Dree flipped her hand at him. “Other people need it more. Give it to charity.”
“There are too many strings attached if I do it that way. You’re a nice person. You’re giving your sister money, and you were taken advantage of by someone you loved.”
“So? Happens to people every day. I am so naïve. I was practically asking for someone to take advantage of me.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I probably will end up doing something I don’t want to. The world is a terrible place.”
He took both of her hands in his. “What if, just this one time, I paid you to spend four days with me, and you didn’t say no?”
“This is like some sort of an indecent proposal, isn’t it?”
He shrugged. “Call it what you like.”
She pulled her hands away. “I’m not a prostitute, and you just want to feel like Jesus.”
His laugh was dark and sent shivers down her spine, but she wasn’t scared at all. “I assure you, what I want from you would not be Christ-like. I’m going to have to do penance for a year when I’m through with you.”
A wiggle of desire formed in her stomach, and lower, at the thought of what he would do to her that would need confession and penance. She admitted, “I would do that for free.”
“Since you won’t just take my money as some sort of a formal arrangement, then I’m just asking you to stay with me for four days. My friends who I was here with left Paris last night. I’m stuck here for four more days with little to keep me occupied. We’ll check a few things off your bucket list on that napkin. The museums and restaurants, anyway. I’m not finding two other male strangers with whom to share you. That’s my line I will not cross. I’ll buy you anything you want and give you enough money to get back on your feet.”
She retorted, “I’m not a—”
“Yes, yes, I know. You may have mentioned it. If you think I am determined to be like Jesus and hang around people of ill repute, consider yourself a tax collector instead.”
She laughed at that. “Fine, if I’m going to do this, then I’ll do it right. I guess we already know what I am, so let’s haggle over price. How much are you going to pay me?”
He named a sum greater than Dree made in a year as a nurse and far more than Francis had been able to milk her for.
She stared at him with her mouth hanging open. “Are you serious? That’s way too much! I can’t take that! How about half?”
“Your negotiating skills need work,” he said.
“I can’t.”
“No, no. When you negotiate, you should start high and then reduce services when the other person wants a lower price.”
“I wouldn’t dare take even half of that!”
“That’s not quite it. Try again.”
“Not even a quarter or ten percent! There is nothing I could do that would make me worth that!”
His slow smile turned kind again. “I think you’re worth it.”
Then, he looked her up and down and a devilish twinkle lit in his eyes, completely ruining the sweet effect.
He said, “As a matter of fact, if you will do anything I want, anything at all, I’ll double my offer.”
Double it?
Dree had never even thought of having that much money in her life. She was pretty sure her parents’ entire ranch, their livestock, and five generations of her family’s labor weren’t worth that much.
She could get better therapy for Victor for years.
And even after helping Mandi and Victor, Dree could get a new, better apartment, furniture, clothes, and a car, replacing all the things that Francis had stolen from her.
And pay back her 401(k).
She was still aghast. “What would I have to do for that?” A thought came to her. “Butt stuff. It’s butt stuff, isn’t it? You want butt stuff.”
He raised one eyebrow and smiled a little wider.
“Oh, my God. You freaky rich people are all alike. You can’t be satisfied with what normal people like, and so you want butt stuff.”
“You seem to like that term, ‘butt stuff.’ You keep repeating it.”
“You do, don’t you?”
“And what if I do? I promise not to damage you.”
“How do I know you’ve even got that much money? You could be lying to me, and then I’ll still be broke and have a sore butt.”
“You seem fixated on anal sex. I suspect a secret desire for the forbidden. But here.” He turned his hand over and unlatched his watchband.
Thick calluses covered his palm and fingers like a farmhand, which Dree noticed even though she was still freaking out a little.
He took off his watch and handed it to her.
The watch was an analog type with a steel case, and it had a blue face and band. Under the silver hands, there were three little dials, showing the day of the week, the date, and the phase of the moon.