Not to get even more lost in the weeds on the difference between various levels of fantasy, but:
Anybody here ever read the Matt Scudder series of private-eye novels, written by Lawrence Block? In the first few novels in the series, our hero is a damaged guy, still working his way toward bottoming out in his bout with the bottle, but functional enough that he has some kind of "relationship" with a provider. IIRC, in those earliest novels he was paying her, but they very definitely had a real "thing" going on as well--and she continued to see other clients.
As the novels continue, he rebuilds his life, gets into The Program and does the Twelve Steps, and at some point, he just sort of notices that they're living together, and later notices that she has stopped telling him "don't come home until after 9 PM" or other similar heads-up messages.
Is something like this really something that can only happen in fiction, never IRL?
More realistically: Once in a very great while, I see a provider website where there is an indication of "semi-exclusive" arrangements possible, or even one or two that outright said, "I would absolutely consider leaving the biz for the right man". Is this just a marketing tool by a clever provider or an honest expression of a woman's willingness to do this?
Or how about this: There is a certain provider who was NOT ever reviewed on here--she was in the "nosebleed" level on the cost for her time (a woman who is actually operating at such a high level that for her, entering the world of TER is like playing in the minor leagues--Yes, they do exist). At some point, her website changed. First, it was replaced with a simple picture of a hanging sign, which said "on vacation"--then it was replaced some months later by a sign that said "Bye!". Last time I looked at her site, it was gone--got a 404 error or something. I can't be sure, but my best guess is that she met someone that she really took a shine to, and quit the biz to be with him.
Me personally? Yeah, I could fall in love with the "right provider"--but also Yeah, I'd want her to legitimately be falling for me; and Yeah, just like the hypothetical above of "I'm willing to quit the biz for the right man", I would be willing to quit hobbying for the right woman--even if that also meant a pre-nup, so that if a marriage later failed, she'd be "reimbursed" for the opportunities that had been foregone.
Or am I totally crazy?
I had this dream once where one of my favorite providers and I were doing it, and she started telling me about how she was thinking of quitting the business, and that I should leave my wife, and we'd just go someplace together and start a new life together, etc (btw, not the way I actually feel about her, either--more just that hobbying reminds of what I'm missing in my "real life", I think).
Am I the only hobbyist who feels like there is at least a theoretical, one-in-a-zillion chance of something like this happening?