The Mistress Mistake (4 page)

"I understand." She almost said 'okay' again,
but caught herself because it sounded too much like an
agreement.

"If you're willing to do this, I have to make
sure, upfront, that you do understand. There won't be anything
deviant, I'd never hurt you, but this won't be making love. It's
going to be fucking, you understand?"

She steeled her spine and focused on her goal
and not on what he was telling her.
She was going to be a
geologist. She was going to get her degree. She was.
"Yes."

He continued to spell it out for her in
descriptive terms that she couldn't fail to understand. "It's not
going to be pretty, no flowers and no jewelry. I'm not going to
seduce you. You're going to take my money, and in return, I get to
fuck you. If you think you can handle it so far, we'll slip
upstairs to a room and make sure you're telling the truth about the
tats. Then we'll start the negotiations."

"I swear to God, I'm telling you the truth.
Can we negotiate, first, please?"

He watched her steadily, his frown becoming
more pronounced. "All right. Against my better judgment, and
because you're young, I'm going to let you have this one."

Her shoulders sagged in relief. And then
stiffened again just as quickly as he spoke.

"Lift up your shirt."

"What?"

"It's dark in here, for now, just lift up
your shirt and let me see your torso."

Jessica looked around at the darkened
interior of the room. A few people sat at the bar, but he was
right, no one else was around and no one was paying any attention
to them. She reached down and lifted her shirt until it was
scrunched around her bra. Her jeans were very low-rise and her
white skin was on full display. His eyes left hers and slowly slid
down, past where her arms held the bunched up material over her
breasts, and then down until he was seeing her naked skin.

He cleared his throat. "That's fine for
now."

She dropped the shirt and defiantly, reached
across the table and lifted his drink and took a huge gulp. She
slammed it back down in front of him and raised her eyes to his.
Great. Now she was becoming an alcoholic.

One side of his mouth quirked at her actions
as his eyes ran up and down her torso with a heated gaze. "How much
do you want from this deal, Jessica?"

"Money-wise?"

"Yes."

She licked her lips. "I thought I'd take this
a semester at a time. Tuition, room and board."

He studied her intently for a moment before
stating unequivocally, "Your negotiating skills suck."

"What?"

"You're cutting yourself short. It wasn't all
that long ago that I was going to school. I know how much it costs.
Tuition, books, living expenses, you're looking at what, ten,
twelve a semester?"

"Yes."

"Cutting yourself short. You even know what
the going rate is for this kind of arrangement?"

She shook her head.

"Three grand a month. Half a year, right
there you're looking at eighteen grand."

"I don't want more."

"Taking more won't make this any worse than
it already is."

"Yes, it will."

"No, I promise you, it won't. Half a year is
probably about the time limit on the deal anyway. You plan right,
you save your money, you could have the spring semester paid
without having to do something like this again."

He had a point there. "How much then? Three
grand a month? I need at least enough for tuition and books up
front--well, I need it by August."

"That's not a problem."

Jessica took a moment to think. Three grand a
month was the going rate? If she multiplied that by the six months
he had mentioned, it would pay basically one and a half semesters
of school. She had four more semesters to go. If she could get all
this unpleasantness over in six months but make enough to pay two
semesters, that would be beyond amazing. It would also give her
time to figure out her final year of school. She could improve her
GPA, and maybe get enough in private scholarship money to pay for
her fourth year.

Twenty-four thousand divided by six months
equaled four grand a month. He'd already intimated he was willing
to pay the going rate, so maybe she could get him to go four grand
a month. Jessica focused on all these things, the business side of
the arrangement, and not on the actuality of it. Going over the
numbers in her mind, she went for it. "Four grand a month, that
will put a roof over my head and let me save enough over the summer
to pay tuition in the fall and then again in the spring."

"Done."

His voice was strong and adamant and
astonishment that he'd agreed so quickly surprised her. "Really?"
Crap, crap, crap. This was moving forward and she didn't know if
she wanted to go forward. She did, but
she didn't.

"As long as you agree to what I want," he
said.

Her lips tightened. "I know what you want . .
. sex."

"There's a little more to it than that. You
have to have a complete health check-up, which I'll pay for. That
will include a drug test as well. I won't tolerate drugs of any
kind, so I'm talking about a hair follicle test, not a simple urine
test. If you know you're guilty of drug use already, save us both
the time and effort this will take and admit it now." He watched
her closely and she shook her head softly. At her denial, he
continued, "I'm going to have a background check done on you as
well. In addition to those requirements, you'll also have to agree
to live where I want you to live, but I'll be reasonable and make
it close to campus."

She let the background check and
health-screening pass over her. That was practically a given. "I
can't live on campus?"

"No."

"Why?"

His face became even more remote as he
retaliated immediately. "Where would I fuck you, Jessica? We need a
private place."

Before she could stop herself, she closed her
eyes tightly against his bluntness and the truth of what she was
contemplating. He obviously didn't care for her reaction because
his hand reached out and he grabbed her chin. "Open your eyes."

She did as he said and found him staring
straight at her.

"We're going to fuck, Jessica." His words
were short and clipped and his eyes held hers captive. "Say
it."

She swallowed and tried her best. "Yes, we
are."

His fingers pinched angrily into her chin. "I
don't think you get it yet."

She took a shuddering breath. "I do."

"Then say it," he demanded.

She closed her eyes in distress again, and
when she did it, he released her chin and stood to his feet. "We're
done here. Nice meeting you."

Before she could let herself think, she
reached out and grabbed his hand. He stalled and stood looking down
at her, waiting, a tic beating heavily in his cheek.

