Assariyah by La'Toya Makanjuola Page B

sitting on my own waiting for him to show up. I took a seat and flashed him a smile, he reciprocated the gesture. I studied his features, he had blonde hair and striking grey eyes. He looked different to what I had expected but then again I guess I really didn’t know what to expect. I was impressed by his dress sense, he was wearing one of Emporio Armani’s tailored two button suits. Something about his demeanour reminded me of Richard Gere in ‘Pretty Woman’, so far so good.
    The man from reception walked away and business commenced immediately.
    “How are you Rose?” he asked, slipping me a brown envelope.
    “I’m good thank you,” I replied, whilst discretely putting the envelope under my clutch bag. I looked around the room and spotted a few celebrities. As the glitterati mingled I couldn’t help wondering how many other couples exchanged envelopes that night. I was glad he handed over the money without me prompting him, Isabella had informed me that getting the cash out the way first was proper escort etiquette. I excused myself and headed to the bathroom. I counted three thousand and five hundred pounds in total. Wow, it felt good holding cash again!
    I separated Isabella’s twenty percent deduction and pocketed two thousand and eight hundred pounds. Money was precious to Isabella, she didn’t take kindly to people who tried to pull a fast one on her. Dino had told me story about one of the girls who tried to be slick and steal money from Isabella. The girl ended up with acid thrown on her face, she was left disfigured and never worked again. The message was clear, Isabella was a powerful woman who had connections and she wasn’t to be fucked with.
    I headed back to the table to join Tim.
    I whispered, “You want four hours.”
    “Yes,” he nodded.
    Shortly afterwards a waitress came over to take our order. I spotted the Bluefin Toro on the menu and, although it sounded delicious, I was not about to start eating endangered species so opted for the Black Cod. Tim went for the Yellowtail Sashimi with Jalapeno. He also ordered Saké and I drank cocktails. As we indulged in our meal, Tim told me about his background. He was born and raised in Russia where he had made his fortune in the iron and steel industry. He asked me about myself, I made up a persona and told him I was working to save up for med school. I know, crazy right, but it was the first thing that came out of my mouth. I figured that if he asked any questions I could always use some of the stories Jasmina had told me about her experiences in the med school world.
    We had a good conversation over dinner. He made me laugh when he told me that I looked like Naomi Campbell and Beyonce. “Aaah you are so beautiful Rose, you look like that bootylicious singer and the model Naomi Campbell.” I shook my head, laughing and asked myself why all European men act like Naomi and Beyonce are the only two black women in the world. It was all good though.
    I was disappointed when dinner was over and Tim paid for the bill because I knew what time it was. Tim hailed down a black taxi outside Nobu and we headed back to his hotel. I texted Dino so that he would follow us to our destination. By the time we got back to the hotel there was an hour and a half left on the clock. Tim dimmed the lights and turned on some music. Lisa Stansfield’s voice filled the room, changing the atmosphere to one best suited for lovers. He grabbed me by the waist and leaned in for a kiss but I gave him my neck instead. I did not feel comfortable kissing him on the lips just yet. My neck was my hot spot and under usual circumstances my juices would have been flowing within minutes but this was far from usual for me.
    Tim leaned in for a kiss again, my body tighten up.
    “Relax, why are you so tense?” Tim asked, rubbing my shoulders.
    I bit my bottom lip as I always did whenever I was nervous.
    “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me tonight.”
    Tim reached in his