Don't

2

You tried not to run into the restaurant, five minutes pass seven. Your heart hammering in your chest. You managed to find a little black dress at a second hand store that didn't look like it had come from one. Your hair pulled up half way with loose waves, and light on make up. As you stood waiting to talk to the host you began to feel very under dressed.
Everyone one around you were dressed to the nines and you felt like they were all looking at you. You stepped up the host as the group before you were seated, he turned to you, slowly eyeing you up and down.
    "Can I help you?" He sneared, he could tell just by the look of you that you were out of place here.
   "Yes, Mr. Evans is expecting me." You quietly replied, the host looked you up and down one more time before clicking his tongue. He grabbed a menu and tucked it under his arm, briskly he walked you over to Chris.
   Your heels clicking grabbed the man's attention, he stood as you neared the table. His crisp white button down was pressed and his black slacks looked freshly ironed. You bit your lip nervously as he motioned for you to sit.
  "You're late." He stated casually, reseating himself opposite of you.
   "I've never been on this side of Boston, I didn't realize parking was hard to find." You try to keep your voice even. A waiter came up to the edge of the table, holding a wine bottle as he described it. Chris never looked at him, just staring straight you, nervously you shifted under his gaze.
  "It will be fine." He told the waiter. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd show."
   "How did you know I would find the paper on the ground?" You asked.
    "You seem like an honest person, I knew you would go out after me if I left a hundred dollar tip." He told you tilting his head to the side.
"Why did you ask me to meet you anyway?" You asked shyly, grabbing your glass of wine nervously.
"Tell me about yourself." Ignoring your question leaning forward on his elbows a bit.
"There's nothing worth while to tell, I moved out here cause all the pictures I've seen of Boston seem so beautiful. Nobody thinks I can make it out here, that I'll be back home in a year." You reply, slowly raising your gaze to meet his. "The worse part is, they will probably end up being right."
"You want to prove them wrong." He grinned.
"Of course, I always like being able to prove people wrong about me." You chuckle, he leaned forward a bit more, placing his hand on yours, his thumb gently rubbing the back of your knuckle.
"Then maybe I can help you out." He said slowly, his voice dropped an octave. You raised an eyebrow at him.
"I'm not sure I'm following." You watch him carefully.
"You need money, and I want company." He explained casually, watching your reaction closely.
   "You want to pay me to spend time with you?" Your eyes narrowed him, not sure what he meant by that.
   "I want to pay you for the inconvenience that I will be causing in your life. When I'm home here in Boston I'll want you at my house when I call." He took a sip of his wine before he continued. "When I travel, I may call you to come to me, I'll pay for your airfare and you will come straight to me."
    You continued to chew your lip, as he explained the parameters of his offer.
   "What I want and what I can have are two separate things in my life right now. But as a man there are still needs that I have, what I won't do is be sleeping around. I need someone I can trust enough not to go talking to anyone. I need someone I trust not to be sleeping around with other men." His blue eyes darkened as they bore into you, you took a deep breath finally realizing what he was getting at.
   "You want to pay me to sleep with you." You whispered feeling like you had been kicked in the gut. That's all he had wanted from you.
   "No, it's not just sleeping with me. There are times I just want to get away from the world, just being around someone." He added, realizing that he was making this sound more less like you were a hooker. Which was far from what he intended this to sound like. You took a sip of your wine while thinking this over in your head.
   "I'm not saying yes, but if I did then what?" You asked, he let out a long breath.
   "First I would need you to go to the doctor, on my dime, to make sure your clean and to be put on birth control. Once both of those are in place then we'll get to know each other, spend sometime at my place." His tone was serious but gentle, giving you an idea that he had been thinking this through. " but I do have some rules I want to make clear to you."
   "Okay, what are they?" You lean forward slightly.
    "Number one, you quit your job." He held up his hand at sign of you beginning to protest. "These are nonnegotiable, number two, you see no one else but me. If you think you want to date or sleep with anyone else, be upfront about it and our deal is over. Number three if anybody ever asks who you are to me you reply a friend, a housekeeper, whatever the situation is you come up with a plausible reason for you being around me. Number four, the most important one, don't fall in love with me."
You swallowed the lump that had formed in the back of your throat. This was not how you imagined this evening going, when you were getting ready earlier. Your heart was racing and so was your head, you looked down at the food that been brought to you while he had been talking. You hoped like hell the waiter didn't hear him, even if he did would anyone believe him.
   "How long do I have to think this over?" You finally ask, raising your eyes to meet his.
   "Twenty four hours and then the deal is off the table." He replied.