Текст книги "Tequila & Lace"

Автор книги: Kimberly Knight

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 5 (всего у книги 13 страниц)

Chapter Seven

Andi

If I could march into the office back in D.C., I would rip Eric a new one. I didn’t care if he was my boss. How dare he place me in a house with a man and not a woman? I didn’t care if I was twenty-nine. Who does that? There had to have been a better solution than sending me to a strange city to live with Paul.

The entire week leading up to me moving to Vegas, I’d researched Saddles & Racks. I’d memorized every escort they had. So when Paul opened the door, I knew exactly who he was. I didn’t know he lived in the house until he said he didn’t know his new roommate was going to be a woman. His address was in the file, of course, but he wasn’t on my radar when I researched S&R so I didn’t recognize my new address. Plus I had flown across the country and I was dead tired when I’d arrive. Let alone the fact he had been shirtless when he’d opened the door and I’d lost all train of thought. I didn’t know my new roommate was going to look like sin in the form of a man who could ride me …

Gah, what the hell was I thinking?

I’d just met the man and I hadn’t had sex since that dreadful night, but the thought of Paul’s chest and abs when he opened the door sent a tingle to my toes that started in my belly and I was instantly on defense. I knew I was a bitch to him, but I’d had to be. That’s what I’d become.

I changed my tactic because I had to get info out of him. I woke up early—well, early for west coast time—grabbed coffee and reviewed my notes. When Paul came out—shirtless again, I tried to get him to tell me about some of his clients. He wouldn’t, of course.

So I settled for breakfast.

“How long do I have to wait for your dirty secrets?”

Paul stopped mid-bite of his scrambled eggs. “You know we met less than twenty-four hours ago, right?”

I shrugged. “I figured since we’re going to be roommates that we should get them over with.” That wasn’t true. Earlier when we were talking about secrets, it had slipped out. Now I was trying to keep the conversation going over breakfast.

“Are you going to tell me yours?” He smirked.

No. “Maybe.” I took a sip of my orange juice.

He eyed me for a few beats and I got the sense that he was looking deep into my soul. I wasn’t used to it. I was used to being the one reading people; I’d learned it from Seth. Over the years, he’d taught me how to get answers, to learn the truth. We were good at our jobs.

The longer Paul stared at me, the more nervous I became. I was mid-sip of my OJ when he asked, “Should we just fuck and get it over with?”

The juice went down the wrong pipe and I began to choke. “Oh my God,” I gasped, coughing between words.

“Are you okay?”

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked, still coughing, my eyes watering.

“You want to know my dirty secrets. That’s the best way to find out.”

I stared at him, the coughing coming in spurts. “That’s not what I meant.” He started laughing and then ate an entire turkey sausage link. “Why are you laughing?”

“This is going to be fun.”

“What is?”

“Well, my last roommates were a couple. Gabe was my best friend and knew all my tricks, so I wasn’t able to fuck with him. Then Auttie came into the picture and he’d cut my balls off if I tried to mess with her, so I wasn’t able to do anything, but you—man…” He shook his head and smiled. “We’re just getting started!”

I stared at him.

“What?” he asked.

“Should I be scared?”

He smirked. “No, gorgeous, you should be flattered.”

I wasn’t sure why I was being brave with Paul. This wasn’t like me. Even if it was all talk, it wasn’t like me to even talk about sex. Sex wasn’t something that came into conversation until the third date and then I skated around it as if it were lobster and I had a food allergy. But for some reason, Paul made it seem natural. He was sin … dripping with hot, hot sin. I’d heard that a woman’s sex drive really kicked into gear in her thirties. I was approaching thirty and I felt that sucker kicking. Or in this case, dripping.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

The problem? I wasn’t sure I could physically be with him or anyone even if I wanted to be.

I didn’t know how to be an escort. Hell, I didn’t even know how to go on dates in general. Luckily, I reached out to two of the female escorts who worked for S&R. I needed to get some kind of info or my first date was bound to be a disaster; my first date which was tonight.

Yeah, I was screwed.

I only had two girlfriends. One was Ella from work and we didn’t hang out much, just chatted a little while at work. The other girl was Cat. She was still living in Miami and I only saw her once a year. When she got back from Hawaii, she’d called Seth and we told her about my fight with Cruella. I knew they both thought there was more to the story, but I never told them the truth. I couldn’t. No one could ever know. My world would be over and everything around me would come crashing down as my flaws surfaced. I would never be the same.

