Page 55 of Dirty Little Virgin
Shaking my head, I get up. “I’m going to get dressed now. I suppose you can have this date you’ve been after me for. I’m sure to bore you.” I hurry out of the room and go to my bedroom.
My cell is on the nightstand and I look at it, wishing like hell that it’d ring and be Pierce on the other end of the line, telling me he’s coming for me. But it lays there like a dead fish and I head to my closet to dress.
Not trying to look cute in the least, I pull my hair, which has grown out a bit, into a high ponytail, leave the makeup off, and then put on a shapeless dress that goes all the way to my ankles. A pair of black flats makes up my ensemble, and I head out to Charles after giving my face a wash and my teeth a quick brushing.
He turns away from the table he’s set elegantly with dishes he’s found in my cupboard. “You look lovely, Jade.”
“You look as if you’ve made yourself at home, Charles.”
He comes to me, taking my hand and leading me to sit at the small table in the breakfast nook. “I have. I hope you don’t mind.”
“And if I do?” I ask as he takes the seat across from me.
“I think you just need to get used to me,” he says as he pulls a white linen napkin off the table and places it on his lap.
“Impeccable manners, I see.” I put my napkin in my lap too. I see he’s gone so far as to make a pot of coffee with my coffee maker. Looking into his brown eyes, I say, “You’ve found my coffee, I see.”
“I thought you might like some. Perhaps you’re one of those people who need it to get the day going. I didn’t want you to go without it just because I’ve shown up on your doorstep.” He gives me another brilliant smile.
Most women would love this, I bet. He’s charming and doting.But he’s not Pierce.
“Charles, I’m very busy with school. I don’t have time for a man in my life.” I pick up the bagel and take a giant bite, hoping to gross him out.
“This may come as a shock to you, but I’ve seen you around, Jade. You do have time on your hands. You go to the library and check out books. Many books. If you have time for all that reading, you have time for me.” He reaches across the table, taking my hand that was reaching for my cup of coffee.
I look at his hand on mine. “Charles, that reading I do so much of is part of my work. I’m studying to be a writer.”
“Why?” he asks. “You have no need to write. You have plenty of money. How’d you come about that, may I ask you?”
I narrow my eyes at him as I answer the way Pierce told me to if anyone asked about it. “I won a small lottery when I was in America.”
“Really?” he asks as he lets my hand go, then takes a sip of his coffee, pinky finger extended. “Because the cashier’s check you opened your account with wasn’t from a lottery commission. It was from an account that’s associated with some odd things. Things I don’t see a nice woman like yourself being into.”
My ire is fired up with his nosey nature. “Charles, that money and where it came from are none of your business. Perhaps I should pull my money out of your bank and put it somewhere else. A bank where the client’s privacy is of the utmost importance!”
“You have more spunk and spirit than most, Jade. I wonder how you gained that strength. I wonder who taught you to be so tough. I wonder if it was this Pierce man you called me earlier.” He looks at me over his coffee cup with an eerie smirk that gleams in his eyes.
“That’s none of your business, yet again. Is this how the day will go with you? You asking or telling me things and me letting you know where you stand in them?”
Compassion suddenly fills his expression. “You’re reading me all wrong. You see, I think I know what’s happened to you. I think I know why you keep turning me down. Do you want to know what I think, Jade?”
Fear runs through me as I assume he’s found out my secret. “Not really.”
“I think you’ve been used in a dreadful manner. Has some American cad hurt you?” He searches my eyes and I feel heat filling my face.
“No one has hurt me!” I get up from the table, unable to look at him any longer. I have no idea where it is I’m going, but I’m leaving the man’s company.
Suddenly, strong hands grab my shoulders and he spins me around to face him. “Where that money comes from, women are used, Jade. There was a small note on the cashier’s check. In the memo line, these words were written,Payment for services rendered for a two-month period. Tell me, Jade, what did you do for that amount of time that you were paid a million dollars for?”
I never saw this coming! I never thought anyone would ever know about what I’ve done!
“Listen to me. Does anyone else know about what that fucking check has written on it?” I ask in desperation.
“No, I’m the only one who saw it. And just so you know this, I destroyed it after getting the money transferred into your account. Frankly, I began to care about you the moment I started looking into the whole thing. I’d never want you hurt by that information. And I want to help you get over it all. The whole ugly thing.”
“But it wasn’t ugly. It was beautiful,” I blurt.
His hands move up and down my arms, caressing me, then he pulls me close, hugging me. “My poor darling girl. Your youth has compromised your judgment. Some scandalous American man dominating you for his own pleasure isn’t beautiful. It’s monstrous. And I can see how badly you’ve been hurt. So please talk to me. Tell me what he or anyone else did to you. I’ll get you to the help you’ll need to get over this tragedy.”
