I hadn't lied to Michelle when I told her I had a client who preferred to Skype me instead of actually meet me .

Each time, I managed to talk her into finding an orgasm, although I was under no illusions that I had some audible compulsion to bring women sexual satisfaction .

No, we talked dirty and I convinced her to use the sex toys she had in abundance, and she reached the climax on her own once she let her guard down .

Annika was a recluse, torn up with issues of leaving her home and being around people. But the agoraphobia and anxiety around people wasn't anything I could help her with. Sex...different story .

However, I'd never once felt all that sexually interested with Annika. I almost felt like a therapist .

It was a far cry from what I was doing with Michelle in the evenings. We'd spent four of the past six nights having Skype-sex, and if I didn't get her naked and have real sex, as in her pussy snug and hot around my dick, I thought I'd explode .

But that would have to wait until tomorrow at the earliest because I had two clients on the schedule today. One was just a date. A meeting with a potential new client, then I was scheduled to meet up with Alisha .

That wasn't a date, and that was where things got complicated. Complicated because while I was currently sitting on the couch in the boutique hotel where we preferred to meet, with my hands on the curve of her very nice ass, I was having a hard time getting into it .

Alicia slid her mouth from my lips down to my neck. Letting my head fall back against the couch, I closed my eyes .

The last time I talked to Michelle had been two nights ago. Then, we'd done some seriously dirty talking and a little bit of role play where I'd teased her about showing up at her apartment. I even pushed it further than I should have by asking her for her address, and she'd given it to me. Part of me was flabbergasted that she'd done it. The other part of me had been ready to shut down the fricking computer and haul ass out of my place so I could get to hers .

All I'd wanted since then was to go to her, put my hands on her and bring every dirty, torrid fantasy we'd talked about to fruition. I was the king of orgasms and fantasies – not phone sex .

Hands covered mine. Hands. Not Michelle's .

It was enough of a reality crasher that I managed to bring myself back to the present, reminding me that I was with Alicia. I liked her. Things with her were fun and easy, no complications and she paid well .

This was an arrangement that suited both of us. Sometimes I was able to glean information from her, and she got sex. Her husband, quietly gay and very much in the closet, didn't mind her affairs as long as she was discreet, and I was nothing if not discreet .

I'd never once had trouble keeping my focus on her .

Until now .

Opening my eyes, I looked at Alicia as she slid off my lap and knelt on the floor between my thighs. She wore a sleek black dress that highlighted a figure that couldn't have been more appealing if she'd stepped off the cover of Playboy magazine .

Yet I found myself wishing for a woman with a sweet smile and rich, red hair, blue green eyes that made me think of tropical oceans .

"Have I mentioned before that I love how you look in a tux?" Alicia asked .

We'd met up at a fundraiser that was a pet project of hers. She liked it when we could meet in plain sight, talk about nothing and everything without anybody realizing what was going on, then I'd leave and come to the hotel here while she finished up playing hostess. I might wait an hour, or half the night .

That was part of the appeal for her, having a man wait for her instead of the other way around for once .

I didn't really care most of the time, but tonight it had been a big mistake because I'd spent that one and a half day dreaming about Michelle. Now I couldn't get the thought of her, the taste of her, the feel of her out of my head .

"I think you've mentioned it once or twice," I said, keeping my attention on the job at hand .

She smoothed her hands down her sides, drawing attention to the lush curves poured into the sleek black dress before she turned around and caught her hair in her hand .

"Unzip me ?"

Rising, I did so, pausing to drop a kiss on her shoulder. There was no real interest in it though, and I wanted to smack my head against the nearest wall .

Get your act together, King, I told myself .

When she turned around, I cupped her face in my hands. Then I did something I'd never done .

I imagined I was kissing somebody else .

And not just somebody . A specific somebody .

Michelle.

Her mouth, soft and hesitant under mine. Her tongue, sliding past my lips, hesitant and shy .

But the woman I was kissing was anything but shy. The kiss didn't fit. It was enough of a disconnect that every time I started to find myself getting into it, I had to do a reset .

And Alicia noticed .

She eased back, clearing her throat .

Something happened then that hadn't happened in all the years I'd been doing this. I felt awkward – awkward and out of place .

Alicia either felt it or saw it, because she eased the dress sagging around her shoulders back up into place, reaching behind her to tug the zipper up .

"Maybe it's just years of practice," she said lightly. "But when a man is thinking about somebody else and kissing me, I can tell ."

I flinched, her words hitting right on target .

"Jake..." She reached up and cupped my cheek. "It's okay." She tugged me down and pressed her lips to the corner of my mouth. "I figured out a long time ago that serious emotional commitment wasn't in the cards for me and that's...okay. It's messy and painful and frankly? Those serious emotional commitments can be annoying . But that doesn't mean it's not the right fit for everybody ."

"Alicia..." I covered her hand with mine, squeezing gently .

She smiled back at me, the expression in her eyes wry. "Can I offer you some advice, big guy ?"

"I'm yours for the night. You can do whatever you want ."

She laughed softly. "That's the thing...you're not mine. Not for the night, not for anything. I can tell. You're not into this any more than I'm into eating tofu, no matter what I tell my dietician. So...go find whoever this is you're thinking of, and lay those kisses on her ."

* * *

A n hour later, I sat in my car, staring up at the building in front of me .

It was ironic .

I'd had a client who lived here once .

She'd moved out of town not long after her divorce six months ago, but she'd lived here. Had I ever walked past Michelle without noticing her ?

I had no idea .

I don't know what it was that had drawn me to her, but something had and whatever in the hell it was, the pull was strong enough to yank me off course .

Nothing had yanked me off course in years .

Not since I decided just what my course was .

Memories of a phone call, then reading that letter washed up to remind me, but even with that being front and center in my mind, I couldn't banish Michelle .

That nervous, sweet smile .

The way she chewed on her lip before she asked a question .

The way she laughed and the odd observations she made that had me doing the same thing .

Alicia had repeated herself when I'd gone to leave .

Go find her, Jake .

Now I was here, less than five minutes away from her apartment. I'd even managed to find a parking spot just down the street. It was like fate was smiling on me .

Either that, or teasing me .

What was I supposed to do? Go up there and say, Hey, I couldn't concentrate on my client because I was thinking about you .

"What in the hell am I even doing here ?"

I didn't know .

But one thing was certain .

I wasn't leaving .

Sliding out of my car, I reached up and undid the top two buttons on the tuxedo shirt, leaving the bow tie hanging loose around my neck. I dropped my keys in the pocket and blew out a breath .

What was I going to do if I went up there and found her with a guy ?

She said she didn't have a boyfriend, and I believed her. But not having a boyfriend and not dating were two different things. Yet somehow, I didn't think she was dating either .

I was just procrastinating, because I knew what I was going to find. Her alone. Her, tucked into her pajamas, maybe reading a book .

Her...vulnerable .

And I wasn't going to give a flying fuck. I was going to put my hands on her anyway .

Shoving away from the car, I started to walk .