A/N: damn near 4k words.

I've told you all time and time again (if you read my other pics) that I am possibly the worst updater ever. i stand by that.

anyway, i am currently drafting a synopsis of this fic and will have the third chapter out by oct. 26th.

if I don't give myself a timeline, i will fuck around and not remember. having kids that go to different schools is literally the worst decision, don't recommend that.

see you guys on the 26th!

of course I didn't proof read this. its my brand at this point.

edit 10/20: some spelling errors were pissing me off.

Sweet Sugar

Chapter Two

Dinner for Two

"I'm getting dizzy watching you pace," Tamaki teased, colorful nails copying her boss' repetitive movements in the large office.

Hinata didn't bother gracing her with a response. It was partially her fault for these dangerously high anxiety levels. With that thought, pearly eyes peered out of her office window, distractedly noticing the descending sun. Tamaki, with some help from her meddling sister, reserved a table at Akimichi's Steakhouse. The restaurant chain was owned by a close friend of hers, but Choji was overseas for another year as he and his wife opened up two other locations.

The familiar scenery would be comforting but on the other hand, the staff would immediately recognize her. Hanabi loved the signature steak there, and would request to dine there for every holiday or celebration they had. Pausing in her pacing, Hinata opened her desk drawer, eyeing the large Dior sunglasses.

She didn't think about it too long and snapped the drawer closed with a sigh. She would look ridiculous walking into the ocean front restaurant at night with those sunglasses on.

Tamaki leaned her side against the large oak desk. "You should head out now so you can beat the traffic."

Gathering her Hermés Birkin with a frown in her brow, Hinata caught her bottom lip between her teeth. The two women cut the lights as they both exited the nearly empty twenty-seventh floor towards the private elevator. They were the only two to have access to this particular elevator, with exception to Hinata's security detail when they needed it.

In the safety of the elevator, Hinata felt her head bow. From the weight of her high bun or the burden that she will face in an hour's time, she wasn't sure. "What am I supposed to even talk about?"

Tamaki heard the apprehension as clear as day. Her heart went out to her young boss. This was not easy for someone as anti-social and reserved as Hinata but she was proud of her for stepping out of her comfort zone, if only to have a date to the gala.

Adjusting her purse, the brunette made sure to give her a reassuring smile. "Well, I've never been in this situation before but, introduce yourself and state your intentions. Make yourself clear. Think of it like a business proposal! He's just another client, after all, right?"

Hinata seemed to think about her words the entire four minutes it took to get to the parking garage before perking up. "Yeah," she whispered then louder, "Technically, he would be a client if we were to agree. I guess we could also discuss the terms of our agreement and payment arrangements."

Mentally, Tamaki patted herself on the back for making that connection for her boss. Hinata responded well to things that she knew, and looking at this with the eyes of a CEO would make the most sense to her.

The two women exited the elevators to the only two cars in the parking garage. Tamaki fished her keys out of her purse, "You'll be fine. Just don't think too much about it. It's only a one time thing, so after the gala, you won't even see this guy anymore!"

Finally reassured, Hinata nodded with a smile that came easily this time. Stopping at the driver's side of her Mercedes Benz, the two said their goodbyes for the night, with the promise that Hinata would tell her all about the dinner tomorrow morning.

"This is stupid."

"You're just hangry," Suigetsu's teasing voice came through the wired headphones.

With an eye roll, Sasuke neither confimred nor denied the statement. Currently, he was debating if he should get up from this bench and take his happy ass home.

Karin, usually the voice of reason, sighed on the other side of the phone. "Sasuke-kun, you said yourself it's just a dinner to meet this woman. Just negotiate your price, eat and leave!"

He didn't have the mental capasity to point out that it was these two who set up, created and messaged this woman for the purpose of "pimping him out". He could understand the desperation they were feeling at the moment. It had been almost a year since he founded his security tech company and they had yet to get any investors. Even with their combined degrees from prestigious schools, and Sasuke's famous last name, his very public fall from grace years ago tainted their reputation.

It was times like this were he realized how his past actions really fucked his life up. Now, sober and repenting, Sasuke didn't see much other choice than be a sort of escort to some rich, probably spoiled, heiress.

If Itachi were here, he'd surely explode into uncontrollable laughter.

The two on the phone were still talking, mostly to themselves, when another deep voice calmly hummed. "While that's true, it's six minutes until the time they agreed to meet and Sasuke is still on the phone with you two."

