Table of Contents
Chapter One - A Request for VeraChapter Two - Two Requests?Chapter Three - Working Nine to FiveChapter Four - Another JobChapter Five - Monday MorningChapter Six - Model ManChapter Seven - Out of the OfficeChapter Eight - Into His CarChapter Nine - On the CouchChapter Ten - The Perfect ManChapter Eleven - A Photographer is Worth a Thousand WordsChapter Twelve - Model without a CauseChapter Thirteen - Shooting the BreezeChapter Fourteen - Up the CreekChapter Fifteen - A Makeover for the AgesChapter Sixteen - Devilish LaughChapter Seventeen - Breaking it upChapter Eighteen - A RoleChapter OneA Request for VeraHelen Paul placed the final double red lines at the end of the last column on her accounting exam. She flipped her test booklet to the front to make sure her student information was correct and then she gathered her things together. She felt a certain relief as she saw she was not the first person to finish the test and not anywhere near the last. It was comfortable for her to finish sometime in the middle. All her numbers matched, so it had to be good enough. She turned in her exam, swung her bag over her shoulder and headed for the door.It was a weight off her mind! The test had been an important one. The last one in April—end game. Once she got her (hopefully) good grades back, she’d have her diploma in office assistance and she could quit living her secret life. Not many girls lived a secret life, but if anyone back home heard she’d been working for an escort service, that would be the end of her freedom. She knew for certain her parents would pitch an epic fit and she’d be back in her home town pumping gas before she could say, “No tuition.”It hadn’t been Helen’s idea to work for an escort service. Well, it hadn’t been her idea in the first place, but when her cousin Mindy showed her how much money could be made by being the shiny little woman on a boring man’s arm for one evening… poor little Helen had to cave. Her pockets were worn thin. She needed money.It was all because of her own stupidity that she had been short on cash. She was the one who told her parents she had enough money to leave her small town and move to faraway Edmonton. It didn’t matter how far away she went, they didn’t have any money to help her even if she lived next door, but she wasn’t worried. She could take care of everything. She always planned to get a part-time job to help support herself while she went to school, but then she’d been late turning in a form to request a grant and even later with her application for a scholarship. In the end, it didn’t seem to matter how many dishes she washed at the pub around the corner, there was barely enough money to pay the rent as well as her tuition. Feeding herself became a problem, too, and though Helen didn’t like to say it—she’d already maxed out her credit card buying food and those expensive textbooks.She often wondered if she should have told Mindy about her money problems before they got out of hand, but Mindy was very different from her and the only reason Helen's parents had allowed her move to Edmonton in the first place. She had to live with responsible Mindy who was making a killing at her job… which was? Helen was very suspicious. Mindy was hardly ever home in the evenings and wherever she went, she dolled up like a celebrity about to strut down the red carpet. What could she be doing? At first, Mindy blubbered something about networking. She didn’t give any details about her career until Helen broke down and explained she was fifty dollars short on her half of the rent that month. She’d been killing herself at work for three months and she thought Mindy would understand if she was a little late.Mindy looked at the money that wasn't quite enough and then at Helen before she said, “Your arms looked chapped. Do you want to make some money at something that doesn’t involve elbow-deep boiling water?”“But that’s my job,” Helen responded dully, almost on the point of tears.“It doesn’t have to be,” Mindy said, dropping the bills Helen gave her on the table like they were nothing. She clicked over to the refrigerator in her high heels and took out a can of tonic water, which she opened noisily before leaning against the wall of their apartment like she was marketing the stuff. “I could take you to work with me, and you’d earn enough to pay your tuition for next semester in a couple weeks, especially since Christmas is coming up. You see, I’m actually—”“A hooker?” Helen filled in for her.“Escort!” Mindy emphasized. Then she shrugged her shoulders. “It’s not even that bad.”“So, you don’t sleep with them?”“My clients? Ew! No,” Mindy said, looking repulsed. “Not in a million years. But I do go on dates with guys who need a date for something and don’t have the time or inclination to find a date for themselves. Sometimes, it’s because they’re shy. Sometimes, it’s because they want to make a girl who’s slighted them off burn with envy. Sometimes, it’s because they’re visiting the city and want someone to show them around with a little more intimacy than a touring bus. Stuff like that. Very often, they introduce me as their cousin." Mindy explained before she bluntly asked Helen, “Well, do you want to try it?”“No sex?” Helen asked anxiously.“Zero sex. I promise. I’ll give you pepper spray and a pair of brass knuckles. Want to give it a try?”“Aren’t both of those illegal?”“Probably,” Mindy said noncommittally. “I’ve never been attacked. I don't know what happens with other escort services, but my agency’s really good. We're professionals and we say what we are willing to do very clearly in our ads. Gross stuff just doesn’t happen.”“I’ll think about it,” Helen said.“Do,” Mindy said. “Do.”So, Helen thought about it. She didn't have much of a choice. She didn’t have enough money to pay the tuition for the next semester and it would be due in mere weeks. If she could earn the money she needed, then she could quit being an escort and go back to washing dishes. If she refused the job, she’d probably have to drop out of her program and go back home. That would be too humiliating. On the other hand, could she really be an escort?Helen thought honestly about Mindy and how she compared. Mindy was shorter than Helen unless she was wearing battle gear. When she was all dressed for work, Mindy wore ten-centimeter heels. She was tanned and pierced and tattooed in all the right places and Helen was simply nothing like her.Helen didn’t even have long, pretty hair. Her hair was that unfortunate color that was neither blonde or brown, and to top it off, it was cropped so short that it was almost boyish. She had no figure to speak of. She was pale and… ordinary. Couldn’t a guy get a girl like her anywhere?“Don’t you think I’m plain?” Helen asked when Mindy broached the subject a second time.“Plain?” Mindy asked skeptically. “Plain? What do you mean? If you think you’re ugly, think again. It’s true, you need help, but your problems are nothing that can’t be solved with makeup and a little extra attention. Basically, if you
