Ashley
“Oh my god, Ashley, look at this one,” my friend Michelle squeals, pulling out a sexy little black dress and holding it out to me. This is the ultimate retail therapy.
Michelle and I go to Bergdorf Goodman for a little shopping on the regular, and today I need this girl time even more than usual. I’m about to go out of my mind waiting for Carter to call.
I take the dress and hold it up to myself, imagining what Carter might think when he sees me in it. Wondering if it’s sexy enough to make him want to see me out of it.
I bite my lip. “I don’t know, Michelle, is it hot and slutty enough?”
Michelle laughs. “Seriously? That dress screams do me now.”
I nod, not entirely convinced. “I just want to make sure it’s perfect. I know he’s going to call and ask me out.”
The way he looked at me last night outside the strip club was fucking intense. I didn’t expect that from him at all. I had no idea how to handle it either. All the reasons I wanted to send Lorraine in for me in the first place were front and center in my head all night. I was hired to do a job, but I’m not feeling the least bit professional about it. Yeah, I want to fuck Carter—and that’s what I’m getting paid to do—but I can’t seem to compartmentalize my job from my feelings this time around. And I have no idea why.
Michelle looks at me, her eyes bulging. “Girl, you are seriously getting into your work this time.”
She knows all about my business—she's my best friend, after all—but I haven’t told her about this particular job. It’s super secret. Well, they all are, typically. But I don’t usually keep secrets from Michelle.
“Who is it this time?” she asks. “Because I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so worked up over a client.”
I bite my lip, wondering if I should tell her. Then it just falls out in a spew of word vomit. “It’s Carter Blaine from TV. You know, Head Hunter? I’m supposed to seduce him.”
Michelle’s mouth falls open. “Are you fucking kidding me? Oh my God, Ash, I’m so jealous. Are you going to be on the show?”
I nod. Michelle doesn’t watch the show, so she didn’t see me on the live stream last night at the strip club, and the edited episode doesn’t air until later this week. She does know all about it, though. I mean, everyone does. It’s fucking Head Hunter, after all.
She squeals again. “This is crazy! I mean, I’m still totally jealous. Because, well, Carter Blaine. But it’s totally awesome. Do you think you’ll be able to do it?” Her eyes narrow skeptically. “That guy is unbelievable. Seriously, five years and he still hasn’t done it? I know you’ve got some skills, girlfriend, but he’s got some serious tenacity.”
“Tell me about it.” I roll my eyes. “Last night was…well, let’s just say it would've made any other guy give in.”
Just then, my phone rings, and my nerves go crazy. Taking a deep breath, I turn away from Michelle and steady myself, then answer my phone.
“Hello?” My voice comes out cool and aloof, surprisingly. At least I’ve still got it, even though Carter pushes me to the limit of staying the course with my assignment.
“Destiny.” Oh God. Just the sound of his low, gravelly voice has my pussy aching with slow pulses.
“That’s me. Who’s this?”
He chuckles, as if he doesn’t doubt for a second that I know who he is. “Only the guy who had his hands all over you last night and made you come so hard you couldn’t see straight. The same guy who plans on doing it all over again with you tonight.”
My mouth drops open. Holy fuck. That is so hot.
“Hmm,” I say, fighting for control. “I think I might have an idea who this is. But could you be a little more specific?”
“How about the guy with the twelve-inch cock? Does that ring a bell? Because I know you don’t see that every day.”
I smile. Sure as hell don’t. “Oh yes, I think I know now. Carson Blake, is it?”
“Carter Blaine, and you know it.” I hear the smile in his voice. “But make sure you get it right, because it’s the name you’re going to be screaming at the top of your lungs tonight when I sink my mouth into that sweet pussy.”
I can’t even. Oh my God. I’m literally about to fall out on the floor in the middle of Bergdorf’s because this guy has me so hot.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Before I blow your mind, though, how about dinner? Le Cirque?” Carter suggests, though it’s obvious it’s not a question.
“Let me check with my assistant, but I think that can be arranged.”
“I’ll have my driver pick you up at eight, Destiny.”
The phone beeps, signaling the call has ended, and my hand falls limply to my side. Oh my God, that alpha thing he just did is so totally hot. I look at Michelle and scream, bouncing up and down on my toes as I tell her what he said.
I have a date with fucking Carter Blaine. And if all goes well, at the end of it I’ll be fucking Carter Blaine. “I have to bring my A-game tonight, Michelle. I can’t mess this up. I have to be the sluttiest of all sluts. That’s the only way, right?”
Michelle doesn’t look convinced. “I don’t know…”
“What do you mean?”
She purses her lips and gives me a scrutinizing look. “I know you, girl. This is not just a regular job for you. You never act like this. You like him.”
I don’t answer her. That’s way too close to the truth. I think back about all the things I read in his file and how he seems like he’d be a really good catch.
“Here’s what you need to do,” Michelle says. “You need to go with your gut. Be yourself. Show him the real you. Not the person you think he wants to see. That’s what they all do. And look how that ends up every week.”
I realize she’s right. I mean, look what happened with Lorraine last week. “But if I just act like myself, then what? I’m trying to seduce a man here, Michelle. Not find my one true love.”
She smiles. “That’s easy. Once he sees the real you, he’ll be begging to stick his cock inside you.”
I roll my eyes. “How romantic.”
Michelle laughs, but I think about what she said. It’s a tactic I haven’t used before, and to be honest, I really don’t feel like putting on an act with Carter. It just might work.