CHAPTER TEN
Zachary
Since assuming the reins at Vaughn Industries, I’d felt like my carefree days were behind me. I’d cleared out drinking beer for breakfast, staying up all night and sleeping all day, and having long weekends with nothing to do. In three months, I’d turned into a workaholic insomniac, like my father.
So it had been a long time since I’d gotten a night of sleep so good that I had that momentary Where am I? feeling when I opened my eyes. When I woke up, I reached for my phone on the night table, only to find that it wasn’t my night table. Blinking the sleep out of my eyes, I looked around and recognized the surroundings as that of a suite in the Four Seasons.
Gradually, things came back to me. Meeting Jewel. The gala. And everything else that came after.
Holy shit. God. Jewel.
Damn fucking Jewel. A fucking goddess of sex.
The thought was enough to make me horny all over again.
Yawning and stretching, I rolled over to find that side of the bed empty.
Dammit.
As sad as I was to find her gone, it neither hurt nor surprised me. She was an escort, so I’d expected as much. Still, part of me had hoped she would have had such a great time, that I’d rocked her world so much last night that she’d feel compelled to stay.
I would have fucking loved that.
But no, she and my seven thousand dollars were gone with the wind.
I didn’t know why, but that phenomenal, take-on-the-world feeling I’d woken up with ebbed away, just a little.
Money for sex and a few other goodies. That’s all it was.
I wiped my bleary eyes a little more as I caught sight of something hanging in the closet, beside the his and hers bathrobes.
The dress.
She’d hung it up, the shoes stacked nicely below it. She hadn’t taken them with her. Huh. Hadn’t I told her those were hers? Most escorts just knew that when I bought them a nice, expensive little bauble, it was theirs to keep.
But not Jewel. Jewel was different. And intensely intriguing, like one of those mysteries she loved to read. There was definitely something more to her, something that stirred me beyond the sex.
I sat up on the edge of the bed, rubbing the stubble on my jaw. That was when I remembered the retreat with R&D was this morning at nine. I checked my watch and groaned. It was after ten.
Holy shit.
I scrabbled for my phone, quickly jabbing a text in to the director of R&D. It was really Kevin’s show, but because of how ineffectual they’d been, I’d vowed to put them on a short leash and watch them very closely. Which meant being there for this retreat. Running late, I typed in. Do you need me?
I hoped the answer was no.
Even so, I rocketed out of bed, found the pieces of my tuxedo strewn where I’d thrown them last night, and got dressed. I found the coffeepot and switched it on. Starbucks would take too long. Shitty hotel room coffee it was.
Eyes still bleary, I missed the receptacle as I poured the water into the machine and spilled it all over the counter.
I grabbed the first thing I could find to clean the spill, swabbing it up with a bunch of napkins and the Four Seasons notepaper that had been strewn over the counter.
I tossed the whole mess in the garbage, then squinted at something reflecting in the mirror. A tiny pile of fabric tossed in a corner. I turned, and before I even reached for it, I knew what it was.
Jackpot.
Jewel’s panties.
I lifted them up. Grinning, I brought them to my nose and inhaled a long breath. The musky-sweet smell stirred me, bringing back memories of last night. My cock stiffened. What a fucking perfect memento of our time together.
I pocketed them, then checked my phone.
Kevin had texted back. Things going well. Take the day off, boss.
I thought about it, and about last night, and sighed. I’d never had such a strong urge to just play hooky in all my life.
Why the hell not? I was the boss. It had been a long time since I’d taken a day off. And it was Saturday. Everyone needed some time to recharge the old batteries.
After that decision was made, I took my time. I showered, went back home, and changed. Then I texted Gavin. You alive after last night?
Yeah. You?
Want to go to the House of Brews and catch the Beasts game at one?
I knew I was a glutton for punishment, asking to meet with Gavin after last night. He’d undoubtedly want to know the blow-by-blow of my night with Jewel. He was like a high school kid when it came to things like that. The more lurid the details, the better. But I rarely got days off. And if I was going to have one, I could think of no better way to spend it than watching the game with a few beers and chilling with Gavin. Gavin was the only person I knew that didn’t treat me like an ATM.
