Chapter Text
Keep me in the dark
Then fast-forward to the part
With endless nights and neon lights
I'll be beautiful and starry-eyed
— Over - CHVRCHES
Carina DeLuca wasn't the type of woman that would search for private services in order to find company, yet this wasn't a normal situation. She had had it! Her friends and colleagues wouldn't leave her alone.
"Why don't you date anyone, Carina?"
"The guy from Images is dying to take you out on a date, and he is cute!"
"Spending all day with your eyes fixated on that computer is not doing any good to you."
And her favorite, the one she had casually overheard too many times. "At least when she was with Maya, she was fun."
Yes, according to everyone she knew, she had become the lonely, sad Italian that they all tried to find a hookup for, when all she wanted was to focus on the continuation of her pain relieve study and mourn her relationship, because—even when she didn't say it aloud—she was still very much in love with her ex-wife.
The worst part was that she had run out of excuses to show up stag at every event she was invited to, and the Grey Sloan Memorial Fundraiser Gala was in exactly two months. She needed a date, and she needed one now!
That afternoon, she debated whether or not to download Tinder and try her luck. But the idea that she might find one of her colleagues' profiles or, worse yet, that they would find hers, quickly discouraged her. But as she was leaving the hospital, she stepped into the elevator and found herself in the middle of a very interesting conversation.
"A companion?" One of the two men riding the elevator with her asked.
"Yes," the other one replied. He had noticed Carina was wearing her earbuds and didn't think she was listening. "It's like an escort."
And that word was the one that turned her whole situation around. She quickly paid more attention.
"And you hire them? Isn't that illegal?" The first man asked, he was amazed by the information his friend was sharing with him, as well as Carina.
"Yes, you hire them, but to be your date, there is nothing illegal about that. The only illegal thing would be nailing them."
"But isn't that why you hire them, to… you know, have sex?"
"No, they are not hookers," the younger man clarified. "You have to go to a companion company, a legitimate one. I promise you, they are very professional," he said, half smiling at Carina. She had casually stared at him as he talked. "Look on the internet for Serenity Elite Professional Services", he recommended his friend, the Italian hurried to open her Notes app and wrote it down. "They are the best in Seattle, and they are not that expensive."
At that moment, the elevator opened on the first floor and Carina walked out at a fast pace towards her car. Was this a good solution, she needed to find out.
When she arrived at home, she changed into a pair of flannel pants and a soft light sweater to keep warm—it had started snowing in Seattle and she never quite got accustomed to the cold weather—she served herself a glass of red wine, sat right by the window of her 24th floor penthouse and opened her computer.
Serenity Elite Professional Services
Carina typed in the search bar and was surprised by the elegance of the webpage. The description outlined all the details that the man in the elevator had told his friend. The company promised confidentiality, discretion, it was exclusively for special events, and no sexual relations were permitted. They didn't have a catalog of the available professionals that their company offered, but they did have a phone number to make the first contact and ask for more information 24/7. The Italian, convinced that the service was legit enough, decided to call.
"Serenity Elite Professional Services, how can I help you?"
"Hello, I'm looking to hire you for an event taking place in about eight weeks. I would like to know the rates and also availability?"
"Of course, may I know the name of the gentleman requiring the services?" The woman that answered asked.
"Oh, no, no. I would be the one hiring."
"Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am, we do not offer our service to women," she informed her.
"Excuse me?" Carina asked, confused.
"We don’t have male companions, ma'am."
"Oh, that's okay. I could hire a woman, it's no problem," Carina replied. She actually preferred another female. She just wouldn't feel comfortable with a strange man by her side.
"May I ask what your intention is? " The woman asked, Carina was taken aback.
"Intention?"
"Yes, are you taking our companion as a friend?"
"No, I would be taking her as my date," Carina made clear, but she started to feel strange by the conversation, as well as for the tone the woman was starting to use.
"Then, I'm sorry to inform you that we do not offer those types of services."
"What? What type?"
"We are a very professional and serious Christian business. We cannot help you," the woman said and proceeded to hang up.
