Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 64704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
“What? Like you’ve never shacked up with someone before?”
“No, I haven’t.” Pulling my head back and swallowing hard, I stared at him. “Ralph, I’ve never been with anyone before.”
He stared at me blankly. “What does that mean? You’ve never spent the night with someone? You were just begging me to let you live here.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’ve never spent the night with someone. Or shared a bed. Or anything.” Taking a deep breath, I admitted the truth. “Ralph, I don’t slut around with my co-workers. I’m a virgin, and I don’t really want to lose my virginity to a stranger.”
“You’re a virgin?” he scoffed. “Daisy, you don’t really expect me to believe that, do you?”
“Why do you think that we’ve never…done that?” My virginity wasn’t really a moral choice. It wasn’t premeditated. I wasn’t waiting for marriage or anything like that. I had some intimacy issues. After hearing my father with my mother, the abuse and the crying, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I knew that it was supposed to be good, but most of the time, sex felt like it was more about power than anything else.
“Honestly?” Releasing me, he stepped back and headed to the refrigerator for a beer. “I just assumed that you didn’t want me to think that you were a slut. So really? You’re a virgin, huh?”
Nervously, I nodded. I wasn’t sure how he would take it, but he actually appeared pleased by the prospect. “So you can understand why I don’t want to do this.”
“Look, you don’t have to be scared, Daisy. Sex is nothing. It’s not a big deal. And think of what will happen afterwards. Think of my future, Daisy. You care about that, don’t you?” He tucked his finger under my chin and lifted it. “You care about me, right?”
“Of course. I want good things for you, Ralph.”
“Then do this for me. Do it for us, baby. It’s just a month. It’ll fly by,” he cajoled.
Shaking my head, I tapped my fingers nervously on the counter. “And after the month? Will you still want to be with me? Will we be together?”
“Of course we’ll be together, baby. We’ll be able to afford a great place in Manhattan. If I get promoted, I’ll be able to get you a real job in the company. No more coming home smelling like burgers and hot dogs. No more living next to drug dealers and whores. That’s your dream, right?”
It sounded like a dream, that was for sure. “I don’t want my first time to be with a stranger, Ralph. Will you, um, be with me tonight?”
He’d been asking, and I saw the desire in his eyes when he looked at me. My stomach twisted at the thought of our first time being like this, with this contract hanging over my head, but it was better than giving it away to some rich slimeball that I’d never even met, right?
“Oh, baby. You have no idea how lucky we are that you’re a virgin. If I had known, there would have been more negotiations, but now? Well, now I’m pretty sure that Brick is going to get me anything that I want. This is going to score me some major brownie points.”
“Brownie points?” I pressed a hand to my stomach. “Ralph, you can’t be serious.”
“No, no, no. Shhh, I’m sorry, baby. That’s not what I meant at all. I just meant that Brick is going to have more respect for you, and you want that, right? You want him to treat you with respect. I’m only thinking of you, baby.” He reached for me again, but I stepped away from him.
“I just need some air,” I stammered, turning around.
“You’re going to do it, right, baby? For us?”
What were my options at this point? A homeless shelter? A woman’s shelter? Just a few days on the streets would be dangerous for me. But a future with Ralph? And ten grand? That was worth a month with a stranger, wasn’t it?
“For us,” I whispered and wrapped my hands around my body, before fleeing his apartment without a backwards glance.
Chapter Six
Brick
From the window of my penthouse, I watched the young woman on the sidewalk. Ralph had almost carelessly dropped her off in front of my building. I was too high up to see many details, but the fact that she was still frozen on the sidewalk five minutes after he’d walked away spoke volumes.
Daisy was terrified.
Finally, she moved. She walked away from the building only to turn and walk back. After pacing for several more minutes, she finally walked up the steps and pressed the buzzer. I’d given Ralph the code to my intercom, and I would change it as soon as she was in my condo. The last thing that I wanted was that asshole to know how to reach my intercom.