Three

WHEN Arianna accepted the offer to be gifted to a rich man so Tommy would not suffer the consequences of stealing money from Madame Venus, she did not know to whom she would be given that night.

All Madame had said was a wealthy man wanted a young, beautiful woman to be given to his friend for the night, and there was no one young that could be sent, nor anyone who did not look and act like a sex worker.

"You have to help me. These are people I don't want to disappoint. He wanted me to send someone new, someone who'd not worked this job before. Virtually a virgin! He is alright, as far as I know. I will not send you if it's not safe."

Tommy was already picked up by the police and she was told he is in prison. She could barely think. If she went home tonight without Tommy, her mother would ask and she would know she was lying as that was something very hard to lie about, and she would find out.

Arianna wasn't a good liar, anyway. But she refused to imagine how it would affect her mother’s weak heart if she knew her youngest son would be sleeping inside a cell, let alone end up there for a while.

It would surely kill her this time!

She couldn’t let this happen.

So she just said 'yes.'

But even in hindsight, she knew she couldn’t have guessed she would be in the bed of the only son of Don Sylverio Quiroz, the wealthy landowner of the hacienda where their rickety house was standing.

The house itself was a property of the Quirozes, though they wouldn’t care about it.

Her heart throbbed painfully—this house was Señorito Enrique's rest house, his escape when he wanted to avoid the crowd in the mansion during parties.

He was known to be an extreme loner. She had spotted him several times as she grew up, but always at a distance.

He hadn’t even noticed her those times, so he wouldn’t remember her.

But why was he looking at her like that? Like he’d seen her before.

"My God... it wasn’t a trick of the light. You really are beautiful," she heard him say.

His eyes were on her and they looked like they had stars on them now. She could only think it was lust on his face as he inspected with feverish eyes the fullness of her naked body.

He, at that time between the door and the couch, had dispensed with his robe somehow, and she realized he was fully naked.

Now, she couldn't stop her eyes from roaming at his body, which was hard and masculine, and everything was in their perfect place.

She couldn’t stop staring, even if she felt shame.

Señorito Enrique was a very handsome man and many women in the villa wanted him.

No young woman her age wasn't daydreaming about him. And she even thought to herself she had never seen a man so striking.

He was the embodiment of all those gorgeous men in glossy magazines.

And… she liked the Quirozes. Don Sylverio was a good man and had been kind to them even after her father died and she and her brother were too young to work in the hacienda that they couldn’t stay as tenants.

Her mother was sick and couldn’t do hard work.

So he provided that plot of land for them and had a simple house built so they could have a bigger space in the backyard to grow their food and sell the excess.

When there were health drives, he made sure his staff informed them about it so they could bring their mother.

He would often assist with her mother's medicine.

It was only during the time of her mother’s last hospital confinement that he wasn’t able to help because he was away, and she had planned to go to his office had Tommy not provided that money.

The same goodness was told about the son, although he was remote and would barely stay in the mansion when he visited.

In the few times she had seen him, he didn't seem too friendly. He was aloof at this party where she'd helped serve and she was able to observe him from a distance.

He was one of those people you simply couldn't take your eyes away from, and in those few minutes she saw him at least smile and nod to guests who’d approached him, but it was as obvious that he wished they wouldn’t talk to him.

It was funny that she'd giggled, and she had to serve in another part of the grounds because she got reprimanded for staring like a starstruck fool.

And as she'd said, she had never seen any man as striking as he was. Tall, fair, masculine body and a beautiful face for a man.

Now, standing there stark naked as he was, there was no moment she had ever imagined the man would be her first.

He was standing at such an angle that his manhood was in the shadows, but she could see enough of its shape to know he was extremely aroused.

She was staring at that, her face hot, her eyes mesmerized, and her body feeling the tingle of a curious electric spark.

And when she caught herself, she frantically looked up at his face.

Their eyes met.

Her cheeks grew hotter from being caught.

How could she do this thing? Never, in all the nineteen years of her life had Arianna even seen the naked body of a man.

"I'm glad you liked what you see."

She tried to speak, but what came out was a timid squeak as he'd bent down by then and, drunk as he was, scrambled to lift her from the sofa.

"This is better done in bed, don't you think?"

No, her mind replied even as her hands gripped at his shoulder for fear of falling.

But it's too late.

It'd been late since he'd pulled her in from outside the door.