Page 10 of The Intimacy of Skin

The door opened with a creak, revealing Price standing on the other side.

He was dressed more casually than I was expecting, wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

His sleeves were long but rolled up past his elbows, the tattoos I’d noticed before making an appearance.

They were easier to see in broad daylight.

One arm had indecisive black and gray designs ranging from genre to genre, with barely any space between them.

The other had more color and seemed to have a concrete theme between each work of art.

I could tell there were some I couldn’t see, leading past the bend of his arm.

I wondered where the ink ended, or if it kept going, curling around the entirety of his body.

That tantalizing image sparked something inside of me it shouldn’t have .

“Do you have any?” Price’s deep voice startled me enough that I jumped a bit.

“Any what?”

He flexed his arm, a slight smile on his lips as he held the door open. “Tattoos.”

I shrugged and tried to walk to the door, hoping he’d move out of the way. Of course, he didn’t. Just stood there, all big and muscly and pretentious. “One.”

“Where at?”

I rolled my eyes and stepped back, putting enough distance between us so I could breathe a bit easier. Price smelled way too fucking good. “My ankle. Willow and I have matching bunny faces from when we turned eighteen. You gonna let me in, Prince Charming?”

The door screamed and groaned as he pulled it further back and moved to the side.

“I thought you’d never ask, Pretty Boy.” He finally decided to grant me entrance to my potential workplace as if he weren’t the one asking me to be there.

“A bunny face. I didn’t notice it before, but I guess I wasn’t looking at your ankles very closely. It suits you.”

Any other time, and I’d think his smirk was cute. Right now, it only pissed me off. “Ha ha, very funny. Where are we going?”

We walked down the hallway, passing door after door. “That is Brandt’s office. Don’t go in there. Employee bathrooms, my office, kitchen entrance…”

The tour was short and to the point, much like the layout of the restaurant itself. With how little elbow room there was, I wondered if any fights broke out purely from frustration or bumping into each other.

We stopped back at Price’s office. I watched in slightly anxious silence as Price sat at his desk opposite the chair I sat in, pulling out paperwork and typing on his computer.

His desk was oddly clean, going as far as having clear organizers with colorful labels for each drawer.

I counted seven different types of pens, highlighters, and colorful Post-it notes. Price seemed to like colors.

Just by looking at him, I couldn’t tell how old he was.

I knew he had to be older than me, but surely not old enough to justify his groan when he leaned back in his chair.

“Okay, I just need your ID and social for today. When you come in next, I’ll have some paperwork for you to sign.

You’ll be paid fairly, even though we’ll only be getting the lay of the land for a few days. ”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “I thought this was an interview.”

“Do you want me to interview you?” It sounded flirtier than it should’ve. Was that on purpose?

“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? You don’t even know me. I could be the laziest worker you’ve ever met. Don’t even get me started on my work history.” I was being snarky. I didn’t know why, but I felt like I had to be.

“I know you, Crew.” Bullshit. “Maybe not your whole life story, or your work history, but I know enough. From what I overheard during your and Willow’s conversation, you’ve been doing sex work for a long time. Right?”

I calculated the math in my head. “Around eight years.” The number always shocked me the higher it went. Time moved slower these days, it seemed.

The pen in his hand tapped against the table, his hand shaking back-and-forth absentmindedly.

“Exactly.” He pointed the ink end towards me, the cap still on.

“That kind of work isn’t easy. To depend on it for as long as you have, I know you aren’t lazy.

I can also deduce that you have great customer service skills, even though that shouldn’t be needed in this position.

You work hard and you value good work.” The amber of his eyes caught just right in the light, sending flames my way.

“The only thing I may have to worry about is your temper and smart mouth if our last meeting has anything to show.”

Despite the ending bit, that might have been the first time anyone had ever thought of my work in that way. Most would turn me away because of my lack of job history, or because they heard what I did through the grapevine. I didn’t want to show my shock, so I tried anger instead.

Price may have said the nicest thing anyone besides Willow or Mom said to me.

He may have just upended my view of myself.

I still refused to let it show. Refused to give him more weaknesses than I already had.

“You had no right to insert yourself into our private conversation that day. Let it be known that I’m still utterly pissed with you. ”

“Sure, that’s fine. I like to think it was a happy coincidence. I can’t say I wasn’t completely shell-shocked to see you, though. I thought I was crazy.”

I laughed. “I think you did go crazy. You could’ve left me the fuck alone like I asked, yet you decided to offer me a job in front of my very easily swayed best friend.”

Price looked very pleased with himself, smiling wider as I went on.

“What can I say, Pretty Boy? You truly are exquisite. I couldn’t stay away.

In all honesty, I needed someone to help out.

With how passionately you and Willow were talking, I assume this has been a discussion you’ve gone through a few times? ”

“You’d be correct.” I sighed. “I don’t want to give up what I do. You need to be aware of that. I’m only doing this to make Willow feel better, and that’s it. I’m willing to work with you for three months tops if you don’t annoy me too much.”

The black pen twirled between his fingers as he thought. They caught my eye, bringing me back to when I could feel them on me. When he held me so gently in his hands. “Six and you don’t do any work for the entirety of it.”

Was he trying to negotiate? “That’s fucking rich.” I scoffed.

“I’ll pay four above minimum wage, give you flexible hours, and you can say you really gave it your best. Seriously, I need the help. It doesn’t hurt that you need help staying in Willow’s good graces.”

Incredulous. Absolutely incredulous. I didn’t even want to know what my face looked like. “I’m not quitting sex work for six whole months, Price.” Look at me using the nicer term. Willow would be so proud.

Price shrugged and moved his mouse over the exit button on the open tab he’d pulled up. “Then we don’t have a deal, and you have to tell Willow that. What a shame.”

He was threatening me with the impending disappointment of my best friend. I gave him my best glare, hoping he could see just how pissed I was.

“You can’t think you can do both and make Willow happy. That would just be ignorant.” The indifferent look on his face made me want to punch it. Just once.

“Look who’s calling who stupid now.”

Price opened his phone, typing on it before turning the screen towards me. “No, I called you ignorant. Google exists, Crew, use it.” The definition was pulled up on his Google search, staring me right in the face.

Just one fucking punch. “You cannot buy me for a night and then rope me into a six-month deal with a threat on my friendship.”

“I thought that was what I was doing right now.”

“What happened to that nice guy savior shit?”

“I never said I was a nice guy or a savior.”

Goddamn the flames in his eyes, calling me by name. Damn his soft, gentle hands and beautiful fucking face. Curse the way I wanted to be around him. “You’re an asshole.”

When he smiled, that single dimple on his cheek came through, and I had to hold myself in my seat to not fall over. “Glad we could get that out of the way.” He set the ink pen to the side. “Do we have a deal?”

“If I can’t do sex work, then you can’t go out picking up men either.”

He shrugged. “No problem.”

Right then, I knew why I shouldn’t have agreed to meet with him.

Hope sparkled in the flames of his amber eyes, bright and proud despite the shitty office lighting.

I should’ve said no. I had every intention of doing so, too.

Price was nothing like any client I’d ever slept with.

He was persistent, captivating, gorgeous, and gentle in his touch, down to the way he typed on his keyboard.

Without meaning to, I’d started to lean forward in my seat, silently gravitating closer to him.

“Fine. What kind of shit are you going to have me do, anyway?”

As long as he didn’t touch me, I’d be okay. If he touched me, I knew I’d break.