weekends. Not that I don't want to, I can't. That's it. Also, we meet when I have time. I'm a very rich man, Reese, and I can take you places and buy you things. We can have fun together. I like you very much, but don't waste your time trying to get me to 'love' you. It won't happen. You might come to mean a lot to me, but we aren't riding off into the sunset. I'm sorry. I can provide you with an apartment if you like, and I have no problem giving you things. Don't be offended because I am not trying to offend you. You are very beautiful and deserve a wealthy man like myself taking care of you.”
Shocked, Reese simply stared at him. Was he serious? Admittedly, she wanted him. She was extremely attracted to him, and some of what he said appealed to her, but this was too much to ask of any woman.
“What the hell do you think I am? A fucking whore? A paid mistress? Do you think I will sleep with you for your money? I don’t need you or your damn money. I have a good job, a great place to live. I don’t need you to ‘take care of me’. This isn’t 1950. I have degrees, I am educated and not your fucking Barbie doll!” Suddenly, Reese felt an indignant fury rise up inside her.
Harrison relaxed his hold on her arms. “Look, take it or leave it. It is what it is. I can’t change my life. I am a family man. That’s what my family expects. I like you very much and want to be with you, but that’s it. You play my way, or you don’t.” Harrison picked up his wallet, keys, and his phone.
“Give it some time. Get back to me when you are ready.” Harrison bent to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. “It was fun, baby.”
Fuming, Reese threw her shoe across the room. Fuck him! She was no one’s mistress! She didn’t need him. She pulled her clothes on and left the hotel.
Chapter 4
Autumn’s arrival had been accompanied by changing leaves and cool winds. Reese had thought of Harrison more times than she could count. When she had laid in bed at night, she had felt his heated breath on her neck, his warm strong hands on her flesh, his fingers slipping into her panties. Then she had grabbed her phone and had thought of reaching out to him. What harm would this affair do? It didn’t have to be forever. Just for fun. Maybe she could travel to places she’d always wanted to go like Tahiti or Paris. Reese had looked him up online and had done a bit of research on him. She had discovered he had no Facebook or Twitter accounts. Through a Google search, she had uncovered his wife’s name, Lisa. She had a Facebook profile that showed pictures of Harrison with his her and their children. They had two beautiful daughters, who were school-aged and looked just like him. Lisa, while not unattractive, was plain and ordinary. She had lank dark-brown shoulder-length hair, dull brown eyes and was very tall and slim. Most of all, Reese had noticed Lisa was completely flat chested. An odd choice for Harrison, Reese had thought, since he seemed to prefer busty, petite women. Reese had hated looking him up online. It had made her feel like a stalker, but she had needed to know more about who he was and who his wife was. Reese had also found a photo of their home. Harrison hadn’t been lying about his money; that was for sure. He lived on Astor Street on the Gold Coast, and drove an Aston Martin One-77.
Reese had thought of her family and what they would think if they knew she had been thinking about becoming this guy’s mistress. Reese had grown up more middle class with conservative, religious values. Her mother had been a nurse and her father had worked for a defense contractor. She had enjoyed comfortable but more modest homes in her childhood than Harrison. She and her siblings had attended private, religious schools until they had reached high school and her family had moved to Laguna Beach.
She had been brought up in a Protestant church, and her grandfather had been a Baptist minister. Unlike Harrison, she had been raised to