"Hello? What just happened?" Carina said looking back at her phone screen. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. This was an escort business, what the hell did God have to do with that. She was furious. "Unbelievable!"
Obfuscated for having wasted time thinking about this great idea, she leaned back, watching through the window the thin snow falling gently over the city. All the buildings and the streets had started looking white and she hated it. When she and Maya were married, they used to take advantage of the cold nights to curl up in front of the fireplace while they listened to music and laughed at the crazy things they came up with. She now looked around her apartment, it was a much bigger and comfortable place than the one she shared with her ex-wife, but also much colder. Her vagina art was on the walls, but her pasta and the bundles of garlic and dried herbs didn't hang in the kitchen anymore, her loneliness completely dulled the place.
Carina wanted to say: to the hell with it and go to the event alone. She felt humiliated by the situation she had been forced into, but when she was about to close the browser window, she noticed an ad flashing in the bottom bar. It was one of those automatic ones that simply said:
Looking for company? Click here.
Without thinking twice, Carina clicked on the ad, and it took her to a forum. Nothing too strange or shady. There was a welcome text explaining the forum's intentions and the topics of conversation.
Welcome to Life Road, an online community for kindred spirits seeking genuine connections and heartfelt companionship. If you are looking to share your feelings and passions in a healthy environment, this is the place. We encourage our members to engage in meaningful conversations, creating lasting connections, spreading positivity, and forging friendships that could last a lifetime.
It sounded like a movie of the week, a Lifetime romantic movie to be precise. She even remembered the old internet forums from when she was in high school, where she met some online friends who she eventually lost track of. But this wasn't what she was looking for.
Hello, welcome to Life Road. Can I assist you?
A little window popped in from the bottom of her screen, it had a field to write, like a chat. She thought it was an automatic bot and didn't really mind it, until it started asking more questions.
Interested in making friends or are you looking for company?
Carina was curious but did not dare to answer yet.
Are you shy? Or simply not interested?
Somehow, the sudden conversation became amusing.
Not interested, Carina typed, curious to know what this bot would say after her rejection.
In friendship?
In anything. Sorry. I was looking for something else, Carina replied.
What were you looking for? Maybe I can help you.
You are a bot. You can't help me, she typed.
This was a very intuitive AI, but it was still just a program, or was it?
I'm sorry for the confusion, but I'm a real person. My name is at the top of the chat. I'm Becky and I help our visitors find meaningful connections.
Carina looked at the bar and, in fact, there was Becky's name with a quick welcome message that she hadn't noticed before.
Who works at 8 p.m. on a website? Carina responded.
Usually this is the time we get more visitors. But let's not change the subject. What were you looking for?
Carina huffed a little laughter. Did it matter if she confessed her intentions? It's not like Becky could find out who she was, and she wasn't planning on doing anything better with her time.
I'm looking for a companion for a work event, she wrote, quickly pressing Enter not to regret writing back.
Well, I can actually help you with that. Here at Life Road we have a specialized group of professional companions. What is your preference? Women or men?
"What?" Carina said looking back at the forum. The service was not present in any of the descriptions. Maybe she was in luck or was it some kind of scam?
Hello? Are you still there?
I'm interested in women, Carina replied. She didn't realize that she had taken her time thinking whether this was a good idea or not.
Okay. I'm assuming you are over 18 years old. Can I have confirmation of your age?
I rather not say my age, Carina abstained from answering.
That's okay. Can you just confirm that you are an adult?
Yes.
Well, our team of professionals at Life Road maintain a legal service, which means that they do not engage in sex as part of the contract with our clients, they offer an exclusive companionship service. Whether it is for business or a personal event we specialize in giving you the best experience.
It sounded just too good to be true that she could find exactly what she was looking for in the chat box of a forum.
I'm sorry, can I ask you something?
Absolutely, go ahead.
I don't want to put your professionalism into question, but why do you offer your services in this manner? Why isn't it made clear on your website? If you hadn't written to me directly, I would have never known you offered these services. And, no offense, but it seems kind of... shady?
