And I could give her so much more.
All I have to do is marry Stellan and let him change both our lives.
KIRA
Irub shampoo into the massive brown dog’s fur and try to ignore the awful pounding headache eating me from the inside. The dog snuffs and grunts as I spray him down.
“So I hear you were out late.” Tabby leans up against the wall, grinning at me. “Mrs. Walker’s been telling everyone she caught you doing the walk of shame.”
“Is it the walk of shame if I’m coming home from a date?”
“I knew it!” Tabby grins at me, practically vibrating. “Who was it? Tell me it was someone I’ve met?”
“Sort of,” I grumble, feeling like shit. I haven’t been hungover in a while, and washing this massive dog isn’t helping. “Can we talk about something else?”
“Absolutely not. You haven’t been on a date since I’ve known you, and I need to live vicariously through my younger friend. Give me the details.”
The massive dog suddenly shakes what feels like an entire tidal wave of water straight into my face. I groan and blow some off my lips. He looks back, mouth hanging open, panting and grinning like he’s trying to drive me crazy on purpose.
“He took me to dinner. Then to a club.”Then fucked me mindless in the back of his car. “Then dropped me off back home. That’s all.” I go back to grooming the dog, struggling to finish the shampoo phase and already dreading using the dryer on him.
“Dinner and dancing? What a gentleman. Did he keep his hands to himself? Did you want him to?”
“Yes and yes. Please, can we talk about anything else?”
“At least tell me if it went well.”
“It went—” I hesitate, not even sure how to answer. “Better than I thought it would.”
“That’s great! My first date with Joshy was a total disaster. Granted, we were in college, but still. He took me to a frat party and some asshole puked on my shoes. Joshy let me wear his back home, though.”
“What a great guy.”
“Center of my world, that big idiot.”
I try to picture saying the same about Stellan. But I can’t even come close. Josh and Tab have a normal relationship, but whatever this thing is with Stellan is like something from another planet.
Or maybe I should stop thinking about it like a relationship at all.
What’d he call it? An arrangement?
Just a business deal between two consenting adults.
“Can I ask you something?” I decide to take a break from cleaning the dog and let him sniff around the washing room while I towel off. He settles in the corner on the tiles, not remotely bothered that he’s still wet. “If you had the chance to change your life… but it meant selling out… would you do it?”
Tabby snorts and waves a hand. “Fuck, yes. You kidding me?”
“But what if it meant… like… sex work?”
She frowns a bit. “Did this guy proposition you or something? I mean, you’re hot and I bet you’dkillit if you started an OnlyFans, but that’s not really appropriate for a first date.”
“No, no, forget about the guy. This is something else.”
“Right. Sure.”
“Seriously, if you could do something a little crazy, but it might give you stability, safety, and security, would you?”
Tabby levels me with a serious stare. “Start with feet,” she says, not remotely kidding, and I feel like I could die. “The feet guys are total creeps, but they’ll pay up. Then move on to mild stuff. Don’t show the goods. Tease like your life depends on it. But hold back.”
