Lady in Red Read online

  After they chose a bottle of wine to share and Lorenzo had taken their order, Blaine leaned across the table and took her hand in his, snaring her gaze with his own. “There’s something I really need to know.”

  Her expression immediately shut down, but as much as he hated to put a dampener on the mood, this couldn’t be put off any longer.

  “Oh?” she said faintly.

  “Why do you want us to stop seeing each other?”

  She bit into her bottom lip. “You want to discuss this now?”

  “Is there ever a good time to hear bad news?” he countered.

  Her eyes softened, the chatter from other diners fading away when she said, “We’re getting too close.”

  “And that scares you?” he asked gently.

  She blinked. “It’s against the agency rules for a client and call girl to become…a couple.”

  The very idea of them being together in every sense of the word made his heart beat accelerate, his perceptions heighten, until he was aware of every changing nuance of her expression. “Do you want to know what I think?” he said carefully, though something primal and possessive screamed to be unleashed. “I think you’re pushing me away because real and genuine intimacy terrifies you.”

  At her widening eyes, he knew he’d hit a nerve. But she was saved from answering when their wine arrived. The waitress took her time uncorking and pouring them each a flute. Kate took a good-sized swallow before she answered.

  “Business is business. I need to keep that totally separate from my personal life.”

  He brushed a hand along her cheek, loving her silky-soft skin and flawless complexion. “So what do you really want?” he asked.

  She frowned. “What do you mean?”

  His hand moved to cup her chin, keeping her stare level with his. “Do you want to keep our relationship business or personal? Because I know you don’t want to break things off any more than I do.” He leaned forward, allowing the heat of his gaze to burn through. “Either way, I’m not letting you go.”

  Her mouth dropped open, and for a moment her eyes reflected the burn in his stare. Then she pulled free from his clasp and drained the last of the wine from her glass. “You know, there are some things in this world that are unattainable, even for someone like you.”

  He cocked his head to the side. “Everyone has a price.”

  She flushed, and shook her head slowly. “My career is all I have. I won’t let you take that away from me.”

  Blaine felt the blood drain from his face. Out of all the things she could have said, that wasn’t one of them. Jesus Christ, was sleeping with men for money her one and only ambition? Or had she been so screwed over in the past that she imagined it was all she wanted from life?

  It only reinforced his growing need to dig into her history.

  A bowl of pasta was placed in front of Kate. Once his veal dish was put down, he nodded a distracted thanks. But he didn’t drag his stare away from Kate to notice the waiter—Lorenzo?—discreetly disappear. Right now, Kate was all he cared about…all he ever cared about.

  Of course, being that he was a silent partner in Lorenzo’s business helped to solidify Blaine’s privacy.

  He pulled in a steadying breath, putting a halt to words that were better left unsaid. He’d fought dirty to get where he was in the corporate world, but maybe turning a cold shoulder from that tried and true method was where he’d gone wrong with Kate?

  Resolve filled him. No more wearing kid gloves. No more baby steps around her. He wouldn’t even tell her that he’d already managed to book her in for tomorrow night—at a princely sum—to see her again.

  It was past time to make things happen.

  Chapter Eight

  ‡

  Kate sipped on her flat white coffee as the voices of Claire, Natalie and Eloise—otherwise known in the escort industry as Scarlet, Tiffany and Savannah—washed over her.

  She was too distracted and wound up today to enjoy the company of her friends. Not only because her thoughts returned again and again to the pleasure Blaine had dragged from her body last night after he’d taken her to his home. She was as much consumed by thoughts of the looming night ahead, and was both exhilarated and sickened knowing she’d be with Blaine yet again.

  She’d somehow found the strength last night to say goodbye once and for all to him, only to have the VIP Agency ring this morning and tell her that he’d secured yet another booking with her.

  Blaine was right—their intimacy did seriously scare her—but what really frightened her was how effortlessly he thwarted her attempts to break free. She was too soft when it came to him. Too weak to even put up a fight against being with him again.

