Rent Me By The Hour (14 page)

“
Well I have a favor to ask you?”

“Sure what’s up?”

“I was wondering if you can be my mentor for the new gals. You know how I would do two-girl shows to make sure the ladies are doing their job right?” Amanda nods, “Well if I pay you, can you start doing it for me?”

“Oh my god. Yes. That would be great.”

“That’s good to hear. I was thinking for every hour and woman you train, you get fifty dollars from me plus the money you’re already entitled to for the hour.”

“Yes I would love to be the ladies’ mentor.”

“I’ll have Carmen pay you for the appointments you did with the new providers.”

“Thank you so much. I’m trying to save up for something and every little thing helps.”

“I’m just so glad you can do this for me. You are helping me out a lot.”

She gives me a hug and gets prepared for her booked day. With it being so busy, Carmen didn’t have time to talk to me so I leave.

I meet Cynthia and Victoria at Taste of Texas. They have the tastiest steaks in town. The hostess seats me while I wait for my best friends to arrive. My personal cellphone rings, but I do not recognize the number so I do not answer. When they finally arrived, I greet them with a kiss on their cheek. I look around for their waiter to let him know the rest of my party has arrived, and we’re ready to order our drinks. Since we already knew what we want to eat, we order our meals also. The three of us catch on each other’s busy lives, but I already know what my friends want to talk about. I haven’t seen them since the crawfish boil at Victoria and Matt’s. They want to know about Jeremiah.

“So have you played with yourself yet while imagining Jeremiah? Cynthia teases while the waiter hands her, her drink.

I choke on my drink, “Oh my god. You’re so vial.”

“That’s a yes.” Victoria laughs. “Shit if I was single and Jeremiah looked at me the way he was looking at you that Sunday; I would go home and play with myself also.

“I agree.” Cynthia confesses as her and Victoria toasts their drinks.

Cynthia and Victoria gang up on me jokingly elbowing each other. They know me too well. Yes I did play with myself and thinking about it made me tingle in between my legs. I’ve thought about him plenty of times and had to hold back from touching myself again. He is so sexy and there’s something about him that draws me to him. I wonder if he has a girlfriend or maybe a wife. Most of the clients at Elite are married or taken. That will be a bummer if he is.

“Are you ever going to take him up on his offer?”

“His offer?” The waiter pauses from placing my meal in front of me as if he’s waiting for an answer also. My friends wait till he leaves to finish our conversation.

“Not that kind of offer crazy. I’m talking about his asking to have lunch with you.”

I can’t tell Victoria and Cynthia about seeing him the other day. They really want something to happen between Jeremiah and me. I do not want to bust their bubble. They really want me to settle down and if I tell them Jeremiah is a trick, they will feel sorry for me and all I will ever hear is pity from them. I do not need that kind of pressure right now. I slice a piece of steak, dip it in the balsamic sauce, and then savor it before I respond. “I’ll wait till he contacts me before I think about having a lunch date with him.” I turn to face the lovely couple sitting next to us. The man looks at his woman will endearment and sincerity. That’s the kind of man I need. One who truly understands the true meaning of love. I do not have time to randomly date. And it’s hard to find a man who already knows what they want in a relationship.

“Well did you give him your cell number?” Cynthia questions.

“No. I forgot.” I do however have his number but I do not have any intentions of calling him. I refuse to mix business with pleasure. If you mix the two something bad will happen and I do not want to mess anything up for my kids. I really need to concentrate on saving as much money as I can so I can retire in a year.

“I hope you don’t mind Jac, but I gave him your number.” Victoria confesses.

I nearly choke on the other piece of the steak I’ve stuffed in my mouth. “When did you do it?”

“I saw him this morning getting some coffee. And he asked about you. He said how he forgot to ask for your number that day, and how he wished he had it so he can invite you to have lunch with him. So I gave it to me.”

My friends are so gullible. They believe anything a sexy man tells them. Of course that’s the excuse he’s going to tell her. He doesn’t want her knowing he’s a regular client. How did he know which coffee shop Victoria would be at? I bet the unknown number that was calling me earlier was him.

“Thanks a lot Vic.”

“Oh it’s no problem.” Victoria winks at me and blows me a kiss. “By the way, Matt wants me to tell you he’s going fishing with Patrick and Jordan this Saturday. He’ll be by around six in the morning to pick up Jordan and the boat.”

Knowing Jordan will be very pleased to go fishing brings a smile on my face. He loves to fish. That’s one of the things him and Max used to do. We eat our lunch talking about everything that has happened to us since Sunday.

“Stephanie wants to know if Jocelyn can spend a night this Saturday?” Cynthia pours more salt over her baked potato.

Jordan usually spends at night at Matt and Victoria’s house after they go fishing because they always get back late so it will be good for Jocelyn to spend time with Stephanie since their cheerleading is done for the season and each of them will be busy during the summer time.

