted.
“Do you think there’s something between the two of you? Something worth pursuing? Not just physical attraction?”
“There is, Ma. I can feel it. He’s a tough man to break but he opened up to me. I could feel the things he said. I knew he meant them. I don’t think he’s ever opened up to anyone like that before.”
“Then you need to explain why you acted the way you did.”
