“Here’s what I’m offering you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little black book. “I’ll put your number in my book, and when I want you, I’ll call you.” He leaned in close and I could smell his cologne. It smelled like hot sex, and spice. At least, what I imagined hot sex smelled like. “And when I call you, you’ll come, in more ways than one. I promise, beautiful girl, it will be mutually pleasurable for both of us.”

My mouth dropped open and with a single finger to my chin, he closed it.

“I only have two rules.” I stiffened when he ran that same finger down the top of my breast that I had foolishly exposed for him earlier tonight. “Don’t ever deny me. And don’t fall in love. As I said before, emotions are messy and I’d prefer not to get involved.” He tucked his book back into his pocket. “If you break either of those rules, I’ll remove you from my book and payment stops.”

When I found my voice again, I spoke. “Payment? You want to pay me for sex?” I sounded as shocked as I felt.

“Not just for sex, your company as well, but that will be on my terms. And yes, at some point, I’m going to want to fuck you.”

He lifted his drink to his lips, while keeping his eyes trained on mine. His throat worked up and down, swallowing the remnants of his glass. Then, there was his dimpled smile once more. “So what say you, Jessica? I can make it worth your while.” A single brow lifted in emphasis.

Oh, I had no doubt in my mind he could “make it worth my while,” but hell would freeze over and the devil himself would ice skate on it, before I sold my virginity to him. I mean, for the love of all that’s holy, he was attractive... But I just couldn’t. It wasn’t in me to sell my body to some stranger, regardless of the amount of money.

I lifted my head, even though I wanted to hang it low and disappear. I knew for sure I was walking out of the club without a job, which meant things were about to get a lot worse.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t do that. I appreciate the offer, but I’m no one’s whore.”

As I stood to move away, he pulled me against his body. I looked up at him in shock, and to my dismay a little bit of excitement. My breasts crushed against his chest and he was very much aware as he bent over to whisper in my ear.

“My name’s Sebastian, not sir.”

I shook off the chills from his whispers, and walked away without looking back. As soon as I stepped into the cool morning air, I let the tears fall.

I’d just lost my job.

I made sure to wipe away my tears before I got back in the car with Kyle. He was asleep on the back seat with a smile on his face. I knew it would be gone the following day.

I dropped Kyle off at school, and then slept for an hour on the back seat, before using almost all of my gas to job hunt. I didn’t tell Kyle I’d lost our only source of income because it was clear he was starting to worry even more. He was old enough to know things couldn’t get much worse. We were already living in a car. He didn’t need to know that pretty soon our car would be out of gas and we’d really be screwed.

Once I picked him up, we got some fast food and ordered from the dollar menu again. It was all I could afford to buy without a kitchen to use for preparation. I had to make the tips I’d received stretch as far as possible.

I parked near his school, so I wouldn’t have to drive back and waste gas, and we sat and did his homework together. When night came, he curled up in the back and I got as comfortable as possible in the front passenger’s seat.

Kyle set the alarm on his watch, so I let myself fall into a deep sleep. It had been days since I’d actually gotten any sleep. I was in the middle of a decent dream, starring Sebastian Black, when I woke abruptly to the sound of thumping on the window above my head.

I jumped up and pulled the blanket closer to my body. Once my eyes adjusted to the early morning light, a police officer came into focus.

He looked down at me with furrowed brows, tapping on the glass again. “Miss, we need you to open the door.”

Looking past him, I saw two other officers. One as round as he was tall, and one who looked like he’d just graduated from high school.

We’d overslept. I knew this because teachers were already starting to pull up and make their way into the school. All eyes were on my car, as it was surrounded by police cars. I didn’t understand why they had to have their flashing blue lights on. We weren’t criminals on the run. It didn’t make any sense.

I reached out and popped the door open letting in the cold air. Kyle sat up at that exact minute with wide, shifty eyes.