The After Dark Collection: Books 1-3 in The Gift Series

by Blakely, Lauren

  “Worth it,” I told my reflection in the mirror of the cloak room at the university. I looked like an aerospace engineer, I decided, adjusting the stole-type thing so the point was straight on my chest and the hood draped down my back. “Nerdy and a little like a professor at Hogwarts,” I declared.

  I joined the other master’s degree candidates in the hall outside the auditorium. My classmates had clumped up to exchange good wishes before we lined up in alphabetical order. There weren’t a large number of us, and some had been in class together since their undergraduate days. I considered myself lucky to have made the friends I did, especially since I’d always worked weekends.

  I imagined I’d work plenty of weekends as a junior engineer too. I bet it would be a lot quieter though. Probably lonelier too. I might miss that part of my job—the escort part of escorting.

  It was a strange world, and I was immensely grateful for the luck I’d had and all the opportunities that had led me to where I was. Not the least of which was a job that allowed me to pay for school and arrange my schedule around classes.

  I had just one more job this weekend, and then I’d be trading Sin City Escorts for a whole new kind of city living – the regular kind.

  The familiar strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” began, and the line of graduates processed into the auditorium. Later, I would consider the near and far future. Now it was time to cross the stage, shake the dean’s hand, and get my diploma.

  This was what I’d dreamed of many years ago.

  And many times over the last several months.

  This moment was here at last.

  * * *

  The Saturday morning of my last job for Sin City Escorts, I picked up my shirts from the laundry and chose a tie for my final assignment. I was feeling nostalgic. I never liked goodbyes. Ironic, with a ships-that-pass-in-the-night kind of business like this, but that was how it went.

  I was ready to move on though. Sure, some aspects of the job I enjoyed, and I didn’t have much to complain about. But the reality was, I’d stopped differentiating between clients, and when I was with someone—however I was with her—I tried to be present. That was hard when the jobs ran together.

  It was through no fault of the women. But a job was a job after all.

  The one woman who stood out, though, was Sidney from Phoenix. A year ago, she’d been visiting Vegas and she’d hired me, or maybe her friend had. We’d spent the evening just talking. That was all. We’d started at a bar in The Luxe, then wound up at a noodle joint, eating and laughing and talking. That was where she’d told me her hopes and dreams, her aspirations . . . her wish to become an environmental scientist, her wish to adopt a rescue dog, her wish to be loved.

  I’d had a feeling it had been a while since anyone had truly listened to her. The way she’d opened up had forged an intimacy between us, and that was likely why I remembered her.

  When she’d smiled, her green eyes had twinkled, and I could still remember that look in them.

  So when I opened up the details of tonight’s assignment in my inbox, I grinned.

  My eyes were probably twinkling too.

  Because I could sure as hell recognize a cosmic confluence, even if I was an engineer and not an astronomer.

  Tonight’s client was Sidney from Phoenix.

  The one who hadn’t fallen from my mind.

  Hell no. She hadn’t fallen out of my head one bit.

  * * *

  Wow.

  Just wow.

  As I walked into the bar at The Venetian, I had one thought.

  Sidney was more lovely than I’d remembered.

  Or possibly more lovely, period. When we’d first met, she’d seemed a bit brittle. Not her personality, but her emotions, almost as if they were pottery fired in an oven too long and a hard knock might shatter her.

  But as I joined her, dropping a kiss on her soft cheek, the woman with me now seemed resilient, with rosy color in her face and a newfound liveliness in those eyes—as if the sparkle in them was no longer fleeting. It was regular.

  “How have you been?” she asked, and she sounded like a good friend, someone I hadn’t seen in a while.

  “Terrific. And you?”

  “I’m well.” The smile she flashed was bright and genuine.

  We made small talk while we waited for the server to bring our drinks, and it felt more like a date than work.

  Was it because this was my last assignment? Because I’d checked out of this job already?

  Or was it because of her?

  The only one I hadn’t ejected from my mind.

  The one who’d stood out.

  And I had my answer.

  It was her.

  Though this was my last job, I felt anything but disengaged.

  After the waiter brought our drinks, Sidney ran her finger along the rim of the glass. “I suppose you’re wondering why I asked for you tonight. Besides the obvious.”

  Her blush hinted at what she meant, but I didn’t feel like rushing to get there. I’d be disappointed if we did. I wanted to take my time with her.

  “I never assume anything is obvious,” I said, and then surprised myself by asking, “Why don’t you start by telling me how you’ve been doing the past year? I want to hear more about you.”

  Her lips curved slowly into another smile. “Well, I graduated, for one thing. Master’s in environmental science.”

  “Congratulations, then. You were looking forward to working in that field, I recall.” I raised my glass, toasting her.

  “I was. I am. I’m touched you remembered.”

  I leaned a little closer. “I just graduated too,” I said, then I blinked.

  What the hell was that? I just shared a detail of my private life, and I never did that.

  “Ah! What a coincidence!”

  Sidney didn’t notice anything amiss. She wouldn’t, because she hadn’t worked as an escort and kept her private details private, at the peril of . . . well, unlikely but terrible things.

