It was a good question. Could she say something? She could certainly say she wasn’t an escort. Say he was an asshole for assuming she was. But the thing was, Ben wasn’t an asshole. At least he didn’t seem like he was. Ryan had always considered herself a pretty good judge of character. Her childhood necessitated her developing an ability to read people. And she wasn’t getting creeper vibes from Ben.
“Could you tell me how all of this works so I can stop looking like such a dumbass?” He shoved his hands into his pockets and waited for her to speak.
There were a few more-than-uncomfortable moments of silence before she finally did. “What are you looking for exactly?” She might not have been an escort, but she knew an opportunity when she saw one. She could potentially earn a few hundred bucks and come out of the whole situation unscathed. No harm done.
“I need someone to take to my brother’s wedding.”
His answer surprised her. “You came to a strip club to find a date to a wedding? Aren’t hot professional athletes supposed to be able to find dates without paying for them?” Shit. It occurred to her that her comment was probably insulting, though no more than someone thinking she was an escort.
“You think I’m hot?”
Ryan rolled her eyes. “That’s the part you choose to focus on?”
He shrugged, an amused grin on his face.
“You’re good looking, yes,” she said, aware of how formal her response sounded. “Though something tells me you know that already. So my question stands. Why would you need to pay someone to go to a wedding?”
“Because it’s in Connecticut.”
“And?”
“And you’d have to be up there for a few days and share a hotel room with me.”
She tried to keep her face blank so she didn’t convey how appealing that proposition sounded. “Why do you need a date at all?” she asked. She’d been wondering that since he’d first said that he needed to take someone to the wedding. “You could go alone.”
“I could. But then my family would be riding my ass about finding a girlfriend and settling down. If they think I already have one, I won’t have to deal with that.”
“You need someone to go to Connecticut with you? That’s all?”
Ben laughed. “You probably wouldn’t be saying ‘That’s all’ if you knew my family.”
“I meant . . . you wouldn’t need me to do anything else?”
“Like what?” Ben asked, clearly confused.
She stared at him for a moment, almost laughing at how innocent he seemed.
“Oh my God! You’re talking about sex?” he asked. His eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head. “Jesus, no. I’ve never paid for . . . that,” he said. “And sleeping with your clients isn’t necessarily a part of your job, right? Like it would be for a prostitute? Not that I’m comparing you to a prostitute,” he added quickly. “Because you’re an escort. Right?”
She could tell how flustered he was getting, and it amused her. Though in truth it should’ve made her more cautious. This guy could easily be a cop. But her gut—which hadn’t been wrong much in her life—told her he was what he seemed to be: a normal guy who needed someone to help him dodge his family for a few days. The fact that he didn’t seem to have much, or any, experience with this sort of thing, set her mind at ease. “Right. I’m definitely an escort,” she assured him with a confident nod.
“Okay, good. So is it something you’d be interested in doing?”
Ryan looked at him curiously. “Having sex with you?”
“No. Going to Connecticut.”
“Oh. Um . . .” Ryan tried to evaluate her current predicament as objectively as possible. Which was difficult given her current financial situation. And though she certainly felt like the man in front of her would keep her safe, she didn’t know that. Agreeing to go to a different state with a guy she’d met only minutes before could be a risk that wasn’t worth the reward.
But then there was the simple fact that he’d given her his full name and claimed to be a professional athlete. It wasn’t like he was asking her to leave with him tonight. She could agree to the arrangement now and then do a little googling to see he was who he claimed to be. Because she doubted that someone in the spotlight would pick up a woman, give her some story about a family wedding, and then murder her when she agreed to be his date.
It was settled then. She’d agree. At least for now. “Sure. I guess,” she said, standing a little taller and straightening her low-cut black shirt. “We should probably discuss the terms first, though.” If she was going to pass herself off as an escort, she needed to seem like a professional. The thought almost made her laugh.
“Right, of course,” Ben said. “Do you have a daily rate or something? How does the pricing work?”
Good question. “Well, I’ve never been hired for twenty-four hours before, let alone for multiple days, so it’d be hard for me to come up with an exact number.” At least her answer was an honest one.
“Can you give me like a ballpark figure maybe? Tell me what you charge for a night out, and we’ll go from there.”
“A few hundred dollars usually.” Sure. That sounds right. Probably. Maybe.
Ben seemed to be calculating it in his head. “We’d probably need to get together a few times before the wedding, but I’m not sure exactly how many times. How about we do this, I’ll pay you five thousand for the week of the wedding. I can give you half up front, and the other half afterward. Then I’ll pay you a hundred dollars an hour for any time we spend together beyond that? How does that sound?”
Ryan tried not to seem as excited as she felt. Five thousand dollars was more than she’d made in the last four months, and now she had the opportunity to earn that in a week. It almost seemed like she was stealing money from the poor guy, and the thought made her feel guilty. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and bit her lip. “That’ll be fine.”
“So you’re agreeing to the job?”
“Sure. Sounds like fun.”
“But I didn’t even tell you when it is yet. What if you have another job that week?”
“Oh. Right. When is it?” Not that it matters.
“The wedding’s July seventeenth. Do you have any other jobs around then?”
Ryan twisted her face in thought until finally she spoke. “Nope. I’m all yours.”