Shaking off the thought, I took a taxi to where I was meeting Leah and Nina for lunch. I needed to get a car. That was next on the list of things to do. I’d left mine in D.C. because Eric told me I could pick up a car when I arrived so I didn’t have to drive across the country in mine.

The taxi dropped me off in front of the Thai restaurant down on Fremont Street. I immediately recognized the two women. They both had russet brown hair and dark tans. I groaned as I stared down at my frosty, pale arms and legs. I was going to stand out as though I had a vitamin D deficiency next to these two. Leah was a petite Hawaiian woman originally from the Bay Area in California. Nina was originally from Houston, Texas. She wasn’t much taller than Leah, but she was more muscular. Her FBI file stated she competed in fitness competitions.

Before I reached them, they turned and saw me and waved. I didn’t know how they knew it was me, but then I remembered that my picture was plastered on the S&R website and they probably looked me up just as I had them, though my search for them was a little more intense as I’d looked into their criminal records.

“I hope you like strip clubs,” Leah said, greeting me with a hug. My eyes widened as I embraced her. I’d never been to a strip club before. Was this my life now that I was in Sin City? Were nights spent on dates in strip clubs? Was I to take dates to strip clubs?

“Are we talking men or women?” I asked, trying to sound normal … Crap.

“Oh, you’re into ladies, too?” Nina asked, giving me a quick hug.

I swallowed hard and shook off my shock. Working as a cop and then FBI, I’d been in strip clubs and busted perps, but I’d never been to one where I had to dress the part to hang out and do God knows what. I’d obviously needed more than a week to prepare myself for this undercover mission. Maybe I was in way over my head. Before I could answer, the hostess brought us back to the patio in the back. We were seated under water misters and the question was forgotten.

“So have you been to a female strip club?” Lea asked.

Well, I’d hoped that the question was forgotten. “Is this what Vegas is all about?” I asked, scanning the menu and trying not to make eye contact.

They laughed. I didn’t get the joke.

“We need to get you clients, right?” Nina asked. I lifted my gaze and nodded. “So this is how we do it in Vegas when we’re just starting out. We go to a female strip club, and while the chicks dance, we hit on the horny bastards watching, slip them our cards, and then wait for them to call.”

“I don’t have any cards,” I admitted.

“Mark should have them for you today,” Leah informed, then took a sip of her water.

I hadn’t thought about needing to get clients. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that having clients and getting in with other girls would allow me to investigate how things were run around the city. I couldn’t wait for things to come to me.

I had to go to them.

Chapter Eight

Paul

My smile hadn’t faltered since breakfast. I enjoyed messing around with Andi and I wasn’t even fucking her … yet. The more I made her smile, the more I couldn’t concentrate on anything but her. I wanted to lean across the table at breakfast and taste the orange juice on her lips, but my gut told me that she was guarding something.

We were escorts, but not all escorts slept around. I didn’t feel right asking her if she slept with her clients. The thought of her being with someone else made my stomach churn and I didn’t know why. It was good if she wasn’t sleeping with her clients, but I did. Was it right of me to not want her to sleep with her clients?

What was wrong with me? I just met this chick.

So I sat back and joked around with her instead of asking her for real. Granted, I did ask her to fuck me and if she would have said yes, I would have said, “Check, please!” and dragged her ass into the Jeep and fucked her right there in the back with her legs spread wide and me balls deep.

But she hadn’t and when we went home, she did her thing and I left to meet Gabe and Autumn at the range.

I needed to talk to Gabe.

When I got to the range, I knew my smile was still plastered across my face. I usually had one. I was that type of guy; I hid my sorrows well. It was confirmed when Auttie saw me.

“Someone’s happy,” she observed.

“I’m always happy.”

She shook her auburn brown hair ponytail and scrunched her eyebrows. “No, you’re like overly happy.”

Gabe clapped me on the back. “He got laid.”

Autumn chuckled. “What’s new?” She started to get her gun ready while we watched.

“I think I found my match.”

Gabe’s head tilted a little. The popping of gunfire could be heard in the distance of the outdoor range. “Your match?”

“Andi.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Who’s Andi?”

