“Not a cop.” His eyes darted from me to the door. “Oh god, who are you? Please tell me you’re not one of those drug pushers.”
“I’m not a drug dealer. I want you to work for me and a friend of mine.”
“I already got a job. You should know my time starts ticking once you pick me up.”
“A job that will pay you way more than you get from selling your body.”
“You don’t know how much I make.”
“How much is it? I’ll triple it if you work for me.”
He quoted a figure that almost made me wince. Prostitutes I came across didn’t charge that much, but I had a feeling he wasn’t kidding. His price was steep, but I couldn’t see a man who wanted him, turning him down because of a little thing called money. He moved like a boy who was worth every penny he charged. Men paid thousands of dollars to acquire boys like him.
That was why I needed him. I had to have him.
“I stand by my offer. I’ll still triple it.”
And take a dent out of my commission for every job done. But if he was as good as I thought he could be, it would be worth it.
“Of course, that’s after training and seeing how suitable you are for the post.”
“And what exactly is this post?”
“I want you to be live bait.”
“You want me to be what?” He shuffled his feet, and I moved to put myself between him and the door in case he got ideas about bolting.
“Bait. I know it sounds shady, but it’s a legitimate opportunity to make a lot of cash, and you won’t even have to sleep with anyone to make that money. Mostly.”
He shook his head. “I’m not sure I understand.”
“Have a seat, and I’ll explain.”
“Something tells me it would be better to just have sex and collect for the night,” he muttered under his breath as he sat on the edge of the bed.
“I’m sure you know from your current job that sex is one of those things that equalizes us as men. It doesn’t matter how powerful or wealthy we are. In fact, because of it, we act the way we do. We see someone we want, and we have to have them—sometimes just to prove we can.”
“I’m still not following.”
“I need you to distract men while I get some tasks done.”
“What kind of tasks?”
“That’s not for you to know. All you need to do is flirt and seduce some men right into the palm of my hands. Like I said, bait.”
“Is that all I’ll have to do?” He cocked his head to one side.
“It won’t be as easy as standing on a street corner and letting men come to you,” I said gently. “It means mingling with people who might seem out of your normal reach. One night, you might go undercover as an escort, and another, you might be my date to a much-coveted and exclusive event.”
“Ooh, undercover.” His eyes lit up. “Are you like a super spy? CIA? FBI? Who do you work for?”
“Something like that.” I was nothing like those guys, but he didn’t need to know that. “I work with a very selective group of people and our operations are highly discreet.”
“And you won’t tell me why you want these men?”
“It’s best for you not to know any more than absolutely necessary about each case.”
“Is it dangerous?”