Page 73 of Play of Love
“I’m thirty-three.”
“You don’t look a day over twenty,” he smiled. He certainly knew how to make a girl feel good, especially when I felt more like a hundred years old.
“Thank you.”
“I can continue my wild fantasies now.”
“Wild fantasies?” I found that hard to believe.
“Oh yes, but we’ll talk about that another time. If I tell you now and I get lucky with you from my glorious bravery last night, I’ll have to wait till later to find out about you. Also, Hilda wants to come in and see you, and if I get my hands on you it won’t be a quick thing.” He shook his head. “We’ll be at it for hours. Let’s just say the whole day and night. I’d have to send her home.”
All I could do was stare at him with narrowed eyes and my mouth open. It never ceased to amaze me how his mind worked. Also, I knew he wasn’t joking and that’s what fascinated me more. I’d never met anyone who’d speak their mind so freely.
“So, anyway, tell me, Amy Rose, what made you leave your job in New York to work for the biggest asshole you’ve ever met in your life, with just a sewing machine, a mannequin, and a beautiful red dress that used to have rhinestones?”
I looked at him and thought about how to answer the question. The simple, short answer was money.
It twisted my stomach to think of my situation and how he’d feel when he learned my story.
I looked away again and focused my gaze on the sturdy features on the window. He had blinds up in this room as opposed to curtains, and the decoration was quite plain. In the corner was a small wardrobe, a matching chest of drawers, and a desk. My stuff was next to a box full of weights. All my belongings were in one pile on the floor.
I looked back to him when he reached out to take a lock of my hair.
“Tell me, Amy.”
I shook my head. The more I thought about it, the more awful I felt.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want you to think that it wasn’t real, that I wasn’t real.” A tear ran down my cheek.
“I have a habit of being able to tell what’s real from not. You’re the real deal, Amy. Let me make it easier for you. I know this job pays really well. I know everything about your job. I guess you needed money for something, but anything you did for me stopped being about money after the ESPN show. It stopped when you followed me inside after dropping me off and asked me if I was going to drink.”
His eyes were full of understanding and deep appreciation. He ran his finger along to the side of my cheek and smiled. “Am I right?”
“Yes.”
“So now that’s cleared up, you can tell me what’s going on with you.”
I bit the inside of my lips to prevent myself from crying as I thought about all that was going on. “My mom is really sick and needs special surgery. She has severe heart disease. I took this job so I could pay for the surgery for her.”
His eyes filled with sadness as he searched mine. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Josh, you had a lot going on.”
“But so did you. Do you need more money? Let me help.”
“No. It’s all okay now.” In few a month’s I’d receive that fifty thousand and everything would all be okay. It did, however, warm my heart to hear him offer to help. “Thank you, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. But I have everything under control now.”
“Okay, but let me know if you need me.”
“I will,” I promised.
“Until then you’ll stay here. I can’t believe you’d live in an awful place like that. Amy I have a room I keep my shoes in that’s bigger than that dump. You could have just come here.”
“I can’t stay here, Josh. I couldn’t then and I can’t now. That’s such an imposition.” It was, and I was still trying to deal with my feelings for him.
“It’s not.” He shook his head.
