“One more week,” I tell her, breaking my own heart. What I’m doing here now will benefit her. That’s what I have to keep telling myself to stop me from cracking and going back sooner. When she yawns I know that I’m keeping her on the phone for my own sake and not hers.
“You should go to sleep. I love you, Morgan.”
“I love you too, Mommy.” She hangs up without giving the phone back to Steph. I close the lid on my cell and set it down, all while telling myself that I can do this for her.
“Who’s Morgan?”
My eyes meet Finn’s stare in the mirror. He doesn’t wait for me to answer before he’s walking toward me. Before I can form a response, his hands are pushing the robe off my shoulders and down to my elbows, baring my breasts for him to see. I sit up straighter, showing him that he doesn’t affect me, even though my heart is beating rapidly and my tongue feels swollen. There will be no easing into anything with him. He’s admitted that he’s attracted to me and is expecting sex. I won’t be able to put it off for a night or two while I transition into being around him.
“Are you cold?” His fingers press against my skin, kneading deep into my muscles.
I shake my head, thanking his short attention span for not asking about Morgan again. He watches me through the mirror, his piercing blue eyes focusing on mine. When his hands cup my breasts and squeeze them roughly, I gasp because of the excitement that courses through me.
“Your nipples tell me otherwise.” He pinches and pulls my hardened nipples before massaging them. I bite my tongue to keep from crying out from the pleasure I’m feeling from being touched like this. An ache I haven’t felt in a long time grows between my legs, but I refuse to acknowledge that he has any effect on me whatsoever. My time with him will be clinical. I’ll be shut off from feeling anything and my actions will robotic.
“Who’s Morgan?” he asks again as he leans forward, brushing his erection against my back. “Does he know I’m going to fuck you? Will he be jealous?”
“No,” I squeak out, thankful that he’s assuming Morgan is a man. And if I think by saying no he’s going to stop this arrangement and show any indication that our deal is off, I’m sadly mistaken.
“You’re beautiful,” he says, walking away as quickly as he appeared. He leaves me speechless and tingling all over, and I find myself wishing he’d come back and fuck me so that the deed is out of the way.
“Twenty minutes,” he calls out from somewhere in the house, reminding me that we’re leaving soon. A quick glance at my phone tells me that it’s late and I know he wants to go shopping, although I have a feeling the stores stay open for someone like him.
For the first time in a long time, my makeup is light and natural and I leave my long hair down in curls. Stepping into the panties he bought me, my skin rejoices at the way the silk feels against my skin. I even think my lady bits are doing a damn happy dance.
“Don’t get used to it,” I tell myself as I slip into the dress and step into the designer heels. Even my feet are screaming hallelujah because those contraptions that I dance in are not holding them hostage. And as if by magic, gentle fingers brush my hair aside and tender lips press against my skin as the zipper moves up my spine. The shivers I feel are uncontrollable and the slight shake of my body causes him to smile.
“Blue is definitely your color, Macey.” I jump at the sound of his voice and place my hand over my rapidly beating heart in hopes of catching my breath.
Inhaling deeply, I turn and say, “Thank you.” For the past ten years I have wondered what he has been up to and now I know, and I’m about to find out a lot more about Finn McCormick. He holds out his arm and I take it, falling easily in step next to him.
I wish, in a different time, things were different, that I was different. In my dreams, I’m married to a man like Finn. We may not be rich, but we love each other and are raising a happy family.
In my dreams, I’m not a stripper, turned high-priced escort for a week of sex. But in reality that is what am I, whether Finn makes me feel that way or not.
8
Finn
As a stripper Macey was hot and fuckable. As a woman wearing little-to-no makeup, with her hair down and dressed presentably, she’s someone you take to bed and worship. I think I like stripper Macey better because this Macey is putting stupid romantic thoughts in my head that I don’t want there.