Julie stared at the phone in her hand before pacing back and forth in her bedroom.  Court had left yesterday morning and she had resigned herself to never seeing him again.  She had walked him to the door and then nervously thanked him. 

“It was my pleasure, Jules,” he had whispered before kissing her and leaving.

She had spent the day in a funk, ignoring Mary’s texts and constantly reminding herself that Court had only been doing what she had paid him to do.  It didn’t matter that before he showered and left, he had made love to her with such sweetness that she’d had to hold back tears.

She had dreamed about him last night.  Dreamed he was back in her bed and his hard hands and hot mouth were making her nerve endings sing with anticipation.  She had woken from her dream, her body sweating and her pussy aching, and stared blankly at the ceiling until the sun crept across the horizon.

Now, she stared again at her cell phone.  

Call, her mind whispered.  There’s nothing wrong with calling for another date with Court.  You wanted him to teach you how to please a man in bed and do you really think one night is enough to teach you what to do?  Besides, he spent the night pleasuring you, remember?  You didn’t even go down on him for God’s sake!  Do you really want to go out and find a boyfriend when you don’t even know how to perform oral sex?  Call and make another date with Court.  He’ll be happy to let you practice on him.

Her fingers trembling, Julie called the number.

“Vanessa’s Escort Agency.  How may I help you?”  Meagan’s now-familiar voice answered after the first ring.

“Um, hi Meagan. It’s uh, Julie Winslow calling?”

“Hello Julie.  How are you?”  Meagan said warmly.

“I’m uh, I’m good, thanks.  I was calling because I wanted to arrange another um, date with Cou – uh, Cal?”  Julie said nervously.

“Of course!”

She could hear the clicking of Meagan’s nails against the keyboard and she took a deep breath.

“What night were you looking for, Julie?”

“Tonight, please,” she replied.

“Oh, I’m sorry.  Cal is already booked tonight and tomorrow night.  I could book you for Friday though.”

Julie, her ears ringing and her heart thudding painfully in her chest, tried desperately to squeak out a reply.

“Hello?  Julie, are you there?”

“Yes,” she gasped out.  “I’m sorry.  I uh, Friday night won’t work for me.”

“What about Saturday?  He’s available Saturday,” Meagan said cheerfully.

“Oh, I um, I’ll have to check my schedule.  Can I call you back?”  Julie whispered.

“Of course.  Talk to you soon, Julie.”

Julie hit the end button and then threw her cell phone on the bed.  She was dismayed to realize that tears were starting to flow down her cheeks and she wiped them away hurriedly as she sank to the floor of her bedroom.  She buried her face in her hands.  Court was going out tonight with a woman who had paid him just like she had.  He would be taking her to bed and giving her the same pleasure that he –

A hiccupping sob escaped her throat and this time she let the hot tears course down her cheeks.  She was an idiot.  Court was paid to have sex with women.  Just because he was kind and sweet and made her first time more wonderful than she could ever have imagined, it didn’t mean he cared for her.  He had been paid to take her virginity and he had done it.  She was crazy if she thought they could have some kind of relationship.

 

* * *

 

Three hours later when Mary came storming into the house, Julie was sitting on the couch in the living room, wrapped in a blanket and eating ice cream.

“Jesus, Julie!”  She gave her an angry look.  “You scared the hell out of me!”

“What are you talking about, Mare?”  Julie asked wearily before eating another spoonful of ice cream.

“You haven’t responded to any of my texts!  I thought that Court guy had tied you up in your basement and was torturing you!”  She snapped.

“I’m fine,” Julie said.

Mary set her jacket on the chair and dropped onto the couch next to her.  She took a good look at Julie’s swollen eyelids and pale face.  “What happened?  Did he hurt you?  I’ll kill the son of a bitch if he did.”

“He didn’t hurt me, Mary.”  Julie stirred her melting ice cream before setting it on the coffee table.  “I had a good time.”

“Did you sleep with him?”

Julie nodded and wrapped the blanket more firmly around her.

Mary touched her shoulder hesitantly.  “Jules, sometimes the first time isn’t all that spectacular, you know?  It can be weird and awkward and painful.  It doesn’t mean that - ”

“It was good,” Julie interrupted.

“What does that mean?”  Mary asked.

“It means that it was good,” Julie said grumpily.  “He made it nice.”

“Nice?”  Mary raised her eyebrow at her.  “Jules, tell me what really happened “

Julie sighed with irritation.  “What do you want me to say, Mary?  That it was magical and special and the most amazing night of my life?  It was!  Court made me feel gorgeous and wanted and I had so many orgasms, I lost count!  There!  Are you happy now?”

