Breaking Into the Business (18 page)

“I
have to ask only because we don’t get this kind of call too often. But are you
being serious? This isn’t some sort of prank.”

“I
can promise that this is not a prank. I know exactly what I want, and I can pay
extra if that’s what it takes. I will double the rate that you put on the ad.”

“That
won’t be necessary,” I said. “I can definitely make this happen.”

So
I scheduled the time and place. She insisted on meeting him tonight, so I knew
that I had to work quickly. From what I knew of Ray, he didn’t have much going
on, so I was sure he would be more than willing to come through for me. I would
need to call Pearl and get his number.

So
now, I was up to four escorts in my service, and I still had yet to talk to the
last one on my list of prospects.

Chapter Sixteen

The
daytime was running out fast, and I still had a lot to do. Greg texted me again
that he would be a little later than he thought because he had to make a quick
stop. I wouldn’t expect him for another hour at least.

I
decided to call the pool boy, Derrick, and see where he was. Luckily, he was in
the neighborhood cleaning another pool, and when I told him that I needed to
talk to him when he got the chance, he said that he would be by in a few
minutes.

Grabbing
a bottle of water from the fridge, I walked out onto the patio to wait for him.
I set my personal phone and my business phone down on the table in case anyone
called.

A
few minutes later, the back gate opened and Derrick appeared there. He wore his
usual swim trunks, but today he had decided to forgo the t-shirt altogether.

When
he smiled at me, I actually swooned. This was a little frustrating for me,
because I would have thought having sex on a regular basis would have helped
contain these crazy feelings of lust, but they only seemed to make them worse.

“Hey,
Lana,” he said. “I came as quickly as I could.”

“I
needed to talk to you,” I said.

“Really?”
he asked.

He
continued to walk towards me, and as he did, he started undoing the lace of his
bathing suit. Before I could protest, he had pushed the suit down, exposing his
bare flesh.

I
should have resisted, and I regretted that whole encounter from the moment his
lips touched mine. He was already hard as he pressed his body to mine, and that
was when I lost control.

I
didn’t say anything as he pushed my skirt down, and certainly didn’t say a word
as he pushed my shirt over my head. I reached out and gripped his firm ass in
my hands as he unhooked my bra and threw it to the patio floor.

“Derrick,”
was all I could manage, saying the words with his tongue still in my mouth.

It
was fast, but damn, it was good. He picked me up and set me on the lounge chair
again. This time, he gripped me by the ankles and pushed them up a little and
in one motion, he drove into me. I felt the intensity of his entry and arched
my back with immense pleasure.

The
speed of his thrusts seemed superhuman. He changed the angle a few times, and
each time, it brought a new type of pleasure. Each time a new place inside of
me was called to attention.

We
both finished at the same time. Out sweaty bodies mingled together and we
kissed for a moment.

I
couldn’t speak, but I knew that I had so much to tell him. I had the business
to run, and damn, he would make a good addition to the company.

“I
have to talk to you,” I said.

“I’m
glad you did,” he said.

“No,
really I have to talk to you about something serious.”

“Oh,”
he said flatly. He pulled away from me and shifted himself to lie next to me on
the lounge chair. “I thought this was why you were calling.”

“No,”
I said. “It wasn’t the initial purpose of my call, but I enjoyed it anyway.”

“I’m
sorry,” he laughed. “You probably thought I was crazy coming into your backyard
and stripping down.”

“No,
seriously, it’s okay. I enjoy our time together.”

“Me,
too.”

“So
I have a business proposition for you. I know that you struggle with having
enough money for school, and I think I have a part time job that will still
allow you to clean pools.”

“Okay,”
he said apprehensively.

“I’ve
recently made an acquaintance of a guy who is a male escort, and I’ve agreed to
be his madam.”

“Is
that the same thing as a pimp?”

“Yes,
but don’t call me a pimp. I’m a madam.”

“I
thought madams were for whorehouses.”

“Okay,
that may be true, but I insist on being called a madam.”

“So
what’s the proposition?”

“I
figured you might be interested in being an escort. I could be your madam. It
pays two hundred dollars an hour, and I get twenty percent of your pay since I
will do most of the advertising and scheduling.”

“That’s
a lot more than I make cleaning pools.”

“I
would imagine.”

“I’m
in.”

“Wait,
you are?” I had assumed it might take some convincing.

“Sure,”
he said. “I love having sex, and frankly it’s the only thing I’m good at other
than cleaning pools.”

“Okay,”
I said, not quite sure how to proceed. I had expected so much more to the
conversation than this.

“So
what do I need to do?”

“Well,
my friend Greg said that he would meet with all of the new guys and help get
you all started. We really need to meet soon because I’m starting to get a
bunch of calls.”

“So
you’ve already set all of this up?”

“Yes.
I sent out the ads today. Our company is called the Madam of Suburbia.”

“I
like it.”

“Thanks.
I thought of it.”

“So
basically, I’ll get paid to have sex with women?”

“Yes,
and you will be paid well.”

The
idea must have excited him a lot, because I could feel him hardening again. It
was brushing the side of my thigh.

“Sorry,”
he said with a wry smile as he looked down.

I
chuckled. “It’s not a problem. I think he’s pretty.”

“Well,
thank you. We could always go again.”

