Hollywood Harlot

Chapter 2

Still feeling a little bit dazed, Bella slid into the backseat of the shiny black town car. She took a deep breath and looked out the window. They were already slowly pulling out from the motel parking lot. Bella suddenly realized she hadn’t even checked with Sara before agreeing to this ridiculous plan. She pulled out her phone to text her and smiled when she saw she already had a message from Sara.

“Saw that you got in the car. Good for you! Enjoy that handsome man and have fun. Don’t worry about the motel- I’ve got you covered. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

Bella texted back, “Thanks! I’ll keep you posted.” She put her phone back in her pocket and looked up with a start.

“What’s wrong?” Jake asked, reaching for her hand again.

Bella looked down at his hand covering hers, and was once again surprised by how calming and natural it felt. She looked at it a few seconds before looking back up and meeting Jake’s gaze with her own.

“I just realized I didn’t grab my wallet or anything!”

Jake smiled, “Anything you need while you are working for me is covered.”

Bella tried not to gasp out loud. What exactly did the man do for a living? And what exactly was he going to be wanting from her in return?

“I think we need to talk about expectations now,” she said.

Jake smiled. “Of course, of course. First of all, thank you again for coming with me. Let me explain the best I can. My little sister is getting married next weekend, and I knew I couldn’t show up for the week without a date. So I hired the agency to send me a girl…” he trailed off when Bella held up her hand to stop him.

“Wait just one second. What do you mean, ‘you couldn’t show up without a date?’”

Jake let go of her hand and sat back in his seat, reaching toward the cup holder on the door for a cold beer. He cracked it open and continued.

“Well, I guess, literally, I could have shown up alone, but it’s so much easier this way, for my mom to think I have a girlfriend and I’m all settled down and such. So I just always bring a date along to any family function to avoid unnecessary questions and drama, but I haven’t been to a family event in quite awhile, over a year, actually.”

Bella nodded, “Okay, I get that. Want to keep your parents off your back, so you pretend you have a girlfriend. But what happened so urgently this morning that you couldn’t wait for the agency’s escort? Like, an actual escort who knows how to be an escort?”

A cloud of pain passed in front of his eyes. “My sister got hurt.”

Instinctively, Bella reached back out to him, gently laying her hand on his shoulder. “Oh, Jake, that’s awful. I’m so sorry. And during her wedding week, too!”

Jake shook his head. “No, it’s my little sister Jordyn who is getting married. My twin, Jess, is the one who got in the accident.”

“Twin?!”

Jake smiled wistfully. “Yes, we are fraternal twins. We were really close as kids, but as we’ve gotten older, we haven’t been able to see each other as much. But that doesn’t change the fact she’s always been my best friend. I need to know that she’s okay.”

Bella nodded. “Of course. So where are we headed?”

“Spring Creek, Vermont.”

Bella gasped again. “Vermont?! That’s got to be a day’s drive away at least!”

The car was speeding down Highway 78, but Bella knew that from the motel in North Carolina, it would take hours to get tok Vermont.

“That’s why we aren’t driving, we’re flying,” Jake said.

“Flying?” Bella was speechless. What exactly had she gotten herself into?

Finally she spoke. “It’s going to be cold in Vermont.”

“It will be, you’re right. But as I said, I’ll get you whatever you need while you’re working for me. And while we are on that topic, I know we didn’t discuss salary. Would $15,000 be okay for the week?”

Bella’s eyes widened, but she didn’t dare speak. $15,000 for one week would be literally life changing for her. It would give her more than enough money to buy a car so she could start scouting out places for her pottery studio. $15,000 would give her the chance to start her life over.

Trying to act cool, she shrugged. “What exactly is it you do for a living?” she asked as casually as she was able.

Jake shifted in his seat, moving a little away from her. “You don’t know me?” he asked, eyebrows raised.

Bella studied his rugged face more closely. There was no denying those bright blue eyes would be memorable if she’d seen them before. His sandy hair was a cross between shaggy and spiky, and left just an overall adorable image. He was completely clean shaven, allowing her to admire his bronze skin, luscious lips, and strong, square jaw line. He had extremely broad shoulders and thick, strong arms, and from what she could see, was overall very fit. She’d definitely have remembered him if she had seen him before.

She shook her head slightly. “I’m sorry, I don’t.”

“Most people do,” he said, his eyes narrowed.

She laughed. He seemed almost offended she had no idea who he was. Bella shrugged. “I guess I’m not most people.”

Jake let his eyes wander slowly up and down her, as if considering her. Bella didn’t feel embarrassed at all. Instead, she felt a slow burning begin deep inside her tummy. A red blush crept up her neck, but it wasn’t from embarrassment.