Suigestsu's panicked voice was back again, "Shit! Okay, don't fuck this up, Sasuke. If this falls thru, we'll have to put you on the corner and-"

The loud sound of skin connecting with skin forced a sigh from the twenty-five year old Uchiha. There was scuffling in the background and Karin's screeching before Jugo chuckled into the receiver. "Good luck, Sasuke. No pressure."

Finally, Sasuke stood and straightened his shirt. "Yeah, right. No pressure. Our company and lively hood is just resting on my shoulders. No big deal."

This time, Jugo laughed heartily, "That's the spirit."

"Go get her, tiger!"

Feeling a headache develop, Sasuke hung up on them. The beach front resturant was a stones throw away from him. The inviting florescent lettering of the name made a wave of nervous energy roll in his stomach. With a deep breath, he pushed his feelings deep down like he usually does and made his way to the steakhouse.

It was such a weird feeling for him to be nervous about meeting a woman. Never in his life had he been in this predicament. After he was disowned, he would much rather eat gravel than ask his parents for money. It was not always like that since when he was old enough hang out with his friends after school, they handed him a debit card and only told him that his mom would add more money as she noticed it was depleted. There was no need to even speak to them about money. Itachi would always buy him things anyway, if he wanted it or not. Women were also something he never had to worry about. They practically fell to his feet as he was growing up and the pile of fan girls only grew larger as he surpassed high school.

This was such uncharted territory for him that he almost walked face-first into the glass doors. The hostess beamed at him, a blush donning her cheeks before she cheerfully asked for the name of his reservation.

"Hyuga."

With curiosity, he watched the girl's brown eyes widened in surprise before quickly bowing and ushering him to the back deck. Unlike the full restaurant, the back deck had only one table, over looking the calm water below them. Fairy lights were strung up to create an amber lighting above as well as the lanterns attached to the wood railing. There was soft music playing around them, with the table decorated with clean glassware and lit candles. Strangely, it was very romantic.

He immediately felt out of place.

The hostess walked him to the empty table before quickly making her escape, although he could feel the stares on his person from the staff that were lingering around the bar. He wondered if this Hinata woman brought all her suitors here, if they were surprised that she had a new one. Or maybe he was under dressed?

Karin researched this place and told him "buisness casual, not so formal but definitely no board shorts." So he played it safe with a stark-white button down that had short sleeves. It was one of the nicer tops he owned since he mainly had streetwear. Unfortunately, it was a little tighter than he remembered it being years ago. The fit was snug, hugging his muscles more than he would've liked. To loosen it a bit, he undid the top three buttons, yet when Suigetsu teased that he looked like an escort, he nearly glared a hole thru the sliver-haired loud-mouth. After years of substance abuse and subsequently losing weight, one of the healthier habits he turned to was the gym. He had a tendency to obsess over things and luckily, the gym was a good enough obsession for his mentality, as well as his physical fitness.

As the clock stuck the eight o'clock meeting hour, Sasuke glared at the shiny Rolex on his wrist. She should be here by n-

"Right this way, Hyuga-san."

Hiding the curious glint in his eyes, Sasuke lifted his head to take in the woman coming towards him. He sucked in a breath. Damn it, she was just as gorgeous as the pictures. As inconspicuously as he could, Sasuke wiped his (increasingly) sweaty palms on the slim fit black pants attached to himself. How was he already this nervous? Embarrassing.

She must've come straight from the office, or wherever she worked at, judging by her tailored plum colored pantsuit. He couldn't tell, but he was sure it was designer and probably costs him a years worth of rent. The blazer was tapered to accentuate the dip in her waist to flare out slightly before the swell of her hips. He cleared his throat and stood, keeping his eyes focused on her face as to not get caught staring at how the pants she wore were tight, figure hugging, in all the right places. Too caught up in his blatant staring, the usually observant Uchiha missed how her steps paused for a second when she finally took him in.

The hostess didn't seem to notice their silence as she bowed and quickly left them. The black heels with red bottoms stopped clicking as the woman came to a stop in front of him. A respectable distance, but enough for him to examine her face up close.

Growing up around wealth, Sasuke had seen his fair share of beauties, both natural and artificial but none like the woman staring at him right now. She was slightly shorter than him, but without those heels, her head would probably be right under his nose. Long lashes batted at him, large lavender eyes searching his face for something. Like any Hyuga, she had high cheekbones and a classic type of beauty to her. Although not familiar with this Hyuga in particular, he had seen the family in the news plenty of times. However, the other Hyugas had varying shades of brown hair whereas hers was a dark navy that twirled and curled around her hips with the ocean breeze.

