Leslie Detweiler knew what she was doing by now. She applied a thick layer of eyeliner, red lips, and pretty much nothing else to her face. She didn’t need to. The eyeliner and lipstick combined with the bleach job Petra had arranged for her (what was that, less than a month ago?) did the trick. She had a picture or two of the real Marilyn on her phone and knew she hit the mark with her hair, makeup, and dresses.

Sure she was afraid a few weeks ago when this all started, but tonight she was excited. She’d put a job in place, with Lincoln and Petra’s help, that would ensure that after it was done, she could fix some things, maybe everything.

Daddy was her priority. He looked so weak and tortured when she’d seen him in Lovelock Prison. He needed out of there and into a hospital. But not just any hospital she decided; he needed the best cancer hospital she could find.

Leslie logged into her bank account with her phone app. Her bank balance was looking pretty healthy. She clicked a few things and bam. It was so easy! She picked up her phone and called the lawyer’s number.

“Mr. Zimmerman?” The lawyer had given her his cell number. Men often did.

“Leslie. How are you darling?” He called her darling. He had no reason to call her darling. She was hiring him to get her dad out, but still, the darling. She ignored it like she always did.

“Mr. Zimmerman, I’ve just wired the money you asked for to handle my daddy’s case.”

“The full amount?” Zimmerman sounded shocked. When she’d first met him, she’d had about a thousand dollars to her name. A lot of that was in singles. Zimmerman was the best defense attorney in Vegas, she’d heard, and he implied she could pay him in other ways. But she left his office with a promise to him that he’d get cash in full and a promise to herself that no “trades” would be needed.

“Yes, I wired the full amount. Time is running out for Daddy. He’s very sick and I need him in a hospital. I’m still working to get him into a cancer center with promising treatments, but for now, I need you to get him out.”

“I’m impressed, Leslie. You’ve moved quickly.” Zimmerman was fishing for information, she guessed, on how a 22-year-old with no education who was recently employed as a stripper would get this kind of cash. He could keep fishing.

“Let me know what you need for Daddy’s case and please be as quick as possible. Call me if you need anything.” She hung up. It was best to give men like Zimmerman no encouragement.

Her boobs said things to him she didn’t intend so her mouth had to be all business. Whatever impressions he got were from his own mind.

She got up from the table and put a can of the expensive cat food in the bowl and a little water in Edith Piaf’s cage. Spending money for the fancy cat food made her happy. Diamonds, cars, shoes, not so much, but the swanky cat food in a can, a feast of fancy!

She loved her animals and wished she had room for more, but not in this place.

Despite Lincoln’s insistence on her moving out of the tiny duplex in this neighborhood, she wasn’t going to spend a dime on a bigger place. She did fine here. When Daddy was out she’d worry about where to live, probably a hotel near whatever cancer treatment center she selected.

She heard Retta outside. “OOOH, you look so good in that suit!” Retta, her neighbor, liked to harass Lincoln. Lincoln was dressed up, or so she assumed from Retta’s teasing. Leslie’s heart quickened when Lincoln was near. He was her protector and her friend, and from the kisses she’d given and he’d taken she knew there was something very hot between them.

But somehow, nothing had moved past the looks and touches they shared. She spied on her neighbor, who was wider than Lincoln in her familiar housedress and could almost see eye to eye with him, which was no small thing as Lincoln was a foot taller than her own 5’3”.

“Lemme fix that tie sweetheart.” Leslie looked outside to Retta’s porch and there was her neighbor, a cap covering the relaxer she was letting set on her hair, straightening Lincoln’s tie. Her large arms were jiggling a bit as she reached up. Retta’s two sons were yelling for her to get inside and get the mac and cheese off the stove for them.

“Thanks, Retta. Sounds like you’re needed,” she heard Lincoln say in a softer tone than he reserved for just about anyone.

“I’m COMING!” The exchange between Retta and Lincoln made her smile. He could be so patient. He was with her too.

She worried, what did Retta think of her? For that matter what did Lincoln really think? He’d seen everything she’d done. Maybe Lincoln, despite not seeming to judge her, after all, he was making money from all this just like she was, maybe he did judge. Maybe the trade-off she faced for becoming a high-priced call girl, or “associate” as Petra, her boss, called it, was never finding real love. Was she damaged goods? Used? Maybe.

After all this, she would have to start again with people who had no idea. But she had a way to go before that would be possible.

