How dumb men are, to leave all these wonderful ladies single?

My last client Diana, is a lovely woman, at thirty eight she hadn't had a single relationship that lasted more than three months. I spent two nights and two days in her Boston condo —it was fabulous. Sex was mind blowing. Even though I didn't get a single word of what she said about astronauts, I didn't feel bored.

Why the Dianas of this society stay single? What's wrong with men? I bet if she is into women she would have been happily in a relationship.

I have had male clients too, some women were dumb enough to ignore the great men in their lives. But they are rare. Women are more intelligent in my opinion.

I'm on my way to meet my next client in Syracuse. I don't pick clients close to each other. Diana will lose the afterglow of our time together if she saw me with another woman in a party the very next day. So yeah, I do what I can to keep them apart.

My new client, Mrs. Korksov has told that I might have to stay between five to seven days there depending on my performance. I don't agree for more than three nights, but Mrs. Korksov came with high recommendation from Michael and a big fat paycheck.

Michael is my advertisement board. He owns a home care and help recruitment service company. As a side business he offers escorts to reliable clients. There's no official name or written down process, but he is very strict in vetting both the escorts and the clients for a very generous share of five percent. But sometimes to balance his generosity he calls in favors like this.

Last year, he made me go to a sixteen year old girl's birthday party as a stripper. The girl's mother had welcomed me and told me I can do anything her daughter asks for, except intercourse.

The six giggling kids didn't want me to do anything, they were clever, they wanted to know everything about sex from a grown man's perspective, from how to do a man with hand, mouth and all other possible body parts and positions. Some questions were enlightening to me as well. They touched me like I was an experiment. It was humiliating yet funny. The birthday girl was disappointed that I didn't have a six pack.

Where was I? Yeah, Michael and his weird favors. Mrs. Korksov is one of his such called in favors, I hope the money she is paying would take away any sting she might cause. I already got the check, it's not an advance, it's full payment for seven days. That in itself is makes me suspicious, but hey, I can't judge.

The office is on the main street, a mutual fund investment management company. The cute reception lady directly takes me to meet Mrs. Korksov.

What kind of woman asks her escort to meet her in office? A bold kind.

"Please take a seat." Mrs. Korksov says.

She's a woman in her fifties, a mix of Russian and Asian features didn't do her any good on the face department. Her cheek bones were all hard panes, like a mafia leader, but her eyes were almond shaped and hooded, in addition to a button nose and bow lips. An imperfect mix of the two ethnicities. I wonder what she wants. I don't go in assuming that I'd be offering sexual services to my clients. I let them decide what they want to do with me.

I sit and wait while she studies me.

"You would have to do." She says with a nod to herself.

I don't respond.

"There's a party next weekend, it's to celebrate my daughter's engagement. I hired you in the hopes that you would make it to it."

She seems to expect some kind of response, I give her one. "As a date?'

"Yes."

"That's seven days away. Why am I here now?"

"To woo him."

"Him? Who?" I sit straighter. Mothers never think about themselves. This must be for her daughter.

"My son."

Or son. Hmm.

"He's twenty-two. He likes men, he told me that when he was eighteen. It took me sometime to adjust. But I did." She shrugs, her shoulder length black curls bounce with her movement.

"What's the problem then?" She has lost me.

"I don't know. He's not dating, like at all. I tried to set up with few boys from my friends circle, but he didn't show any interest after one or two meetings. It would break his sister's heart, if he stands single on her engagement party. What I want from you is, make him agree to take you as his date. You need at least five days to try. That's why you are early." She hands me a thin folder, "This has everything that I think would help you to make him like you."

I don't take the folder.

"Mam, I'm an escort. I don't date my clients. In this case, he wouldn't know that he is my client. That's—that's cheating. I can't do that." How much ever is the money, I still have lines that I can't cross.

She sighs. "You should set the expectation going in, tell him you are visiting family and will go back to some country like Australia or New Zealand in a week. You ease back out of his life after the party. I don't want you to be his boyfriend. Just a fling. I think he needs someone to bring him out. He is too shy. How is it cheating if you're helping to build his confidence?"

This is beyond insane.

"What if he falls for me?" I'm not being vain, it happens.

"He won't—not in one week, my boy is intelligent. If you say your stay is temporary, he won't forget it. I know him."

That's what an over confident mother would say.

"Still, I don't like lying. This would be lots of lying. I like to smile at my ex-clients if we tend to cross paths in future. If I meet your son in future, I'll have to hide. That's not a prospect I'm looking for."

Her mouth turns into a nasty smirk. She's judging me. She's welcome to. After all, I'm selling myself for a price. She doesn''t know what it is like for me.

"Sorry to waste your time, I'll return the check to Michael." I stand up. No wonder, she paid in full.

"He is blind." Mrs. Korksov says, her eyes trained on me.

I stand there shocked. She is a cruel woman to set him up this way. "More reason to find him a real date. Good day, Mrs. Korksov." I spit out, unable to muster much politeness.

"Wait, please. You're my only option. He refuses to meet anyone new. I thought if you meet him in public and chat he would be more open. Michael talked highly of you. I wouldn't have agreed to hire, otherwise. I don't want someone hurting him. I want a professional who knows what's at stake and stays professional till the end. I want you to give him a taste of what's good. I want you to make him date others after you left. If nothing else, I want him to take you as his date for the party. I need at least that. I'll pay more." To people like her money will buy everything. People like me use it to our own benefit.

"How much more?"

She smiles like a cat that got the cream.

"How about this? Excluding what I've already paid, I'll pay the fifty percent of it for every date you go together and if you come as his date to the party, I'll double the whole of what you have earned at that point."

My mind races calculating. It's a lot even if I go on just two dates. My whole loan would be paid in full and I'll have surplus cash. But still, the line is there. Maybe I can make the money without crossing that line.

"I have a condition. You'll never tell him you hired me, that I was doing a job, I want it in writing and if you break it I want compensation."

Her eyebrows scrunches. "Why?"

"I still would like to say hi to him if we meet in the future. I would stretch some truths and make him believe. I won't use your file on him. Just tell me where I can meet him in public. It has to be as real as I can make it. So I don't want him to know that his mom paid a fortune to get him a date." I hope that's enough.

"What is it to you anyway?" She challenges.

I shrug, "my peace of mind."

"Do you agree to ease in and ease out, if he dates you?" She asks.

"Yes, I'd leave him with a smile on his face." I promise.

*****

A/N: If you decide to continue reading, please feel free to point out grammatical errors and typos (the more reads the book gets, the more conscious I am of the imperfections). Thanks!