Hired To Love

Chapter Four

Bennett

Hook, line, and sinker.

The moment I made my offer and saw Henley's face go blank I knew I'd won her over. Money could buy anything, after all.

"So what are the terms?" she asked and I found myself grinning widely.

"Let's discuss them, shall we?" I suggested. I unlocked my phone, pulling up the agreement I'd constructed over the week.

Sebastian stood up from the table, deciding to give us some privacy. He went over to the counter to keep the other girl company as she stared wistfully over at us, obviously curious, but not wanting to invade our privacy. 

Henley watched me warily and I could almost see the inner struggle she was having. While I didn't blame her for having trouble agreeing to this, I didn't see as much wrong with it as she did. We were using each other. It's how all business deals worked.

"Don't you think ten grand is a bit much?" she asked.

"Not at all," I responded truthfully. If I was completely honest, I doubt I'd even notice the money missing from my account. Not wanting to be too immodest, I kept that little tidbit to myself.

Henley let out a little laugh that sounded more like a sigh. "Alright..."

"I have the basics laid out here," I started, setting my phone down on the table and pushing it over to her. "Read through it and let me know if you'd like to change something."

She pushed a lock of her blonde hair out of her face, inspecting my phone. "You wrote up an agreement?"

"This is a business deal," I reiterated. "We might as well do it the right way. I've outlined what we will have to do together. We'll be seeing each other multiple times per week. I want to be as convincing as possible. All monetary needs will be handled by me, i.e meals, travel, attire."

Her head snapped back up. "Attire?"

I nodded. "I will purchase the required attire for you."

"Um, what's wrong with my clothes?"

"If you have dresses, I'll check them out, but if I don't find them suitable I will buy you something else."

Her expression became defensive and I fought a smile. I figured it would be like that. Why people had such a problem with other people buying them stuff, I had no idea. "What? Do I not look rich enough to be with you?" she said sarcastically.

"Yes," I answered because it was the truth. Then before she could speak I added, "I'm not trying to offend you, but we need to fool my mother into thinking you're of a higher class. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with you, Henley. As you said I know nothing about you. However, I do know my mom and she won't hesitate to stick her nose into our business if she doesn't believe you make a good figure a year."

Henley pursed her lips together, looking a little embarrassed. I didn't know why she felt embarrassed. "I don't know."

Was she planning on changing her mind again? "We won't have to interact with my mother often." I planned to keep that very limited. Even I didn't want to interact with my mother often.

"If I have to, I'll buy my own things," she told me.

I frowned a little. "I'm sure you don't have the money to waste, so don't worry about it."

Her cheeks became tinged with pink. "If you're going to make comments about how poor I am, I'm not going to go through with this. It's not like I'm homeless and starving."