CHAPTER ONE

"He's completely discreet Olivia. I wouldn't send him to you otherwise" Abby said looking at her friend

"I can't Abby, so lets just stop discussing it, okay?" Olivia said shutting down the conversation. Abby stared at her contemplatively. She turned around and reached into her purse and opened a slim metal case that turned out to be a card holder.

"Well incase you change your mind, here is his card. That way even I won't know if you go ahead with it. It's the twenty-first Century Liv, women are now as sexually liberated as men. We all don't want the ring, picket fence and two-point five kids.

Olivia despite her better judgement reached out and took the card form Abby. She stared at the black card with crimson writing. It had only two lines:

Stephen Finch

(202)-555-4444

Abby reached over and tapped the card that Olivia now held in her hand "Stephen here helps you scratch that itch without the baggage of commitment"

She couldn't possibly be thinking about this…could she? She stared at the card.

"What have you got to lose Liv? You meet him for an hour or two and he makes you come your brains out and then you go back to being the buttoned up boring Liv we all know and love" Abby said smirking.

"Fuck you Abby" she said responding to the dig. It hurt because it was true. She was boring and buttoned up…. but hiring a male escort? She didn't think she had anywhere near the balls to do that!

"Have you…have you used him?" Liv asked tentatively. The thought that Abby might have partaken with someone she could potentially sleep with was… disturbing.

"No, Stephen is a referral. My regular is James" Abby said nonchalantly.

"Abby!"

"What Liv?! I am a busy professional; I don't have time to date someone for three months and then figure out if and when I am going to sleep with them! If I want to get laid, I call someone and get it over with. Plus, all the black cards are handled by Madame Z who is the consummate professional. Everyone she's ever sent my way has been a dream! And safe…personal guarantee from Madame"

"Who is Madam Z" Liv asked

"Madame Z is Washington DC's best Madame. She caters strictly to women and guarantees that everyone man in her stable is handsome, hung and disease free. What more could a girl want?"

Love, Liv thought, but she quickly brushed the thought aside. She had thought she loved Edison, look where that got her. She did wish she could be as laissez faire about sex as Abby. Maybe you should be! A little voice inside her said. You haven't had sex with anyone for four years go for it!

"Liv" Abby said drawing her from her thoughts "Edison did a real number on you and being celibate for four years cannot be doing your downstairs piping any good. CALL Stephen!"

With that Abby stood up and grabbed her bag and cell phone off the table. "I gotta go, I have a nine PM conference call with some clients in Dubai. Love you…Call him!"

Liv watched Abby walk out the door and looked back at the card. She run her finger over the embossed wording and wondered. Could she ever be so bold?

A Week Later…Saturday…

Olivia was a nervous wreck. What had she done! How could she do this…. she couldn't do this!

I need to cancel, I CANNOT DO THIS!

She paced up and down the sidewalk of Moonlight Lounge in Bethesda, MD. It was where they had agreed to meet and if they "vibed", his language not hers, they could move on to a hotel.

What were you thinking renting a man-whore! You were thinking you haven't heard sex in four years and you need to have an orgasm that doesn't involve you making a trip to CVS for batteries, the sex maniac trapped inside her whispered.

Although how much of a sex maniac could she be considering she hadn't had sex in four fucking years!

You can't stand him up!

Of course, I can, he's a prostitute

Prostitutes deserve as much respect as the next person

No, they don't! they sell their bodies for money. Oh, my god! I'm a John! what did they call women who trolled for of sex?

Men were John's what were women...maybe Jane's… was she a Jane?

"Excuse me Ma'am are you going in? You're blocking the door"

Liv had been so busy arguing with the recently revived dormant "ho" that had taken temporary residence inside her, she hadn't noticed that she had stopped pacing and now blocked the entryway to the Moonlight.

"Uh, yes…sorry…yes I am going…in" the two men who had been trying to enter stared at her. Great, they probably think I've been drinking. I'm not only potentially a ho, but a drunken ho!

She had a sudden thought…A drink! That exactly what she needed a drink to steel her nerves!

She had agreed to meet Stephen at the back booth of the lounge, but she could park her butt on the bar, have a drink and wait for him to arrive and then walk out if she didn't like what she saw. Yes…that was a good idea! Have a few drinks steel yourself and then decide after he walks in.

She flashed a smile at the two guys and then turned around with a determined flounce and walked into the lounge heading straight to the bar.

"Vodka Martini please" she told the bartender as she took a quick look at the back booth. It was empty. She took a look at her watch. She was early. It was only 7:00pm and they weren't meeting until 7:30 pm.

She sipped her martini and spent the next ten minutes swiveling her head to look at the back booth every ten seconds. After two Martini's in fifteen minutes, she was in dire need of the bathroom and headed down a dimly lit hallway to the women's bathroom.

After answering natures call she stopped in front of the ladies' room mirror and looked at herself critically. She wasn't bad to look at. She kept herself in shape by running four miles/five days a week and yoga on the weekend. She had all her teeth…so, why couldn't she find someone? Why did she have to resort to this?...