“I
don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Oh,
you’ve got stuff to do, I’m sorry.”

“No,
I mean that we probably shouldn’t do this again now that we are going to be in
a professional relationship.”

“Weren’t
we kind of in a professional relationship before? You were technically my
boss.”

“That’s
true, but this is different. You’ll be having sex with all of these people,
plus I don’t do the casual sex thing very well. I get attached way too easily.”

“Is
there anyone else?”

“You
mean anyone else I’m having sex with?”

“Yeah.”

“I
would answer that, but you’ll think I’m a whore.”

“Try
me.”

I
decided to tell him about Greg and my date with Jeremy.

He
laughed when I finished. “You think
that
makes you a whore? Honey, that
is nothing. I’m a nympho. When I left your place the other day, I went home and
had sex with my ex-girlfriend a few hours later.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,”
he said. “You and I are friends. I just happen to think you are incredibly hot
and fun. I don’t get emotionally attached very easily.”

“I
guess that’s good.”

“It
can be sometimes. So does Greg know about us?”

“No.
He and I are just friends, too, but I would rather him not know. It would just
complicate this whole new business thing.”

“Okay,
your secret is safe with me.”

“Thank
you,” I said.

“No
problem. So when is this meeting?”

“Are
you doing anything tonight?”

“I’m
free later on. Say around seven.”

“Okay,
then plan on meeting here. And this time you can come through the front door.”

He
stood up and walked over to his bathing suit. I watched him walk, and the view
from the back was just as nice as the view from the front. He had the cutest
little tanned bubble butt.

With
a quick kiss goodbye, he left out the back gate.

I
dressed as well and walked back inside. When I sat back down at my makeshift
desk, I called Pearl on my personal cell. When I told her about the new
developments, she couldn’t stop laughing for at least two minutes.

“Okay,
I’ll call my cousin,” she said finally. “I’ll make sure he’s at your place by
seven. So you say he has a job right after that?”

“Yes,”
I said. “And he has to be at the hotel by nine.”

“I’ll
make sure he wears clean underwear.”

“Are
you serious?”

“What?”
Pearl asked.

“You
have to specify that he needs to wear
clean
underwear?”

“You
know Ray. He’s nasty, honey.”

 “Thank
you, Pearl. I appreciate your support.”

“So
how’s business going?”

“I’ve
got a few calls,” I said. “Two of them for Greg and then this one for Ray.”

“So
you have two gigolos now?”

“Actually,
I am up to five now,” I said. “We’re going to meet tonight so that Greg can
start working with them on all of the basics.”

“Five?
Wow, you work fast. Where did you find them all?”

“I
got Ben from work, Mike the delivery guy, and Derrick the pool boy.”

Pearl
squealed into the phone, and it was a sound that I hadn’t heard from her in a
long while.

“I
may have to just test out your boys, Lana. That pool boy is hot as hell, but
I’d have to get him a tiny bathing suit to wear. And Mike delivers to my house,
too. I might just have to get him to bring the next package inside.”

“No
discounts for friends,” I said.

“For
those two, honey, I’d pay full price. Damn girl, you might just turn this out.”

“I
hope so.”

“You
know, I’m proud of you, Lana. I hate my job and dream all the time of what I’d
like to do, but I don’t ever take the initiative and do something about it. You
just grabbed destiny by the neck and twisted it to fit your vision of the
future. That’s admirable.”

“I
appreciate the kind words, but I wish it had been something a bit more legal.”

“Oh
don’t stress over that. The government always makes all the fun stuff illegal.
That’s how they keep us paying our taxes.”

I
laughed. “Pearl, you’re crazy.”

“That’s
an understatement. Now let me know if I can do anything else to help you.”

“Will
do.”

The
minute I hit the button to end the call, my work cell rang. It rang again when
that call was done. It continued to ring consecutively four more times. Over
the course of an hour, I scheduled three appointments for Greg, one for Mike,
and one for Derrick. Mike and Derrick still weren’t prepared or on the schedule
yet, but the ladies who called specifically requested a tall black and a young
blond man, respectively. I didn’t figure it would hurt much to go ahead and get
them on the books.

For
all purposes, it appeared that the Madam of Suburbia was off to a great start.

Chapter Seventeen

Checking
my watch, I estimated that I had about half an hour until Greg arrived. I
didn’t know him well enough to know if he were typically punctual, but I
resolved to the fact that he would be here soon. I fought the urge to run to
the bathroom and freshen up to prepare for his arrival, but talked myself out of
it. I planned to be firm on the platonic nature of our relationship in the
future.

My
personal phone rang. I was actually getting a little sick of hearing phones go
off all the time, but I knew that was the sound of my future. I better get used
to it.

I
smiled when I saw Jeremy’s number on the screen.

“Hello
there,” I said when I answered the phone.

“Hey,
Lana.”

“I’m
glad you called.”

“I
just wanted to see how you were doing today.”

“Well
that’s nice. I’m doing fairly well. I’m a little busy though.”

“Busy
doing what?”

Oh
crap, I said as I bit my lip. I couldn’t exactly use my regular work as an
excuse as he would know that I was lying. He would be well aware of the fact
that I didn’t have any editing to do until he sent over the first few chapters
of his manuscript.

Then
I remembered our conversation the night before. “I started plotting my novel.”