“I’m starting to see that,” he said simply. Bella looked down. His words pleased her, though she wasn’t sure why.

She punched him playfully on the arm. “Hey! So are you going to tell me who you are, or what?!”

He threw her another lopsided grin. “Or what. I’ve decided I rather like you not knowing for now. Besides, my occupation has no bearing on the week ahead. All you need to know is I am quite successful at what I do and I will spare no expense taking care of your every need this week. So if there’s something you need, or even want, please, don’t hesitate to ask. I can afford it.”

Bella turned to look out her window, trying to decide if it bothered her that he wouldn’t say what his job was or how she may have known him. She decided it didn’t matter. Despite the terrible way they’d first met, he seemed like a decent guy. And he had treated her with nothing but respect since she’d agreed to his proposition. So she decided, like so many other things in her life, to just roll with it and see where this went.

Suddenly, he reached out and gently touched her chin, pulling her gaze back to him.

“I promise, I’m not shady,” he said, “You’re safe with me.”

Pain flashed in her own green eyes, but she doubted he’d notice something like that. She simply nodded, and he stared at her for a solid minute before leaning in and hugging her, wrapping his arms around her tightly and swallowing her in his warm embrace.

It was a surprising move, but once again, she was struck by how good he smelled. And his arms were like rocks, so solid and thick. She wrapped her own arms around his neck and squeezed gently. God, it felt good to be held like that, even if it were just pretend. It had been too long since she’d been in a man’s arms, and it just felt really, really good.

He returned the light squeeze and she allowed herself, just for a millisecond, to bury her face in his neck. He was warm and strong, and she didn’t want to move. But all too soon, she could feel him starting to pull away.

A yearning deep inside her that she had stifled for a very long time began to slowly stir. As always, she intentionally pushed it back down. She would not allow herself to want this man. She would not allow herself to want ANY man.

Bella sat back and looked at him again. “Okay, so what’s our story?”

He raised a single eyebrow at her again. “Story?”

“You know, how we met, why you’re wildly in love with me, how long we’ve been together. All that jazz.”

Jake wrinkled his brow. “Yeah, we don’t need any of that stuff. My mom is always just so relieved I’ve brought a date at all, she never dares to ask questions. Just follow me around, grab my hand a few times, look like the doting girlfriend, and I’ll have you back to your motel before you know it.”

Bella nodded, but was a little surprised he didn’t want anything more than that. What a strange situation she had gotten involved with.

Jake reached out and grabbed her hand again, and it felt tingly where he touched her. “But, Bella, we haven’t discussed the most important rule of this arrangement.”

It was her turn to raise an eyebrow. “And what exactly is that?”

“Play the part, look like I hang the moon for you in front of my family, but don’t fall in love with me for real.”

She gasped, her mouth dropping open.

Bella smirked, “Is that a problem you often have? Women just falling down for you, head over heels in love?”

Jake shrugged. “Kind of.”

Though she laughed quietly out loud, inside, Bella steeled herself yet again, as she always had when her thoughts turned to Dave. Jake didn’t need to worry about her falling in love with him. She’d made a vow to herself to never fall in love again. It only ended in heartbreak, she’d learned that the hard way, and she’d had more than enough heartbreak to last for three lifetimes at least.

“I promise,” she replied, and there was something in the tone she used that he believed her.

***

The town car slowed down when they reached the small airport, and turned down a side driveway, driving right up to the tarmac. Jake opened the door and stepped out, reaching a hand down to Bella as she scooted across the seat and stood up. Yet again, she was amazed by how warm and good his hand felt in hers the second she grabbed his.

“Your chariot awaits, madam!” He announced grandly, gesturing with his free arm toward a plane on the runway just behind him.

Bella’s gaze followed his arm and she frowned.

“It’s so small,” she said quietly.

“What, my private personal jet isn’t big enough for you? I didn’t realize you had such expensive tastes,” he said, somewhat miffed.

She shook her head, “No, no, of course not. That’s not it. It’s just…I thought we’d be flying commercial? In a regular-sized plane?”

Jake frowned. “I learned that it’s much more convenient to have my own source of transportation. Sometimes I get a last minute call and it’s much less stress to call up my pilot than trying to arrange commercial tickets. Not to mention the privacy factor.”

“It’s just…it seems like all the news stories about plane crashes are usually small planes.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “Well, this is the only way we are going to get there, and you work for me, so it’s time to go,” he said, clearly out of patience with her. He turned and marched off toward the small stairway leading up into the Cracker Jack toy plane.