She waited for Mary to get angry at her, to tell her to kiss her ass and storm out, and she could feel the tears threatening again when Mary scooted closer and put her arm around her.  She hugged Julie tightly and kissed the top of her head when Julie rested her cheek against her shoulder.

“Then why are you sad?  Why are you sitting in your dark house, wrapped in a blanket and eating ice cream?”

Julie shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I – I guess I thought maybe Court felt something for me.”

Mary frowned.  “Julie, he was being paid to - ”

“I know!”  Julie nearly shouted.  “I’m a silly little girl who thought a man paid to deflower me, wanted something more!”

Mary winced and held her more tightly.  “I’m so sorry, Jules.  This is all my fault.”

“It isn’t, Mary.  It was a good idea and I’ll get over it.  I will.  It was the right thing to do and I’m happy I did it.”

“Are you?”  Mary gave her a searching look.

“Yes,” Julie said.  She wasn’t lying.  Despite everything, she couldn’t regret giving Court her virginity.  She might have paid him to do it but for that brief time, he had made her forget that he was only doing a job.  She would always be grateful to him.

“I just need some time,” she repeated herself.

“No.  What you need is a distraction,” Mary said.  “We’re going out Friday night.”

“What?  No, I can’t.”  Julie gave her a horrified look.

“You can and you will,” Mary replied.  “You paid a man to take your virginity so you didn’t have to worry about it.  Now it’s time to find your happily ever after.”

“Mary - ”

“No, Jules. I’m not letting you back out of the plan.  You want to find someone, don’t you?  Well, you’re not going to find them sitting in the dark and eating ice cream.  We’re going out Friday night and that’s final.”

 

* * *

 

“What the hell is wrong with you, man?”

Court glared at his best friend.  “Nothing’s wrong with me, Mark.”

“Bullshit.”  Mark took a sip of his beer and stretched his jean-clad legs out under the table.  “You’ve been moping around for the last three days at work and you tore a strip off of Jim earlier.”

“Nothing’s wrong.”  Court took his own swallow of beer and stared moodily around the bar.  He was already regretting letting Mark drag him out to this meat market after work.  He hadn’t wanted to go but he hadn’t wanted to go back to his empty apartment either.  He had done nothing but think about Julie all week and he had texted Cal twice to find out if she had set up another date. 

She hadn’t and he was more hurt by that then he had any right to be.  Julie had made it clear what she was looking for and besides, what did he think was going to happen between them?  She thought he was an escort for God’s sake. 

He sighed and wiped at a smear of dirt on his jeans.  They had worked late, working straight through dinner and into the night, and they had come straight from the construction site to the bar.  He was feeling remarkably out of place.  He had thought they would hit their usual pub, it was full of blue-collar workers like himself, and he felt awkward and out of place in this dark and noisy club.

“Why the hell did you drag me here anyway?”  He asked irritably.  “What’s wrong with Flannigan’s?”

Mark rolled his eyes.  “In case you haven’t noticed, the ratio of women to men in Flannigan’s is horrendous.  This place has got plenty of eye candy.”

He eyed the skimpily-dressed women sauntering past their table and tipped his beer to them.  They looked both him and Court up and down, and Court felt his face burn when one of them whispered to the others and the lot of them broke into that high-pitched giggling that made his ears bleed.

“We don’t belong here, Mark,” he said through gritted teeth.  “One, the women here are all barely over eighteen and two, they don’t want guys like us.  They want pretty boys who can buy them whatever they want and take them out on daddy’s goddamn sailboat.”

Mark scoffed loudly.  “Whatever, man.  The ladies in this place love men like us.  They think they want those boys who wouldn’t know a goddamn hammer from a screwdriver but I guarantee you that by the end of the night, they’ll be all over us.”

“Yeah, great,” Court muttered.

“Seriously, man.”  Mark gave him an irritated look.  “What the fuck is going on with you?  It’s about time you got over that bitch Janine and got yourself some young, hot tail.  Christ, you’re the only guy I know who would turn down a woman’s invitation for a night of hot, meaningless sex.”

“Yes, because hot, meaningless sex solves everyone’s problems,” Court responded dryly.

“Hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”  Mark shrugged and took another drink of beer.  “Last week I met up with this smoking hot chick.  She took me back to her place and Christ on a pony could that girl suck.  She was like a goddamn Hoover.  I’ve never had so - ”

He stopped as Court cursed.  The crowd of people had thinned a bit and Mark followed his gaze to the woman perched nervously on a bar stool at one of the small tables scattered throughout the room.  She was dressed in jeans and a soft pink blouse and she was smiling faintly at the blond man leaning casually against the table.