  “What were you studying?” she asked.

  I supposed it didn’t matter now. No need to keep my real life under lock and key. “Aerospace engineering.”

  Her eyes widened with obvious delight. “So you’re a . . .”

  “Go ahead and say it.” I gestured in invitation. “Get it out of your system.”

  Her grin was full of mischief. “I’ll save it for when you’re not expecting it.”

  “I’m always expecting that joke.” I sipped my drink. “But go on. Catch me up on life in Phoenix.”

  “For one thing, I’m not in Phoenix anymore.” She slid her glass around on the table, leaving a trail of condensation. “I’ve moved here.”

  Surprise after surprise tonight. That just didn’t happen often. Not while still sitting in the bar, at least. “Have you really?” I asked, trying hard to rein in a grin.

  Or perhaps not trying hard to at all.

  Because it seemed like a damn fine coincidence too.

  “I have indeed.” She tucked her chin almost shyly and looked at me through her lashes. It could have been annoyingly coy, but on Sidney it was sweet and genuine, and just like her. “Antony . . . is it too early to ask to go up to my room?”

  My muscles tensed briefly. The reminder of why I was here was unwelcome. Yes, the thought of going up to her room was hugely appealing, but not for the reasons she likely thought.

  I didn’t want to go up as an escort.

  I wanted to go up as . . . her date.

  And that wasn’t anything I’d ever experienced before.

  But I was still on the clock, and I’d been taught to respect not only my employer but also the client. Still, was she ready? Truly ready? She hadn’t been before. I considered it part of my job to make sure the client was comfortable at all times, and sometimes that meant I needed to apply the brakes for a smoother ride.

  “If you want to go up, it’s not too early. But what if we were to finish our drinks and then decide?”


  She nodded, then whispered, “Of course.” She looked down, biting her lip, and I worried that she took that as a rejection.

  So I reached across the table and laid my hand on her arm, a spark of pleasure rushing through my body at the touch. Her skin was hot, as if she’d blushed all the way to her fingertips.

  “Sidney, that wasn’t a no,” I explained. “That was a ‘let’s pretend you’re not paying for my time.’ I don’t want to rush”—I didn’t want to be on the clock at all, I was realizing—“and maybe you want to sort some things out yourself.”

  Her glance came at me sideways this time. Always dancing, her green eyes. Even when she seemed a little peeved. “I know you didn’t just say that I don’t know my own mind,” she said, her tone strong.

  “I wouldn’t dare.” Tracing my thumb over the skin of her arm, I made sure I had her attention. “It’s just that last year, you weren’t ready. That wasn’t your speed.”

  “Last year,” she said sharply, “I’d just found out my asshole boyfriend had been cheating on me with half of Phoenix.” Some of the sting in those words seemed to be aimed at me, perhaps for presuming to know her mind. “So, I was having a few trust and intimacy issues,” she added.

  “Understandable.” My tone was as unprovoking as I could make it. “And I didn’t mean to suggest that you don’t know what you want. That’s not what I meant at all. What I meant was I wanted to make sure going upstairs was exactly what you wanted. Here,” I said, dusting a fingertip over her temple. “And here.” I touched her chest ever so lightly. “And everywhere.” I took the liberty to run my hand along her waist, feeling her shudder into my touch.

  When I reached her waist, she took my hand, clasping it. “Thank you for saying that. And let me speak my mind fully too. Because the thing is,” she said, stopping to take a breath, “I’ve been thinking about that night for a year, wondering if I’d made a mistake. You listened to me ramble, and you were kind and funny, and I really enjoyed talking to you. Most of all, you seemed to see me. No matter who else you’d been with, I felt important to you then. That’s a gift, making people feel cared for when you’ve just met.”

  That might have been the most a woman has said about me—me, not my looks or my skill or my stamina—in all the time I’d been doing this.

  “It seems like you saw me that night too,” I said, lacing our fingers more tightly together.

  “We’re impressive,” she said with a gleam in her eye, “seeing that much when we didn’t even get naked.”

  “Amazing what you can see when you’re truly looking at everything,” I said, our gazes locked as the air between us seemed charged, electric.

  “Yes, everything,” she repeated, then licked her lips.

  And it seemed we were both ready.

  It seemed she was ready to take a chance she wasn’t ready to take a year ago.

  And I wanted to take a different type of chance.

  A chance at someone seeing beyond what they’d paid for.

  We finished our drinks and made our unhurried way to the elevators, talking about the city, our new jobs, the rescue dog she wanted to adopt.

  As we neared her door and she took out her key card, my heart hammered. I couldn’t go in there as an escort. I had to tell her. Had to let her know this was different.

  I drew her to a stop, turning her to face me and brushing her cheek with my fingers. “Sidney from Phoenix, the woman I couldn’t get out of my mind, I don’t want this to be a job.”

  She covered my fingers with hers, pressing them to her soft skin, her eyes locked with mine. “Then don’t think of it as your job, and I won’t think of it that way either.”

