Page 50 of Country Contract

“Yes, I thought I told you I was leaving right around the holidays.” She doesn’t look up as she finishes writing the line.

“Right.” I start to eat a little quicker since my food is already cold.

“Four, H&H will return to their own sleeping quarters, should an encounter arise.” I nod, understanding where she is coming from, but a sadness comes over me. I hate sleeping alone.

“What if we’re exhausted?” I ask.

“We are within walking distance; you don’t think you could walk back to your place after a round or two with me? You seemed fine yesterday.”

I nod again. No sense in arguing.

What do I want?

“Five, each encounter between H&H will result in a monetary exchange from HW to HH of one thousand dollars.”

I was midswallow and start to choke. Harlow jumps out of her seat and wraps her arms around me from behind, but I wave her off as I cough and wheeze.

The food just sits heavy in my windpipe, and I start to hit my sternum. Thankfully, I feel it pass down the right tube. I reach for my coffee and take a long drink to settle my swallow. Once Harlow can see I’m okay, although red-faced and a bit undone, she moves back to her seat. I appreciate her quick reflexes, but damn, give a man a chance to save himself before you jump.

“One thousand dollars, that seems a bit too much.” Especially for how often I’d like to have her. I don’t want her to think I’m taking advantage of the cash she’s offering when, in reality, I just want the experience of being with her. The cash is only an incentive for me to remember that none of it is real, and that this is an arrangement, not a relationship. Even then . . . I hate it.

“I don’t think so, but if that amount makes you uncomfortable, what would you prefer?” Now I rub my temples; asmall headache is starting, and I don’t know if it’s from this whole situation or my coughing fit.

“Less, much less. Maybe two-fifty?”

“That’s too little. How about we meet in the middle and call it five hundred?” That still seems like a lot to someone like me.

“What if we have like, levels. Two-fifty for casual company and simple trysts, and ummm,” I swallow hard, “five hundred if we take it all the way. But we can change it or talk about it later too. I don’t want to stress the money stuff now.”

Harlow laughs freely, shoulders shaking. “God, you’re so young. Okay. I’ll write that.” She strikes a line through her original numbers and changes them to those we agreed upon.

“What else?” she asks me.

“Um, can this be exclusive? Like no one else while we’re doing this.” Why can’t I sound more confident, like I did last night? What’s the difference between then and now?

“Sure. Six, H&H agree to remain physically exclusive during the contracted time period. Should HH or HW find interest in a new party, said person will alert the other to end the contract early. Does that work?”

I nod.

“Anything else?” she asks.

I only shake my head, and she nods at me with a smile.

I watch her as she scribbles her name a few lines after the last.

“I left room just in case we need to add anything later since we’re thinking on the fly.” She gently pushes the paper and pen in front of me, and I scribble my name.

“So that’s it, right?” she asks, and I feel a sudden changein her tone. She turns in her chair to face me, placing her palms flat on the table surface.

“Yeah, that’s—” I hear the scrape of her chair, and the next thing I know, Harlow is standing over me, snaking her fingers in the hairs at the back of my head. Threading them, she tightens her grasp, pulling me so I’m facing up. I only get to look at her witchy grin for a moment before she crashes her lips to mine.

Chapter 22

Harlow

Things are going better than expected. It’s not taking much from Harrison to get inspired. In a strange way, I think that not going further, or as he puts it “all the way,” keeps the intensity high for us. Our make-out sessions are heated and fun. I love the push and pull we have during them.

Every tryst with Harrison gives me the energy I need to keep going. The last one was cut short by a phone call from an impatient Meg, still waiting to hear back from me after my ambiguous messages and denied call. I’ve never kept anything from her, and I won’t start now. I filled her in on the details of our arrangement, even told her about the stipulations in our little notebook contract. She wasn’t happy since she’s a romantic and all. If I’m being completely honest, I think she was more worried about Harrison than me.

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