“She ain’t half-bad,” Mark said appraisingly.  “A little chubby but those tits are - ”

“Shut up, Mark,” Court growled.

“You know her?” Mark asked.

“Yes,” Court bit out.  His hand tightened on his beer bottle when the blond man reached out and brushed the woman’s dark hair back from her face. 

“You should introduce me to her friend.  You know I like the reds.”  Mark was gazing appreciatively at the slender redhead sitting next to the woman.  She had her own admirer and she was talking animatedly to him as the dark-haired woman took a quick sip of her drink.

“I bet that redhead is dynamite in the sack.  They always are.  I think it’s the red hair, man.  It makes them - ”

Mark blinked in surprise.  He was talking to thin air.  Court had stood and was pushing his way through the crowd of people between them and the women.  Mark grabbed his beer and followed.

“So, Julie.  Tell me what you like to do for fun.”  The blond man, Julie thought his name was Jake or maybe it was Hank - it was nearly impossible to hear over the loud beat of music blaring from the dance floor - stroked her arm.

“Oh, you know, the usual,” she replied. 

He leaned a little closer, his breath stirring her hair, and she tried not to wince.  He smelled like beer and pot and although he was handsome enough, she had a feeling he wasn’t a day over twenty-one. 

“Listen, what do you say we get out of here?”  Jake/Hank said into her ear.  “My apartment isn’t far from here.  We can put up our feet, listen to some music and get to know each other a little better.” 

He placed his hand on her waist and she shoved his hand away when his fingers tried to caress the underside of her breast.

“I literally just met you ten minutes ago.”  She gave him a look of exasperation.

He shrugged and gave her what he probably thought was a panty-melting smile.  “I know, baby.  I also know what you older ladies are looking for and I’m more than happy to give it to you.”

She gaped at him.  “Are you kidding me?”

He shrugged again.  “Not at all, baby.  Why don’t you let me show you a good time?”

He was reaching out to caress her arm again when a hand grabbed his upper arm and jerked him away.

“What the fuck, man?”  He glared at the large man in the dirty t-shirt.  “What the fuck is your problem?”

“Court!”  Julie stared in surprise at Court.  He was dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt.  The shirt had smears of dirt on it and she could see dust and dirt in the creases of his thick neck.  He held his hand out to her. 

“C’mon, Jules.”

She took his hand, sliding off the barstool as Mary grabbed at her arm.

“Julie?  Where are you going?”

Julie glanced at Court as he linked his fingers with hers.  The music changed, became a slow, seductive beat, and she licked her lips nervously as he looked her up and down.

“Buddy, I don’t know who the hell you think you are but I’m with the lady so why don’t you get lost.”  The blond man put his hand on Court’s arm.

Court glanced down at the man.  “Unless you want to spend the night in the emergency room with a broken hand, you’d be wise to get lost, kid,” he said dismissively.

The blond man dropped his arm and took a step back.  “Forget it.  She ain’t worth it.” 

He nodded to his friend and the two of them walked away as Mark laughed and plopped down on the bar stool next to Mary.

“Court?”  Julie cleared her throat nervously and he tightened his hand around hers.

“Let’s dance, Jules.”

He led her toward the dance floor as Mark winked at Mary.  “Hello, gorgeous.  Can I buy you a drink?”

“What – what are you doing here?”  Julie squeaked out as Court pulled her into his arms.  He swayed in time with the music as she tried to ignore the butterflies that were starting in her stomach.

“What are you doing here?  This place is nothing but a meat market, Jules.”  He glared at her.

She bit at her bottom lip and he almost groaned with need.  He wanted to kiss her, wanted to touch her warm skin, hell he wanted to carry her off to a dark corner somewhere and fuck her senseless.  He casually moved his pelvis away from her as his cock hardened in his jeans.

“I – I wanted to have a night out,” she said.  “Maybe meet someone.”

“At this place?”  He glared again at her.  “The men that come here are only interested in one thing, Julie.”

“Is that why you’re here?”  She gave him a defiant look.

“Mark dragged me here,” he muttered.  “I didn’t want to go but thank God I did.  Who knows what would have happened to you if I hadn’t shown up.”

She stiffened in his arms.  “I can take care of myself, Court.  I don’t need you babysitting me.”

He scowled at her.  “You’re naïve and sweet.  You’re like candy to these assholes.”

She didn’t reply and he grunted angrily.  “Is that what you want, Julie?  A quick bang with an idiot like the blond Boy-Wonder back there?”

