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Alex chuckled. “There are almost three million people in this county. You think I’m the only one to commodify a need as ubiquitous as sex?”

She’d never thought about it. “What, is there like a South Florida Association of Madams?”

“They’re mostly men, so that name will probably have to change,” she joked, “but I’ll bring it up at our monthly meeting.” When her expression turned serious, she continued. “Many of us are aware of each other. We definitely don’t have the same code of ethics.”

Charlotte dropped her papers into her lap and leaned forward. There was still so much for her to learn. “Like what?”

Alex exhaled as she considered the question. “None of my people work more than twice a week. Each person has unconditional veto power over a client. It doesn’t happen often, but once or twice a person has gotten by us that one of my people gets a bad vibe from,” she explained. “Burn out happens quickly, so I have to protect them from that.”

As Alex explained the lengths she went to to care for her employees, Charlotte understood just how much she cared about their well-being. Few things were strictly prohibited, but clients were not allowed to take pictures or videos, and the use of any intoxicants was restricted.

“A lot of clients, mostly the male ones, are interested in S&M and are often curious to explore sex toys,” Alex explained, checking her watch. Eric was due to meet them at four o’clock. Another thing Charlotte learned was that Alex conducted all business within normal business hours. Doing otherwise would draw attention.

“And that’s something you o er? Bondage and stu like that?” Charlotte couldn’t imagine letting a stranger tie her up. The loss of control was unthinkable.

Alex nodded. “Yes, but only if the client wants to be the submissive. There is a massive amount of trust involved in that, and my sta is well-trained and cognizant of the importance of aftercare. I cannot be sure that a client will be as mindful.”

“What about Eric? What does he want?”

“A rather pedestrian interest,” she replied with a smirk, but Charlotte didn’t get the joke. “He has a foot fetish, but his wife is uninterested in engaging it.”

“That’s it? He’s going to pay a butt load of money to touch Leah’s feet?” Feet weren’t particularly her thing, but if her partner wanted to worship them the way Eric wanted to, she couldn’t imagine denying them.

Alex shrugged. “You’d be surprised by the relatively simple things people will pay for, but ours is not to judge. My

only concern with Eric is how repressed he is. It’s the only real red flag to come from the battery of personality tests.”

“Why is that such a big deal? That seems harmless. Not like anger problems or something,” Charlotte asked.

“Guilt,” Alex explained. “Guilt can lead to the uncontainable need to confess. Eric is chockfull of it.”

“I don’t know that I ever thought about what sex work would entail,” Charlotte said as she crossed her legs, “but this isn’t it.”

“It has its own set of challenges and perks,” Alex agreed.

“Have you ever thought about quitting?” Charlotte blurted, suddenly wishing Alex would say yes so she could talk her into closing the whole thing down. “I mean there are easier ways to make money,” she added, trying to soften how abrupt her question sounded.

“Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind already,” she joked.

“No, of course not.” Charlotte sat up straighter. “I’m just asking . . . is the risk worth the reward?” The words echoed and reverberated as if Charlotte had posed the inquiry to herself.

Alex cocked her head to the side. “It’s not always easy,”

she agreed. “But no, I’ve never thought about quitting.”

Stephanie knocked before opening the o ce door.

Trailing behind her as she sliced into the room was an average looking man that appeared younger than his fifty years. Nothing about him was particularly memorable. Just a plain guy with a nice smile and warm hands as he greeted each of them.

Over the course of an hour, they peppered Eric with questions. Unexpectedly, Stephanie did most of the talking.

It was a few minutes before Charlotte realized that they’d designed it that way. Alex’s job was to watch Eric and his body language.

It didn’t take long for Charlotte to agree with Alex’s assessment. Eric was very tightly wound and often embarrassed by Stephanie’s questions. Some of them were blush-inducing but considering Eric was there to pay for sex, he was incredibly uncomfortable. Even handing over his recent medical test results caused a deep flush on every inch of exposed skin.

At various points, Charlotte was convinced that Alex was going to cut the meeting short and thank Eric for his time before politely rejecting him, but she didn’t. As time went on, he relaxed and explained that twelve years of Catholic school made it hard to talk about sex.

Once he managed to explain what he wanted, Charlotte just couldn’t believe that he would pay thousands of dollars just to engage with Leah’s feet. She found herself judging his wife. What he wanted was barely sexual; did she really find it so o ensive?