“And to you, I am sorry. I wish you both the best. Your secret is safe with us, despite how my wife may act, she is very discreet.” He winks at me then leaves, following his wife out.
I stand in the room with Paige and we listen to Maxime and his wife argue in the hallway in hushed tones. They’re speaking French too quickly for me to follow and their voices recede as they head toward the front door. I hear them disappear out into the hall and the door slam shut behind them.
“What the hell did you tell them?” Paige snaps at me.
I turn back to her. She’s radiant still, just like she was back in the bathroom. Even though she’s clearly pissed, I still find her incredibly sexy.
I knew she was attractive before that moment in the bathroom, but I wouldn’t let myself pay any attention to her. I was focused on my job and she was just another part of that. I keep my private life and my business life separate at all times.
But now those two spheres just met and I don’t think I could separate them even if I tried. Not when Paige looks like that… not when her moans are stuck in my mind.
“I can explain,” I say.
“Go ahead.” She crosses her arms. “Explain.”
So I recount the whole story, starting with how I met the couple to Cerise’s proposition on the couch.
“That’s when I came into the bathroom,” I say. “I needed you to, you know, convince them that we’re really together.”
“And you thought that getting me to fake an orgasm was the best way to do it?”
“It felt like the more expedient way,” I answer with a shrug.
She clenches her jaw. “If you just explained, I could’ve played along. You know, instead of embarrassing me.”
“Is that what you think I did?”
She blushes a little. “I didn’t know they’d be listening.”
“You think I just made you fake an orgasm… for my own benefit?”
“Well, I didn’t think about it, okay!” She throws up her hands. “I’ve never had something like that happen.”
“I haven’t either,” I admit. “Maybe I should’ve explained but I didn’t think I had time.”
“Well, you should’ve anyway,” she says, shifting slightly. “So what now? I mean, I can’t just keep faking orgasms for you.”
“That wouldn’t be so bad,” I muse slightly with a smile on my face.
She just glares at me. “Do you have a plan?”
“I’ll admit, I’m flying blind here.”
“Of course you are. You didn’t think past your dick.”
I raise an eyebrow. “My dick had nothing to do with it, if you recall. It was all fake.”
“Right. Whatever.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “So they think we’re together.”
“That’s right. Otherwise I would’ve insulted Cerise and this whole deal would’ve gone up in flames. I’ve worked too hard to lose it like this.”
She watches me carefully for a second and I can see the gears turning in her mind… and I have to admit, I’m a little worried.
Paige is a smart girl. There’s a reason I hired her over the literal hundreds of other applicants. She’s clever, quick, and competent. I’m hard on her but only because I know she can take it.
“You need me,” she says.
I let out a long sigh. “Looks that way.”
“You need me to pretend to be your girlfriend.”
“Secret lover.”
“Whatever.”
“Maybe I do. Maybe we’ll just break up.”
She laughs and shakes her head. “No, I don’t think so. Then Cerise will just expect you to put out and I don’t think you want that.” She hesitates a second. “Why don’t you want that?”
“She’s married,” I say. “And I’m not a whore. I don’t mix sex with business.”
“Right. Okay. Makes sense.” She takes a breath. “So you need me.”
“We established that already.”
Slowly a smile crosses her face and she strokes her chin. “I want a million dollars.”
I laugh. “No.”
“This isn’t worth it?”
“It probably is, but I’m not going to let you browbeat me into a stupid deal, my dear.” I walk toward her and I love the way she reacts to me, almost physically stepping backwards, like I’m a magnet pushing her away.
All I need to do is flip the polarity and drag her toward me and she’ll be all mine.
“You can afford it.”
“I definitely can.”
I stop inches away from her. I love how uncomfortable it makes her.
Means she probably wants to make that fake orgasm turn into a real one just as bad as I want to make it happen.
“So then do it. One million and I’ll play along.”
“How about this? I’ll double your salary for as long as you have to pretend.”
She purses her lips, clearly annoyed. “No way. Not enough.”
“You already make good money. Twice that is more than you could dream of.”
“No way. Triple it. And I want to work fewer hours.”
I laugh, genuinely delighted.