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He backs up then, giving me just a little space, but it feels like miles from the intensity we just shared. He reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out a card, extending it to me.
"If you agree, text the name of the hotel to this number, and I'll book us a room. Text me your bank information too. Just so you know I'm not tricking you, once I get the text, I'll transfer thirty thousand to your account. Our... arrangement would begin this Saturday.
"But..." I start with hesitation, taking the card from him. "Today is Friday."
"I know."
He smirks at me one more time before walking back to the other side of the elevator, bending over to pick up his jacket.
"So I have to decide by tomorrow?"
"No, you have to decide by tonight."
The elevator comes to a stop, and the doors open. He swings his jacket around his back, puts his arms in, all the while never looking away from me. Those gray eyes staring into mine, making my thoughts a mess, giving my thundering heart no relief since the moment I first looked into them. Then he begins walking out of the elevator, and without a single look back, he turns a corner and is gone.
I watch the empty space before me until the doors begin to close again. Hurrying to press the door open button, I step outof the elevator, looking around, expecting to find firemen here, someone, anyone. But I only find a mostly empty lobby. They must be in some mechanical room that controls everything. Whatever. All that matters is that I made it out of that deathtrap.
I begin walking to the doors, still checking behind me for any sign of Law. Then the fresh air hits me as the doors slide open. It is desperately needed. I hadn't even realized how hot I'd actually gotten in the elevator. I know now it had nothing to do with being stuck in there and everything to do with the man I was stuck in there with.
With the fresh air comes clarity. Of course, I can't meet him in some hotel. I can't have sex with someone for money, even if it is an obscene amount of it. Even if it would enable me to pay for everything I need to right now, and then some. I can't, I can't... right?
I begin my walk to the parking lot, now with only ten minutes to get to work instead of the twenty I needed. I'm going to be at least five minutes late since I still have to stop at home to put on my uniform. I put the card in my back pocket before getting into my car.
Once home, I hurry to change out of my jeans and T-shirt and into the black pants and hideous green shirt needed for work. Just as I reach the door, I stop, looking back at my jeans hanging over the chair. Knowing I don't have a second to spare, I rush back to them, and take the card out of the pocket. I'm not going to use it. I can't. I won't. But something makes me take it with me anyway.
Chapter 2
"Can you hurry the hell up?" John hisses.
"I have literally one table waiting on their drinks," I point out to my boss. "So what, exactly, am I hurrying for?"
"Probably because you were late..."
"Seven minutes late," I interrupt.
"So now everything is backed up. Maybe I should have let Lexa take your tables like she asked to."
I look across the dining room at Lexa, and she gives me a small smile. She hates this job as much as I do, so I know if she offered to handle my tables, it was only because she was trying to diffuse John threatening to fire me, again. Because we both need this job. Her to pay for school, me to pay for, well, everything. John is an asshole, but the pay is good, and the tips are great. The people who come here aren't too bad either. So, it's mostly just John that makes us hate it. It's like he wants to make sure we suffer as much as possible for every dollar we make an hour.
"Here we go," I say as I reach table twelve. I smile at the people while I put down their coffees, lattes, cups of teas, muffins, and donuts before asking, "Anything else you need right now?"
"Nothing. Thanks," one of the women answers.
"I'll be back around in a few."
I begin to walk back toward the kitchen, but finding John watching me, a scowl on his face, I turn toward where one of my tables just emptied instead. Is it my job to clear the dishes away? No, but I'll gladly do it if it keeps me away from John. Because when he's not scowling, he's leering. I prefer the scowl but am in no mood to deal with it right now.
Bringing the heavy bucket of dishes to the hot kitchen, the card seems to burn in my pocket, begging me to use it. I’d looked at it almost my entire break an hour ago. Nothing but a number and first name on it, not telling me much more than I learned in the elevator. I'd turned it over again and again, as if new words would appear on it the more I did it. But no, it remained the same. Lawson, and ten digits. That's all.
Even as I convinced myself all over again that I cannot possibly accept his offer, I’d still pulled out my phone in the booth I sat in and searched for a hotel. Not any hotel I could afford either. No, the ones I could probably never afford to stay in. It would be a test of sorts... If he could truly afford to give me the amount of money he'd offered, then he would certainly be able to afford a hotel that charges $884 for a night. But that’s if I were going to text him…which I’m not.
Much like Law, though, I can't get the room out of my head now. The pictures of rooms with large beds, balconies overlooking the city, bathtubs that could fit four... or just me and Law. I almost scoff. That man wants to do anything but sit around in a bathtub with me. Maybe fuck me in it, but not sit in a bunch of bubbles. My mind is sure to show me images of all the places he could fuck me in the room, though. Right in the center of that huge bed. Bent over the couch. On the balcony, all the people below us able to hear my screams.
But... who says I'll be screaming at all? Or moaning? Or gasping? The sex could be horrible for all I know. But my mind and my body tell me that's a lie. He exudes sex appeal, lust, desire. Everything from his eyes, to his smile, to the way he took off his damn jacket tells me I would leave that hotel room satisfied. But I'm not going, even though every single part of me is curious about what it would feel like to be under him, above him, hismouth on me, my mouth on him. A shudder rushes through me at the visions flooding me.
"I want to be wherever your mind is taking you right now." I hear Lexa laugh behind me. "It looks like a damn good place."
"Any place is better than here." I sigh as I turn around to face her. "Thanks for offering to cover my tables earlier."
