Courting of an Escort (Gina x Jazmin)

[Gina in Orange]

With the last remnants of daylight disappearing over the horizon, the lights of the city filled the Friday night sky with their nightly glow. Lukas Friedrikson idly gazed out the window from the back seat of a Lexus sedan as they passed under the stream of white along the supports of the Manhattan bridge. As the car crossed the threshold to the island borough, the 33 year old checked his watch, a steel Tag Heuer with a blue face. The time read 8:48, twelve minutes from when he was to pick up his date for the evening. Zoey was the name she'd given him. She hadn't divulged a last name, not that he could blame the girl. Her's wasn't a business that traded in familiarity.

At a stop light, Lukas pulled his iPhone from the inner pocket of his suit coat to find that a text notification waited for him. Not from his date, though, this message came from a coworker. Lukas had made the regrettable mistake of telling Claudia over lunch about his evening plans, and, much to her amusement, how they involved a paid escort. Lukas had not heard nearly the end of it from her the entire afternoon, and here she was now continuing her teasing. With an eyeroll and a sigh, Lukas read the message.

"Don't forget to send me pictures of your little floozy!!!"

He considered sending her a bird-flipping selfie instead but decided that would only egg her on further. Instead he pocketed his phone just as they arrived outside the agreed upon meeting place, a modest hotel in Soho. "Pull over just here," he directed his driver. "Should be just a minute."

Stepping out of the sedan, the young lawyer drew a hand through his blonde hair as he stood up on the curb. Standing at around 6'1, Lukas was dressed in a well fitting charcoal suit. The top button of his light-blue collared shirt hung unfastened and tieless. The evening's event wasn't strictly formal as to require one, and the young man preferred to leave his ties for the office. A client of his firm was hosting a small social gathering to celebrate the launch of a new business venture, some new smart phone app that Lukas hadn't bothered to research. There was an expectation that the firm would send a representative, and Lukas drew the short straw. Initially he had dreaded the event. Though with a purchased date, a hired driver and a lush hotel room to crash in, the evening began to hold some exciting possibilities.

Resting a hand on top of the car, Lukas' blue eyes scanned the passersby for his would be date.

 

[PrincessJazmin]

Zoey Dudek sat at the bar at the lounge inside the Soho Grand Hotel. One drink, she'd told herself, just one drink to ease her nerves, so she sat there, purse over the back of her chair, legs crossed, sipping a vodka tonic. This was her first job with the escort service. She'd borrowed the dress from the friend who had suggested working for the service in the first place. Her friend, Amelia, said she was able to easily pay for tuition and her apartment after just six months of working there, and that she'd never had to do anything she wasn't willing to consent to. And while Zoey knew that Amelia was a bit more adventurous than Zoey, if it meant being able to pay tuition, Zoey was sure she could keep an open mind. Even without working for an escort service, Zoey had been propositioned on street corners late at night in Manhattan more times than she could remember. She might as well take advantage of the beauty that had always brought with it the drooling catcalls of any men within shouting distance, and the equal scorn of most women.

I'm an escort. Not a prostitute. She'd been telling herself all afternoon as she got ready for this evening. An expensive and high class escort at that. The escort service called her in immediately after receiving her application and photos, and with a short interview that felt more like a formality, she was hired pending STD and drug testing. Once those tests cleared, it was only another day before she received a call telling her she'd been booked for her first appointment. A formal work event with a lawyer. She was the arm candy and she'd be booked from 9pm until midnight with the option to extend the appointment until 2am or later pending additional payment from the client.

As Zoey sipped the rest of her vodka tonic, she replayed the pep talk Amelia had provided her earlier in the day. "Basically pretend you're a 1950's housewife on one hand and a porn star on the other," Amelia had said. "These guys want you to agree with everything they say. They want you to dote on them the way their wives and girlfriends never do, but they also want to be able to think that you're, well, a little naughty." Zoey had spent time looking in the mirror trying to perfect a smile that communicated some sort of erotic deference.

"Remember, though," Amelia had warned, "These guys can't force you to do anything, and legally they actually can't have any expectation of sex. As I'm sure the service told you a million times, that is technically illegal because well, that is prostitution, and we are not prostitutes."

Amelia then lowered her voice and looked around as if there might possibly be someone else in Zoey's tiny studio apartment, "But . . . if you're feeling it, let's just say, at least in my experience, you might end up with a sizeable tip if you do end up performing some duties that are, let's say, outside of the job description." With that, Amelia slyly slipped some condoms into Zoey's purse and left the dress on Zoey's bed.

