Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 58442 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58442 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
LATE.
DUE NOW.
URGENT RESPONSE REQUIRED.
Bills, all of them, and all late. I want to ask Grandma what she was thinking, shoving these here, ignoring them. They’re from water and electrical companies and, worst of all, the bank. Has she missed mortgage payments, too? She’s almost paid off the building. Just a couple more years.
My hands tremble as my thoughts whir.
What choice do I have now?
I put them where I found them, close the cupboard, then go into my bedroom and call Ellie.
“If I needed you to stay here for a long weekend to take care of Grandma, could you do it?”
She answers without a moment of hesitation. “Absolutely. I can write copy anywhere. Why?”
“I might go to the Annual Grand Masquerade Retreat. Raiden Blackwell wants to pay me to pretend to be his date.”
Ellie gasps. “Why?”
“Rich people reasons. Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“I’m here for you, Aurora. Both of you.”
“Thanks, Ellie.”
I hang up, then grab Raiden’s business card. I’m going to have to swallow my pride, bite the bullet as the saying goes and hope it doesn’t blow my brains out in the process.
A rich person’s plaything for an entire long weekend. Doing what he says. As he commands. A tingle moves up my spine.
No, stop that right now. This is about money, nothing else. That’s how it’s going to start, and that’s how it’s going to stay.
I call the number before I chicken out.
“Yes?” he says in a low, impatient voice.
“It’s me,” I say.
A pause. Obviously, he doesn’t know who ‘me’ is. I’m about to say my name when he cuts in.
“Aurora Maren,” he says.
“Yeah. Good guess.”
“I recognize your voice,” he tells me, which makes me smile. I wipe it away. “What can I do for you this fine evening?”
“I wanted to… check if the suit was okay?”
“Don’t lie to me. You didn’t call about the suit.”
“How can you be so sure of that?” I snap.
“You know you do good work. You’re aware of your talent. So, be brave and tell me why you’re calling.”
I take a moment to calm myself down. Can I handle four days of him talking to me like he’s my boss?
“How much?” I ask. “For the entire Retreat.”
“Fifty thousand.”
“To pretend to be your girlfriend for a few days–that’s it? Let me tell you, Raiden, that’s where it will have to end. No funny business. When this is all settled, I’m going back to college. I don’t have time for… anything else.”
“I need you to wear the costume so well that everyone is convinced, my grandmother most of all.”
“It will be a working relationship. That’s all?”
“That’s right. You’ll be my employee.”
My hand tightens on the phone. I bite my lip to stop from replying straightaway. But he knows how to press my buttons, this stranger.
“So, all you have to do is tell me, yes sir, I’d like the job.”
“Sir?”
“You heard me, Aurora.”
“You want me to call you sir. That doesn’t seem like a very ‘girlfriend’ thing to do.”
“Not in front of other people. But now, Aurora, while we’re discussing business. It’s only good manners.”
His voice grows husky, dominating, hungry even. It’s as though he needs this. The tingle is back, coursing up my spine.
“I’d like the job, sir,” I say, managing not to grit out the words, telling myself it’s for Grandma, the bills, nothing else.
“The boat leaves tomorrow,” he replies. “I’ll text you the details. It’s good to be working together, Aurora.”
“Thank you, sir,” I say, ironically this time.
“Put all the sarcasm into it you want,” he grunts. “It doesn’t make it any less sweet.”
He hangs up with the last word.. I let out the breath I was holding and I toss the phone onto the bed. I pace up and down the room, trying to slow my racing heart, to get myself under control.
I’m practically sparking with energy because of the job, the chance to save the shop, the apartment. Not because of what he said.
It doesn’t make it any less sweet.
He shouldn’t say things like that. I made my intentions clear. This is business.
Now, for the hard part.
I step into the living room and sit on the pullout couch.
“Grandma, I may go away for a few days.”
This breaks the spell of her paralysis. “Where?” She looks at me alert now.
“The Annual Grand Masquerade Retreat,” I tell her. “Raiden Blackwell has asked—”
Suddenly, it’s like she never had a stroke. She throws her hands up. Her face bright. “Aurora, how wonderful!”
Her reaction catches me by surprise. I wasn’t sure what I expected, but it wasn’t this transformation.
“I’ve asked Ellie if she’ll stay here while I’m away, and she’s agreed. Plus, the shop will have to close for a few days.”
“I don’t care about any of that,” she says excitedly. “I’m just happy to see you dating. And with a man like Raiden Blackwell. Now, he’s a catch.”