 As Lincoln knocked on the door, she felt her blood heat up. Things were right when he was near. He made her feel safe in one part of her brain and on edge in the other. The attraction she felt between them kept her wanting to be with him more than the times they had to be together for work. She often thought  of their night on the road when he took her to visit Daddy.

The thought of Daddy and Lincoln caused a shadow to darken her heart. She knew, just like with Daddy, she was driving Lincoln to violence.

Barchek was missing, that waiter who bent her over the table was missing too. Both those men had been with her or nearly with her. And even though they’d paid for her, Lincoln hurt them like Daddy had done to his own brother all those years ago. But did Lincoln kill them? He insisted he hadn’t. She knew Daddy killed her Uncle, that was no mystery.

She walked to the door and opened it. And there he was, shaved head, square jaw, sexy-as-hell mouth (the only soft thing on his face), and then muscle everywhere you looked, muscle bulging from the black suit that was his uniform on jobs like this one. He smelled clean but not perfumed in any way, just soap and something else, something musky but never feminine.

Nothing about him looked vulnerable. It was part of his job to be this way, just as it was hers to be the opposite.

She wanted to kiss Lincoln. But there was a scowl on his face. Nothing new. She’d clearly done something stupid or unsafe, that’s what was coming.

“This door should take you, at least, a minute to open,” he growled at her. There it was. The “door lock” speech.

“Hi Lincoln,” she said, and she couldn’t suppress the urge, so she hopped up on her tip toes and kissed his hard jawline, just a peck, and she knew it affected him. She could see his Adam’s apple rise and fall with the effort. “What now about the four hours I should take to open the door?”

Lincoln narrowed his eyes at her and closed the door behind him. A chain dangled from it.

“Observe. The chain.” He slid the old-fashioned chain in the slot. That was all the place had when she moved in.

“Yep – that was all chained up before you knocked!” She’d locked it just like he always warned.

“The internal deadbolt…” He clicked it to the left, then continued with his annoyed lecture about lock safety, “…and the old deadbolt that you slide. These were all disengaged. Only the chain was locked.”

“Lincoln, that is not a big deal. The door WAS locked.” He was always bothering her about locking up.

Lincoln opened the door again and walked outside.

“Lock it the way you had it.” And with that, he closed the door. She slid the chain into position.

“Step back from the door.” He ordered her from the porch and she did as he instructed, stepping back.

“Lincoln, what the devil…” And before she could finish the question the door burst open. The chain ripped from the small screws that secured it to the door frame. He’d busted in and with one large step scooped her up by the waist. She was lifted off the floor and now, eye to eye with him, he’d nearly knocked the wind out of her.

“See how easy it would be to get to you?” He whispered into her lips.

“Yes.”

“Promise me you’ll engage all the locks I installed and the ones on the windows too.” Both of his arms encircled her and, without thinking about it, she wrapped her legs around him. He felt so strong, solid, and hot. There was a literal heat rolling from him to her.

“Lincoln, I don’t ever want to keep you out.” And then he put those lips on hers. She felt a victory as Lincoln gave in and kissed her hard. She opened her lips and let his tongue probe into her. This was the hottest kiss they’d shared, and she didn’t want it to end.

“Leslie…” He whispered her name. Her real name, and then he pulled back, buried his face in her shoulder. He was getting control of himself and a little spike of disappointment stabbed at her chest.

“I promise I’ll do all the locks,” she whispered in his ear and decided to breathe into it and nibble the lobe. Maybe if she teased a bit, he’d forget that control.

No such luck. He unwrapped her arms and legs and righted her on her own two feet.

“Good. I’ve messed up your Marilyn face.” He put a finger to her upper lip and slid it across. He lingered there a moment.

She decided to play Lincoln for all she could and trapped his finger in her teeth and then kissed it. If he was going to have control, she would make him suffer for it, dammit.

“I’ll go fix up. Give me a second.”

She left him in her kitchen, hopefully with the memory of another almost moment.

As Leslie fixed her Marilyn Face, she also fixed her resolve. She was about to start her most lucrative assignment yet and Lincoln was security. Her attention needed to be focused.

As she had in the past, she’d use these unresolved feelings for Lincoln to give her client his money’s worth. That meant two million dollars for one week of great sex with Marilyn Monroe. Pretty damn priceless.

Lorenz Maldonado would get the best Marilyn Face, figure, and sex of his life. She’d ensured that The Marilyn Job was expensive but worth every thousand. He’d never forget it and she’d get the money she needed.

She checked herself in the mirror. Marilyn was back and Leslie could wait.