again, looking ready to burst into another round of tears.
“I did, and it’s not good news. Well, it’s not the particular piece of good news you were hoping to receive.”
The tears began to fall onto her cheeks. I would have to get her to stop doing that.
“So I’m not getting the loan?”
“You are just too young with too many responsibilities,” I said, trying to sound sympathetic. “I’m sorry.”
The crying was in full swing now, her makeup all smeared. Should I wait a little to make my proposition? I decided against it. Knowing she felt helpless right now made it significantly more likely that she would accept.
“Thank you for trying,” she said, starting to get up.
“Wait! Did I say I was done?” I said more harshly than I had intended. “Sit back down.”
“But you said that-”
“The bank cannot give you a loan right now, but that does not mean you there aren’t other ways you can make that money.”
Her eyes widened. “No!”
“You haven’t even heard me out yet.”
She was shaking her head vigorously. “I can’t sleep with you for money. That’s wrong. And illegal.” She looked horrified and softly added, “And, I’m a virgin.”
Oh fuck. I hadn’t considered that a possibility at all. A girl so attractive should have caught every guy’s attention, which meant she was a virgin by choice. Did I really want to go through with this? Regular girls could be troublesome to get rid of, but virgins were on a whole other level. But I wasn’t paying her to sleep with me. The document in front of me mentioned nothing about sexual favors – though I had assumed that would naturally be the outcome sooner or later, and that she would initiate it. This changed things. But those damn thighs and that damn skirt and most importantly, that goddamn restraint of hers.
“That’s not what I was going to propose,” I said, making the decision to go forward with the plan. “But I’m glad to know you hold me to such excellent standards.”
That got a laugh out of her. “What? You’re really going to sit there and act surprised that that’s what I assumed after relentlessly hitting on me? Even the note on your bouquet said you were counting down the days until you supposedly convinced me to sleep with you.”
“That is not inaccurate.” Why was she so bold? It was endearing and it pissed me off. “But hitting on you and paying you to get naked are two completely different things, I would say.”
I leaned back in my chair with confidence.
“Are they to you?” She looked genuinely surprised.
“You’re really flattering me here with your allegations to my character.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to do that. But you do have quite the reputation.”
“Huh.” I raised my eyebrows. “Tell me about this reputation that I have.”
“Well, the three tellers that were let go last month, all of them had this thing in common, you see,” she winked. The girl actually had the nerve to wink at me. “Well they had two things in common actually. An apparently mind-blowing night with you, and the ability to tell tales about it.”
“This is different, Aria.”
“I’m sure they all thought so, too,” she snapped.
“I never made the proposition that I am going to make to you. Never had to, really. Trust me when I say that this really, truly is different.”
“Yeah, cause you’re like, in love with me because of the conversations I have with our customers regarding my future as your wife.” She was laughing hysterically now.
She used the word love. That was a trigger.
“Look, Aria, I don’t want to mislead you. I don’t do relationships or romance or any of that bullshit. This is honestly 100 percent about me wanting to take your clothes off and have my fucking way with you.”
Her face erupted into flames and I could swear I saw her shiver as she started to speak. “I-”