Would you like to start an audio chat? I can explain our policies better and if you have questions I can answer them faster.
A call, sure, why not? It was through the computer, it's not like she was going to find out her phone number. Carina accepted and the answering button quickly showed on the chat.
"Hi?"
"Hello, I'm Becky. I'm part of the support team for Life Road," a young woman said. "Right now, it's not necessary for you to tell me your name, in fact, we encourage our clients to remain anonymous at this stage."
"Alright."
"You asked me why we don't promote our services on the website, right?"
"Yes."
"Let me explain. The great majority of our visitors are only looking for a casual conversation. Some have formed friendships and they come directly to the site or from a search engine. But about 2% of them, in this case you, come here by clicking on the ads we promote on other sites."
"You mean you contacted me because I came from the Serenity website?" Carina asked. "How did you know I clicked on the ad?"
"The ads have a tracking code, and we can monitor them live so we know from which website you came from," Becky explained." We know that Serenity offers the same services that we do, but they do not serve all in a fair and equal manner."
"Isn't what you are doing unfair competition?" Carina asked, still thinking this was a sneaky way of getting clients.
"Did they offer their services to you?"
Interesting. How can they be unfair when their competitors weren't really competing?
"The sites we target have the tendency to discriminate against certain customers, we don't. Our group of professionals is very open to all ethnicities and sexual preferences."
"Well, I have to say that I'm still not convinced, Becky. Maybe this just wasn't the best idea."
"How about if I tell you how we operate and then you can decide if you are interested."
"Okay," Carina said, giving it a final chance.
"Our services are very exclusive, and our motto is discretion. We cater to the type of clientele that like their privacy. This means that our professionals need to camouflage in your life as if they were a part of it. We do not have an online catalog or openly offer our services because, first of all, not all will be able to cost it, and most importantly, our professionals also need their privacy and security. In fact, in order to be able to access an interview with one of our professionals there are some rules and agreements you should follow."
"And what are these rules," Carina asked, curious.
"Before hiring our services, you need to take a quick online quiz. This will help us match you with the best professional. After that, they will reach out to you and send you a copy of their personal contract, which you will have to sign before the first online contact and if you think that their profile fits your needs, you will have an in-person meeting. In the case you are not satisfied with the profile we will make another try."
"How much does one of your professionals… charges?" Carina didn't know exactly how to ask not to sound like she was renting a person, although you could say she was.
"Each one of our professionals have their own rates and that is one of the things you will discuss in your in-person meeting, but I must be clear on this from the beginning. We specialize in offering an experience, we are not a dating service, and we are expensive."
"Okay," Carina said, not wanting to ask the estimated amount. She wasn't worried about money, anyway. It would probably be a few hundred dollars per night. It's not like they had to do much, right?
"So, shall we begin?" Becky asked, feeling that Carina was convinced enough to go through the first step.
The Italian accepted and said goodbye to Becky, who quickly sent her the link to the quiz. She filled questions about herself, nothing too personal, and still wasn't asked for her name, but she had to fill an email field to be able to keep in touch with whomever she matched. She hit send and was thanked with the following message:
Thank you for your interest. We will match you with the best option available and they will send you an email with more information in the lapse of 24 hours. If you have any further questions, please contact us utilizing the chat box on our website using the ID number that was sent to your email. Our personnel are ready to answer any queries you may have.
And since there was nothing else she could do, she turned off her computer and went to bed. But if this didn't work, she was going alone. No matter what her friends said.
Next morning, she woke up to a detailed profile from a woman named Stella. Very pretty, blonde, green eyes, 5 ft. 8—just like her—she studied anthropology at the University of Yale and had a masters in psychology. One of her particularities was her ease for conversation and her fondness for traveling. She had been to Thailand, Singapore, Spain, Portugal, France, Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, England, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, among others. She was also an avid reader and a movie buff, but there was one thing she couldn't do and that was cooking. She actually sounded perfect, a little too perfect. But that's what they offered, right? A dream, like Becky had said, an experience. Carina didn't believe that all of what was said was true, but if the woman could sell it, it would be the perfect date to, once and for all, silence her friends.