  She hadn’t even protested when Maisey had told her the news. She’d been too stunned to do anything but murmur a monosyllable response. She could only imagine how much Blaine had paid for the VIP Agency to break her next client’s contract.

  “Hello. Earth to Kate. Anyone home?”

  At Natalie’s voice, Kate brought her focus back to the present. “Sorry, I was a million miles away.”

  Natalie blinked long, dark lashes, for a second obscuring her gorgeous icy-blue stare. It didn’t stop the look of knowing from falling across her face. “You can say that again.” She tossed a chunk of long, blonde hair behind a slender shoulder. “So tell us…who is the lucky man?”

  Eloise winked. “Or maybe it’s who are the lucky men?”

  Claire’s dry laugh lacked its usual warmth. “C’mon Eloise, we all know your obsession with the Wolfe brothers. It doesn’t mean we all get to lust after two guys.”

  Eloise shrugged, her exotic dark eyes twinkling with mischief and something a little bit mysterious. “Hey, what can I say? They’re both gorgeous and great in bed. It’s a win-win.”

  Kate managed a smile, despite the seriousness of her thoughts. Despite the fact that she shared more than a little of Claire’s inner turmoil for a client. “I’m not so sure the man in question is lucky.” She sighed. “The rules are simple enough. We can’t have a relationship outside the bedroom with our clients.”

  “Or two clients,” Claire added with a pointed look Eloise’s way.

  Eloise’s grin all but lit up the coffee shop. “Who said anything about a relationship?”

  Kate blew out a slow breath. “Be careful Eloise, it’s all too easy for excitement and fun to slide into something more serious.”

  Claire nodded commiseration even as Natalie put a hand over Kate’s. “Please tell me you’re not falling for a client? Out of all of us, you’re the most level headed and career orientated.”

  Kate’s smile turned into a grimace. The girls knew her too well. A pity she’d lost sight of that part of herself somewhere along the way. “I’m honestly not sure what my feelings are for him anymore.”

  Liar! You only want to break things off with him because you’re already in too deep.

  Claire leaned forward in her seat, her striking flame-red hair piled into its usual topknot. “Do you have butterflies in the stomach every time he’s booked you for the night?”

  Eloise wound a strand of inky-black hair around a finger. “Do you want to have sex with them—ah, him—above anyone else?”

  Natalie added, “Do you wish you’d met him under entirely different circumstances?”

  Kate leaned back in her seat, eyeing each of her stunning friends with a whole new perspective. “So I’m guessing I’m not alone in questioning my feelings, then?”

  Claire sighed. “Well I think it’s safe to say we all know what I think about a particular man.”

  Eloise shook her head. “Not me. Honestly, I’m too selfish to fall for anyone. I left behind subjugation when I emigrated here from Nepal with my family, and I refuse to give all that away by allowing a man to rule my life.”

  Kate hadn’t heard much about Eloise’s life before she became an escort, and though she was intrigued, none of the girls ever pushed for personal information. But it didn’t mean the o
ne girl who hadn’t voiced anything further was off the hook. She turned to Natalie. “What about you?”

  The blonde woman flushed, and looked away. “Even if I did have…feelings for someone, I refuse to act on them.”

  Kate nodded. “I can relate.”

  Natalie looked back, her eyes flashing blue fire. “Actually, I doubt any of you do.” She sighed heavily. “The man I’m fighting not to have feelings for is seventeen years my senior and…married.”

  Kate stared. Everyone stared. It wasn’t unusual for a married man to request their services. In fact, it was all too common. But to imagine that same married man would return deep feelings for an escort…it just didn’t happen.

  Eloise pushed back her chair and stood, her midnight-black hair in vivid contrast to her cropped white blouse and green denim shorts. “Well, I don’t know about anyone else, but I think a little retail therapy wouldn’t go astray.”

  Claire nodded. “I’m keen for that.”

