Although it seemed Trent understood me in ways I hadn’t expected, I knew it was likely a façade. I’d seen him at the club, watched him scene with various submissives. Never did he keep a submissive around for longer than a few nights at most. As for why he’d set his sights on me, I didn’t know. Perhaps I was a challenge, a mountain he had yet to climb. Once I gave in, he would probably speed right on out of my life as fast as he’d entered.
However, I couldn’t seem to find it in myself to ignore him, to tell him to leave me alone. I blamed it on those damn mushy brain cells.
The problem was, I didn’t want him to leave me alone. I wanted what he was offering. Because men like Trent did not come around every day. He was exactly what I needed right now. Someone to take my mind off all the shit going on. And simply thinking about him made me want to strip off my clothes and kneel at his feet. That wasn’t a normal reaction for me, not these days, anyway.
“Desperate much?” I ridiculed as I glanced around my sparse living room.
My heart sank when I thought about his demand that I would take his call later. I hoped he didn’t want to come to my house. As it was, the place looked bare because … well, because it was getting there quickly.
I’d come to the conclusion that I needed to put my house on the market even though I knew I wouldn’t get top dollar in the condition it was in, and I’d jumped right in with both feet, packing up most of the unnecessary clutter in just a few hours this morning.
The fact of the matter was, I couldn’t make the house payment much longer and I didn’t want the bank knocking on my door and demanding I get out. I was clearly having some financial problems, but I’d be damned if I was going to let my pride be squashed into dust along the way.
I sighed. It was high time I had the conversation I’d been putting off. I had intended to have it last week at lunch, but that was before Trent showed up and sent my mind into a whirlwind of chaos.
Grabbing my cell phone, I pulled up Mercedes’s contact information and stabbed the screen to initiate the call.
“Clarissa, is everything all right?” She sounded sincerely worried when she answered on the first ring.
“Of course.” I eased down onto my couch, tucking my legs beneath me. “I needed to ask you something.”
“Is it about Trent?”
“Oh, no. It’s… Why would you ask me that? Did you know I had lunch with him today?”
“You had what? Really? That’s fantastic.”
Hmm. Something was up with her. Mercedes wasn’t the type to jump to conclusions and I hadn’t even told her how it went. Rather than press the issue, I decided to get into the reason I called before I lost my nerve. “Is your condo still vacant?”
“It is,” she replied cautiously. “Why?”
Here goes nothing.
“So, you know how things have been kinda slow for me?”
“With work, I presume?”
“Yes. It’s taking me longer than I thought it would to make some headway and for my business to make any traction.”
“Which will hopefully change when you bring Trent’s friends on as clients.”
“If,” I clarified. “I don’t know how that will turn out yet.”
“Did you discuss it at lunch?”
“Not really, no. We … uh… It was a bit more personal.” My cheeks heated at the memory of the wicked things his fingers had done beneath the table.
“Okay. Fair enough.”
I cleared my throat and brought my mind back to the present. “I was wondering if I could move into your condo for a little while. I’ve decided it’s in my best interests to put my house on the market. It’s the only solution I can come up with to slow some of the financial bleeding, so I thought…”
“Of course you can move in,” she said quickly. “But what’s going on? And don’t give me the same shit you always give me about how business is slow, blah, blah, blah.”
I decided to lay it all on the line for her. “I’m just… Well, as you know, I’m not making much money right now, and I’m at the point when it’s going to be difficult to pay my mortgage. I figured if I could sell the house, I could use that money to pay off some of my credit cards and get caught up on my student loans. I’m hoping it’ll only be for six months or so. I should be in a better position at that point.”
Especially if I could take on a large client.
Then again, aside from Trent’s friends, I didn’t have any prospects and I knew a job was required in order to feed myself. Which likely meant I would have to fall back on my previous skills, working for a Realtor in the meantime. Of course, this was doable. I was more than willing to work two jobs to make ends meet.
