Chapter 16

Two weeks have passed so unexpectedly I find myself unable to count the days of being with Jeremy, it seems as if the more I spend time with him the less it dawns on me that I've known him scarcely that much.

He had kept to the promise on that day, two weeks ago, Wednesday to be precise, the day he'd taken me on a date. We'd travelled by his car to one of the most top notch prestigious restaurant; it hadn't been just any other restaurant but an expensive Italian restaurant which had served the most delicious of pastas.

During the date we talked and talked about anything, mostly him filling me in with places he's been to and its habitants and wonders. I'd listened to him with undivided attention, absorbing and drinking in each word he said.

He'd persuaded me to tell him about myself and I'd told him that he already knew everything about me however I knew talking about myself will inevitably reveal the past I didn't want to open up to him just yet.

The rest of the date, Jeremy spent it teasing me, making me wanting him, so when we'd gone back to his penthouse in haste and the second we'd arrived our limbs found themselves tangled together in a heated dance and by the time we'd entered his room I'd already had my first orgasm in that night.

The next day that week, on my free day on Thursday, Jeremy had convinced and insisted I use to the time to go shopping. My reluctance to take the credit card from his hand didn't go unnoticed by him and so he'd called a clothes specialist to assist me with anything I needed and also to make sure I did not walk out of their shops empty handed.

So whilst he was in his office tower attending and running his empire, I was trying to handle all these famous brands of clothing and shoes that at end, I found myself with an entirely new wardrobe of different material of clothing I possible could have never even dreamt of possessing as my own.

Along with his overwhelming wealth came his overwhelming sense of possessive need over me. Whenever he got back from work, he'd instantly drag me to his bedroom saying that I was his source of relief from stress. I'd give into him easily without hesitation.

Because of my free day on Thursdays, I have to go to work Saturdays, the first week Jeremy didn't complain. But somehow this week he isn't having any of it.

"Who works on a Saturday? No one does, absolutely no one." He rants.

"And what sort of waitressing job allows you to work full time every week, what happens if you start school or something?" He continues.

"Jer--"

"No, Leyla, I refuse to let you walk out of that door, today. It's a fucking Saturday."

"Jeremy it's my job, I've only been working there just two weeks, I can't negotiate the arrangement now and besides, I am not going to college yet. I haven't even begun to think of what course I would want to attend."

He runs both of his hands through his hair in exasperation.

"But I had made plans for us today. Pressing plans that can't backfire now."

"What do you want me to do, call to quit the job?" I ask him sarcastically.

"Yes!" His outburst surprises me.

He can't be serious.

"I am absolutely serious." He says as if he's read my mind. "There's no need for you to be working. Leyla please you can live off me."

"Jeremy--" I begin with a displeasing tone but he cuts me off before I can say more.

"No, hear me out. You can go to college under my pay, figure out what you want and when you get your degree you can then start on real employment."

I press my lips together. "Jeremy, I can't live off you. You've only known me two weeks and to be offering something this big, it's ridiculous. I have to have my own independence; I can't depend on you always. Who's to say that our relationship is going to last? What will I do then when you dump me off?"

"The very thought of dumping you off is atrocious to me. I need you too much to rid of you. I understand your reluctance, baby, I really do," he moves closer, his hands reaching for my face.

"But, I also can't stand the thought of you working your butt of for just meaningless money when I can give you a hundred times more than you receive as a waitress. To me, for you to be working right now is pointless."

I swallow the intensity of his fingers burning on my face. I love him, at this moment I really do.

But he doesn't understand the level of my fears.

We met in the very awkward situation and for him to be doing this now, it's as I'll be living up to the very role I first met him by. Even though I know what he's offering is coming from the heart and not just for sex. I can't help feel this way. And who is to say that whatever infatuation he has with me now will die soon enough for him to rid me of.

I'll be then left with not just nothing like I started with at beginning but a broken heart added to that predicament.