“I think I’m in love.” I wasn’t in love, but like me at first, I knew he’d think Andi was a dude. “Andi, man … I could look at that ass all day!”

His green eyes blinked at me. “What? You’re in love with a man?”

I saw Autumn set her gun down on the wood shooting bench and walk the few feet to us. “Did you just say that you’re in love with a man?”

I laughed a full-on belly laugh. “Andi’s a chick and my new roommate. Mark sent a girl to live with me.”

“When do I get to meet her?” Autumn asked.

“She just moved in last night, Auttie.”

She shrugged. “And?”

“And—”

“So you haven’t fucked her already?” Gabe asked.

I shook my head. “No, but man, she’s feisty and I like it.”

Gabe stared at me for a few seconds. “Does this mean you’re ready to move on from Vanessa?”

I gave a sarcastic laugh. “I’m over that bitch.”

“Whatever, PJ. You’re my best friend. You haven’t dated anyone the entire time I’ve known you. You think you’ve never told me about Vanessa?”

I stared back at him. I didn’t remember discussing Vanessa with him, especially in detail. We’d always dealt with his problems. If he hadn’t gotten help, he would have drunk himself to death. Luckily, Autumn had bumped into him at the right time and showed him that there was more to living than a bottle of whiskey every night.

“You don’t even know what that bitch did to me.”

“You’ve told me a few times while you’ve been drunk.”

“Whatever,” I huffed.

“We all have our demons, PJ. You were there for mine. I’m here to help you with yours if you’re ready for that. Maybe Andi’s here,” he pulled Autumn to his side and kissed the top of her head, “to show you that your first love is not always meant to be your last.”

I shook my head. “Again, I just met her last night. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

He nodded and cracked a smile. “I wasn’t the one declaring my love five minutes ago.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and rolled my eyes. “Touché, Cap. Touché.”

“Are you two girls ready to shoot or what?” Autumn asked.

As I drove home, I thought about what Gabe had said. I hadn’t really thought about Vanessa in years. Sure I’d thought about her, but I hadn’t thought about her.

I couldn’t.

Each time I did, I thought about what it meant to kill a part of me, to take that decision away from me. At the time, I was young and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t regret joining the Army, and maybe her decision was for the best, but I still hated Vanessa for not giving me the choice to make the decision, too.

Was Gabe right, though? Was I ready to settle down and start a family now? Was having Andi show up on my doorstep and giving me these thoughts a sign that it was time to leave the past in the past finally? Maybe Andi wasn’t the one, but maybe she was the one who could remove the numbness from my heart.

When I pulled my Jeep into the garage, there was a white Acura on the right side of the driveway. It had no plates on the back of the car, but I’d bet my new roomie got new wheels because I hadn’t seen the car earlier.

The water in Andi’s shower was running and I groaned as I walked by on the way to my room to change, thinking about her under the hot water lathered with soap. I thought about the way it would cascade down from her shoulders to her thighs passing every place in between to rinse the suds off. How she would squirt shampoo into her hand and then work it into her damp hair, massaging her scalp and then turn and rinse it off. How she would do the same with the conditioner, but this time as the cream stayed in her hair, her hands would glide down to squeeze each tit then pinch her nipples until they puckered. She’d moan at the way it went straight to her pussy, turning her on as she’d think of me and her hand would travel from one of her breasts, making its way down her stomach to her coarse hair and slip between her legs.

She’d throw her head back, leaving her body in the spray of the warm water and began teasing herself by applying pressure with the palm of her hand that stayed between her legs. Using the water with her arousal, she would start sliding her fingers through her needy pussy lips, making sure she took the time to massage her clit with her two fingers.

She’d groan out my name, wishing it was me using my fingers as she slipped one then two inside her, pumping in and out. She’d have to use the wall of her shower to brace herself from falling as she thrust over and over, bringing herself closer and closer to release. Knowing she was at the brink of exploding, she would take the hand holding herself up and widen her stance to brace herself as she slid her free hand down to viciously rub her clit causing her to moan. And then, as she came with a jerk, images of me would flash in her head because she’d want nothing more than to have me fucking her—hard.

Damn, I really needed to get laid!

After changing, I turned the corner to head to the kitchen and ran smack into a warm, wet, Andi. My dreams were coming true. “Gorgeous,” I smirked. My arms wrapped around her, clinching the towel and preventing it from falling as hers went to my chest to steady herself.

