Chapter Nine

Kelly

“Ouch!” Kelly yelled as she stabbed her eye with the mascara wand for the second time. Cussing a blue streak, she reached for a face wipe and decided to give up on anything but basic foundation, eyeshadow, and lipstick. She was still too angry and hurt, apparently, for fine motor skills to kick in.

A prostitute. That’s what he’d thought of her. Of course, she’d halfway known that already. He’d offered her money that first time they’d talked in the hallway, after all.

But damn it all, she wasn’t. Call her an escort, if you had to, but she’d still always clearly drawn the line between the oldest profession and her own, until Blake had brought the curtain crashing down. Was there really that much of a difference between what she did and what the other women in the hotel did? So she didn’t have sex with guys for money. But she took plenty of their money for the privilege of her company.

Am I no different?

She rarely cried, and cursed as tears gleamed in her eyes suddenly, threatening her freshly applied makeup. “I pay the bills,” she said aloud, talking to her dead mother as she sometimes did. “I do what I have to, Mom. Just like you did.”

Except her mother had crossed the fine line, and it had resulted in her death. Rubbing her arms against the cold, lonely chill, Kelly fixed the damage to her face and walked over to her expansive closet. It still hugged every curve, because she didn’t own one that didn’t, but everything except some fairly intense cleavage was covered.

Taking a step back, Kelly looked at herself in the mirror. She looked good, she knew, but all she could see was her mother’s face in the mirror looking back at her sadly.

You did what you had to, Mom. So do I. I’m not ashamed. We all do what we have to. Damn it. I’m not ashamed!

She looked up at herself in the mirror once more and gave herself a harsh stare.

“You are not going to lose your head here. This is just a man who is taking you out on a date as an apology. So don’t go out there and do anything stupid.”

She gave herself a solemn nod, and when the phone went off again, read the text and saw that he had just arrived. Kelly took in a deep breath, then let it out again slowly, doing her best to gather what confidence she could manage while she got ready to head outside.

The truth was, she was excited for the date and the time she was going to have with Blake. She’d had a blast the previous evening, until he’d blown up everything with his offer at her doorstep.

“It’s going to be what it’s going to be,” she said aloud as she walked outside.

From a cab, Blake waved to her and she walked over, warning herself sternly when the butterflies starting in his stomach like they always did when he was nearby.

She gave him a sharp smile and slid into the cab next to him. “No luggage yet, I take it,” Kelly commented coolly, noting the same suit yet again, starting to look less than crisply pressed. It was a low blow, but what the hell.

Blake absorbed it graciously. “None. You look beautiful. You always do.”

In spite of herself, the compliment made her feel good, even if she suddenly, desperately wanted him to see beyond the outside.

“Thank you.”

“Where do you want to go?” he asked, and she shrugged.

“You’re the one taking me out,” she replied, and he shook his head.

“No, this is your night. Yesterday was all about me. Tell me somewhere you like,” Blake urged, and she had to smile a little at his earnestness.

“There’s a great crab shack just up the road. But you’ve really got to stop with this taxi thing.” She pushed the door to the car open. “Come on.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Blake pay the cab driver for the two-minute ride from the hotel to her house, then he caught up with her.

They walked in uncomfortable silence toward the restaurant, before Kelly finally had pity on the guy. “You’re good. You screwed up. You owned it. Let it go. Okay?”

The look of relief on his face made her smile slightly. He really cared. Wow.

“I am so sorry,” he said quietly once more, touching her shoulder lightly. “I got my signals entirely crossed. You could’ve slapped me.”

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t go in for melodrama. Not much, anyway.”

Stopping at the door to the shack, she walked in and he followed, straight into the warm, smoky atmosphere.

“Hi, Nell,” she called to her friend at the bar, which fronted a surprisingly large kitchen. “Newbie with me tonight. Set him up with the best.”

“Done, sweet pea,” Nell called back, and Kelly grinned, turning back to Blake.

“You drink?”

“Way too much lately,” he said wryly, and she laughed.

“Awesome. They have a house beer to die for. But you have to promise to complete another challenge …”

“Oh god. Is this like one of the massive food challenges where you get a meal free if you finish everything?” he asked in alarm. “Because I’d much rather pay than puke, frankly.”

Kelly shook her head in amusement. “Such a nervous wreck. The challenge is just to out-eat me. Think you can?”

His eyes swept over her slender finger and she hid a smirk as he underestimated her completely.

“Challenge accepted.”

“Oh, honey,” she drawled, sweeping her own eyes over him in retaliation, and enjoying every sexy inch. “You wish this challenge was as easy as an all-you-can-eat …”