Before he could open his mouth, she dipped into a bow. "Hello, thank you for meeting me. I'm Hyuga Hinata."

Manners dictated that he reciprocate, and he was nothing if not a gentleman. "Hm. Uchiha Sasuke." The smile she gave him made him think she already knew his name and he didn't know how that made him feel.

So with that, they took their seats. Not a second later, their waiter slid up to their table to take their orders. Hinata ordered her usual, a simple grilled steak strips with vegetable sides. Sasuke, intimidated since he didn't even bother to look at the menu, requested the same as well.

With a promise of bringing the house favorite wine in a minute, the overtly cheerful waiter dashed back into the well-lit restaurant. Now, with no more distractions, the two made eye contact. Hinata gave him a nervous smile.

"Sorry if I kept you waiting long," she began, voice soft and airy, not at all as he expected for a CEO. "Work is unpredictable at times."

She offered no more explanation, but he understood. His father was a politician and was hardly ever home as it was. "It's fine. I don't live too far anyhow."

That seemed to pique some of her curiosity a bit but she didn't comment on it. He was thankful for that, since he wasn't exactly telling the truth.

Nodding, Hinata turned her head to look at the almost pitch black ocean to the side of them. Way off in the distance there was a small boat trudging along. A few people were strolling the beach leisurely, but most of the shoreline was empty. He took the time to study her again and noticed her bottom lip was slightly more pink than the other, although both were full and-

A soft chuckle broke his line of thinking (thankfully). Hinata brought those disarming pearly eyes to him again. "Excuse me if I'm a little...awkward. This is...new to me."

His shoulders relaxed a bit at her honesty. He wasn't even sure why he was so tense to begin with. Letting his lips curl into a tiny smirk, he leaned slightly forward. "Eating dinner with a stranger you met online or the sugar mama life in general?"

A blush bloomed very quickly over her cheeks before she tucked a few pieces of her hair behind her ear. Cute. "Both, actually."

He wasn't sure if he should disclose that this would be his first as well, but before he could decide, Hinata cleared her throat and her eyes took a slightly hard edge to them. "I don't want to take up too much of your time so if it was all the same to you, I would like to get down to business."

Her voice sounded much more professional than it had earlier and he couldn't help but admire that. "I'd prefer it too," Sasuke agreed easily just as the waiter came back with a bottle of wine and two sparklingly glasses.

He left with a promise of the food coming in a few minutes, Hinata thanking him before they both indulged a sip. Sasuke tried not to think about how smooth the liquid was because he was sure it was out of his tax bracket anyway.

Her white tipped nails tapped the glass for a second, "I do want to start off by saying that I, in no way, expect any...sexual or inappropriate behavior. On either of our parts. The gala is two days from now, Saturday night. My driver and I will pick you up around five since it starts at six and we'll go together." She paused, "Is this okay with you so far?"

A sugar mama who didn't want sugar? From what little Sasuke knew of sex workers, this wasn't very common. However, if that was what she wanted, who was he to go against that? Especially since he didn't particularly want to fuck some random stranger, no matter how much money she had. He took another sip of the wine, "So far, so good in my eyes."

She smiled at that, "Great. The gala is black tie. Do you..." The hesitant tone came back in her voice and he raised a straight brow to encourage her. "I don't want to be rude, but do you have...anythin-?"

He cut her off, unwilling to listen to her try to tread lightly without outright calling him poor, "I actually do not have anything that fancy in my wardrobe."

His dark eyes watched as she slightly bowed her head and he almost felt bad at the guilty look she gave him. "Ah, I see. In that case, here." In that thousand dollar purse she had discarded on the chair, Hinata whipped out a card to hand to him.

Her business card? CEOs still carried around cards? She must've seen his questioning glance as he flipped it around. "My number is on there so whenever you have a few hours to spare, I will take you to get an outfit that fits the theme. Just give me the day and time and I'll have my assistant make the arrangements."

At this point, he was starting to feel like a fucking charity case. Even still, he bit his tongue. This gala would be a great opprutunity to network and meet new people. Karin and Juugo damn near begged him not to mess this up. If nothing came out of this, at least he'd have a new suit. He could always sell the suit for quick cash too. Pocketing the card, he ignored the beaming smile that she directed to him as she watched him.

"I'll text you what day I'm free this week," he agreed as the waiter and another man came with their food balancing on their hands.

For the next ten minutes, they ate in comfortable silence. Sasuke wasn't the type to make idle chit-chat but under the circumstances, he felt he probably should've. Hinata seemed like she didn't waste her breath on any bullshit that wasn't business related anyway. He was thankful she wasn't one of those airhead rich heiress that flaunted their daddy's money around and talked their date's ear off with meaningless garbage.