The email came with a digital contract that Carina had to read and sign before the process went any further, this was specific to their first meeting, the actual contract for Stella's services would be delivered after they reach an agreement. Among some the important contract points were:
Complete confidentiality.
Carina and Stella would have to give their whole names and phone numbers in order to legalize the contract.
If an agreement was reached, they would add any requests Carina may have regarding this particular occasion, her privacy, or her limits on the final contract.
They would meet in a very public place at a reasonable hour and were not allowed to bring a third person. Carina would be the one to choose the place.
And most importantly, none of the contracts would permit sex to be a part of the deal.
It seemed pretty straight forward, and Carina was interested. To say that Stella didn't meet her very particular taste in women would be a lie.
She read the document twice, digitally signing it before taking a deep breath, and sent the email. It was done, at least for the moment. She got ready for work and left, hoping Amelia wouldn't insist on bringing this friend of hers to their outing later that night. She had been suggesting the blind date for days. Thankfully, Stella answered the email around 4 p.m. giving her the chance to ditch her friends.
"Ready for tonight?" Amelia asked, she was planning on telling her more about Jason.
"Oh, I'm sorry, but I have a dinner date, I'm not going to make it," Carina enjoyed telling her.
"A date? With whom!" Amelia replied in awe. "You are not getting into bed with a book, right?"
The Italian just looked at her and smiled.
"Carina DeLuca! You met someone and didn't tell us?"
"It's new, so stop. I don't want you jinxing it."
"But we will meet them soon right?"
"No, stop. Let me have this and if it goes well, I'll tell you more about it, all right?"
"Fine, fine," Amelia replied, signing with her hands that she was staying out of her business for the moment. "You do you… Have fun!" And then the youngest Shepherd ran to tell their friends Carina was going on a date with a mystery person.
By the time Carina got to the restaurant, Seattle was already dark and loud. Parties everywhere, people filling the streets and bars. People were eager for the long weekend as she was for this meeting. She sat at the table and waited until the agreed time arrived. She was nervous, what if people noticed her intentions, what if this had been the worst idea in the world!
"Hello, Carina?" A young woman asked, approaching the table right on time. "I'm Stella," she said, reaching her hand to greet her as the waiter pulled the chair behind her.
"Hi, Dr. Carina DeLuca, nice to meet you," the Italian replied, replicating the gesture. The woman's hands were colder than normal, but really soft, they felt delicate.
"Nice to meet you too," the blonde shook with confidence and sat back, smiling at the beautiful Italian she had in front of her. "What would you like to drink?"
Carina swallowed, knowing she was in big trouble. This woman was something else. Her presence, elegance and charm exuded in the air as her soft perfume made its way toward her person.
"White wine, please."
"Dry or sweet?"
"Sweet," Carina replied, surprised by the question. Her usual request was just white wine and then the bartender offered her his better choice.
"Good evening to both of you, can I help you with your drinks?" The waiter asked.
"Please bring us a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, Chateau de Fargues if you have it—"
"We have a very nice 2017 Chateau Coutet, it has a very similar taste, it's an exquisite wine," the man explained, not having available the requested one in the restobar. Stella wasn't so thrilled with the suggestion. "Or I can offer you a 2003 Chateau Rieussec."
"Yes," she accepted knowing that was a better replacement. "And a dry martini. Thank you!"
The guy made a small bow and left in the direction of the bar.
"You know about wines?" Carina asked. She liked drinking wine, but knowing brands and years wasn't her specialty.
"I do. My grandfather founded a winery in Napa Valley over sixty years ago."
"Oh, you have a wine family," Carina replied, only then noting that perhaps Stella had Italian descent. It was an Italian name after all. "Is your family from Italy?"
"Yes, my grandparents emigrated when they were really young."
"But you work in a different field, right? You weren't interested in the family business?"