She took a slow, deep breath, and let it out
again.
She was going to be a geologist.
"We're going to
fuck."

As she looked up at him, his cheeks reddened
and his nostrils flared as his eyes detailed her face. "And you're
not going to fuck anybody else," he demanded at once.

Jessica was a quick learner and didn't make
the same mistake twice. He very obviously didn't care for it when
she flinched. She held his eyes and repeated, "I'm not going to
fuck anybody else." She made her voice strong as she said it, but
she didn't think about what she was saying. She thought about a
framed diploma, she thought about getting to travel to Antarctica,
she thought about rocks and minerals and the formation of the Earth
through billions of years of galactic history.

His hand clenched under hers, but he turned
and sat back down. "You understand what I mean when I say you won't
fuck anyone else?"

"Yes, I think it's self-explanatory."

"It means you won't have a boyfriend. Do you
have one now?" His teeth gritted as he asked that question.

"No, I don't."

"Good. You can't have one. No boyfriends, no
dates, no platonic relationships with men that can be misconstrued.
If I'm paying you, then I own your sex life. All of it."

"Okay."

"I'll set you up in an apartment. I'm
guessing you have no furniture?"

Was her state of poverty so apparent then?
"No, I don't."

"Fine. I'll arrange for a furnished
apartment. It will be easier that way."

"It will be on the bus route? I don't have a
vehicle, I need it to be close to campus." He'd already said he'd
allow that, but she needed to make sure.

"Not a problem."

Jessica steeled her nerves and asked another
question, "How often?"

"How often, what?"

She caught herself just before she closed her
eyes against what she was about to have to say. "How often do you
think you'll want to have sex?"

Long seconds ticked by as he stared into her
eyes and Jessica had the sinking feeling that he wasn't going to
let her get away with the question without using more graphic
terminology. She held her breath, preparing to say that word he
kept forcing her to use. But finally, he exhaled and answered, "A
lot. You'll be earning your money. Often and whenever I want
it."

"Except when I have to be in class."

"Yes. I realize that you have a life, just as
I have my own life. This relationship is meant to make both of our
lives easier, not more difficult."

She studied him while a horrible thought
crossed her mind. His profile said he was single, but men had been
known to lie. "You're not married, are you?"

His expression blackened and his eyes became
obdurate as a chill came over his features. "No."

Thank God for that. And then another niggling
concern began poking at her so much she had to know. "I need to
ask--I need to tell you something else."

"What is it?"

"I won't be passed around like a . . . " She
tried to think of a comparison in male language. " . . . like a
power tool. You're buying . . . the pleasure of my company, but I
won't be shared with your friends."

He watched her steadily for several seconds.
Just long enough to send panic bleeding through her. Finally he
answered her, slowly and succinctly. "What was it about not fucking
anybody else that you didn't understand?"

His impatient question sent a ribbon of
relief sliding through her. "So, you agree?"

"I agree."

She spelled it out further for him. "No
threesomes. No orgies."

"Agreed."

Connor stared at her steadily from across the
table. It sent a trickle of molten heat through her when she
thought about what he wanted to do to her. Panic and heat. He was
incredibly handsome, staring at her like that, thinking about
having sex with her. Very handsome, very scary.

His silence continued.

A blush stole over her face, she could feel
her cheeks getting hot as the picture of their naked bodies
entwined wrapped around her brain and wouldn't let go. She could
feel his scorching sexual magnetism blasting her from across the
table as he looked her over. She began drawing oxygen in so quickly
that she was almost hyperventilating.

"Calm down, Jessica. The deal we're making
won't hurt, I promise. No force, no pain of any kind."

The deal they were making. Not the deal
they were
trying
to make
. And instead of comforting her,
the word
force
almost knocked the breath from her. "Are you
planning on trying to force me to do anything?" She took three
rapid breaths, trying to calm her nerves.

"No, not the way you're thinking, not the way
that has you so panicked."

"What--what other way is there?"

His eyes lowered to her lips and then to her
throat where his gaze stalled briefly before sliding down to her
chest. He raised his eyes back to hers. "Haven't you ever . . .
played before?"

Played before? What the hell did that
mean?
"I don't think so."

"I think you'd know if you had."

"Okay, I haven't."

"But you're not opposed to giving it a
try?"

She breathed out a deep sigh as they found
themselves back in a big circle. "As long as you don't expect me to
do anything with anyone else, and as long as you don't
force
me to do something, I'll consider anything."

His hands landed on the table as if to shove
himself to his feet. "Let's get a room."

Her heart began to hammer triple time. "Just
to see my lack of ink, right?"

"Yes. We're not fucking until you get a clean
bill of health."

"I don't have any tattoos. Please don't make
me do this."

"It's not up for debate. Upstairs."

She stood slowly to her feet and followed him
out of the entrance of the bar and over to the front desk. She hung
back while he secured a room.

Within minutes, she was riding the elevator
up beside him and standing back while he slipped the key card into
a door and stood holding it open for her.

The room was nice but basic. As she walked
in, there was a bathroom on the right. The room contained two
queen-sized beds and a desk with a writing chair and a bureau
adjacent to the desk. There was a flat screen television mounted
above it. In the far corner of the room sat a comfortable looking
armchair with a small side table next to it.

That's where he headed after securing the
lock on the door and tossing the room card on the desk. Jessica
heard the sibilant hiss of the bolt hitting home as the sound
echoed in her ears. She stood completely still as he crossed the
room and sprawled in the chair, crossing one booted foot over his
knee, and made himself comfortable.

Jessica stood awkwardly between the desk and
the foot of the bed closest to the door and farthest away from him.
Her insides quaked as she attempted to blank her mind of all
thought.