Chapter 4
Dom drove, and she spent more time looking at him out the corner of her eye than looking for her car. His hair was still damp from the shower and sticking up at strange angles. He kept rubbing his hands through it. With his sleeves folded up to his elbows, he looked a lot like Bond after hours. It was even harder for her to concentrate, even though she tried. But it wasn't like her car would be hard to miss. It wouldn't be difficult to spot an abandoned car on the side of the road. He couldn’t miss it, even if she did. The view of him controlling the car was better than anything she’d see out her window anyway, as long as he didn’t catch her staring.
“Is that it?”
“What?” She blushed, biting her lip and hoping to God he didn’t notice she'd been watching him.
“Over there. Is that your car?”
Old. Ford. Red, and somewhat dented, on the side of the road. It certainly looked like her car. Alone at the base of the hill she'd thought would be a great idea to climb alone and take pictures of the ocean view.
“Yep. That’s it.”
Dom climbed out and walked around the car, surveying its doors and wheels.
“Strangely, it seems fine.” He yanked on all the door handles, none of them budged. “Consider yourself lucky no one broke a window or tried to take it.”
She got out of the car, unsure of what exactly she should be doing to help and nodded along. “You’re right. Thank you.”
“So where’s the rest of you stuff?” He looked around as if her things would appear out of thin air.
“I’m pretty sure I lost it all on my way.”
“Then let’s go,” he said, smiling over his shoulder as he walked up the path she took. She smiled back, enjoying the view more than the hunt for her lost things. Dom had a very sexy butt, she noticed. It wasn’t long before retracing her steps led her to her backpack, and further along the ravine, her very dead phone.
The reason why no one had found her was the same reason none of her things had been stolen: It was a fairly secluded area. Together, they were able to find everything she'd lost. She even managed to get pictures of the view she'd missed last time due to the clouds. In total, it took them a little over an hour, and she was both disappointed and unsure what to say as he walked her back to her car.
“Start it up. I want to make sure it’s okay before I let you go.”
She reached in, starting the engine, and against her silent wishes, it started up perfectly. Sure, the growl of the engine was a bit sleepy, but strong nonetheless.
“Let it run a bit,” he said, crossing his arms over his broad chest.
She nodded in agreement as she leaned against the car.
“You’re sure you know where you’re going?”
Her hands fidgeted in front of her as she nodded. “Yes. I think I can remember just fine. It was practically a straight road. One right and then follow the street signs all the way back.”
“Right. That’s good that you remember.” He squinted upward, taking in the bright sun and the sky. ”We’ve made good time. You’ll be back in the city before dark.”
“I should be,” she said, pushing a piece of her blonde strands behind her ear. “Thanks,” she said, wrapping her arms around him. “For everything.”
He held her tightly, so tight she could feel the wide planes of his chest and smell his cologne. He was warm, and she wished for a moment that she didn’t have to let go.
“It was a pleasure,” he murmured, his baritone caressing her neck.
She sighed and pulled back. They hugged much longer than was appropriate. Any longer would tempt her to do something about the tingling between her thighs. The tingling she was trying to ignore.
He kissed her on both cheeks, so close to her mouth and yet so far. “Well, off you go then,” he said, holding the door open until she was seated and closed it softly.
“Goodbye,” she mouthed as she drove off feeling sad. Goodbyes weren’t hard for her. She didn’t mind them, but knowing she might never see that man again made her heart ache. He stood looking like a model in her rear mirror with his fists pushed into his pockets.
The entire ride, she drove thinking of him. His face and the way his eyes seemed so sad when they were burning with intensity. He was more than hot, and she wanted to get to know him. If she could have, she would have, but she just couldn’t afford to.
An hour and a half later, just like he'd said, she arrived in the city before sundown.
Her apartment was as she'd left it. One bedroom with a bed partially made, a living room with a dead computer and a yoga mat instead of an entertainment system or a TV. An untouched old cereal bowl had been left in the sink, and there was a bathroom too small for two. Without Dom, it seemed emptier and lonelier than usual.
She dropped her bag and climbed into the shower. Even though she'd showered at Dom’s, wearing the same clothes made her feel gross. It didn’t take long to revive her. She had to get out quickly, too tempted to daydream about Dom and the way he might touch her body.
With wet hair and skin clinging to her bathrobe, she sat at the living room table to boot up her computer. There were a few things she needed to check. A quick perusal of her email showed Facebook notifications and a reminder from her friend Rachel that finding a daddy took time. Funny enough, there were three notifications from Sugar Baby, so she clicked one, taking her to the website.
It was as she remembered it. Sleek and discreet. Anyone walking by wouldn’t be able to guess she was on a site that helped women pair with men with money. Her inbox had a few men interested in knowing more about her. She clicked through their profiles, looking at nothing in particular and seeing nothing that was worth her time, so she deleted their interest emails. Sugar Baby was a lot like Tinder. It took interest on both sides to be a match. They could inquire, sure, but it was the babies who made the final decision.
She sighed and stretched before going to the kitchen. She opened her cabinet with both hands, wide, as if there were so many options.
“What’ll it be, Ann? Cereal or ramen?” she asked herself aloud. “Ugh. So many choices, I’m not sure, but I think the milk’s going bad soon. Cereal it is, then.”
She grabbed the box of generic fruit loops and poured the milk over it before sitting with her spoon. This was her everyday routine. There wasn’t much else she could do. This was the life she would be living until she could afford something else. Her parents had died leaving her with next to nothing. With hard work and good grades, she got just enough scholarships to pay for her semester tuition. Their inheritance allowed her to get an apartment off campus so she could have some privacy and room to herself. Everything else, like car maintenance or gas, was up to her. She’d been working in the university library before Rachel introduced her to the life of Sugar Baby. In her words, “You’re a babe. You could do so much better than the library.”
Anna, being the naïve girl that she was, had taken offense and had thought she had been saying she should be working somewhere else.
“Excuse me? All the TA positions are full.”
“No, babe. Something that pays much more than that.”
“What? I haven’t seen any positions open,” she had said with her hands on her hips.
Rachel had laughed and shaken her head. “It’s an off-campus position.”
“But you don’t own a car; how can you be working off-campus?”
Rachel had quit two months before, claiming she had something much better lined up, and since then, Ann hadn’t seen much of her. When they did run into each other, she couldn’t deny that Rachel did look much better. In addition to the upgrade in wardrobe, she seemed much more relaxed about tuition or buying books, which prompted Ann to admit she missed having a friend in the library. With a little prompting, Rachel shared the world of sugar daddies with Ann, and like a master to a grasshopper, she walked her through all the steps to setting up her profile and sussing out whether a daddy really had money or was only stunting.
So far, she’d only been on the site for a month. She’d gone out on a few dates, but none of the men were interesting enough for her to be okay taking their money while they spent time together. She knew her man was out there; she just hadn’t found him yet. She tilted her head back, gulping down the dregs of milk and cereal before licking the top lip and sighing. If only the right man looked something like Dom and came with a lot of money.
But what were the odds of that?