Her lip curled up and she bit down. She wasn’t buying his brand of bullshit. She was too smart for that, but he smiled when she stepped forward and poked her finger at his chest. “Sex is not payment.”
He nodded. Money was not his number one concern. There was so much they could do. So many places they could go. He had the world at his fingertips and he wanted nothing more than to show her the best time of her life.
“And this is strictly a fact-finding mission. I’m not looking for love and I’m not looking to appease another man’s needs.”
He held his hands up in defense. “No strings attached. Come on, Sterling. Do we have a deal?” His stomach danced in anticipation of her answer.
She chewed on her thumbnail, cocking her head. “And what exactly would this fun entail? Would we be—”
He placed his finger against her lips. Silly woman. Always thinking. He was going to have to fix that. “If I told you what we’ll be doing it wouldn’t be a surprise. And where’s the fun in that?”
“I need to have fun,” she said. It wasn’t a question. She was trying to convince herself. “You can make that happen.” Nervousness rippled off her body.
“I’m going to help you let go.” He brushed a strand of hair away from her face. “And do you know where the most difficult place to let go is, Sterling Andrews?”
She shook her head, her eyes widening.
“The bedroom.” He grinned. “I have a feeling that’s where you’re going to need the most tutelage.”
There was nothing wrong with a little sex, fun, and no strings to reward a long day’s work. And he planned on working Sterling hard—in and out of the bedroom.
Chapter Seven
Sterling walked into the fluorescent-lit building with a lump in her throat. When she’d spoken to Rose Jennings—her mortgage specialist at the bank—yesterday, she got the impression things weren’t going to run as smoothly as she’d anticipated. Something in Rose’s voice set off a warning bell. Not to mention the fact that Rose had been hounding her to visit the branch to talk about renewal terms.
Sterling couldn’t figure out what the problem was. She’d paid half of the arrears. It depleted her emergency fund and only confirmed the reason she had an emergency fund in the first place. And it wasn’t because of her own stupidity.
She’d also changed the automatic payment information to her personal account. With Sterling in charge again, there was no way for her parents to fall behind, and their deal to keep them in a comfortable lifestyle until her sisters graduated from high school would remain intact.
But when she sat on the client side of Rose’s desk staring back at the brunette’s handsome face, she knew an easy meeting was not in the cards.
“Thanks for coming in,” Rose said as she quickly scribbled something on the paper in front of her.
“Of course.”
“Sterling…” Rose sat back in her chair and closed the blue folder on the desk. “The mortgage is coming up for renewal in a couple of months.”
She was aware of that. She’d actually planned on refinancing, trying her best to lower the payments.
“Now,” Rose continued, “missing a couple of payments isn’t going to be a problem.”
If that wasn’t the problem, then what was?
“I’ve been going over your financial status.”
The lump in Sterling’s throat grew ten times larger.
“With the economic downturn, banks have really tightened their criteria for approving mortgages. Only a couple of months ago, your situation would have been approved, but today…” Rose lowered her eyes to the desk. “There’s just no way you’re going to be approved to refinance this house.”
“What? How is that possible?” She had impeccable credit. She never once missed a payment on anything, even a magazine subscription. And even though she’d had to tighten the purse strings over the last five years in regard to her own personal spending, she never had more than five hundred dollars on her credit card at one time.
“I’ve been going over the numbers. Your debt percentage is just too high. If you had someone else in your household working, a husband for example, there would be no problem. I’m going to have to go to bat for you as it is, and…” She tapped her pen on her desktop. “I’m going to do everything I can, pull all of the strings I’ve got, but I’m not confident.”
“So you’re telling me that being five hundred dollars in debt is quashing my chance at renewing this mortgage?”
Rose gave her a curious look. “Five hundred? Sterling, the situation is much more involved.” She reached for a yellow folder on the edge of her desk. “Between the mortgage itself, your car loan, and all of your credit cards, your—”