  Natalie sucked in a breath and then smiled at Kate. “Yes. Let’s go have some fun.”

  *

  Blaine disconnected from the four-way teleconference, his mind only half on the job. Since when had corporate takeovers become so damn mundane and lackluster?

  Taking on a new company and shaping it to his exacting standards to make it successful had become his trademark. One he wasn’t about to fail at now, despite his sudden disinterest.

  A knock sounded on the hazy pearl-colored glass door of his office. “Come in,” he called out, smoothing away any signs of displeasure from his face.

  Lately everything had lost a little of its sheen, until the moment he was reunited with Kate. Then everything was bright and sharp, and filled with wonder. Like watching an old black-and-white television, then blinking to see a plasma color television for the first time and having everything come to glorious life.

  Samantha, his secretary cum personal assistant, walked into his office, a woman on a mission. “Is everything okay with you lately?” she asked crisply, all business as per usual. Exactly the reason he’d hired her.

  He arched a brow even as he smothered a telling smile. “Shouldn’t it be?”

  Sam’s usually composed face wilted into a frown. “With your latest acquisition, I should think so. If only you weren’t so distracted.”

  He shrugged. “That obvious, huh?”

  She sighed, her cool blue stare softening a little. “I never thought I’d see the day when a woman would snare you in her web”

  He loosened the knot in his tie, feeling suddenly suffocated by the damn thing. “Yeah, well, now I just have to convince her she can’t live without me, either.”

  It was Sam’s turn to arch a brow, before she placed a stack of paperwork on his desk. “Here are all the documents you requested from last month’s merger.”

  Bloody hell. Reading all the small print before signing on the dotted line wasn’t something he felt close to capable of doing right now. Not when his thoughts were consumed by Kate. But he wasn’t going to relent this once and put all his faith in a lawyer. No, his work ethic and attention to detail weren’t going to suffer because of his disarrayed emotions.

  Nothing could be left to chance. He wouldn’t take three steps back after working his ass off to take two steps forward. He dropped his hand, breathing much more freely as he picked up the first page. He’d read the contract thoroughly, then he’d devote all his attention to Kate later tonight.

  Somehow convince her that what they had was real and long-lasting, if she’d only open herself up and trust in him.

  Sam sighed loudly into the silence. “All I know for sure is that you’ve left behind a trail of lovesick and heart-sore women who are even now desperate for your attention. Yet it looks as though you’ve chosen possibly the one woman on Earth, besides me,” she elaborated with a smirk, “who doesn’t share your same feelings.” Her smirk grew a fraction. “I really must meet her.”

  Blaine ignored the fine print blurring before his eyes to send her a wry look. “So you can congratulate her on leading me around by my short and curlies?”

  His secretary’s restraint had to be legendary, as she kept a straight face and said sweetly, “Let’s just say she must be someone pretty special.”

  He watched Sam close his office door behind her, before he said softly, “Yes, she most certainly is.”

  Chapter Nine

  ‡

  It felt strange stepping out of the car to a blaze of outside lights, as though Blaine wanted to now proclaim her arrival to the world.

  So much for discretion.

  Nerves knotted in her belly at the coming confrontation.

  At the night ahead.

  At its ending.

  Her hand tightened on her fire-red clutch purse, the same color as her gauzy halter-neck dress that flared out from the waist. She shivered. She couldn’t help but acknowledge that tonight would be memorable…life changing. And not in a good way.

  Blaine wouldn’t give her up, not without a fight.

  Her heels clacked on the granite path as she approached the same red door as the night before. Except this time her smile was forced and her belly churned with trepidation. Aside from physical release, there was little to look forward to tonight.

  Amazing the difference a few days could make.

  Blaine swung the door open before she’d reached it. She swallowed, her heart fluttering. He looked divine, his fitted tux showcasing his height, his lean but muscled breadth.

  “Hi,” she said huskily, self-conscious somehow at his lingering appraisal.

  “Stunning,” he murmured in return.

