Page 60 of Courting Clemson

“Not if I’m careful. And really, why should it matter? To either of them. As far as Luke is concerned, Brian is just like a friend. I haven’t felt the need to run through a list of all the people I’m friends with for his approval.”

Her raised brow spoke volumes.

I plowed on anyway. “And as far as Brian is concerned, we never said I couldn’t date in the real world. I’m not planning on getting romantically attached to him.” I shrugged. “It should all be fine.”

That was the best I could come up with after the countless hours I thought about the situation. I thought it was fair.

“So what are you wearing tonight? Have you thought about it?”

I was so glad she’d changed the subject.

I’d finally made peace about both men and about them not knowing about each other. As long as I remained confident in my decision, it would all work out. I had to believe that, or I’d drive myself crazy.

“You’re not going to believe this,” I said, flitting off toward my room without warning.

“Where are you going?”

“I have to show you what was waiting for me last night when I got home,” I shouted from my room.

Walking back into the living room with the box under my arm, I proudly announced, “My first little spoonful of sugar,” and plunked the box down in front of her.

“What is this?”

“Open it. Brian sent it.”

She opened the box and gasped. Digging through the tissue paper, she grabbed the high-end designer pair of jeans. She stood and held them up to her waist, eyeballing them to see if they would fit her.

Of course, the inseam was way too long for her, but I tried them on last night, and they fit perfectly. In fact, I never wore such a lovely pair of jeans in my life.

Grace searched the waistband for the maker’s label and froze. Then she shot her eyes to me. “Do you know how much these go for, girl? This is fucking crazy…” She dug back into the package to find the top he also sent.

It was a beautiful, deep-red sleeveless number, and I was in love with it. The color looked incredible with the tan I had going and made my blond hair pop.

“This is gorgeous, Clemson. Well, I guess you know what you’re wearing.”

“That sure made it easy, didn’t it?”

Last night, when I opened the box, I went through a whole series of emotions. I was giddy at first because come on. What girl doesn’t love getting gifts? Then I felt suspicious. Would he expect something in return for the present? Was it going to be a tit-for-tat type of thing? That answer I would have to find out over time.

But then I felt bad, and my emotions took me by surprise. When I let the insecurity monster that lived deep inside me out of its cage, I had a million questions. Did he not like the dress I wore on our first date? Was it not up to his standards? Was he quietly embarrassed to be seen with me and how he’d dressed me?

After a few minutes of letting that yuckiness run through my field of happiness, I shut it down. I reminded myself of the specific nature of our arrangement. He told me in very plain language that he liked giving a woman gifts. It made him happy to do so.

He was also very well aware that I was in a financial bind or would never have gotten into the whole sugar-dating world in the first place. It wasn’t wrong for him to simply do something nice for me.

“I can’t wait to see you in this outfit. Girl, you’re going to slay tonight. That poor man isn’t going to know what hit him.”

Grace became my personal glam squad. She fussed with my hair until every strand was exactly where she imagined it should be. She applied make-up with a careful hand, using at least three times the products I normally did, and the final result took my breath away when she turned me toward the mirror. I was a polished, dewy, glowing version of myself I’d never seen before.

“Holy shit,” I muttered and leaned in to take a closer look. “You’re a magician, Grace.”

She shook her head but beamed with pride. “You are the easiest canvas to bring to life, my friend. But I have to say, I did a damn good job here.”

I gave her a little squeeze, careful not to disrupt anything she’d just worked so hard on.

Brian sent a car to pick me up for our date. I was hesitant to accept the offer at first because Solei had advised me not to share my home address with anyone. Especially at first. But I liked the idea of being picked up, and technically I didn’t give him my address. I gave it to his assistant via an email exchange.

I had a feeling that if we continued seeing each other, I’d be getting to know the woman that made his arrangements as well as I’d get to know him. It wasn’t like he didn’t warn me going in, though, and honestly, it didn’t bother me. It kept the whole situation in perspective. It felt less like a romantic date and more like a business arrangement, and for that, I was grateful.

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