"I like wine, let's leave it at that," the blonde responded, not wanting to give any more personal details.
"I get it, I'm sorry, we are here for business," Carina apologized, she didn't intend to be so direct and personal, but she was nervous.
"Don't worry about it. If we close our deal today, there will be time for those stories," Stella said, holding a smile at the Italian. She could read her hesitation and wanted her to relax a bit. "So, I'm glad you decided to come."
"I have to say you're more beautiful than your pictures showed," Carina said, unintentionally holding her breath. Should she have said that?
"You are prettier too," Stella replied with a soft laugh. "Although you were incredibly beautiful from the start."
Carina exhaled with a chuckle, thankfully she wasn't drinking anything yet. She shook her head and mouthed a thanks.
"Where did you see a picture of me, I didn't send you any."
"I did my research."
"Oh, you investigated me?" Carina asked, amused. She couldn't stop smiling. Since Maya she had not been in this type of situation, and it was a long time before their separation that they stopped flirting with each other. She missed it, it felt nice.
"It's part of the job," Stella said with a seductive voice.
"Right, the job. We should talk about the job."
"Do you want to get down to business then?" The blonde asked, reclining her back, straight into her chair. "I'm sure you read the contract."
"I did," Carina confirmed. "Twice."
Stella gently tilted her head to the side, finding Carina cute. She could sense her nervousness.
"Do you have any questions about it?"
"Oh… well… I've never hired someone to accompany me anywhere before. I have no idea what I should ask for, aside from a price, which wasn't specified."
"First, let's start with the important points."
"Okay," Carina said, knowing that one of those, for her, was the price. She wanted to impress her friends, but she didn't want to spend too much money on one night on a woman she didn't even know.
"Let me introduce myself. I'm Stella Brown, as you already know by the first-meeting contract. I am 33 years old. I'm an anthropologist. I work privately for different projects. I could say that 90% of it is confidential research and 10% of it is my personal hobby."
"Your work is your hobby?"
"Yes, to study human behavior it's my passion," Stella admitted. Carina just raised her eyebrows, letting her know that she didn't quite believe her. She knew what it was like to have a passion for her work, but she also knew that while doing a research project, you get home and the last thing you want to do is more research. "Fine, in my free time… I study my clients. But I guess that is also part of my job."
"So, aside from investigating me, you studied me?"
"Of course I did. You're an Italian from Sicily. You came to Seattle around ten years ago to start your pain management research and stayed working at Grace Sloan Memorial Hospital as an OB/GYN," Stella facilitated, but Carina wasn't impressed. Most of that information was on the hospital's website. "I also know that, about a year ago, you decided to continue that research and it's taking traction in the medical community."
"What else do you know? Carina asked, still hoping to be amazed by the anthropologist. "Surprise me."
"I'm sure you know that all I've said is public information, but my conclusions after studying you have led me to the reason why you would like to hire me," Stella said. Both women thanked the waiter that arrived with their drinks.
"I'm hiring you to accompany me to one event. I told you that myself," Carina said, taking the first sip of her drink. She had to admit the choice was spectacular.
"Yes, but it's not the where do you want me to accompany you, is the why?" Stella pointed out, wetting her lips with her drink.
"And why am I hiring you exactly?"
"Many people hire me to keep appearances, it's… personal. They want to look good for their audience. But you… you want me to create a version of you for your friends."
"A version of me? They already have a version of me, they've known me for years," Carina said, taking a sip of her drink. The taste was really exquisite, she had to recognize that her company had been spot on with her choice.
"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure that after your divorce, three years ago—and if you're hiring a companion—you're not dating anyone, you're not even on the radar of a social relationship; friendship, dating or otherwise. So, I assume that, if this event you want to take me to is the Grey Sloan Memorial Annual Fundraiser Gala—which is in the range of the two months that you specified—you are researching companions this early only because you need to create a screen. You need a story, not just to arrive with someone to this event, but to show someone off to your friends, to let them know you are okay, and they need to stop setting you up with random people or insisting you need to go out and date when you are simply not interested. And I can help you do that."
