Desire (Desire, Book 1) - By Missy Johnson Page 0,36

him approach the desk.

“Sorry to scare you.” He chuckled, handing me back the folio clearly not sorry he had startled me.

“Sorry, I was miles away.” My beating heart began to return to its normal pace.

“All the girls are lovely, but I was wondering. Are you available?” My mouth hung open.

Me? Did he just ask if I was available?

After flicking through a million pictures of some of the sexiest women on the planet (or at least in Seattle), he wanted me?

I blushed, my face heating up. “I’m not…I don’t…I’m just a receptionist. Sorry.” I added.

Part of me was flattered that he had chosen me, but I could never do that…could I? Sure, I was considering it, to come up with the money for Neri, but with my professor? That was way, way too awkward.

“I’d be happy to pay extra. If you were interested. The usual rate you said is $495?” I nodded dumbly, no words coming to my mouth. “Would you be interested if I offered a grand?”

I was glad I was sitting down, because had I been standing I’m sure I would’ve collapsed. My eyes grew wide as I stared at him in shock.

“A thousand dollars?” I repeated, still stunned. It came out more like a screech. A high pitched screech. A smile spread across Charlie’s face as he realized he might have convinced me. “I can’t.” I said, shaking my head. “I’m not even...”

My words trailed off. A grand was a lot of cash. A lot of cash to say no to. The fact was, as awkward as it might be, it meant half the number of times to raise the ten grand. I wasn’t stupid. I wasn’t trying to rationalize why I was doing this over every other girl’s reasons, nor was I trying to justify it. It was just this was something I wanted to do for the least amount of time possible.

Ten times. Ten times instead of twenty.

That was a lot of incentive. Not only that, Charlie was nice, good looking, and I was attracted to him. What if the guy wasn’t? I took a deep breath. I needed to do this before I changed my mind.

“Hold on.” I grabbed the phone and called Emily. She answered on the second ring.

“Hi Kait. Everything okay?”

“Sure, can you come to the office for a moment?” My voice shook, I was sure Emily sensed danger, especially when she appeared less than a minute later, slightly out of breath.

“Everything okay?” She asked again. I nodded, embarrassed she’d thought I was in trouble.

“Everything’s fine.” I assured her, nudging to the lobby. Her face lit up when she saw Charlie sitting on the couch.

“Who’s he? I haven’t seen him around.” She glanced at him again, her nose scrunched up in concentration. “He’s kind of cute, actually.”

“That,” I began, “Is my lit professor.” Emily’s eyes grew wide.

“No!” Her hand threw up to cover her mouth to hide her smile. “How embarrassing!” She squealed softly, as she tried to hold back her giggles. “I swear I’d transfer. That would just be too much.”

“What’s too much is he wants to pay a whole entire grand to sleep with me.” I mumbled softly, so only she could hear.

Emily’s mouth dropped open. Several seconds passed before she found words.

“A whole grand? I mean, even after Mauve takes her ten percent, that’s a huge amount of money.” I hadn’t considered Mauve’s cut. Oh well, twelve times was still better than twenty four.

Emily’s big brown eyes stared at me in anticipation, “What are you going to do?”

I took a deep breath, swallowing my fears, “I’m going to do it.”

I rapped lightly on Mauve’s office door.

“Kait,” She smiled, looking pleased to see me, “Come on in.” She glanced at me over the rim of her reading glasses, “You’re not quitting are you?”

I laughed, “No, I’m not quitting. Quite the opposite, actually.” Mauve raised her eyebrows. I’d thought that might grab her attention. “I was wondering, if I can…Well, there is this thing…” I trailed off, realizing I had no idea how to word this.

There should be a manual on how to ask for a promotion in the sex industry, because essentially, that’s what I was doing.

“Are you asking what I think you’re trying to ask?” Mauve smiled widely, not bothering to hide her delight. I nodded, hoping we were on the same page, “Of course! I’d be delighted for you to join the girls.”

“There’s only one thing, Mauve,” I hesitated. Was I really in the position to be placing conditions