WHEN it comes to the business of a woman selling her companionship, cash upfront is only one way to play the game.
In fact, all women sell themselves to some degree, insists author Anna David, and the great majority would never be confused with a street-walking hooker.
The young women in David’s new book “Bought” are more likely to take expensive clothes and jewelry from their “sugar daddies” — or have rent, car payments and even credit card bills taken care of.
The book might be fiction, but the world it exposes is real — and, recession be damned — thriving.
Take the pretty 19-year-old college student who asked to be called “Amy.” New to the city, she only recently started on the path toward becoming a kept woman. After meeting an older, married man for dinner, she came home with a Tiffany necklace — and a wad of cash that she describes as more “than I would make in a year.”
These “gifts” were seemingly just to show his appreciation for her company at dinner, and perhaps give her a preview of what might be in the offering if and when she actually goes to bed with him — a step she hasn’t yet been ready to take.
A second man offered Amy a monthly allowance in exchange for having her around when he visits New York a few times a year from Los Angeles, where he lives.
“I have no skills, and I couldn’t even find a job baby-sitting,” says Amy of her decision to seek out sugar daddies on seekingarrangement.com.
“In the end I do have this thing about me,” she says about her youth and sex appeal. “I could use it to get free drinks at bars, or I could use it to loosen the financial restraints in my life and get ahead while other people are floundering.”
Now, Amy finds her biggest work-related problem is finding a place to hide the Tiffany bag from her four roommates.
Mariama is a 25-year-old nanny who moved to New York from France three years ago, and uses seekingarrangement.com as one might use match.com or another dating site.
“Some women prefer to go out with blond guys and some like the really muscular type,” she says.
“I like them tall and wealthy. What’s wrong with that? I’m not ashamed of it.”
Mariama recalled one date she had with a millionaire Southern gentleman who offered her $65,000 to fly back to South Carolina with him on his private jet for a week vacation.
The characters in “Bought” have similar experiences with absurdly wealthy men. The star of the book is a stunning Yale-graduate named Jessica, who thinks nothing of accepting three pairs of Louboutin boots as a gift from one lover while having her Amex bill paid by another.
Like real-life kept women, Jessica rejects the notion that she is a prostitute. Still, she eventually starts abusing drugs and lashing out at the people around her.
Amy and Mariama are aware of the risks, and both said they used to believe they would never sleep with a married man . . . until they started dating them.
“Every woman is different,” says David.
“To some, being paid to meet a man’s needs makes them feel powerful. But if doing it wreaks havoc on a girl’s sense of self-worth, I don’t know if there’s any solution besides getting out.”
jsilverman@nypost.com