Courting Gossip

by Kimberly Dean

  ‘Well,’ she muttered. She pushed away a strand of hair that had blown into her face and looked away.

  He braced his hand against the white column at the top of the steps. He was fighting the urge to walk down the steps and just pull her into his arms. ‘What happened, Jenny? I thought we agreed to celebrate tonight.’

  ‘We are not celebrating. You protected her.’

  Maggie. She didn’t have to spell it out, but she didn’t understand. ‘I didn’t protect her. I silenced her.’

  ‘Same difference to me.’ She folded her arms under her breasts and shrugged. ‘You shut her down. The gossip should stop now. There’s no need for us to continue with our arrangement.’

  No reason? He could tick off about a thousand without even trying.

  He drummed his fingers against the column. ‘If you want out, we need to get into it first.’

  With the sun setting behind them, dusk settled onto the beach quickly. The ocean turned darker, and a few lights came on up and down the beach. ‘Are we going to fight out here, or are you going to let me in?’

  She was stewing over his perceived betrayal, Brody could see it. A day at the beach hadn’t calmed her down. Steam nearly poured from her ears, but she marched up the steps and stormed by him. She opened the sliding glass door, and the green flash of the sunset came from her eyes. ‘You want to get into it? Fine by me.’

  ‘You know I fight dirty,’ he warned her before he stepped inside. And this was one fight he was determined to win. He wasn’t going to let her go easily.

  ‘Yeah? Well, I’m a redhead. Bring it on, Spin Master. I dare you.’

  Chapter Thirteen

  Genieve wiped her feet on the fish-shaped rug in front of the door and burst into the beach house. She couldn’t believe he was here. This was her retreat, her oasis. ‘How did you find me?’ she demanded.

  He entered behind her more slowly. ‘You told me you had a place in Rehoboth Beach when you came to stay with me. I was listening.’

  He was always tucking away information, wasn’t he? Even with that small a tidbit, he’d had the resources to track her down.

  Well, knowing where she lived didn’t mean he’d been invited.

  She filled herself a glass of cold water from the faucet and drank half of it before turning to face him. She didn’t like the surprise. She’d come here to lick her wounds. She needed more time to build her defences against him.

  ‘Nice place,’ he said. He barely looked at it before his lavender gaze landed back on her.

  ‘I know.’ She’d chosen the condo and had decorated it herself. From the hardwood floors to the teak furniture to the blue and coral colour scheme, the place was an extension of her. She was typically relaxed and light-hearted, but not today. He was on her turf, and she wasn’t comfortable having him here.

  She didn’t trust him.

  He put his hands on his hips. He was dressed down again and looked more like her Brody. Her Brody. She wanted to kick herself. T-shirts and jeans or suits and ties, he was still a shark.

  His gaze skimmed down her figure before jerking back up. ‘Do you want to put something on?’ he asked.

  Why? Did her state of undress bother him?

  ‘I’m good.’ She leaned back against the counter and crossed her legs at the ankles. It split the sarong open to show an expanse of leg. She was at ease in her bikini. She’d walked a mile up and down the public beach in it. If it put him off-balance, all the better. She might get honest answers that way.

  ‘Say what you’ve got to say, Brody.’ Then he could leave, and she could go back to patching the holes in her pride.

  The tic in his temple returned. ‘I didn’t protect Maggie Harris. I was protecting you.’

  Genieve tilted her head. Oh, really? She’d love to see how he spun this. ‘How do you figure?’

  ‘We’re looking at a plea deal now. She won’t say anything this way.’

  Her eyes narrowed. ‘Anything about what?’

  She knew damn well, but she wanted him to say it out loud.

  His expression went smooth. ‘About you being an escort.’

  She took a swift step towards him. She’d tried, but she couldn’t play it calm and cool like he did. ‘That’s what I am, Brody – an escort – but today you made me feel like a whore.’

  His forehead creased, and his eyes lit up. ‘I take offence at that.’

  So did she.

  ‘You ran into town to cover everything up before we could even wrap our heads around what was going on. The most important thing to you was hiding me away like a dirty little secret.’