"Please." He pleads with me. "Don't go to work."

"Jeremy I cannot do that."

He sighs, "Okay, let's make a deal."

"You'll keep your current job for the next month--"

I begin to protest but he holds his hand out to stop me.

"During the month you'll decide what you want to do at college, and by the end of the month when you've figured it out, you tell me, then you quit your job and I'll make arrangements for you."

I close my eyes, praying inwardly for divine providence to give me strength of handling this impossible man, this impossibly brilliant, stunning and imperative man that I've fallen in love with.

You have to admit what he's offering isn't that bad; he just wants to protect and take care of you. A part of me says.

"So do you accept?" He probes me with his blue grey eyes that are gleaming with hope.

I take a deep breath. "Okay," I accept not just to him but to myself.

Relief washes over his features and he takes me into an embrace.

I let warmth of his arms wrap around me as I press my face into his chest, inhaling his deeply rich scent.

"Why are you doing this?" I find my voice speaking.

"Because I want to."

"That's not a reason." I object.

"Okay, because I want to fulfill your dreams and wishes, and by doing so, I want it to be less of a pain for you. I want you to achieve academically because I know you are capable of it, you're smart, in fact too smart for your age. Leyla sometimes I have to remind myself that you are just only eighteen."

I breathe in a shaky breath.

"I care about you."

His last sentence tears through my ribs, his words are now penetrating through my heart and the intensity of them has me inwardly bleeding from the impact.

I am unaware of my mouth breathing out these words. "You should stop doing this."

His arms slack from our embrace and they move to my face, his hands drawing my face up.

"Doing what?" He asks in confusion.

"This. Making me feel this way."

There's a confusing frown on his face but it's masked by the nervous smile pulling on his lips.

His eyebrows quirk up in question, "Feel what?"

And from his tone I think he knows what I am talking about.

"Making me fall for you, and fall hard in the process." The words splutter out in raspy whisper. Raspy because of the sudden intensity that has shifted our atmosphere. For that while as we both gaze heatedly at each other, time and place ceases to exist.

My words have resulted in his mouth slacking to form an 'O'. His eyes burn for a thousand degrees and his breathing rate has changed.

"You...you are falling for me?" He asks incredulously.

I nod, looking away in shame as I chew on my lower lip.

"Leyla, look at me."

I ignore his words, refusing to.

His hand tilts my chin up forcing my brown eyes to be burned by his blue grey ones.

He kisses me out of the sudden and the kiss is ground-breaking. It consumes my whole being like an earthquake, shifting and changing the very core of my being.

My heart is in cardiac arrest; butterflies are swirling and churning in my stomach, frolicking as if they will splutter out if I don't control this indescribable emotion.

I'm in love him! I've known this man for two weeks and already I've fallen in love with him.

As I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling myself even closer to him, I know that for sure that I will never feel this way about anyone even if it's this is my first love.

***

In the end I end up skipping my Saturday shift just to spend the day with him. Julie called me and I had told her that I will make it up by using my free day the next week.

The plans Jeremy had made for us were simply spending our time together. He first took us to a public park where we had a picnic whilst basking in the sun.

However our time in there had been constantly disturbed by his ever ringing phone and a few people whom recognised him as the rich, philanthropist CEO of The Lawson Group one of the top grossing business companies in the whole of the country.

The people paid their respects, compliments but most who were women were just overly flirty and being blatantly ignorant of me beside him.

Like a good gentle man he is, Jeremy had just gave them brief smiles before paying his full attention to me so that they were forced to acknowledge me and the second they did they started to discreetly back away from us. I was so grateful of his attentiveness that I had practically thrown myself in his arms, giving him a peck on the lips.

He smiles shyly in response and I relish in the way the smile brightens up his features.

"It's my mom's birthday next week on Saturday." He tells me out of the blue.

"Really?" The surprise isn't lost in my tone.

