Chapter Ten
Cold Shower
Jordan stood in the shower, water set to as cold as it would go, until the physical signs of his arousal had abated. It took a surprisingly long time. How much had Buddy said? $10,000 for all included weekend. He shook his head. No. He was not paying this woman but he was beginning to understand how she commanded such high fees. Everything about her seemed both refreshing and straight-forward and at the same time as sexy as anything. He remembered Buddy had seen her naked. There, that did the trick. Now he could face her again.
There was a tapping at the bedroom door. Jordan toweled off quickly and pulled it around him before stepping into the bedroom. Charlotte was gone. The tapping sound came from the door again. “Jordan?”
It was Lauren. Jordan rubbed his hair and threw the towel on the floor. What did she want? And for God’s sake, where was Charlotte?
“I’m busy,” he called back. He considered bouncing on the bed a bit, hoping she’d get the hint that it wasn’t a good time.
“I saw her go downstairs,” said Lauren. Great.
“Lauren, go away.” He crossed the room leaned against the door. “I’m not dressed.”
She tittered. “That never stopped you before!” She tried to open the door.
He put his full weight against it so it wouldn’t budge. This was ludicrous, that he could even be in such a position of trying to stop a woman from getting into his bedroom. Why the hell couldn’t the woman take no for an answer?
“Fine, be that way.” He heard her footsteps retreating back through the hallway, towards the master bedroom. He stayed where he was for a minute longer, cursing her name and his father’s blindness and Charlotte. Where the hell was Charlotte?
He threw his clothes on in record time and stormed out of the room. The entire reason she was here was to ensure Lauren didn’t get to him alone and now she’d just abandoned her post. He pushed away the thought that maybe it was his fault, after that moment on the bed. Maybe she freaked out at how badly he wanted her. But then, that couldn’t possibly be new to her. Probably she was sulking because he didn’t follow through. He was sure that if he had, she would have charged him a fortune.
Jordan had had his fill of challenging women. Charlotte was sexy as hell, yes. But he was paying her to sit still and act a part, not to be sexy. She needed to be doing the damn job he was paying her for.
He searched the house before finally finding her in the library with the fire lit, reading one of the hardcover books from the dusty shelves of his father’s classics collection. All leather-bound, none of them ever read. But they looked impressive, and as far as his father was concerned, that was the main thing.
“I need to talk to you.” He glanced around the room and then frowned and pulled the door closed. “Privately.”
He tilted his head to read the gilt lettering on the cover. Wuthering Heights. Did Charlotte perhaps have a romantic streak?
Regardless, she was on the job and this was not what she was being paid for. “What are you doing here?”
She looked up at him, all big eyes and innocence. “Um, I’m reading?”
He kept his voice a low whisper. “You have perhaps forgotten you are on the clock?”
“How could I possibly forget? I was just waiting for you. Is that ok?”
He didn’t like the way she looked at him, as if he were most unreasonable.
Desperate not to be overheard, his voice came out in a hiss instead of the whisper he intended. “Charlotte, your job is to be at my side. Not sitting on the sofa reading romances.”
“Excuse me? You were in the shower!”
“And now I’m not and yet you were nowhere to be seen. That is not what we agreed.”
He expected an apology but instead she just rolled her eyes.
“You told me you wanted a companion, not that we had to be joined at the hip!” She closed her book with a slap.
Jordan spluttered. “I expect you to be at my side,” he said through gritted teeth.
“You were in the shower. Do you really need me to be on permanent standby, waiting for your every whim?”
“Yes, I do! I expect you to do as you are told.”
She shook her head, eyes wide. “Wow. You are the most spoiled man I have ever met. No wonder you have to pay for company.”
Jesus! Her voice was full volume. Anyone could hear her. Jordan lost it. “Go to your room!”
“Yes, sir. Whatever you say, sir.” She dropped the book onto the coffee table and flounced out of the room without another word. He stood there staring with his fists clenched as she disappeared up the stairs.
This was a huge mistake. All of it.
His mood was not improved to see Lauren coming down the stairs. At least that meant she hadn’t heard Charlotte’s outburst. Lauren glanced after Charlotte stomping up the stairs past her. She looked at Jordan and then they both winced as Charlotte slammed the door shut.
Lauren smiled like a Cheshire cat who had found the cream. “Trouble in paradise?”
“No, Lauren. Everything is fine.” He unclenched his fists and tried to look calm. He was dangerously close to losing his temper. Deep breaths.
“Oh well!” Her voice was cheery. “Poor Jordan. But you’ve never done well with women. A flop with chicks. I guess you must be getting used to it.”
His anger transferred to Lauren. “I do just fine with women,” he snapped. “Other than you.”
“Oh, not just me.” She was still smiling. “It’s you. You won’t commit. You are too scared to give up control, to learn to compromise. You think you want an interesting woman but then you feel threatened. Only a very weak little woman will do, and only for a very short time. This one? You’ll drive her away. Shall we put money on it? I’ll bet you a thousand dollars she’s gone by Christmas.” She stepped closer to him. “I’m not even sure she’ll last to the end of the weekend.”
He glared at Lauren and refrained from commenting that it was his father’s money she was offering to gamble away. “Commitment is not an issue with the right woman,” he said, stepping back from her. “We’re engaged, actually.”
Lauren’s smile slipped. “Well. Well, well. I wouldn’t have guessed that.”
Jordan felt a brief rush at having taken her down a peg. “Charlotte is the best thing to have ever happened to me. She understands commitment. She is honest and beautiful and true and she’s willing to fight for what she believes in. She’s not just looking for a free ride. She expects to work for what she wants. And what she wants is to be with me.”
His voice slowed as he thought about his words. He believed that about her, despite the escort thing, or maybe because of it. The way she stood up to him and refused to back down, even when he could see her trembling with the effort. She had a moral core at her center he could only envy and he realized he meant every word of what he’d just said. Well, not the bit about her wanting to be with him, obviously. Although he was beginning to think he wouldn’t mind.
“There’s no accounting for taste, really, is there?” And with that, Lauren swirled out of the library towards the kitchen. She flashed him a smile as she reached the end of the corridor. “I guess we’ll have to have a joint party Sunday night. Won’t that be cozy!” And then she was gone.
Shit. Jordan clenched his fists again. He’d only been home three hours and already he wanted to kill himself. He put the leather-bound book back onto the shelf and closed the library. He was going to have to tell Charlotte.