Bella took a deep breath. It hadn’t been her intention to offend him, but she also wasn’t very impressed with his response. When she’d agreed to work for him for the week, he’d never said anything about putting her life at risk riding in a remote control jet. She begrudgingly started walking toward the tiny plane and put her hand on the thin, metal railing at the bottom of the stairs. Unlike Jake’s hand, it was cold and hard to the touch. She shivered slightly and walked up the steps, ducking a little to get inside.

There were only twelve seats in the cabin of the plane where she entered. Jake sat on the right side, already buckled in, looking out the window. He didn’t glance her direction when she entered. After just a moment’s hesitation, she sat down across the aisle from him on the left. She fumbled with the seatbelt, her fingers trembling, but managed to secure it.

“How long is the flight?” she asked nervously.

A woman stepped forward from the back seat and handed her a bottle of water. “It’s about two hours, wheels up to wheels down. My name is Sophia and I’m here to help, if there’s anything you need, please just let me know.”

Bella grabbed the water and clutched it as Sophia sat back down. Almost immediately, the tiny plane turned and began racing down the runway. She grabbed the armrests and squeezed her eyes shut. Once they were airborne, she opened one eye to peek over at Jake. He was sleeping as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Bella noticed that his big frame seemed to fill the entire plane.

With nothing to do, no purse or bag of any kind, or even a magazine, Bella sat there, back straight as an arrow, thinking, for the entire first hour of the flight. Had she been totally crazy to agree to come with this complete stranger for an entire week? What did she know about him, anyway? She had almost decided she had made a terrible mistake when she remembered the desperation in his eyes when he’d asked her to go with him, and the fear and the sadness in his voice when he’d told her about his twin, Jess.

Suddenly, the plane lurched to the right and then dropped what must have been fifty feet but felt like a thousand. Jake sat upright with a start, and Bella clutched the armrests so tightly her knuckles turned white. Big tears started rolling silently down her face as the tiny plane continued to bounce and jerk about like a pinball inside an arcade game. Jake glanced over at her and in one swift motion, he unbuckled his latch, leapt across the tiny aisle to her side of the plane, sat next to Bella, and buckled himself back in.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he soothed her, gently rubbing her arm. He put his other arm around her and squeezed her close, continuously rubbing her arm with his free hand. “It’s just a little turbulence, but we are safe. I’m right here, honey, I’ve got you. I’m not going anywhere.”

Bella nodded almost imperceptibly, unable to talk. Tears continued to roll down her face, but she stopped trembling in his embrace.

“There, there,” he murmured, “You’re okay, we’re okay, everything is going to be okay.”

After a few minutes, the turbulence ended just as quickly as it had begun. Even after they had been flying smoothly for ten whole minutes, Bella still hadn’t released her grip on the armrest, and Jake hadn’t released his arm around her. Finally, she let out a long breath.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Jake squeezed her tightly and then pulled his arm back. He gently wiped the tears from her face with his thumb.

“No, I’m sorry,” he said. “You made it pretty clear you didn’t like flying, but I just ignored you. I’m sorry I didn’t listen better.”

Bella was stunned. She wasn’t used to having a guy truly listen to what she was saying, forget about apologizing for it.

“It’s okay,” she stuttered, still crying.

“Dammit.” He looked out the window across the aisle, then back at her. “Making girls cry is not high on my list of things I like to do. And somehow, making you cry feels even worse. Please, please stop crying.”

“It’s not your fault. And I can’t help it, I can’t stop,” she said shakily, desperately swiping at the tears.

He ran his hand through his hair and cursed again.

“Dammit, Bella,” he said, grabbing her face delicately with his large, strong hands. He held her face gently, using his thumbs to wipe at the last, lingering tears, and inched his face closer to hers.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said, almost as if he were surprised.

She cast her eyes downward as her face was slowly overcome by a bright, red blush. As the seconds passed with no words, she slowly lifted her eyes to meet his gaze again.

“You really are. Beautiful,” he murmured, and then gently released her face from his hands.

“And we’ve landed safely,” he said proudly, pointing out the window. Bella was shocked. She had been so busy getting lost in the moment with him, she hadn’t even realized they were descending. She suddenly understood that had been his plan all along.

Nodding, she stood up. “Then let’s get this adventure started,” she said, sticking her chin in the air just a bit. She wanted to sound braver than she felt.

Jake smiled and grabbed her hand, leading her toward the tiny escape door back to blessed freedom and solid ground.

“Let’s go,” he said. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

Bella nodded as she followed his lead out of the small plane, but deep down inside, she wondered if she’d ever feel ready at all.