CHLOE

“I don’t know how the hell I let you talk me into this,” I said into my cell phone to my best friend, Jane.

“You didn’t exactly need much persuasion when you heard that one week’s work would bag you a hundred thousand dollars,” Jane reminded me. “And it’s barely even work.”

“I know, but when I agreed to it, it was just an idea. Now it’s real and I actually have to go through with it,” I said.

“Ok, Chloe, breathe,” Jane said. “Remember what I said? All the guy wants is a pretend fiancé in public so his family stay off his back and his old grandmother thinks he’s found the one and can die happy. That’s it. He’s not the sort of person who needs to pay for sex. Honest, he’s smoking hot, just your type. You’re basically going to have a nice week in a nice hotel with good food and decent people. And you get paid for it.”

“You’re starting to sound like you regret offering me the job,” I said with a soft laugh.

“Girl I would take your hand off for this one, but you would never handle the other client. He’s … messier shall we say,” Jane said. “Now I have to go. Remember, you’re just playing a part like an actress.”

Jane ended the call before I could say anything else. I knew she was right, but I was still so nervous. I blamed the wine we drank the other night, three bottles of the stuff between the two of us, for me saying yes to this. I was always the straight-laced girl that played by the rules. I wasn’t the sort of girl who dated for money. But Jane made being an escort sound pretty glamorous and if this deal was half as sweet as she had led me to believe it would be then I was all good. For years I had craved being able to drop the miss perfect persona and just be me. Maybe this was my chance to make it happen.

I checked my watch. Five minutes until we were due to meet. This moment was my last chance to back out of this if that’s what I was going to do. But I wasn’t going anywhere, and I knew it. One week, one hundred thousand dollars, no strings, and no sex stuff? I would have to be mad not to do it. And there was no law to say I had to use the word escort, right?

“Miss Roberts?” a deep male voice said from behind me.

I took a deep, calming breath and turned around and forced myself to smile despite my disappointment. The man behind me must have been almost sixty and although he looked clean and well groomed, he was nothing like my type at all.

And then I could see why this guy was paying for company. Not, as Jane told me because he wanted no strings and no mess, but because this guy would struggle to find a twenty-five-year fiancé that he wasn’t paying. I felt as though I could already hear the judgement in his family’s voices when I was introduced to them. He might as well just say this is Chloe, my gold digger.

“That’s me,” I said, hoping I sounded happier than I felt.

“Please come with me,” he said, returning my smile. “Your plane is almost ready for take-off. We just need to get your luggage loaded and you seated.”

I followed him, pulling my suitcase behind me. He slowed down slightly and took my suitcase from me and then he fell into step beside me. I forced myself to keep looking straight ahead, not wanting him to catch me giving him the side eye and coming up disappointed.

“Edward?” a shrill female voice called from behind us. He stopped walking.

“Sorry, please excuse me,” he said.

Unsure what to do, I stopped and waited for him.

“When you have finished helping Miss Roberts, could you please go up to the second-floor lounge and take Mr. WilBobs’ daughter to runway three,” the woman asked.

“Sure,” he said and then we were walking again, and I felt a flicker of relief inside of me.

“You work for the airport?” I asked.

“Of course,” Edward smiled. “Why else would I be escorting you to your plane?”

Why else indeed I thought. I wasn’t about to admit I had no idea what the man I was meeting looked like and I had momentarily thought it was him. I thought quickly.

“I thought a member of the crew would come for me,” I lied.

“Oh no, they will be doing all of their safety checks at this point,” Edward said.

We reached a door which Edward pulled open and gestured for me to step through. I thanked him and I found myself outside. The client’s private plane sat gleaming merely meters away.

“You can board whenever you are ready Ms. Roberts. I’ll put your luggage in the hold. Would you prefer to keep your purse?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you,” I said.

I walked to the plane on slightly unsteady legs. I told myself to calm down. There was still every chance Jane hadn’t lied to me and this guy was hot. And if she had lied, I was just going to think of the money and smile and get on with it, just like I had when I had thought I was about to be seen as the latest gold digger in someone’s family.

I climbed the steps to the plane and a flight attendant dressed in a crisp looking navy skirt and blazer over a white blouse smiled widely at me.

“Hi,” I said.

“Good morning,” she replied. “Welcome aboard. Mr. Paulman is waiting for you on the right. Enjoy your flight.”

I kept my smile frozen in place, but I felt anything but happy. But no. I knew I was being paranoid. It couldn’t be him … could it? But it was. As I stepped into the aisle, he stood up, his dark brown eyes blazing as he looked at me in undisguised anger.

“What the fuck are you doing here Chloe?” he demanded.