  I slid my other hand into her hair, cradling her head and bringing her close. “It seems so simple when you put it that way.”

  “Well,” she whispered when our lips were a breath apart, “it’s not rocket science.”

  That settled it. I had to punish her mouth with a kiss.

  * * *

  I woke up with the feeling someone was staring at me.

  Sidney, once from Phoenix, now from here.

  She lay on her stomach, her chin on her hands, watching me with sleepy eyes. “I can’t quite believe you did that.”

  I stretched my arms over my head. “You’re going to have to narrow down what ‘that’ is. There are a lot of variables.”

  “You stayed the night.”

  “Is that okay?” It had felt so damn good to close my eyes with her snuggled against me, dynamite couldn’t have blasted me out of this bed.

  “Definitely.”

  I tucked some of her tumbled hair behind her ear. “I had to stay until you woke because I needed to ask if I can see you again.”

  Her mouth dropped open, and emotions flickered on her face too fast to read. “I would love to see you again.” Her expression settled between wary and hopeful. “I might go broke, but it would be worth it.”

  “Lucky for you, as of this morning, I’m a cheap date.” She frowned in confusion, and I suddenly felt tentative as I explained, “As of this morning, I am one-hundred-percent engineer and zero percent escort. Last night was my last job.”

  She considered that long enough for me to worry, tapping her chin. “How cheap?”

  “What?” I frowned. Had I misread the whole night?

  But a grin seemed to tug at her lips. “Because we’re both new graduates, Antony. And I just made an extravagant purchase from my savings account. I need to watch my wallet now.”

  No way was I taking money for last night. I’d make sure Sin City didn’t charge her. I dropped a kiss on her nose. “You’re not paying for last night. I’ll cover you. And tonight, I’d like to take you out.” I pulled back to look at her, to watch her face transform from playful to vulnerable.

  “You meant all that? About this not being a job?”

  “Couldn’t you tell? From the way we were together?”

  She swallowed, then answered, “I know you said it. And I could tell what I wanted. But I didn’t want to presume anything.”

  I ran a hand down her bare skin, savoring the feel of her soft, sexy body. “Then let me make it abundantly clear. I want you. I want to date you. I want to see you. I want to be the aerospace engineer to your environmental scientist.” I took a beat, nerves thrumming through me. “That is, if you think you could let a former escort into your heart?”

  Her smile widened like the sky. “You’re already there.”

  “Good. That’s where I’d like to stay.”

  And as I kissed her deeply, tasting my sweet Sidney, I felt something for the first time.

  The sense that she was mine, and I was hers.

  It had happened suddenly.

  Or perhaps it had happened during the last year.

  I didn’t know, but I wanted it to keep happening again and again with her.

  Epilogue

  Kate

  Six months later

  Sidney picked out a new pink bra from Ava’s and held it up, waggling it. “What do you think?”

  “It’s gorgeous. Do you like it?”

  She lowered her eyes, considering the lace. “I think I do. I think my guy might as well.”

  “Yes, I think he likes you in anything,” I said with a smile. “Get it. You have an anniversary to celebrate.”

  “Nothing quite like six months together,” she said, then trotted to the register, ready to buy.

  When Sidney moved to Vegas earlier this year, we’d reconnected in the most random of ways, bumping into each other at a noodle shop. She was there with Antony, and I didn’t want to interrupt, but they’d both called me over.

  And Sidney and I had become fast friends. We had a lot in common—we were determined to make it in our careers, and we’d both moved on from the past. Let go of crummy relationships. And embraced our new ones.

  She and Antony were ridiculously happy together, and that summed up my life with Jake too.

  Business was good, love was good, and all my
friendships were fabulous too, with old friends and new ones as well.

  Maybe that was another secret of this city—if you let people in, you could truly enjoy everything it had to offer.

  That was what I was doing. Living and loving to the fullest.

  Epilogue

  Jake

  I adjusted my bow tie, smoothed a hand over my lapel, and grinned at my crew. “Admit it. I’m a handsome devil,” I said to my sister.

  Christine scoffed, arching a brow. “A demon maybe. Handsome demon?”

  Adam chuckled, clapping my shoulder. “Handsome goblin.”

  Finn jumped into the fray. “Handsome hell creature.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Keep ’em coming. Nothing can get me down today.”

  Today, I was marrying the love of my life, with my sister, my parents, and my best friends by my side. My nephew was here too, and Carson made quite a handsome groomsman.

  But once I headed to the front of the ballroom at The Extravagant, joining the justice of the peace, I barely saw them.

  As the music played, I only had eyes for my bride.

  The woman who’d be playing the role of my wife, my lover, and my best friend forever.

  As she walked down the aisle, looking radiant in white, I knew I was the luckiest man in the world.

  She was the greatest gift.

  And the most decadent one.

  THE END

  Intrigued by Ivy Carmichael? She has a story of her own as she falls for her bodyguard. And her sister Sage will also have a romance. Stay tuned for THE EXTRAVAGANT GIFT and THE EXQUISITE GIFT.

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