Page 29 of A Billion Desires

6

Cherry

“What do you mean you’re going to be gone for an entire month?” my next door neighbor asked.

Well, technically she was my neighborandmy friend. And right now, I also needed her to be my siblings’ caretaker for the next four weeks.

I switched the wet clothes from the washing machine into the dryer and headed back to my room while she followed. “I have an opportunity to go away for work, but they need me to stay there for a month. I need someone to babysit these troublemakers for me while I’m gone. You’re really the only person on the face of this earth that I trust with them.”

I had an old, beat-up suitcase of my mother’s that I dug out of the basement.

And it kind of smelled like it had been down there forever.

Which it absolutely had.

Whatever. With the payday I’d get from Nick, I could afford to by myself a hundred expensive suitcases if I wanted to. Or more.

After I paid for bail, that is.

But first, I needed to convince Giselle to take the deal I was going to offer.

“Why a month? And where are you going?” she asked me, sounding a bit frantic.

“You know that guy I told you about?” I asked as I scooped a pile of jeans from my dresser and dumped them into the suitcase.

There was a short silence. “The one who keeps calling Ilona’s asking for you?”

I gazed up at her and couldn’t help but grin. “Yeah. He wants me for a month.”

Giselle shut her eyes and shook her head back and forth a few times. “He wants you for a month for what?” she asked, frowning at me like she had no idea.

I raised my eyebrows and said, “What the heck do you think he wants me for?”

Her frown melted off her face.

“What? Is that even allowed?” Her hands shot up to her hips as her eyes widened.

I nodded and threw a few shirts on top of the jeans. “I already asked Ilona.”

Suddenly, there were two hands on mine. “Girl, you need to think about this for a minute. Going off with a strange guy for a month? That does not seem like a good idea to me. It’s bad enough just having you gone a few nights a week with faceless men. This is on a whole other level.”

The look of concern on her face made my eyes tear up. There weren’t many people in this world who gave a shit about me. But Giselle was definitely one of them.

“It’ll be okay. He treats me well.Reallywell,” I said with a naughty smirk. “I’m actually looking forward to it. You’re the only one who can handle my household while I’m gone though. Can you do it? Please?”

She let go of my hands. “A month is a long time. Sheesh, I don’t know,” she said, her voice trailing off as she spoke.

Crap.

I needed her on board with this, or else I’d have to cancel on Nick.

And I really didn’t want to do that.

For one, the money was frickin’ awesome. And we needed it, badly.

For two, Nick was hot.

Yeah, he was older, but he was one of those guys who only got hotter as he aged. I’d guess he was forty, or close to it.

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