“What of it?” Creek asked, tucking his leather gloves into his belt. He wanted to find Violet and take her out for a drive, maybe get some lunch and just talk with her, kiss her and feel the brightness of her smile. He definitely did not want to deal with this blowhard this afternoon.
George huffed up a bit, his already bulging stomach coming out several inches more and he tugged his loose jeans up underneath that gut. “You want her, she needs to be paid.”
Creek froze with those words. Paid? He repeated the word in his mind. Then again. The implications made his blood run cold. “Excuse me?” he finally said. Surely the man didn’t mean that…
“You want her, you’re gonna have to pay for her. She won’t go for free. I’m just the middle man, here to negotiate on behalf of my daughter.”
“Stepdaughter,” Creek corrected, not wanting any blood relationship between this man and the woman he wanted. Badly.
“Whatever,” he grunted. “Like I said, I’m just here to negotiate. You want her, you gotta pay. She wants five grand.”
Creek wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. “Dollars?” he almost choked out.
The disgusting man didn’t even blink. “Yep. One night. Five thousand dollars. And you’ll be her first.” He shrugged. “Or so she says. I don’t know what happened with the other men. I just run the deals. What she does with you guys is her business.”
Creek couldn’t believe this. Other men? He’d be her first? And what the hell kind of deal was he talking about? Five thousand dollars for…sex? Then something else struck him. “You mean, there have been other men before me?”
George chuckled. “Buddy, did you really believe that you’re the first?” He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Look, all I can say is that her specialty is the date night experience. Other women in this career, they have their own specialties, but Violet, she’s good at making the guy feel special, like a real date. You want that experience, she wants five thousand dollars. You don’t want it, fine with me. All I know is what she tells me and she says she’ll make it extra special for you.”
Creek couldn’t believe this. “What you’re saying is that Violet is actually a high-priced call girl who specializes in date night experiences.” He didn’t believe it. He couldn’t! Not Violet! She was different! All women wanted something and he’d never paid for sex. Oh, he’d given women a night on the town, dinner at a restaurant that no one else could get into…hell, just being seen on his arm was all some women wanted.
But outright cash? Never had he heard of anything so…crass!
Okay, that wasn’t true. He knew that call girls, street hookers, and ladies of the night abounded. But he’d never…
“Violet?” he asked again, still trying to absorb the words George was saying. Every muscle in his body was stiff with the effort not to react in any other way. But Creek was fighting the impulse to reach across the countertop and slam his fist into the disgusting man’s face.
“You got it in one,” he said. “You want the experience or not? Cause I have other things to do and there’s more than one buyer. So lock in the date if you want it. Otherwise, move on because she has a business to run.”
Creek stood still for a long time. Then he realized that he was actually debating the idea in his mind. Pay for sex? Seriously?
George sighed and leaned against the counter, arms spread wide and his eyebrows moving up and down. “It isn’t like you haven’t done this before.” He chuckled and shook his head. “You’ve done this before, it just hasn’t been this out in the open with your other transactions,” George said, obviously reading his mind.
Creek shook his head. “I’ve never paid for sex in my life.” And never would, he vowed silently.
“Sure you have. How many times have you bought the woman an expensive, sparkly trinket?”
Creek didn’t say a word since, yes, he’d given some of his mistresses expensive jewelry on occasion. Especially when they’d pleased him or when he was ready to move on, end the relationship.
Somehow, the two transactions seemed different.
This was not happening, he told himself. He was not hearing this about Violet. She wasn’t like that!
“Get a grip, buddy,” George laughed. He leaned in closer. “She really is good, isn’t she?” he said, almost in a whisper.
Creek was repulsed and not sure if he believed what he was hearing. It couldn’t be true.
But he’d said just last night that she was too good to be true, he thought. Maybe she really was too good to be true. Maybe Violet had given him a taste, knowing that he’d crave more.