"Pff!" Carina huffed. "You are very intuitive."
"I am expensive, but I don't only charge for my pretty face. My price comes with extras."
"Oh, really. What kind of extras? To creep me out?" Carina laughed, feeling a bit uncomfortable. Was she so easy to read?
"Did I scare you?" Stella asked with a seductive smile. "Was I wrong? Or too right?"
"No, no, you nailed it. How did you know about my divorce?"
"It's public information, like I said before. Just like the Porsche you drive or the very expensive penthouse you live in."
"You know where I live?" Carina asked, her eyebrows up. This was a real surprise, and it was triggering after what her friends had gone through years ago being doxed by crazy anti-abortion radicals.
"Don't freak out," Stella replied, trying to calm her down. "I used a detective's software to see your public record. It states your marital status, it also has a copy of your license and…"
"There is my address," Carina completed, understanding how she had gotten the information.
"Yes."
"So, you are saying that my entire life is not that hard to find out?"
"You just have to know where to look."
Carina took a big gulp of wine and later took a deep breath. Sitting straight.
"I scared you," Stella said, regretting taking the challenge to surprise her.
"And the rest?" Carina asked, refusing to accept that she had.
"About your friends?"
Carina nodded.
"You don't have family in Seattle... Speaking of which, I'm... sorry about your brother," Stella gave her condolences with genuine regret. Carina half smiled. Even after all these years, she still found it hard not to feel sad on the mention of him. "And well, since the only big medical event in Seattle is the Grey Sloan Memorial Fundraiser Gala, I assume that it's your friends from the hospital that you need to impress."
"Hmm," Carina accepted that her assumptions had not been so complicated to realize.
"You don't have to be afraid of me or what I found out. There is a reason why we are signing a contract. I keep everything I know to myself. I'm very professional and would never put you in any danger, ever."
Carina inhaled, trying to relax. Stella was right, but it still was a shock to know that a stranger knew so much about her after a simple quiz where the only direct information had been her name.
"Okay," she agreed. There was something in the blonde that made her feel safe. Maybe it was the sweetness that she spoke with, maybe it was the tone of her voice, maybe it was her smile, or the delicacy of her perfume that managed to reach her every time a waiter passed by their side.
"Do you have any other questions?" Stella asked, drinking the last of her martini, leaving the olive at the bottom of the glass.
"You were saying something about extras?"
"Well, on occasion, if the situation merits it, I can personalize a time frame."
"What does that mean?" Carina asked with curiosity. She picked up her wine glass and sipped again. "By the way, excellent choice," she said, Stella nodded a thank you. "You were saying?"
"Well, one of the extras includes me sending you casual pictures of me. Or, if you like, we can take pictures around the city. We can do a lot of things together, go to a movie theater, go for an ice cream or anything you like. That way you can make up this relationship and tell your friends about me before the event. Once you introduce me to them, it won't be a big sudden surprise."
Carina understood, in fact, she had already planted that seed herself by lying to Amelia on why she was skipping on them that night.
"You do this for all your clients?" The Italian asked.
"Not for all of them. As I said before, many of them just want a pretty face by their side, to put on a façade in front of business rivals or potential partners, they want to be perceived as any regular Joe, you know? To show that they are caring, friendly and have a healthy personal life. It makes them look more successful. So, no. I don't do this with all my clients."
"I have to warn you that my friends are intense, they will look you up."
"They can Google me, it's fine. They will find a very detailed profile of me on the Internet. A true story, I might add. I am an anthropologist that graduated with honors from Yale. I have worked on many projects for universities around the country and actually, I have also worked for the institute that is financing your research. So, maybe one day I decided to go to this institute to visit some colleagues, and you and I tripped with each other on our way to one of the buildings. I spilled your coffee and, to make it up to you, I decided to invite you to The Magic Box Cafe around the corner. You said yes, with a smile of course—"
"Of course," Carina repeated, drawing a smile on her face again, given how the story was going.
