Prologue

The bar was small and packed. A group of six men sat at a table drinking beer and joking with one another. It was a buck's night and the men were enjoying a night without their female counterparts.

"Hey Smithy! Your shout next mate!"

The man called Smithy grinned and stood up. He was drunk enough to not care about having to shout six beers and six shots, but he was not drunk enough to need to steady himself as he stood up and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and sauntered up to the busy bar.

The young woman sitting by herself on a lounge in the corner of the bar was busy fiddling with her cell phone. Numerous men had walked up to her and attempted to engage her in conversation, and the woman chatted with each them for a while but kindly rebuffed their flirting attempts.

She was here for a job tonight and she was not allowing herself to get distracted.

It just would not do.

'Joey! Mate, check out that chick behind you mate! She's been eyeing you for a while now!'

The man called Joey smirked and slowly turned in the direction his friends were looking in. He knew she had been checking him out. He could see her reflection in the mirror behind the bar. Their eyes had met a couple of times, but she had always quickly averted her eyes, smiling shyly.

Joey turned around in his seat fully and openly started at the woman. She was gazing off in the distance while twirling her cell between her fingers, but appeared to feel the force of six gazes and slowly turned her head to meet them. She quirked an eyebrow and offered a lopsided smile. The five men behind Joey snickered and then continued on with their bantering.

Joey did not turn around. She was still gazing at him. Suddenly, a tall man cut into his line of view and sat down next to the woman. The woman looked at Joey for a few more moments before turning her head to the new comer.

Joey saw her smile and start talking before turning back in his seat to his group of friends.

The woman talked to the tall man for all of five minutes. She was excellent in the art of men and knew exactly what to say to get him to talk to her and then how to get him to walk away. Usually she kept it to friendly banter about the club and about himself. No man who ever met her while she was working would ever get to know her. Alone after rebuffing the tall man, the woman shifted her eyes to the group of six men.

She smiled to herself. She knew they were fairly drunk. Their voices became more rowdy and their jeering at the man she guessed was the 'groom to be' became more sex orientated. She stood and slowly made her way to the bar.

Joey felt a push against his back. Annoyed, he turned expecting to see some clumsy ass but instead was greeted with the sight of the woman by the couch walking away from him towards the bar. He saw her walk to the side of the bar and take a seat on a stool.

She paid him no attention.

She waited. She knew his friends would make him buy the next round of drinks. She had calculated her timing so that she would be by the bar when he came.

She did not need to wait long.

Joey walked up to the bar and waited. There was only one bar tender and he was busy with the group of people down the other side of the bar.

Rapping his knuckles on the wooden surface in an impatient manner, he scanned the room. He wondered where the woman by the couches had gone. He thought she must have left since he couldn't see her by the couches. Then he remembered she had walked up to the bar sometime ago. He turned and was met with the gaze of the woman.

She was cast half in shadow and was twirling a straw around her drink. It was still full.

She looked up at him and offered him a smile.

It was captivating.

She was captivating.

She had office clothes on: a silk blouse that gaped at the buttons showing that the shirt was straining across her chest, and he knew from watching her earlier that she was wearing a black skirt.

His eyes roamed her. God, if only he did not have Kaelie.

She smiled at him again and began to stand up.

Gotcha! she thought.

She knew by now he would be easy. It was like that with all men. Weak creatures they were.

She saw him sizing her up and smiled at him.

Deciding she had had enough fun, she stood up and moved towards him.

Sighing internally, she realised this was going to be a poorly paid night.

3 hours after the woman made her way over to the man called Joey at the bar, another young woman sitting at home alone received a text message:

I'm sorry. I do not expect payment.