  ‘It is a secret,’ he said, his voice taking on an edge. ‘You hide it. Luxxor hides it. Maggie could talk about Senator Gunderson, and he’s my client, too. What else was I supposed to do, Jenny? This way everyone is protected.’

  ‘Everyone including that crazy bitch.’

  He ran a hand through his hair, and it stayed rumpled. ‘Compromise sucks, but we’re almost out of the weeds on this. We’ve got to take this win.’

  Genieve slapped her hand against the counter. ‘This is not a win for me. The woman broke into my home. She damaged my property. She violated me more than any of my clients ever have.’

  ‘Don’t say that,’ he growled.

  ‘You’re protecting her. What about me? When do I get justice? She’s come at me twice now.’

  ‘She’s not getting off scot-free.’ With an expulsion of air, he walked away. When he came back, his lungs were working harder. ‘I’m just trying to keep things quiet for you, the senator and Luxxor.’

  ‘You chose her over me.’

  ‘No. Never.’

  The kitchen was suddenly too small. Genieve walked past him and turned on a lamp in the living room. The sun had gone down all the way, and only trailing rays of light were on the horizon. She walked around the room snapping curtains closed. Rehoboth Beach was a happy place. People came here to get away from their problems, but hers had followed her home.

  She planted herself in front of the Papasan chair and crossed her arms. His gaze dropped to her breasts, and her skin warmed. She concentrated on the breeze coming from the ceiling fan. ‘Why do you do the things you do, Brody? Why do you help people get away with bad things?’

  His chin came up. ‘That’s ironic.’

  ‘I know.’ He’d helped her. ‘Explain it to me.’

  She deserved to know. She’d gone along with his machinations with barely a peep. Of course, she’d been wrapped up in the lie they were leading, but for once she wanted to understand why. How did he justify moving the chess pieces like he did? Did he care that he might hurt the pawns in his game?

  His fingers ticked against his thigh. ‘Will it make a difference if it’s not a sob story?’

  ‘Maybe.’ She hoped it would. If she knew what drove him, she might understand him. And she wanted there to be a reason.

  ‘But don’t you dare spin me,’ she warned.

  Suddenly, he was the one who couldn’t stand still. He paced in front of the mantelpiece and bumped against one of the candlesticks she’d had fashioned out of driftwood she’d found on the beach. He caught it before it fell and set it back down with a firm hand.

  When he finally turned on her, his lavender eyes were bright. ‘You want honesty? Here it is. I’ve never understood why people think they should get a gold star if they follow an imaginary set of rules. That old cliché about hard work will get you anywhere? It’s bullshit. It’s all about who you know and how much power you have.’

  She heard the edge in his voice. He’d learned that lesson the hard way.

  ‘So you broke the rules?’ she asked.

  ‘I made my own. With no name or money, I had to find another way.’ He jabbed a finger at the window. ‘All those drunk college kids? They were stupid, and they had cash. I made connections and earned a reputation for being a guy who could get them out of messes. I got further along doing that than trying to play catchup when their daddies gave them a l
eg up first.’

  So he’d pulled himself up by his bootstraps, using his brain and his wit. Genieve toyed with the knot of her sarong. She could relate to that. She used her assets, too.

  ‘You’ve made it to the top of the heap, but how far will you go to stay there? Do you hurt people? What if one of your clients does something truly horrible?’

  He shrugged. ‘It depends on what it is.’

  Judge and jury?

  ‘Samuel hired me, an escort.’

  His voice went flat. ‘That didn’t hurt anybody.’

  Her weight shifted. It looked like it might have hurt him.

  ‘He’s caused you a lot of headaches,’ she said, pressing the issue.

  ‘He’s also paid me to get rid of them. That’s what I do. On the scale of things, he’s harmless.’

  Yes, but the man was a politician. He was judged by a higher set of standards. Being harmless wasn’t something that should be rewarded, in most people’s minds. ‘He also doesn’t do his job. What if his competitor tried to hire you?’

  ‘Kevin Murphy is another story.’

  ‘Not harmless?’

  ‘No.’