“She’s been asking me when she can come over. What time should I drop her off Saturday?”

“Say noon. The five of us can go have lunch while the guys are out fishing. Maybe you can have some Jeremiah time.”

I love my friends so much. They keep me entertained with their funny hopes. Its Victoria’s turn to pay, so she asks for the check, pays the bill, and we give each other hugs and kisses then go about our business.

While in the car, I glance at my personal phone and notice there are two missed calls from the same number. I pull the piece of paper with Jeremiah’s number that Carmen handed me, and compared the numbers. It’s the same. He has been blowing up my phone. I have the urge to call him back but can’t. It’s not a good idea to get caught up with him. But I do wish I could hear his deep sexy raspy voice. I forgot by briefcase at Elite so I stop by real fast to pick it up. The place is still swamped with clients going in and out and providers trying to catch breathe. I walk in the office, sit there by myself for about thirty minutes before Carmen enters. I could have just picked up my briefcase, but I figured I talk to her for a while before heading back to Baytown.

“Hey. How are things going?”

“Busy. Thank god you hired more ladies. We are super booked.”

“Do I need to hire anymore?”

“No I think we’re good for now. What are your plans for this weekend?”

“My son’s going fishing and my daughter is going to spend a night at her friend’s house so I’ll just relax at home. What about you?”

“It’s Jose and I’s five year anniversary, so we’re going to a resort in Galveston.”

“Well that’s nice.” I dig in my purse, pull out wads of twenties, and give Carmen five hundred dollars.

Surprised, “What’s this for?”

“Consider it a Happy Anniversary gift to you and Jose. You two deserve it.”

Carmen pulls me in for a hug, “Thank you so much.”

“You guys go have fun. Will you be back Monday?”

“Well I figured I finish my schedule for today, and Jose and I will leave tomorrow morning. So Denise will be here Monday before we open.”

“Sounds like a great plan. Do you need me to do anything before I head home?”

“Nope everything is good here. Go home.”

As I’m walking out of the office, I turn around remember something, “Can you please give Amanda an extra fifty dollars per two girl show she did for every hour?”

“Ok. Will do.” She winks and I walk out.

After switching cars, I head back to Baytown. There’s another miss call from Jeremiah but I am not ready to call him back. I pull up to Academy to buy some items for Jordan when he goes fishing tomorrow. I am the over protective mother that has every medical supply possible. I restock up on all the fishing first aid kits; I buy more fishing line, hooks, weights, another life jacket, sunscreen, and flashlight. They usually fish late into the evening so I want to make sure my son can be seen if he was to ever fall in the water. Once I get to my driveway, I take a deep breathe, and call him back.

“Hello Jeremiah Wyatt speaking.”

“Hel. Hello.”

“Yes?”

“Ah. This is Jacquelyn. You called me.”

“Yes I did numerous times. What are you doing?”

“Why?”

“I’m in town for business and I wondered if we can go have lunch or maybe I could stop by?”

“I already had lunch.”

“Well then let me stop by.”

“No I don’t think that’s a good idea. I do not want you knowing where I live.”

“That’s already too late.”

“Excuse me.”

“I’m at the end of your drive way.’

I look in my rear view mirror and Jeremiah is parked at the end of my driveway in this black ginormous vehicle I have never seen before and I don’t even know what the car is called. It looks like a military truck. This is creepy but flattering at the same time. He pulls closer to my house and my heart beats faster as he comes closer. I pull my visor down to check myself in the mirror. Good thing I did. I had a piece of meat in between my teeth.

I get out of my truck while he’s getting out of his Tonka truck. “What the hell. How do you know where I live?”

“I have my ways of finding out information.” He grins. Oh my god he looks so sexy. I want to be mad for him stalking me but it’s so hard with him licking his kissable lips.

“You know in most states, it’s concerned against the law to stalk somebody especially when you follow them to their house?”

“I didn’t follow you. I did my research, found out where you lived, and it’s just a coincidence that my meeting is in Baytown so I decided to stop by.”

“Coincidence? Really? You want me to believe you being here is a coincidence?

“Yes. Why is that so hard to believe?” Jeremiah is mocking me but he does it in such a cute way I want to laugh.

“
What kind of meeting did you have in Baytown? We do not have any big businesses here.”

“Just some meeting.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Well you should.”

“Ok so what are you doing at my house?”

“I wanted to talk about the other day at the hotel.”

“Look you don’t have to explain anything to me. You’re Paula’s regular and we’ll leave it at that ok.”

“No. I stopped seeing Paula. I want you.”

“What? You’re crazy.”

“I can’t stop thinking about you. I can barely work because you’re always on my mind. It’s like you and I were supposed to meet. So here I am.”