Inside the bar, as she paid for her overpriced cocktail, Zoey checked her phone in her purse: 8:55. It was time to head out. She looked up at the mirror across from her, behind the bar, and practiced that smile one more time before pulling on her coat and grabbing her purse and walking out to the lobby. She saw the Lexus sedan through the revolving doors of the hotel lobby, and, taking one last deep breath, she put on her smile and made her way outside.

As she walked out to the car, the driver got out of the front seat. "Good evening, ma'am," he said as he opened the back door. And there sat the client, the lawyer.

 

[Gina in Orange]

The car door opened with a click. Lukas leaned across the middle of the back seat, wanting to catch a better view of the girl in the outside lights before she joined him in the dimmed sedan. His eyes were immediately drawn to her slender legs and the alluring stockings that covered them. Lifting his chin to look up at her, Lukas offered the woman a hand and a smile as she stepped inside the vehicle.

"Hi there," he greeted her. "Come on in. Zoey, right?" The young lawyer's let his gaze wander over her body. 'She's hired to look good, so she can hardly fault me for looking,' he decided, making no effort to conceal obviously he was appraising her appearance. Having seen little more than the escort service's advertising materials, the young man found himself quite impressed. His thoughts drifted to the hotel suite waiting for him, and how much he'd enjoy helping his date out of that dress.

With a wolfish grin, his eyes returned to face her. "No doubt you've been briefed already, but I'm Lukas. Lukas Friedrikson. It's most certainly a pleasure." He had to stop himself from shaking her hand. The meeting felt both like the beginning of a date and a business dealing, not that it particularly bothered him either way. Lukas had enough capital to burn to ensure success in either.

The front door to the Lexus shut with the driver back in his seat. Lukas addressed him minimally with their next destination, "Corner of 9th and 13th." It was a high-rise loft in the Meatpacking district. Turning back to Zoey, he informed her with a dry tone, "The party is being hosted by a client of mine. Why, I'm honestly not sure. What I do know is it will be boring. Here's hoping we can find some ways to spice it up, eh?"

 

[PrincessJazmin]

"Very nice to meet you Mr. Friedrikson," Zoey said as demurely as she could manage. She found herself drawn to his face. He was more handsome than she expected. For some reasons, she had imagined ending up with much older men and much less attractive men. Lukas was the kind of guy she would not at all have minded hitting on her if she were out at a club.

She slid into the backseat. crossing her legs and smoothing her dress. "I hope I dressed right for the occasion." She knew she had, but she could feel his eyes all over her body and she wanted to be sure to come off as compliant and eager to please, this was something Amelia had suggested, but she'd also warned that there was a fine line.

"So when we arrive, do you want me to be your girlfriend? a friend? Do you want to pretend we've been dating for a while? Is this our first date?" the company had told Zoey that some men like to add a bit of a roleplay element to the evening, some even want girls to pretend to be their wife for the evening. Zoey wondered how they got away with that. suddenly having a very attractive wife who is never to be seen again.

 

[Gina in Orange]

Though he didn't altogether dislike the way 'Mr. Friedrikson' sounded on her tongue, the lawyer corrected her. "Please," he said, pausing for emphasis. "It's Lukas."

The car pulled away from the hotel as it set out to their destination. Slouching into his seat, Lukas raised his elbow onto the middle of the backrest between them. "I can't imagine anyone would turn you away, looking like you do," he responded to the comment about her dress. "And if they did, I know which way I would go." A cocky grin spread across his handsome face. The smile became a lighthearted laugh at her next inquiries. "Well that is a question isn't it? If you can't tell, I'm new to the whole buying myself a date." Without intending to, he revealed a hint of insecurity about his use of an escort service.

"Well I doubt anyone will interrogate us about it, but let's go with girlfriend. Do you enjoy a bit of roleplaying?" he asked in jest, not shying away from the double meaning. "We could really have some fun with it and give you a new name? Something exotic, like uhh, Esmerelda, or Cleopatra, any name you want, really. I'd play too, but sadly some there already know me." Lukas had intended it as a joke, but the idea grew on him. 'Why not make a game of it?' he thought. A part of him wanted to see how willing the girl was to play along.

Lukas looked past her out the window as the driver pulled up in front of the building. "Well here we are." Getting out of the car, he walked around and opened her door for her. Offering his arm, he asked, "So what's it going to be? Cleopatra? Zoey? or something else?" He locked his blue eyes on her expectantly.