  She lifted an eyebrow. How did he know the things he did? She bit her lip. She knew things about Luxxor’s clients that they didn’t suspect. Were the two of them really that different?

  ‘How do you choose your clients?’ she asked. ‘What’s too far?’

  He folded his arms, and his weight went to the balls of his feet. ‘I had someone try to hire me to get out of a battery charge. I walked away when I saw the girlfriend’s black eye.’ He rocked forward and then back. ‘And I took her to a women’s shelter, and he never saw her again.’

  But he didn’t publicise that.

  Genieve’s harsh breaths began to slow. It might not be a sob story, but he was painting a picture. He truly was a Black Knight. He’d found a way to rise to power. He didn’t follow the straight and narrow, but he still had a code.

  ‘People might not like my methods, but they like my results.’ He bent forward at the waist. ‘That’s all I was trying to do today, Jenny, get results that still protected you.’

  ‘Ooooh!’ She was so tired of hearing that. She stomped her foot, but then raked a hand through her hair and wandered around the open space. ‘You’re so damn logical and unemotional. I can’t do that.’

  ‘I don’t want you to.’

  She’d spent all day trying to understand, but to him it was so clear-cut and obvious. ‘She hurt me,’ she said.

  His lavender eyes flashed. ‘She’ll never do it again.’

  Finally, there was emotion in his voice. The chill that ran down her spine was satisfying. ‘I didn’t want her silenced,’ Genieve pouted.

  His chin lifted, and his jawline was hard. ‘That’s something we’ll just have to agree to disagree about.’

  When? In the future? Did they even have one?

  Her hand worried the knot at her waist. He was getting to her again. She wanted to believe he’d had her best interests at heart.

  ‘What am I to you?’ she asked, bracing herself for the answer.

  ‘A game-changer.’

  She faltered. What did that mean? ‘Because you had to switch tactics? Protect both Samuel and me?’

  ‘Would you stop bringing him up?’ Brody grabbed a throw pillow off the sofa, but just wadded it up and put it back down. ‘This has nothing to do with that idiot. It has to do with you and me.’

  Her toes curled into the coral area rug beneath her feet. ‘There is no you and me.’

  ‘The hell there isn’t.’

  ‘I had Nina end the contract. It’s run its course.’

  ‘Does it feel like it’s run its course?’ He folded his arms again, and his fingers began beating a driving tempo against his biceps. ‘OK, if we’re tidying everything up, it’s my turn to get some answers. Why do you do what you do?’

  She’d known that was coming. She’d known it. She planted her hands on her hips defensively. ‘It’s not a sob story either.’

  ‘I don’t want it to be.’

  Her eyebrows rose. That was the first time she’d ever gotten that response, but it made the chunk of ice around her heart crack. He didn’t want to hear she’d been forced into it. ‘I chose it,’ she said, seeing if he’d waver.

  ‘Why?’

  She gestured around. She had two beautiful homes and good investments; she travelled well and met interesting, powerful people. ‘The money is fantastic.’

  ‘I’m well aware of that.’

  Right. He’d been getting the bills.

  ‘You could make a living lots of ways. How can you stand to crawl into strangers’ beds?’

  She flinched, but covered it with a flip of her hair. Apparently they were getting brutally honest. ‘Well, usually I’m carried there,’ she quipped.

  He tried not to react, but he blanched.

  She sighed. She didn’t want to hurt him, not like that. ‘And they’re not strangers. Luxxor vets them, and I don’t go into an exclusive contract without escorting the man to events first. I’m not suited for the nine-to-five. The monotony and the office backstabbing would drive me nuts.’

  He nodded. ‘Keep going.’

  ‘I’m a people person. I like to have fun, and I like to make other people feel good – whether that’s making them laugh, listening to them or having sex.’ She waved at her body. ‘You used your assets to get ahead, and I used mine.’

  ‘But Gunderson,’ he said, sounding pained. ‘How did you have sex with that Botoxed geezer?’

  ‘It wasn’t with him,’ she muttered.

  ‘What?’

  She rolled her eyes. Now it was her turn to share something nobody else knew. ‘I like sex. I like the sensations, the endorphins and the feeling of power it gives me. But if my partner isn’t exactly…arousing enough for me, I look for other stimuli.’