Hinata lifted her eyes away from her half eaten steak to take another swig of her wine. Leaning back slightly, she quietly wondered how the man across from her could put away an entire twenty ounce steak and sides without breaking a sweat.

Lavender eyes traced down his upper body, watching as the muscles rippled when he moved. Someone his size probably ate a lot of protein on a usual basis, so she really shouldn't have been surprised. He looked like he took excellent care of himself. He was incredibly handsome as well. Some people just had all the good genes. She blushed, she had been neglecting her pilates classes due to a few projects. Maybe she should get back to them...

Her mind thought back to when she first saw him standing on the deck. Uchiha Itachi's younger brother. She hadn't seen or been in contact with the older Uchiha sibling in years and at that, they hadn't time to talk about anything personal as it was.

She thought better about asking Sasuke about how his family was doing.

With him being on that app, it was clear that they probably had cut contact with each other. Hinata bit her bottom lip in thought. It was not her place to speculate or assume so she pushed it from her mind. For now. Noticing he had finished all of his food, she was certainly impressed by his ability to put it all away. In any case, they still had more to discuss.

Like Itachi, Sasuke was quiet and very observant. His eyes hardly drifted away from her as she spoke. It would've been unnerving if she hadn't been through the same, some times even more hostile, situations during board meetings.

However, his gaze on her was a little more intense than she was used to.

Resisting the urge to twirl her fingers together as she did in her youth, Hinata redirected herself by pulling out a check book. "I'm not familiar with how these things usually work so forgive me if I'm ignorant to the process but, as for payment, could you give me...a price?"

The ball was in Sasuke's court yet it looked like he hadn't expected her to ask such a thing. Was it taboo to talk about payment before the service? She was two seconds away from apologizing for her lack of thought when he cleared his throat.

Ebony eyes glancing from her to the check book that was open and ready for ink, Sasuke tilted his head in thought. "Assuming this gala is about five hours, I'd say three grand is appropriate."

Don't be fooled. He had no idea what he was saying. What was the going rate for escorts these days? Were males paid more because there are more women escorts around? Did the location matter? Sasuke had absolutely no fucking idea but he was drowning in debt at this point and that money would at least make a dent in it. If she wanted to negotiate him on it, he would come down to one grand.

Instead, Hinata looked positively thrilled. "Oh wow! I thought it would be more expensive since it's such short notice and a long event."

She scribbled the numbers on the check while Sasuke tried his best not to look dumbfounded.

He could've...told her more..?

'Nice going, idiot, you could've said ten grand and she probably wouldn't have bat an eye!' He berated himself mentally.

Hinata ripped the check and handed it to him. "Here's the first three and I'll give you the other three grand after the gala."

Wait. Huh?

Without much thought, his hand took the check from her (soft) hands and he could only stare at her as she gathered her things and stood up. Hinata smiled at him, looking relived, like a weight was now off her slim shoulders.

Feeling awkward, Sasuke pocketed the check in the same place were her business card was. "Thank you."

Hinata didn't quite hear the weight of the sentiment but nodded all the same while they made their way to the exit. The pair stopped at the valet, who sprang into action to retrieve the young CEO's car.

Lavender eyes caught his gaze with curiosity, "You said you live around here...Do you...Do you need a ride home?"

Suddenly, Sasuke felt this was a little too much generosity for one night. Before he even acknowledged what he was doing, he shook his head. "No, thanks. I have a ride."

The bus should be here in the next ten minutes, according to the schedule he had memorized at this point. Those big, pearly eyes blinked at him for a second, like she could tell that wasn't the whole truth, but he met her stare with a small smirk.

"Just wanted to make sure you got in safe."

The bright lights on her Mercedes gave him just enough to see her cheeks flair up in a bright pink before she quickly ducked her head in a sharp nod. Pushing hair behind her ear, Hinata avoided eye contact after that. "A-Ah, well, thank you. Please, let me know when you're free."

She was easy to tease, he concluded. The fact amused him and he filed it away for later. "Keep your phone close. I'll be sure to call you."

Obviously too shy to continue his banter, Hinata thanked the valet with a generous tip before hopping in the car. He waved to her with a smile, chuckling to himself when she waved back shyly.

Hinata Hyuga was cute. He will throughly enjoy making her blush like that during their next encounters.

The money was just a bonus. After all, he needed to make real business connections if he was going to get his company the funding they needed.