  For one dizzying moment, she wondered if perhaps he’d looked beyond her outer layer to the beauty within. But then he claimed her mouth with his own in a slow, leisurely exploration of lips and tongue, and the idea melted away.

  No. He simply wanted the one woman he’d soon no longer have. Besides, successful men like Blaine didn’t care so much for inner beauty, did they? Her own father had been proof of that.

  She stiffened and pulled away first. Damn it. Some memories should never be taken out of the closet. And she had to stop judging every man by her father’s behavior. Blaine was nothing like him. Not that it mattered either way, not after tonight. She took a step back, her top teeth worrying into her bottom lip. “Someone might see us.”

  Blaine’s eyes blazed, passionate and possessive. “Let them.”

  When he pulled her back the next time, his mouth, as it claimed hers once again, alternated between soft and coaxing, then hard and demanding. She sighed into his mouth, drowning in a sea of sensation. Thoughts no longer entered her consciousness. Nothing penetrated the world he took her to, except just how badly she wanted him.

  All of him.

  Minutes later they broke apart. His face, as he looked down at her, was stamped with a fierce intensity that bordered on alarming. He appeared every inch the big, bad wolf who wanted to eat her. Then he smiled and stepped away. She sucked in an unsteady breath, her heartbeat stabilizing and her renewed anxiety lifting.

  His hard-edged exterior too often hid the adoring, romantic man she’d seen more and more often of late. Yet, despite her professional side screaming that things were becoming way too personal and way too intense, she’d basked in his attention.

  Had. Past tense.

  “We have a few minutes,” he said smoothly. “Would you care for a drink?”

  She nodded, forcing a smile. “I’d love one.”

  Two snifters of brandy were already poured and waiting on the bar in his entertainment room. He handed one to her and she cupped it in the palm of her hand, swirling the liquid around and around, and watching the firelight refracted in its depths.

  Blaine raised his drink in a toast, a slightly crooked smile curling his lips. “To us.”

  She raised hers too, a little more awkwardly and feeling ill-at-ease, knowing “us” wouldn’t be a part of the equation for much longer. Despite herself, the thought l
eft her sick at heart.

  Blaine’s eyes captured hers as he added deliberately, “May there be many more nights the same as this one.”

  That’s one wish that won’t be coming true.

  She wouldn’t speak her thoughts out loud. Not when she was supposed to be his every fantasy come true. Instead, she tossed back her drink, needing its fortification. The brandy burned all the way down her throat, creating a pleasant warmth in her belly and a surge of affirmation in her breast. She returned her empty glass to the bar. “So it’s party before pleasure?”

  Placing his glass beside hers, he clasped her hips and tugged her close. “Pleasure first,” he corrected softly, holding her stare.

  Her breath came out in a surprised hiss when he spun her around to face the mirror, her spine pressed against his chest, his flat belly and the thick wedge of his arousal.

  Her face was already flushed with passion, the tight upsweep of her strawberry-blonde hair ready to tumble past her shoulders in utter abandonment and disarray. Not unlike her emotions.

  “But you’ll be the only one coming,” he added in an undertone.

  She swallowed. Hard.

  Blaine never ceased to excite her, never ceased to make her want him even more than before. But she couldn’t afford what this would do to her…to them. Her eyes connected to his in the mirror. Saying goodbye to him was going to be the hardest thing she’d ever done.

  His stare narrowed, sharp, possessive. “Are you wearing any underwear?”

  She nodded, as helpless as a mouse in the presence of a cobra. “A thong and garters,” she managed, her voice whisper-soft.

  “Good.” His hands moved downward from her hips, lifting the petal-like skirt of her dress.

  His touch was hot between her thighs. When he pushed aside the scrap of lace that was her thong to expose her pussy, she all but collapsed against him, her bones turning to liquid.

  “You’ll climax for me,” he said hoarsely, “then every time you walk, every time you sit or stand tonight, you’ll be aware of the wetness down there.”