"Yeah, she's having a gathering of family and friends, she wants to meet you."

"Meet me?" The surprise on my tone shifts to horror.

He nods, nervously; his whole face is as if he's trying to make out my reaction.

"You told your mother about me?" I ask.

He bites his lip while he nods. "I didn't exactly tell her forthcoming, she beat me to it. Her very exact word were, 'Jerry, you haven't called or visited me in for two weeks. I know you are hiding a lady in that penthouse of yours. Why don't you bring her for my birthday party? I expect you here with her next week.'"

My eyebrows quirk up suddenly at this revelation.

I am lost for words. "It sounds as if your mother has no knowledge of you ever having girlfriends."

"I know, I don't bring girlfriends to her."

"Why? What about Cassie? I thought you guys were together for a long time."

"Cassie again? When are you going get into your head that it's not Cassie that I want anymore. I told you before that we were over, and what made you think that we were together a long time?"

"You might not want her but from the last encounter she seemed very much into you and you took her on date Jeremy, right after I had left. You haven't given me an explanation why. Plus, when I'd eavesdropped on your conversation back at your hotel, you had said you thought you loved her so I assumed you were with her for long."

I realize how my speech makes me sound like, but I still can't shake Cassie off.

He has a frown marring his face as he regards me.

"Firstly to answer your first question. No, I never took Cassie to my mother, we'd only been together a month and secondly I've made it clear for her that we were done. Thirdly it'd never been a date, it'd been just dinner to finalise the end of our arrangement."

He has lost me. "What do you mean by finalise your arrangement, you sound as if you two being together had been a business deal."

He swallows nervously as he runs a hand through his hair. "Yes. It was sort of a business arrangement."

I frown not completely understanding what he is implying.

"I don't... I don't understand."

He takes a deep cautious breath before he speaks.

"Leyla, Cassie is an escort and a hooker."

"What?" I completely disconnect.

"She is a paid high class hooker and escort." He repeats.

"But...How?"

He twiddles on his thumb which is a un-Jeremy thing to do. He looks as if he's a petulant boy.

He sighs. "I don't do girlfriends--well I never had until you came along--I never liked the thought of being in a relationship and running a successful huge business made sure I never had time for it."

I blink at him, my brain trying to process this information.

"I was never celibate though," he continues. "I am a man with needs after all. So when women offered themselves to me I'd willingly oblige. However, some of them got too attached and I didn't have time for them. So I looked for an easy way to have women who will be presentable enough attend social meetings with me as well sleep with me. There are quite a few businesses that do this, trust me."

I don't know how my face looks at this moment but I am pretty certain my jaw has dropped and I am staring at him in a somewhat look of shock.

"That's where Cassie came along; there were other woman before her however Cassie is the longest escort I've been with. And so in order for them to keep this closed agreement a secret, I made odd papers for them to sign."

I close my opened mouth, my brain still processing the revelation he has thrust upon me.

"So, that's why I had been with her on that day, I'd been trying to convince her to sign off the arrangement. It wasn't a date like you thought."

I'm speechless. I am utterly rendered speechless. I have absolutely no remark nor any comment for what he has just told me.

I watch as he shifts closer to me on the picnic blanket. He takes my hand and starts rubbing circles on my knuckles.

"Say something." He commands.

"I...I don't know what to say."

He purses his lips in thought.

"Why did she cheat on you with Matthew?" I finally ask.

He shrugs, his jaw clenching, "Maybe to get my attention, or maybe she was bored of me, who knows she may have liked the thought of a feud between us because her."

"Oh."

"I don't entirely blame her; Matthew also has reputation of sleeping around with half of the city."

"So she had been with you for money and sex?"

He nods.

"Just like how I met you for the same thing?"

"No. That's different."

"How is it different?"

"Leyla, I told you I had an arrangement with her. You and I didn't. She had been with me for fame and money and so basically she'd been using me just as I used her, it worked both ways. But for you, you are different."