“What’s wrong with that?”  She snapped.  “I’m a grown woman, I can do whatever I want.  If I want to - to have meaningless sex with some random stranger at a bar, I will.”

His nostrils flared angrily and she gave him another look of defiance as he pulled her tightly against his body.  He lowered his mouth to her ear as he ground his erection against her. 

“None of these silly, little boys can please you the way I can, darlin’.  I guarantee you that not one of them will make your pussy as wet as I do.  Not one of them will make you scream.  Do you remember how good it felt when I fucked you?  I remember.  I remember how wet and hot and tight you were.  I remember how you begged for my cock.  Do you believe any of those boys could make you beg the way that I do?”

He cupped the back of her head and wound his fingers through her thick dark hair.  They had slowed to a near stop.  He ignored the other couples on the dance floor who were bumping lightly against them as they moved past. 

“Do you, Jules?”  His hand tightened in her hair and she gave a soft moan of need when he lowered his head and sucked on her upper lip.

“No,” she whispered.

“That’s right, darlin’.”  He moved his hand to her ass and squeezed it as he flicked his tongue along the shell of her ear.

“Your pussy was made for my cock and only mine,” he whispered.

Julie moaned again.  Her entire body was filled with a lust so deep she felt like her skin was on fire.  His coarse words, the way he acted like she belonged to him, made her feel delirious with desire.

“Court, please,” she whispered.

He sucked on her earlobe as she clutched at his back.  His erection was hot and throbbing against her and despite being surrounded by a sea of people, she could only see and hear and feel him.

“Have you missed me, Jules?”  He breathed into her ear.  “Have you missed fucking me?”

“Yes,” she answered immediately.

He chuckled, a warm sound that vibrated against her breasts, and she flushed as he squeezed her ass again.  “You’ve got an itch that needs scratching.  Don’t you, darlin’?”

She nodded again and he nipped her earlobe.  “You should have called me.  I know what you need.”

She froze against him and he leaned back.  “Jules?  What’s wrong?”

“I did call,” she said.  “You were all booked up.”

His stomach dropped at the look on her face and he could feel panic starting when she tried to pull away.  “I should go, Court.”

He held her more tightly, wrapping his arms around her waist as she stood tensely against him.  “I’m sorry, Jules.”

She shrugged.  “Don’t be.  It’s your job.”

He didn’t respond and she couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice.  “You’re very popular.  Fully booked this week.  I guess I know why.”

He said the only thing he could think of.  “I didn’t sleep with any of them, Julie.”

She twitched in his arms and looked up at him.  “What?”

“I didn’t sleep with them.  I swear to you.”

“Why not?  Isn’t that what they pay you for?”

“Not always.”  He gave her a pleading look.  “Do you believe me?”

She nodded and he breathed a sigh of relief.  They resumed swaying to the music as she buried her face in his throat.  “What do we do now?”

He hugged her tightly.  “Spend the night with me.”

She stared up at him.  “Court, that isn’t a good idea.  We can’t - ”

“Just one more night, Jules.”  He knew he was begging like a pathetic teenage boy but he didn’t care.  “No escort agency, no money or time limits.  Just us making each other feel good.  I need you.”

She hesitated and his arms tightened almost painfully around her.  “A-all right.” 

He released his breath in a harsh rush and kissed her hard on the mouth.  “Let’s go.”

“I need to talk to Mary first,” she said breathlessly.

He nodded and led her back to the table.  Mary was staring amused at Mark who was waving his hands as he talked loudly.

“Mary?  I’m leaving.  Will you be okay?”  Julie asked.

Mary frowned and slid off the barstool.  She took Julie’s arm and pulled her a short distance away.  “What are you doing, Julie?  You don’t need to pay him for a damn date.  There are plenty of guys in here who - ”

“I’m not paying him,” Julie interrupted.  “Listen, I need to go.  Will you be okay or do you want us to drop you off at home?”

“Honey, I don’t think - ”

“Stop it, Mary,” Julie said harshly.  “I’m a grown woman and I know what I’m doing.”  Her gaze drifted back to Court.  He was staring at her and her pussy tingled with anticipation at his look of dark desire.

“Do you?”  Mary said.

“Yes.”  Julie nodded impatiently as she glanced again at Court.  “Please, I’m asking you to trust me.”

“Fine,” Mary sighed.  “Go on then.”

“Do you need a ride home first?”

“Nope.  Believe it or not I’m actually enjoying Mark’s company.  I’m going to stick around and see where it leads.”

“Okay.”  Julie was already drifting away and Mary caught her arm.

“Be careful, Julie.  Don’t give your heart to him, okay?”

“I won’t,” she lied.