“I … uh, I forgot my clothes in my room.”

“Are you sure you didn’t want me to see you naked?” I smirked.

A blush crept up her face. “No, I really forgot my clothes.”

“Are you going to make this a habit?” It didn’t go unnoticed that I was still holding onto her in the middle of our hallway.

She shook her head. “No, I have my first date tonight and I’m nervous.”

“Why are you nervous? It’s the same as D.C. isn’t it?”

She paused for a split second. “I’m sure it is. I just wish it wasn’t tonight. I needed more time to get situated.”

“I know how you feel. I had my first date the day I moved to Vegas.”

“Geez, they don’t waste time.”

“Gotta make that money, gorgeous.”

She bit her bottom lip before responding and I had to fight every urge not to bend down and kiss her. She was naked in my arms and only a few inches from my lips. “Right. Well, I better get to it.” She took a step back and I let go of the towel.

It dropped.

So did my gaze.

She hurried to pull up the towel as words spilled from her mouth. I assumed she sputtered words of embarrassment, but she had nothing to be embarrassed about. I wasn’t listening to anything she was saying because I was focused on her. Her naked body was even better than what I’d imagined it to be. She was toned in all the right places but lean; I could tell she took care of her body. I knew I was going to dream about her until she was mine. She had to be mine. The passion between us was there. I could feel it—almost taste it.

I grabbed her wrist lightly before she could retreat to her room, and cupped her face with my free hand. She tried to look down at the floor. “I know we just met, but there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. You have a perfect body, Andi.”

Her gaze met mine under hooded lids. “But that’s the thing, we just met.”

“You’ve never slept with one of your clients or had a one-night stand?” Her cognac eyes widened and I had my answer before she spoke. I took a step forward and brushed a strand of her hair out of her eyes. “Listen, gorgeous, I’ve been on plenty of dates with women and when I tell you that you have nothing to be ashamed of, I mean it. You’re fucking perfect. So what if I caught a glimpse of you naked? I hope it’s not the last time.” I cracked a smile, hoping she’d follow my lead. She did and I breathed a sigh of relief. How in the world this shy chick went on dates for a living was beyond me.

“Are you wishing for naked Thursdays?” She laughed.

“Are you referring to the TV show Friends?”

She smirked and stepped out of my grasp. I watched as she walked toward the doorway of her room.

“You really are after my heart, gorgeous.” I clenched my hands over my heart as if I were having a heart attack and backing up toward the kitchen.

She laughed, shaking her head as she closed herself in her room without another word.

I waited as long as I could for Andi to be ready for her date before I had to leave for mine. Not gonna lie, I wanted to see her dressed up. She walked down the hall in a simple dark blue dress and I immediately regretted my decision to wait. I was jealous. Now I knew without a doubt I’d be thinking of her while I was on my date—which was a bad thing.

“Damn!” I said, dragging out the word. “What would you say if I was the one who bought you for the night?”

Her eyes lit up. “Did you?”

“I wish, gorgeous, I fucking wish. Whoever this guy is, he is one lucky motherfucker.”

“I wouldn’t make you pay for it.” She grabbed her purse.

“Is that right?” I motioned for her to follow me to the garage so I could walk her out.

“I guess we’ll see.”

“We will. Oh, and Andi?” She turned to look at me. “Don’t think about me too much on your date.”

She laughed and got into her car. I noticed she always laughed and avoided me when I made references that probably made her uncomfortable. I still thought she was guarding something …

Maybe even hiding something.

Chapter Nine

Andi

“D on’t think of me too much on your date.”

Did Paul tell me that so I would think about him? Did he tell me that to keep my mind off of the fact that I was nervous as hell? Was he flirting? So many things were going through my mind as I drove to my date.

In the last forty-eighty hours, I’d been in more compromising positions with Paul than I had been in with any other man in the last twelve years. The crazy thing was that I wasn’t uncomfortable. I wasn’t even running for the hills when his hands were on my ass in the hallway earlier as I stood dripping wet. I couldn’t believe that I’d forgotten my clothes in my room or even my robe. I wasn’t used to sharing a place with anyone and my mind was on the fact that I had a date tonight.