I shake my head. "How can I be? I got on that car with you for money." I look down at the grass.

He takes his other hand to tilt my chin up so that I can look at him.

"And you walked out on me without even a cent. You left me in a tumult of confusion, you left me thinking how being with you was different from being with all those other women. You left me basking in your scent which had been all over my bed sheets as if it were a constant reminder of how much you left a mark on me. You left me with thoughts of how alive you've made me feel for that day as if I hadn't known myself before you came along, as if I hadn't known happiness before. You just wrecked me into pieces only to then rearrange and mould me into something good, something better."

I gasp at his words. My heart lurches suddenly.

"From that day you left I knew had to have you in my life, I knew I would never feel this way with anyone even if tried looking. I knew that I had to find you again because I had to have you to myself. I knew you belonged with me and you gave me something so cherish-able, so beautiful, no one else was to have you but me." He declares.

I am finding it really hard to breathe because my heart is pounding against my chest like there isn't tomorrow for it to keep beating.

"You felt this way after I left?"

He nods. "You were what had been on my mind every second. I couldn't concentrate entirely."

I swallow and lick my now dry lips. I stare at him with a new emotion, a new understanding. It must not be just an infatuation he has with me; it must be something more, something imperceptible and incomprehensible.

Can it be that he must feel for me just as much as I feel for him? Especially right at this moment of time because right now, I am more than just in love with, I am beyond that and I'm scared.

"That's why it's easy for me to shower with everything luxury..." he adds.

"... Because I know that you've been brought up in hard situations and you have lived life in a constant struggle. The very thought of you begging pains me and I find myself angry with your birth mother and the man that owned that fraud foster home. Although I am gratefully of Greta to at least have given you a roof over your lovely head, I had almost lost it when she'd revealed she sold you off to my brother. I couldn't believe the thought. I had to get you out of there before I broke something off her and that would have been ugly."

"I guess what I am trying to say, Leyla, is that I don't want to lose you and I want you sorely under my protection."

"You won't lose me Jeremy. Thank you for telling me this, you sure gave me a lot think about. From now on I will be a lot kind into accepting your gifts in regard of your impeccable need to take care of me." I smile at him and I move my hand to caress his face, my fingers find the subtle of his growing beard and the feeling is rough but soft against my hand.

He grins back at me, as he takes my hand to his lips and kisses my knuckles.

Somehow for some reason that kiss ignites my blood and the mark of the kiss he has left burns on my knuckles.

"Thank you for the regard," he smirks playfully.

"So back to my original question, will you come with me to my mother's birthday next week?"

"As if you need to ask again. Of course I will come. I'd like to meet your mom too." I grin at him.

He grins back as if my grin is infectious.

"You are adorably beautiful, do you know that?" He takes my face on his hands as he pulls me closer for a kiss.

The instant my lips meet his, my blood churns as fire explodes through me. I begin wrapping my arms around his neck and give him access to my mouth as I part my lips.

"Mmm, we should stop this now before we give these innocent people a show they are likely to never forget." I feel his smirk against my lips.

I laugh, the sound muffled and reverberating against his lips "Agreed." I tell him.

"Come, I think that's enough picnic for today." He breaks our kiss as he stands and offers my hand.

I start packing our basket and folding the blanket.

"Where are we going?" I ask him when I let him help me to stand up.

"Some place more private, I need you. Now."

***

Of course his version of a private place is at his hotel, counting that it were the only place near from the park.

We spent an hour there and the next hour with him convincing me to wear one of the expensive cocktail dresses one the staff of the hotel has brought instantly because he had failed to tell me beforehand that he had a charity event to attend to.

So I have now put on the strapless peachy coloured dress that hugs my upper body and from below it leaves floral traces of lace, as if the lace has been cut in spiral pieces and left hanging from waist to below. The spiral piece reveals the front of my legs but