ATLAS

This had to be a fucking joke. When I had told

Jane I wanted a professional for this week, I had meant it. And I was paying enough for the week to ensure that’s what I should have gotten. If I had wanted an amateur, I would have pulled some girl in a club. But I wanted someone who would play their role without any fuss. And while I had no intention of having sex with the woman, part of the act would be us sharing a hotel room. And I couldn’t see Chloe being any happier with that arrangement than I was.

I looked at Chloe, waiting for some sort of explanation, but she just stood there mute looking back at me. I couldn’t help but notice that she was pretty. She had full red lips and full cheeks that made me want to reach out and touch them. Her little nose was a tiny bit too small for her face, but rather than spoil her looks, it added a slight vulnerability to her features that I liked. Her long, straight hair shone, the dark brown color of it making her green eyes stand out.

And her body. What could I say about her body? She had large breasts and curvy hips, the sort of hour glass figure a lot of women would kill for. I couldn’t help but imagine my hands on those hips, her breasts in my mouth. She was dressed casually – jeans, flat black shoes, and a black t shirt – but that didn’t make her look any less fuckable.

I cleared my throat, pushing the image away. It didn’t matter how good this woman looked, there was no way I could spend a full week with her. She had always rubbed me up the wrong way. She was sarcastic and abrasive, always as cold as ice, and I got the impression she went out of her way to be cold to people on purpose. I could imagine her being some sort of trophy wife, the high maintenance type who pride themselves on being high maintenance and that wasn’t something I found even remotely attractive.

“Well?” I demanded, when it became clear to me that Chloe wasn’t going to answer my question without further prompting. “What are you doing here? I wanted a professional.”

Chloe held her head up high and smiled at me, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“I am a professional,” she said. “See my old boss was a complete wanker and he fired me so I had to find a new job quickly. And here we are.”

“Yeah, this isn’t going to work,” I said.

Chloe came towards me, some of the casual arrogance gone from her face.

“Look, I need the money, ok? And you need someone who can pretend to like you for a week. Who better than someone who’s been doing exactly that for years at work,” she said.

“But Chloe, you were bad at it,” I pointed out. “You think I don’t know you didn’t like me?”

“No, but you have no idea how much I dislike you. And that was me just doing enough to not openly despise you. It’ll be different if I’m actually trying,” she said.

“I don’t think …” I started.

“Five minutes until take off,” a voice said from behind me.

One of the cabin crew was approaching us. As she neared us, Chloe reached out and picked a piece of imaginary fluff from my shoulder, a strangely intimate gesture. I was about to demand to know what she was doing when she smiled, and this time, the smile lit up her whole face and made her eyes sparkle.

“I can’t wait to meet your family,” Chloe said. She clapped her hands in supposed joy. “Especially your sister. I never had a sister, and it will be nice to almost have one. And if she’s anything like you, I just know I’m going to love her.” The cabin crew member stopped beside Chloe and smiled.

“Would you like to get seated?” she said.

“Sure,” Chloe said. She looked down at me. “Are you moving over or am I taking the window seat?”

“There are like twelve other seats,” I pointed out.

“Yes, but none of those are next to you,” she said. She rolled her eyes and smiled at the cabin crew member. “Honestly. Who said romance is dead huh?”

“Ah but he’s cute so that makes up for it,” the cabin crew member laughed back.

I rolled my eyes and moved over. Chloe sat down beside me and fastened her seat belt and then she took my hand in hers and absently rubbed her thumb over the back of my hand. I tried to ignore the way her hand felt in mine, the way my skin tingled where it touched hers. Shit. Maybe she was a professional after all.

“My name is Stacy,” the cabin crew member said. “Once we’re in the air, if you need anything, just let me know. Otherwise, your meal and drinks will be served approximately twenty minutes after take-off. Is that ok?”

I nodded my head and she moved away, and I pulled my hand away from Chloe’s.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Call it an audition,” she said. “And don’t tell me it didn’t work, because even you were buying it at one point when you told me there were other seats, not demanded I get off the plane.”

I sighed. She had a point. She had drawn me into the role she was playing, and she had more than fooled Stacy. But could she keep it up all week? I had very little choice but to let her try it. It was Chloe or no one at this point.

“Fine. The job is yours. But one fuck up Chloe, one person who suspects it’s all a sham, and that’s your fee gone,” he said.

Chloe considered this for a moment.

“Your grandmother,” she said finally.

“What about her?” I said.

“If your grandmother suspects this is a sham, then you don’t pay me. She’s the one you care about and if I agree to just anyone suspecting something, all you have to do is come clean to a trusted friend and have them doubt us and boom, my pay is gone,” she said.

I smiled despite myself.

“I like the way you’re thinking Chloe. Maybe this can work after all. You’re on,” I said.

I held my hand out and Chloe shook it and again, I ignored the tingling sensation where our palms touched. It looked like we were about to do this for better or for worse.