"You don't find that strange? Paying someone for sex?"
"I find it exciting."
Her breath caught in her throat.
"But if I let you pay me, and we have sex, that would make me a whore," she laid out the points bluntly. He shrugged.
"Do you really have a problem with that?" Jameson asked.
Tate had walked some fine lines in her adult life, done some things she wasn't 100% proud of, but she had never turned tricks. She liked sex, liked to use it as a weapon sometimes, but never to get paid. One time, when she was around twenty-one, she and some friends had been hard up for a good time. She wound up blowing a guy for some coke, and she'd felt guilty about it for days.
Was it still a game, or was it just being a whore? Fine lines were so hard to see. She was scared of what would happen to her if she stepped over that line. How far down the rabbit hole was she willing to fall?
"I'm not sure. I think I do. I'm not some prostitute. You can't just pay me, and then I have to fuck you whenever you snap your fingers, or blow all your friends in a circle jerk," she told him. He laughed.
"Well, I don't normally attend circle jerks, so you should be fine on that point, and I wouldn't even have to pay you, and you'd still fuck me whenever I snapped my fingers," he countered.
One point, Jameson Kane.
"Two thousand dollars," she blurted out.
"Excuse me?"
"I quit all my other jobs – except for the bar. That means all my days will be free, I'll be 'available to you' virtually every single day. My salary for that is two thousand dollars, a week," Tate informed him. He narrowed his eyes.
"Five hundred dollars," he counter offered. She shook her head.
"Don't insult me, Kane."
"One thousand."
"Call me when you want to play for real," she started to walk away. He grabbed her arm.
"One and a half," he offered, an evil smile tugging at the corner of his lips. She gave the sweetest smile she could manage back to him.
"Two and a half," she amended her original price. His smile spread to the rest of his mouth.
"Deal."
"I'm not some street corner whore, either. I'm getting paid to be available to you – not spread my legs whenever you're in the mood. You had better respect that, or I'm gonna Taser you in the balls," Tate warned him.
"Kinky."
"I'm fucking serious."
"I would never force you to do something, if you really didn't want to do it. But, you can't be a tease. I think you're hot, Tate. I can remember how hot you were, and when I decide it's time for us to sleep together, you better not pull some bullshit and try to stop it from happening," Jameson told her.
He's going to decide when it's time?
She smirked at him. He really didn't know her at all. She stepped up close to him, pressing her entire body against his front. She ran her hands over his chest and was pleased to feel solid muscle underneath his shirt. Of course, his frame had looked good under his expensive suit, and she remembered him having a good body seven years ago, but it was nice to have it confirmed. She moved her hands under his jacket, and around to his back. She purred low in her throat and rubbed herself against him, leaning in to place a long lick against his throat.
"Do I seem like a tease?" she asked, her voice husky.
She felt his hand work its way in to her hair, and then he was jerking back, hard, forcing her to look straight up at him. She didn't make a sound, refused to let him see any kind of surprise or fear or want on her face. Just looked at him with hooded eyes as he held her head in place. He looked almost angry. She had gotten to him, ruffled him a little.
Point to me.
"You look like a girl who doesn't know she's playing with fire."
"You're a sucker, you know," Tate laughed, shaking herself away from him. He let go of her hair. "I could be horrible in bed – I could just be blowing smoke up your ass. Or maybe I'm too kinky for you, who knows. How do you feel about inflatable sheep?"
"They pop too easily," Jameson responded. She burst out laughing.
"You know, Kane, we might just get along," she snickered.
"I was thinking that myself. Maybe buddies is the right word. We should have been friends a long time ago," he said. She nodded.
"Maybe. But if things hadn't happened the way they did, I wouldn't be this person. You wouldn't want to be my friend," Tate pointed out.
"This person was always inside of you, maybe I could've helped bring it out sooner," he replied. She shrugged.
"Pointless now. So, buddy, what would you like to do now? I do a good walking tour of the Harvard Yard," she offered.
"Is it better than your blowjobs?" he asked. She thought for a second.
"Probably not. I mean, it's a pretty good tour, but sucking dick is, like, my specialty," she replied in an overly-serious, sarcastic, voice. Jameson laughed.
"God, I hope so. Call that salon, tell them you won't be coming in today. Call your temp agency, too. What was the figure we agreed on? Two-thousand dollars?" he asked, making his way back behind his desk.
"Two thousand, five hundred," she corrected him.
"Clever girl. Now get out of here, you've wasted enough of my time and some of us have real jobs – not all of us can be whores. Be ready at eight," he instructed her.
"What's at eight?" she asked.
"You're coming over to my house."
*
Tate went for drinks with Ang first, to steady her nerves. She let him prattle on about his porn shoot, and then she spilled all the details on her dirty banter with Jameson. Ang had her repeat the "punish your mouth" story – it was one of her favorite parts, too. They agreed that she should play it cool, just see what Jameson's deal was, what he was thinking. And then she could pounce. Blow his mind, see if he was able to blow hers, and then they would go from there. While drinking, she got a text from Jameson, giving her his address.
"You're so tense, it's hilarious," Ang laughed, massaging her shoulders while they waited outside for a taxi.
"He makes me nervous."
"Did I ever make you nervous?"
"Of course you did," Tate replied.
"Really? You never acted like it," Ang pointed out, moving around to stand in front of her. She guffawed.
"Ang – you're frickin' gorgeous, and the first thing you ever said to me was 'you've got the perfect look for facials, wanna do porn?'; of course you made me nervous!" she chuckled. He shrugged.
"Well, you always seem so comfortable around me. You never get all stupid and brainless, like you are for him," he replied. She smiled and pressed her hand against his cheek.
"Oh my god, Ang, are you jealous?" she asked. He tried to pull away and she put both hands on his face, following him as he moved backwards.
"Shut up, you stupid cow. Go fuck your abusive billionaire, have a blast," he snorted, batting her hands away.
"You'll always be my fave, you know that. C'mon, we can go have a quickie, real fast," she laughed, backing him up against a wall. He grabbed her by her wrists.
"I'm not jealous, Tate," he said, staring down at her. She stopped laughing. Ang very rarely ever said her name. Baby, honey, sweetie, kitten, fuck-bunny, everything under the sun – when he said 'Tate', she knew it was time to listen.
"What's wrong?" she asked. He sighed, pulling her hands to his chest.
"Look, I'm very excited that you're going to be fulfilling a fantasy tonight," he said. She went to argue, but he squeezed her wrists. "I just want you to be very careful." Tate frowned.
"I'm always careful, you know that," she replied, but he shook his head.
"It's all fun and games with the two of us, but this guy is new – he can say whatever he wants, but he doesn't know you like I do. The way you've talked about him ..., sounds like running with scissors. Play with him, hurt him, let him hurt you a little, but be careful," Ang instructed her.
"You've been psyching me up for this for the last couple days, and now it sounds like you're trying to talk me out of it," she told him. He shook his head.
"No, I want you to have fun – but only fun. You've got this look in your eye, and it spells trouble. You think you're playing a game. Don't lose to him."
The cab driver whistled at her, but Tate stayed were she was, blinking up at Ang. He was staring down at her, his eyebrows drawn together. Not a natural look for him. She smoothed her fingers across his forehead and down the side of his face. She felt so comfortable with his skin, like it was her own.
"I never lose," she said with a smile before giving him a quick kiss. Ang rolled his eyes.