She decided to shake off her sad thoughts and head back to the bar. It was time for another Martini. Thank god she planned on taking a cab home.

She headed back to the bar and ordered the Martini, she quickly threw a glance at the back booth and almost fell of her seat when she saw someone was seated there.

Oh my god, he's here!

She turned back to the bartender her eyes wide with shock

"You okay lady?" he asked concerned

"Yes…Yes, I am fine. Thank you"

She couldn't go through with this could she? She turned her swivel bar chair to an angle and finally looked at him.

Wow. Abby hadn't been lying when she said that Madam Z only hired the best. He was gorgeous! Beautiful thick head of hair, and his arms looked nice and muscular. That was all she could see. The booth hid the rest of what she assumed must be an all around impressive package of a man.

She stared at him as she sipped her Martini. He was older then she thought he would be. He looked to be around forty-five years old. Why would someone knocking on fifty be selling themselves for sex? What kind of loser couldn't get their shit together before the big five-O so they didn't have to be a ho? She thought judging him.

The liquor was coursing through her system now, lowering her inhibitions. She finished the Martini with a quick gulp and placed the glass down on the counter harder than she meant to. The loud noise drew the attention of most of the patrons in the small lounge and she felt a wave of embarrassment course through her. Shit, everyone was looking at her. HE was looking at her!

Oh my god, he was looking at her and smiling…? Did he know it was her? She had described herself on the phone, so he might know it was her! Oh god, she didn't have a choice now, if he recognized her she had to go talk to him. She took a deep breath and headed toward the back booth.

Fitz was seated at the back of the Moonlight lounge when he heard a loud noise by the bar area and looked over. He stared as a beautiful slightly inebriated woman who sat at the bar pushed a glass she had just placed down with a thud toward the bartender who seemed amused.

She turned on her bar chair and stopped when the chair was positioned in his direct vision. She was looking at him pensively. He watched her take a deep breath and stand up. She dug around in her purse pulled out a couple of bills and placed them on the bar presumably to pay her tab. She turned around and stared at him…again. With another deep breath she had started moving towards him and he finally got a good look at the stunner.

He was wrong. She wasn't beautiful; she was a fucking breathtaking. He watched her approach and thought how lucky he was. He only intended to stop in for a quick drink before making his way home to prepare for oral arguments for an upcoming trial. It seemed that providence had another plan for him tonight.

"Hi Stephen" she said, when she got to him "I'm sorry I was going to chicken out but you saw me so I guess I had to come over and introduce myself" she said and stuck out her hand. Who the hell was Stephen and why did she think he was him?

"I'm Oli…Pamela" she said introducing herself. He'd bet his shirt her name was not Pamela… she had started to say something but stopped herself…Oli…Olive… or perhaps Olivia. She looked like an Olivia. He was going with Olivia.

Fitz watched as Pamela/Olivia placed her bag on the booth across him and slid in.

"I know you said that we would only do this if we vibed, but I am to nervous to be any sort of charming, so you might want to just call it a night" she looked at him defeatedly.

Vibed? Was she meeting someone for a blind date?

"Look, I know you came all the way from DC and I am the one chickening out, so I would like to pay you for the night even if we don't…well you know…do it." He watched as she pulled out a fat stack of bills from her purse and pushed them towards him.

Holy cow! This is not a blind date. Blind dates did not involve cold hard cash. Sex for money did though. Did she think he was a male escort! He tried to reconcile the image of the innocent looking woman seating across from him hiring a prostitute. Never judge a book...

"I've never done something like this and I thought I could but…I don't think I can, so you're off the hook. One thousand dollars and you didn't even have to sleep with me" she smiled again humorlessly…and again she looked defeated. She was disappointed in herself for not having the guts to go through with whatever it was she was going to do with Stephen…sex with Stephen…

"You're probably not attracted to me anyway. I am so not good at being a ho" she said sadly

He didn't know what got into him but he suddenly decided that getting to know the complex woman seated across from him would be a more interesting way to spend an evening than prepping for trial. He made a split decision to play along.

"I am attracted to you" Fitz said as he stood and stepped over to her side of the booth. He held his hand out to her "Pamela, come with me"

"What…why?"

"Look you were brave enough to contact me, brave enough to make it here and brave enough to approach me. The hard stuff is over. Now, give me your hand and come with me"

"Where…where are we going?" she asked nervously and licked her lips. Fuck, but that mouth…

"Hilton across the street" he said calmly.

She stared at his hand for a second and he saw the moment she threw caution to the wind. She grabbed his hand with a surprisingly strong grip and he led her out of the bar and into the street heading to the Hilton.

Olivia couldn't believe she had had the guts to approach him. True she had started to pull out of the deal, but then he had stood up and she had seen his tall frame and that strong looking hand held out to her and she had grabbed on and followed him out to the street, across the road to the Hilton…to…to what? She wasn't quite sure she knew