"We had a good time, we clicked. We had a nice conversation about nothing and everything, and you decided to ask me out again."
"Oh, did I?"
"You did! I said yes because you were too gorgeous to let it pass, and we went to have lunch at the restaurant at the corner of the hospital, because you are a very busy doctor and didn't want to go too far just in case of an emergency. But we lost track of time, and you were almost late to one of your patients' appointments."
"We were really lost in time." Carina played with the possibility of such a scenario.
"Later that night, we texted. We practically spent the whole night sending silly emojis. You can show them the chat, with a smile, of course—"
"Of course," Carina repeated, giggling. She found the story very cute.
"And the next time we saw each other, we were at The Red Owl Cafe downtown when it started raining. We were seated at a table outside, but the rain was so heavy that, when we tried to get inside, I slipped, and you helped me up. We both laughed crazy, because I was a total mess, but so were you. We stood looking at each other's eyes, enjoying the rain, when out of nowhere, you decided to break the tension between us, and placed your hands over my cheeks pulling me into a kiss," Stella finished. Carina was blushing. She only hoped it was real. "That's how we happened."
"Wow… Did you just think of that?"
"It comes with the price."
"Oh, I see," Carina lost a bit of the magic and proceeded to ask. "May I know what it is now?"
"How about you tell me a little about yourself first?"
"I thought you knew all about me."
"How about, do you like going for a drink at a bar or watching a movie in pajamas?"
Carina smiled big, because she was enjoying this game, she enjoyed the woman in front of her. Maybe her friends were right all along, and she should've started dating a while ago. But this was business.
"I used to love going to bars, but…"
"Your divorce?"
She lost her smile then. Her divorce had taken way too much from her, and if this was what she had to do to get out of that hole, she would pay whatever Stella asked.
The blonde understood Carina's silence, it was a hard subject, but one that was important.
"Let's make a deal. If we reach an agreement tonight, I'll tell you all about my family and you can tell me about your divorce," Stella offered. "What do you say?" She whispered. Carina smiled again. She just could not resist those eyes.
"Are you seducing me, Stella?" She asked in the same tone of voice.
"Seduction is part of how I sell my services."
"And are you going to tell me how much already?" Carina giggled. Enough was enough, she needed to know.
"Okay," Stella got a bit serious. "My usual fee is 5000 dollars a date."
Carina only made an O with her mouth, letting out the air she was holding in her longs.
"But…" Stella interrupted. "Not for you."
"Oh, I'm an exception?" Carina asked, sipping the last of her drink. "Because I can pay you."
"I know you can. You are a doctor, and a good one. You not only work at the hospital; you have traveled around the world delivering babies from complicated pregnancies. You have done conferences about your study. You are probably one of the most recognizable OB/GYNs in Seattle after Adison Montgomery… who moved out, so, you are the best in the city."
"Then why the exception?"
"Because, studying human behavior, is my hobby."
"So, I'll be your guinea pig?"
"You will be my: why is the most gorgeous woman I've ever met hiring me for my services, when she has the whole world at her feet?" Stella complimented her. "After all, I don't need the money. I'm in for the ride."
Carina didn't notice, but she was biting her lip. She had already said yes in her head.
"And what is the exception?"
"I'll still charge you the 5k, but it will be for three dates and all the extras you need to create our story."
"But I just need you to go to the gala with me," Carina made clear.
"Oh, so the hospital's softball league you are a part of, doesn't need an extra cheerleader in the stands?"
"How did you know about that?" Carina laughed. She had forgotten about that thing.
"An investigator never reveals their sources," Stella joked.
"And what would the third date be?"
"How about you take a very well-deserved mini vacation and I come along. And if you want that to be it, we can break up right then. Or, if you want to hire me again, we can make beautiful memories to show your friends."
Carina shook her head, but not because she was refusing the deal. She just couldn't believe what she was about to do.
"So… Do we have a deal?" Stella asked, looking straight at those brown chocolate eyes, waiting for confirmation.
"Deal."