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.