We arranged to meet at the House of Brews on 51st. When I got there, the game was already in the second inning, and Gavin was already sitting at a high-hat table, a half-consumed pint in front of him.
He gave me a high-five as I sat down. “Last. Night.” He was once again so loud that the entire bar had his attention. “Was. Insane.”
I grinned. Maybe his time with the girl he’d failed to introduce me to was so good that he’d forget all about Jewel. “Yeah? Where’d you meet that one?”
“She was my accountant,” he said with a can you believe that snort. “She’d been my accountant for three years, but I never tried her because I never thought she’d be into it. But I was wrong. Shy, quiet, studious, and then… freak. Completely. Front door, back door, she let me in all over the place.”
I grinned at him. “Was your accountant?”
He downed the rest of his beer and gave me a look that said, Obviously. “I can’t have her handle my cash flow after stuffing her ass with my cock. That would be insane.”
Right. That made absolutely… no sense. “So, you’re just… not going to see her again?”
He nodded.
Shit. That meant he was on the hunt again. Not that Gavin was ever not on the hunt. And I didn’t want him knocking on any of Jewel’s doors, dammit.
I braced myself for his next words.
“So. Jewel. Details.”
I bit my tongue. For some reason, it felt wrong, spilling these details, like Jewel was a secret I should keep. But the secret was out. She was an escort, for god’s sake. It wasn’t like we went back to the hotel room and played Parcheesi. He knew this story.
I shrugged. “It was pretty… fine.”
He waited for more, but I knew any details I provided wouldn’t satisfy him. He’d only want more and more. “Fine? And?”
I leaned back in my chair, my eyes focused on the television. “And… you know.”
Even though I wasn’t looking at him, I knew he studied me through narrowed eyes. “I’ve never seen you look like this. You’re looking like the cat who swallowed the canary for a reason. What ain’t you telling me, boy?”
“Well. It was good.”
He leaned back in his chair, draping his thick arm over the chair next to him. “Damn, boy. Something tells me you’re keeping shit from me.”
“I’m not. I’m not.” Damn, that was the last thing I wanted him to think. If he thought that I was hiding something from him, it’d only make him more interested in Jewel. “Like I said, it was fine. It was a good idea, you mentioning the service to me. It was just what I needed. No commitments, no problems.”
A waitress came by, and I ordered a round. Meanwhile, he studied me, as if trying to unravel my deepest secrets. “Okay, but Jewel. She was fine. She must’ve been…” He bobbed his eyebrows.
“Yeah. Like I said. She was good. Fine.”
He was suspicious, as he very well should’ve been. I was usually a lot more forthcoming about my dalliances. No, it wasn’t mature, but that was just Gavin and me — friends since forever. There were few things we didn’t share.
He whipped out his phone and started to open an internet browser. “What did you say the name of the site was?”
I stared at him, alarmed. “What are you doing?”
“I got this thing coming up. New hotel opening in Jersey. I need a date,” he said, madly typing away.
“I didn’t—”
“You said, ‘Kitten?’ Is that with a K?”
Shit. “Actually, I forgot which one it—”
“J-E-W-E-L, right?” He was at the site now, typing in her name. I didn’t even look at his screen because the real Jewel was burned into my memory. And I knew the photograph didn’t do the real Jewel justice.
He stopped and gazed at it.
“Whoa,” he said, laughing at the picture as if he’d just struck gold. “Would you look at that? That’s hot.”
I had looked at that. Smelled it. Tasted it. More than once. Enough to have it etched on my brain in permanent ink. How could anyone forget those huge eyes, those lips, that glossy, dirty blonde hair falling in her eyes?
I wasn’t going to tell him that the picture was nothing compared to the real thing.
“She’s beautiful,” he said, gazing at her in clear appreciation while licking his lips. “My, my, my,” he said to the picture. “Come for me, gorgeous.”
I had the urge to lunge across the table and wring his neck.
Then he looked up at me. “How much was she, did you say?”
