DAVIS

She stays with me. I can’t explain how gratifying that is to cuddle with Hayley. We’re skin to skin, she’s spooned against me and there are no physical tells she wants to leave.

I’m an escort. Sex isn’t just sex. It’s been a transaction. Emotions aren’t involved. Cuddling is all about emotions—unspoken ones—no matter what anyone says. The very act of wanting to negotiate not just who remains in the wet spot, but who gets to have their arm or leg go dead is…it’s intimate.

I was never a cuddler, but fuck I’ve missed having the option. I draw on her bare stomach, listening to her breathe. She’s halfway to sleep with her eyes closed. Still, she mutters, “Are you just watching me like a creeper back there?”

“Admiring.”

“Thinking of other dirty shit you want to do to me?”

I draw a line up to her tits and circle her nipples. They pucker and darken, making her tits look like they were dipped in Hersey’s Kisses. I may have come too hard because my brain is fucking mush. “You make it seem like I stopped thinking of depraved shit.”

She laughs and turns to face me. Takes her a few blinks to bring me into focus. “What now?”

I reach up to undo her bun. The strands are soft but a tangle of curls. I slide my fingers in and bring her up to my mouth. I pull back before the heat takes over.

She closes her eyes and hums. “You didn’t ask for permission.”

“Because in the next few minutes, I’m going to ask for the fun stuff.”

She crooks her face into my neck. I groan when her tongue laps at me. I probably taste of sweat and sex. She doesn’t mind. I missed this.

She nips at me then says, “Tell me about this fun stuff in detail.”

“First important question: How long can you be here with me?”

“A few hours. I don’t have work tomorrow, but I have school tonight.”

The fantasy Hayley dims more and I like this woman who looks at me like she can see everything I am. “What are you going to school for?”

“Don’t laugh.”

“I won’t.”

“I want to teach high school.”

“Teenagers?” I ask, incredulous. “You must hate life.”

She laughs into my neck. “What do you know about teenagers?”

“I was a late in life child for my parents, the very last. My siblings have them. I don’t recommend them.”

“Your nieces and nephews can’t be that bad.”

“I’m just talking about the smell.”

She laughs again, and I love how unfettered it sounds. I trace my fingertip down her arm, goose bumps are left in my wake. “I haven’t decided yet what I’m going to do with the rest of my life.”

She turns her face to look at me. “You’re going back to school?”

“I’m considering it. I’m too old for dancing. Never really picked up a skill after I abandoned my English degree.”

“English?”

“Don’t sound so surprised.”

She falls silent then smiles. “You’d make one hell of an erotica author. Your mind is dirty enough.”

I think about it. “I could wear a smoking jacket, sip whiskey before noon and call it artistic temperament.”

A shadow passes over her expression. “But will you be able to? Will you be free?”

I didn’t know, not for sure. “I’m not going to worry about that today.”

She puts her face back into my neck. “All right. Give me thirty minutes to nap.”

I let her, and creep on her, watching how soft she is when she’s asleep. I would have stayed that way, but my phone rings. Since I know the ringtone, I put space between myself and her before I answer.

“Is this an update, Duke?” I press my palm to the bay window and hope for the best.

“Do you want the fucked-up news or the bad news?”

My stomach clenches. “None of it good?”

“That’s part of the news. Tomorrow they want you to come in. You need to sign a statement to the effect that you were the one to find the phone, how you found it, etc. etc. You walk away a free man never to break the law again or they’ll own you from now until eternity.”

I frown. “Is that the bad or the fucked-up news?”

“The bad. The fucked up is they are aware of…um, the maid at the hotel. My contact at the department says they are thinking of recruiting her as an informant.”

“Shit.” I’d told Duke about Hayley since he’d told me to come clean about everything. “Is it because of me?”

“They had you followed and they saw your exchange outside the library. I have no doubt they’ve dug up everything about her and will be watching to see if she’s safe to approach. Now she’s not my client, but if you can get in touch with her, I can maybe give her some advice.”

“Consider her your client. I don’t want her involved in this.”

Duke is quiet. “Do you want to elaborate?”

“Send any invoices directly to me?”

My attorney laughs. “I see. I’ll pick you up tomorrow at nine. Dress professionally. Have my new client call me ASAP.”

I end the call and remain standing in front of the bay window. My guts churn. I put Hayley in the crosshairs of the FBI because I lost my cool. This is my fault. I’m going to have to tell her. I glance at her sleeping form. It can wait. By this time tomorrow, I’ll be free. I can pick my life up where I left it when I decided stripping wasn’t enough.

And honestly I don’t know what I’m going to do. All I know is that I want at least one more taste of Hayley.