A Sweetheart Deal

For Lisa Hoehn, Having a Sugar Daddy Wasn’t Just About the Money or Sex. Turns Out, He Was the Best She Ever Had—in Business

I arrived in the quaint little hotel in Florence, Italy, fresh off of three trains, a plane, and a taxi—which is to say, not very fresh at all. I was wearing leggings with an oversize gray T-shirt that read yaaaassss!!! down the front, and had my 50-gallon backpacker’s pack strapped around my waist and chest. Let’s not even talk about my hair.

It didn’t matter, though, as I walked into the room that David* had gotten us for the weekend. “It’s not the Ritz,” he had warned me via text, “but it’s got character.” He was right—the bathtub had feet (my favorite), the wallpaper was almost not creepy, and the big mirror with the heavy golden frame hung directly in front of the king-size bed that was actually two twins strapped together. But I barely had time to look around before he smiled, unhooked my backpack, and scooped me into a kiss. “You look beautiful.”

“Bullshit,” I retorted, laughing and pushing him off before he scooped me up again, “but this room is perfect.”

Once the mandatory cuteness and “How was your flight?” (that he had paid for, of course) was over, he asked me how much my cab cost. “20 euros,” I told him as he reached for his wallet. He handed me €2,000.

I’m used to getting cab money from David—it’s been nearly two years that we’ve been seeing each other. He never lets me leave a date without making sure I’m safely taken care of in a yellow cab, because he’s a gentleman, and I never let him see me jump out 10 blocks later to take the subway so that I can get a pedicure with the cash instead, because I’m a lady. Even though David’s net worth is in the millions, when we first started seeing each other, I felt weird about taking cab fare for a ride home—which is especially weird considering the way we met: seekingarrangement.com.