I frowned at him. “Seven. But… you know. She might not be your type. She’s kind of… annoying. Talks all the time.”
“That’s okay. I’ll let her suck my dick, and that’ll shut her up.”
This was just getting worse and worse. Now it felt like my personal mission to save Jewel. “And the picture is… kind of false advertising.”
“False, how?”
“Her tits aren’t that big. And, um, she’s… I don’t know.” My mind couldn’t scrounge up a single flaw because it was stuffed full of thoughts of Jewel’s perfection. “A little uptight. She only let me do missionary.”
“Maybe she just needs the right man to show her a few things,” he said, persistent as ever.
Fuck. “Plus, she’s really picky. She only accepts dates with a few gentlemen a week. Says so right on her profile.”
He gave me a look like, Seriously, do you know who you’re dealing with? And he was right. He was Gavin Witt. All he had to do was flash that smile, that bank account, that charm. Women didn’t turn him down. If she did, he’d just up the bid until it would be impossible for Jewel to say no. Gavin didn’t know the meaning of the word “lose.”
Why did watching him ogle the girl I’d been with last night feel like swallowing nails? Why did I feel so damn jealous and out of control? She was an escort. Men ogling her, and doing much worse, was part of her job description. She shouldn’t have mattered to me.
And yet, for some reason, she did.
“Hey,” I said to him, grabbing the phone as he put his fingers all over the picture, trying to enlarge it. He blew up her chest until all I could see on the display was one giant, life-size pink nipple. “Listen.”
He looked up at me, desire giving way to confusion.
“Would you… not?” I said, buttoning the button on my jacket.
“Not…?” He narrowed his eyes at me, trying to comprehend. I’d never asked him something like this before. We’d shared more than a few times, and it never bothered me. “Not… you mean… not buy her?”
I nodded.
He laughed, incredulous. “What are you saying? You… what?” Then he snapped his fingers. “Oh, I got it. You’re not done with her?”
I nodded, relieved. No, that wasn’t it. And it hadn’t mattered before. We’d flip-flopped through girls a lot of times, trading them off like women trade clothing, especially in college. But I couldn’t find a way to explain something I couldn’t fully understand myself. All I knew was that I wanted her to myself.
Which was stupid as hell, of course. She didn’t do just one man.
All right. I wanted the illusion of having her to myself.
On the big screens around the bar, someone hit a home run. The place erupted in cheers. Gavin pumped his fist and then nodded at me. “All right man. If you feel that way. Maybe I could tap my accountant one more time. For that Jersey thing.”
I lifted the corner of my mouth in a smile.
He downed his beer. “She’d appreciate me being thrifty with my money, anyhow.”
I grinned at him. “That would be a first.”
He wasn’t such a teenage boy, after all, blinded to all reason by a good-looking piece of ass. He still put friendship first. For a long time, I’d started to think we were growing apart. It was good to see him acting with a little maturity, for once. Maybe there was hope for him, after all.
I managed to sway the conversation away from talk about Jewel, and we spent the rest of the time talking about the game and their chances for the year. We had lunch and a few more beers, and I relaxed. The game ended — Beasts for the win — and the two of us separated a few hours later.
Meanwhile, I couldn’t get Jewel out of my mind.
I went home to my penthouse apartment, collapsed on the couch, and dug through the pocket of my blazer. I pulled out the panties and my phone.
I ran my fingers over the soft material, and longing hit me like a punch. I needed to be with her again.
I opened up Kitn.com on my internet browser and found Jewel’s picture. I wished it hadn’t been blurred so I could stare into those big blue eyes again. I wished I’d talked to her before she left this morning. Because right now, I imagined that she was begging me. Begging me to save her from the likes of men like Gavin Witt.
I opened up an email window to her, just to say hey. Then I decided, why not just cut to the chase. I wanted to see her again, at least to return her panties. And there was an easy way to arrange that.
I pressed the button under her picture and checked her schedule. She wasn’t available until Wednesday. Of course. Did I really expect her to keep her schedule open for me?
I didn’t want to think about all the men who would come between us. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that I’d get to have her again.
I clicked the button and placed another bid.