Bought for Love(2)

I nodded and watched her walk out the door. The shelter was only a few blocks from our apartment, but I hated walking the streets at night. I also didn’t like hanging out here without her after a few shootings happened last month in our building that shook me up.

I pulled the laptop over to my side of the table and opened it up. The gorgeous billionaire guy stared back at me. Jack Duncan. I let his name roll off my lips and wondered how someone with such an average name managed to acquire two point five billion dollars

Parents both deceased now. He was the youngest of four children. I admit it, I was curious so I continued reading. Thirty years old? Okay, that was almost ancient, but he definitely didn’t look a day over twenty-five. Good genes? The article went into detail about his business, which had something to do with buying and selling companies. I grew a little bored as the details got away from the personal and into his company’s stock market portfolio. He was looking for a companion not a stock broker, so why did it matter?

I wondered again what it would be like to have a life of luxury. There was link at the end of the post for applicants, and for grins clicked on it. An application appeared and knowing that Mr. Billionaire would never be interested in a girl like me, I decided to fill it out.

Some of the information was really personal and my fingers faltered on the keyboard. Breast size? Could you really ask that on application? I wasn’t sure I wanted to put that information out on the web, even though the page claimed encryption. Deciding it was just a joke anyway, I typed in 32 C. My small frame was heavily stacked in that area, and believe me, it was not a good thing.

I had no idea what my waist size was, but I wore a zero, so I typed that in. I’d tried to gain weight all my life, but unfortunately, it just didn’t happen. My sister always griped about that, because she fought with hers all the time. I didn’t want to be that thin. Getting nagged all the time about eating more was a pain in the butt.

I almost died laughing when the interview question asked about my dating preferences. Since I’d never been on a date, I decided to come up with what I thought would be a perfect romantic evening. Taking a dinner cruise on a yacht from the New York Harbor. If you’re going to dream, dream big, right?

I finished up the application and added the only picture I had of me in somewhat formal wear. It was from a wedding I attended with my sister for one of the owners of the homeless shelter. It was only a year old and I hadn’t changed that much. I’d worn a second-hand formal dress we’d found in a thrift store. My sister had piled up my long chestnut hair in a flip and even fixed my makeup that day. I wasn’t big on dressing up, but I didn’t look half bad in that picture.

Sending off the application, I decided it was time to step back into reality and started looking for a job. Two hours later, I was ready to scream in frustration. Even minimum wage jobs were impossible to find lately. Taking a break from my search, I walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out all the fixings for a sandwich. Guess we were going to be living on those next month, because I didn’t see some miracle job dropping out of the sky to save us.

I fixed my simple meal, ate quickly and decided a hot shower might make me feel better. Walking back to the bathroom I stripped quickly and waited for the water to heat up. It managed to get lukewarm, which was better than some of the icy cold ones I was forced to take.

Knowing I didn’t have long before another icy blast, I washed quickly. I wasn’t a violent person by nature, but our landlord deserved a swift kick in the butt. There was no reason to have such a limited hot water supply!

Finishing up in the bathroom, I dried my thick locks and managed to pull on a tank top and a pair of shorts before the phone started ringing. Walking into the living room I answered, thinking it was probably just my sister extending another invite to come stay with her tonight.

“Ms. Yates?” A refined woman’s voice spoke.

“Um, I’m Emily, can I help you?” I didn’t know if the call was for me or Kim.

“I’m a representative for Mr. Jack Duncan. He’s looked over your application and would like to set up an interview.”

Holy crap! I’d done that whole thing as a joke, never thinking the man would be interested. “An interview?” I’m sure my answer made me seem like an idiot, but I was seriously blown away.

“Yes. It’s just an informal meeting and shouldn’t take up more than an hour of your time. How does today at three sound?”

“Today at three. I’m not doing anything this afternoon.” Those words were supposed to remain in my head.

“Wonderful. He’ll send a car for you. Thank you for your time.” The caller hung up before I could catch my breath.