Helen looked around nervously. She had never seen the man. How was she supposed to answer? The stranger was clearly playing with her. If she said her date was gorgeous, she’d be in trouble when the short, bald guy rolled in. After scrambling for a moment, she answered, “I like the way he looks.”“Hmm,” the brown-eyed stranger said, as he suddenly turned around the corner and put his arm by her shoulder, nearly pinning her against the pillar. “And you’re friendly with him no doubt?”She nodded and said testily, “That’s why you shouldn’t be putting the moves on me.”“Mark!” someone suddenly called from the other end of the lobby. It was a silver tinkling voice, exactly like the sound of Christmas ornaments jingling.Helen turned her head to see who had called her date’s first name, when suddenly the stranger in front of her closed in and whispered, “Sorry for the late in
All in all, the evening was oceans more fun than she expected. She danced with Mark most of the time, and when he was called away by someone else, she danced with one of his friends. He had nice friends. They were good looking, young, successful, and didn’t have wandering hands when they danced with her. The food was excellent and Mark was a good date. He was clearly popular both in his profession and with his friends, because he introduced her to at least fifty people, if not more. He had a good sense of fun and knew how to dance. He told her about his interests in a way that none of her other dates had bothered to. It was almost like he wasn’t sure how to date an escort and so he was dating her in the same way he would date her if he was really interested in her. By the end of the night, she thought more than once that it was a pity her date with Mark was just for her job; otherwise, she would have loved to find herself in a more long-term relationship with him.A
Two Requests?After New Year’s Eve, Helen went back to washing dishes in the back of her pub for the month of January and tried not to think about what she could be missing working as an escort. After all, not every date had been like the last one with Mark Lewis. Yup! She didn’t think about what Mark’s kiss had been like or how he held her while they danced. She didn’t think about his eyes or the way his hair fell into them. Nope! Not one bit!Best of all, she didn’t think about the money she was missing out on while she worked her honest minimum wage job. At least, not until her January paycheck came in. When she saw the numbers and did the accounting in her head, she computed just one fact—she was in trouble.Mindy was reading a magazine in her recliner when Helen limped into the apartment after getting her pay stub. Mindy instantly flipped the glossy cover shut and took her headphones out of her ears to ask Helen, “So, how
Valentine’s Day.Even before the date, Helen felt sure she was already dead and roasting for her sins in hell, but how could she have known that Dominic would take her to the same restaurant as Mark that night? Bah!Helen hadn’t been the one to call Mark to tell him he had been outbid. Helen fed herself all kinds of good reasons why she had turned him down. She was doing it for the money, so why not do it for the money? If that was her philosophy, then it didn’t matter who asked her. The sooner she could pay off Mindy and her credit card, the better. It wasn’t like she wanted luxurious living. Mostly what she wanted was a reasonable meal. Eating cheap Asian noodles two meals a day was hardly nourishing, but she didn’t have money for anything better.She also told herself maybe it was better if it didn’t go any further with Mark. It wasn't like he was going to fall head-over-heels for an escort, and the last thing she wanted was to f
When their food came, Helen thought for sure Dominic would send his steak back to the kitchen. It didn’t even look like it had been cooked. When his knife bit into it, his plate practically filled with blood. Was he going to put something that raw in his mouth?He chuckled when he saw her face and offered, “Would you like to try some?”Laura laughed outright at Helen’s screwed up nose and horrified expression. “You should try some.” The other woman laughed. “You’re so fond of 'enjoying the moment!'”Helen pretended she didn’t hear the dig while Dominic took a slice of the steak and put it on the tip of his fork.Crap! Helen thought. I only know one way out of this. She took his fork and as she was about to place that red, raw meat into her mouth, she flipped it around and fed it to Dominic instead, allowing her hand to rest on the back of his neck.“You’re very kind,” he said when
Working Nine to FiveHelen got on the bus and took a seat near the front. She pulled out her iPhone and put her headphones in her ears. She could finally afford a cell phone plan.It was April and she had just finished her last accounting exam. It was nice to have it off her shoulders. Her course at the college had been in administrative assistance. Now it was finished, she could go look for a real job instead of escorting guys. Helen wasn’t sure, but she thought the punk band in her headphones sounded like the hallelujah chorus.As a bonus, there was one other reason she was excited about quitting her job as an escort. Once she had her evenings free again, she could maybe try to find a real boyfriend. She’d given up thinking there was a way for things to work out between her and Mark. It had been two months since Valentine’s Day and he hadn't made a request for her since then. Helen kept telling herself it didn’t matter. She had paid off Mindy
Helen raised her fist to knock when Mark himself came around the corner.“Oh hello,” he said cheerfully. “Are you Helen Paul?”Helen smiled and put out her hand to shake his. Hers was suddenly sweaty. She hoped desperately that he wouldn’t notice. The inside of his palm was like warm silk.He shook her hand warmly and reached into his pocket to get the keys to his office. “I’m Mark. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for your interview, but I was extremely impressed with what Elizabeth told me about you. It’s so rare to find someone who doesn’t mind working overtime—evenings and weekends. Working in PR is very exciting, but it’s hard to find someone who wants to dedicate themselves to the proper representation of a company. I hope you’re up to the challenge.”She had agreed to work evenings and weekends? What else had she promised?“I am!” Helen claimed energetically.