  He stared at her hard.

  ‘I fantasised,’ she finally blurted. ‘Sometimes I was with my client, but at others I was with Chris Hemsworth or Zac Efron.’

  Understanding dawned in his eyes. ‘Who were you with on the night when those reporters broke in to film you?’

  Her lips flattened. ‘Don’t ask me to soothe your ego when I’m still mad at you.’

  For once, she surprised him. His jaw dropped, and his body jerked. It was the most animated she’d seen him.

  ‘My turn,’ she said, pouncing before he kept pushing down that path. ‘Why do you work so hard to hide your emotions?’

  He stopped. ‘Do I?’

  ‘You’re like the male Mona Lisa.’

  He gave her a sceptical look – a twitch of his eye and a barely detectable downward turn of his lips.

  ‘Like that.’ She let out a frustrated sound. ‘Look up the word inscrutable in the dictionary, and there’s your face.’

  He rubbed his jaw. ‘I don’t know. It’s the way I’ve always been. I guess it was the way I was raised.’

  So he’d grown up in a strict household…one where nobody ever broke loose, yet he’d broken free. She was getting a better and better read on him. It wasn’t a sob story, but a case of rebellion. He’d been restricted and controlled, but now he ruled.

  ‘Does it bother you?’ he asked.

  ‘No.’ When she saw him opening up, it made her feel like she was in on the secret.

  His gaze slid over her face, and the room went silent. Genieve braced herself. It was his turn again.

  ‘Can I ask you something personal?’ he asked.

  She hesitated. Talking about the sex she had for money wasn’t personal? ‘What is it?’

  ‘Jenny…can you read?’

  Her breathing stopped, and her feet rooted to the floor. ‘I can read!’

  He waited, watching her until she wriggled her ankle. She’d become so good at covering, nobody picked up on it anymore. But he had. She could see it on his inscrutable face. His eyes were sharp and curious. But not hurtful…

  Damn it, she
didn’t want him to feel sorry for her. Indignation started to bubble inside her, the pain familiar but raw. ‘I’m just slow.’

  ‘And I’m a dancing panda,’ he said dryly. ‘You’re not slow. You have one of the quickest minds I’ve ever encountered.’

  The unexpected imagery made Genieve laugh, and it startled her out of her defensiveness.

  ‘That’s not what I meant,’ she said. She folded her hands together and pressed them against her stomach. ‘I’m dyslexic.’ The word felt foreign on her tongue. She rarely said it out loud any more. ‘How…how did you know?’

  ‘I didn’t – until you got frustrated playing darts. The nineteens and the sixteens…Then I remembered you wanting to use the voice recognition software and the way you flipped through our contract like you didn’t care about the details.’

  ‘I cared,’ she said softly. She wrapped her arms around her waist. This was what it felt like to be naked. ‘The letters and numbers get jumbled or flipped when I look at them. I have techniques I use to try to work through it, but when I’m tired or stressed, it gets worse.’ She’d gone through all kinds of testing and training when she’d been young, but as an adult, it was much more difficult to admit. The stigma was hard to overcome. ‘It’s not an excuse, but choosing an occupation where I’d have to fight it every day would have been stupid. And I’m smarter than that.’

  ‘All right.’

  ‘I chose to be an escort, because I’m good with people. Even you. I’ve just learned to hide my weakness.’

  ‘I won’t tell anyone,’ he promised. ‘I almost didn’t see it, and we’ve been living together.’

  Living together…

  ‘Does it make you—’ She stopped. She didn’t want to know that.

  He caught her arms and stepped up close. ‘No, I don’t think less of you. I think you’re brilliant. Brilliant, beautiful and ballsy.’

  Her lips trembled. ‘Kiss up.’

  ‘If you’ll let me.’

  She laughed even as she felt tears thickening her throat. ‘Brody…’

  He dipped his head so he could look into her eyes. ‘I screwed up, babe, but I was upset with myself for missing it. Maggie was right there under my nose, and she was the one making your life hell. I wasn’t going to let her continue to do that – but I should have talked with you first.’