Read Online Boyfriend for Hire: A Stand-Alone Contemporary Romance (Escort Files Book 1) by Nina Strych - Free Book Online

said.
    Marion laughed her big, unashamed laugh and said, “My phone was on the table and I was taking a piss. You do the math.”
    “You could have just called me back, you know.”
    A snort came through the line and Marion said, “Abso-fucking-lutely not. Did you sleep with him?”
    “God! No, I haven’t slept with him.”
    “Will you send me a picture?”
    “I am not going to hold up my phone and snap a picture to text you. He’ll know what I’m doing. That’s crass.”
    “You could do it sneaky like. Catch him during the afterglow or something. So, boink him so I can get a picture.”
    Amy watched as two people walked along the moonlit beach, the man’s arm around the woman’s waist and their heads close. She sighed. “I’m not going to do that so you can have a picture.”
    Marion didn’t answer right away. When she spoke, her smart-alecky tone was gone. “Are you okay? Tell me what you’re thinking.”
    Plopping down on the couch, Amy sighed again. How to put it all into words? Well, this was Marion, so it wasn’t like she couldn’t read between every line Amy had ever drawn. “He’s great. Too great. I mean, he’s a hooker, so maybe he’s just really good at his job and a good actor or something, but he seems so…so…”
    “So what?”
    “Nice. He’s considerate, polite, open and incredibly sexy. I mean, he’s like a walking and talking fantasy come to life.”
    “And this is a problem for you how, Amy?”
    Amy ran her hands down the beautifully rough robe provided by the hotel. Like everything else, it was perfect. Too perfect.
    “I paid for him,” she finally said.
    “Yes, yes you did. Which is why you should boink him.”
    Amy shook her head, wishing she could see Marion face to face. She might be full of smart remarks, but she would read the conflict in Amy and know exactly what to do. Marion was sure of everything all the time. But she wasn’t here, which meant Amy had to use her words. That wasn’t so easy.
    “Marion, I like him. I like him a lot.” There, those were the words. Let’s see what her friend would make of those.
    “Oh,” Marion replied, using a single syllable for the first time in a very long time.
    “That’s not encouraging me, Marion.”
    “Yeah, okay, I’m thinking here.” A bit of humming came through the line, and the rustling of Marion pacing her apartment far away. Finally, she said, “I don’t have an answer here, but Amy, you know the deal. This is temporary. It’s supposed to be for you, not for you to hurt yourself with. Do you like him too much to keep perspective?”
    “Perspective is just not going to be my friend,” Amy said truthfully. “I can remind myself after the fact, but when I’m near him, all I see is him.”
    “Damn, that’s bad,” Marion said. “I’m so sorry, hun. What can I do?”
    “Nothing. What could you do? I just needed to tell you because I knew you would understand.”
    “Are you going to come home? Call it off? Maybe ask for a replacement or something?”
    Amy slouched further down on the couch so that the couple was no longer in sight. They’d stopped on the beach and were kissing, which is the last thing Amy needed to see. She looked up at the ceiling and thought about her answer.
    “No, I’m not going to do any of that. This place is beautiful and I’ve never seen anything like it. I do feel some of the stress going away, even though this other thing is stressing me out too. And I think Mike is having fun. He’s great to hang around with. He has a way of getting me to do stuff that I really want to do, but wouldn’t on my own. And he’s fun to talk to. Did you know he knows the names of fish? I mean, like the real names, the Latin ones. Not all of them, but some of them…” She trailed off, realizing she sounded like she did when she first started dating someone she really liked.
    “This is bad,” Marion said.
    “Yeah,” Amy agreed.
    “Wait, I thought his name was Blake or Blaze or