My date for the night was a dinner at Javier’s in the Aria hotel. I had yet to be to the strip, but the little I saw in the bumper to bumper traffic as I made my way to the hotel made me never want to go down there again. It was insane. It was almost better to get out and walk if I could, but I’d gotten a tip from Leah to valet park once I’d made it to the hotel. She assured me that all valet parking in Vegas was free, you’d just had to tip them when they got your car at the end.

After I valet parked and found my way to the restaurant, I took a deep breath and tried not to think about what I was actually doing. It reminded me of my seventeenth birthday. The circumstances were different, of course, but there was still a lot that was similar.

I was going on a date.

I was going on a date with a stranger.

And I was getting paid.

I needed to snap out of it. Be Andi, not Joss. I was undercover and no longer seventeen. I wasn’t a scared little girl anymore. If anything were to happen, I had training to protect me now. I would fight back.

I took a deep breath and walked into the dimly lit restaurant and up to the hostess stand. After telling her who I was meeting, she walked me to the table and my date stood as I approached.

“Andi,” he greeted, kissing me on the cheek.

“Preston.” I returned the kiss on his cheek.

Taking a long look at my date for the night, I decided this wouldn’t be too bad. He was dressed in a pair of dark brown slacks and a black, long-sleeved shirt that hid what I imagined was a rock hard body. He had his sleeves rolled up a quarter of the way up his arms. Why was that so damn sexy? His blond hair was wrapped up into a man bun, and he had a strong jaw and beautiful blue eyes with a smile that gave off the impression—or maybe a warning—that he knew how to have a good time.

Taking my hand and guiding me to our booth he gave my body a once over with his eyes and smiled. “You, darlin’, are absolutely gorgeous.”

Gorgeous.

Flashes of Paul’s smile danced across my mind. “Don’t think of me too much on your date.”

This was going to be a long night.

Doing my best to stay in character, I gave him what I hoped was a confident smile.

The night went on without a hitch. He was smart, sweet, and his smile didn’t lie—he was a shit load of fun to be around. After dinner, Preston wanted to go dancing at Haze, the nightclub inside Aria. We stood in line for a few minutes, then once we got in, we went straight to the bar. He ordered a round of drinks, and I took in the atmosphere of the club as I waited for him to make his move.

I watched as people let loose all around me: grinding on each other, kissing, laughing, taking shots—living a carefree life. I wondered what it would be like to let go and simply be. I’d never had that—ever.

Not wanting to ruin the good time I was having, and not wanting to fuck up my first date, I put a smile on face and turned my head back to Preston only to find him staring at me with that smile. He held a hand out to me. “Let’s go, beautiful, I wanna show my date off.”

Preston dragged me to the center of the dance floor and put an arm around my lower back, pulling me close. The first thing that hit my senses was the way he smelled, and I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, Preston smelled amazing, but his scent wasn’t the one I craved.

“Don’t think of me too much on your date.”

Once again dragging my attention back to the man I was dancing with, I could feel the bass of the music through the soles of my feet vibrating all the way up to the top of my head. Between the beat of the music, the alcohol coursing through me, and the hard body I was dancing up against, I could feel my nerves starting to unwind. I was starting to let go for once, wanting to have what everyone around me had.

Turning in Preston’s arms, I put my back to his front, and we started moving again. As soon as I closed my eyes, a pair of deep chocolate ones appeared in the forefront of my mind. When a pair of hands started making their way down my arms and grabbed my hips, it was no longer Preston I was dancing with—it was Paul. Throwing all inhibitions out the window, my hips started to really move with the music.

I was abruptly brought out of my fantasy by a pair of lips coming down to my ear with a deep baritone voice that I knew didn’t belong to the man I was dancing with in my head. “Come up to my room with me.”

Instantly I stilled and turned around. I had to think quickly; I didn’t want him to notice the hesitation. “How about a few more drinks? I’m having so much fun and it’s still really early.”

For the rest of our date, I nursed the same drink with water on the side. In between the dancing and talking, I had him going back to the bar every chance I got. It was the only foolproof way I could think of to avoid the proposal of me going up to his room with him.

By the time our date was getting ready to wrap up, he could barely walk. The rest of the night went exactly as planned. I got Preston up to his room where he passed out on his bed and I was free and clear.

Maybe this whole escort thing wouldn’t be so bad after all.