I should get dressed. Nina will be here soon. But his body is right here in front of me. How am I supposed to resist touching him?
My fiancé.
Not enough heart emojis in the world.
“Oh, wow,” he says as his phone chimes.
“What?”
He turns his phone toward me so I can see the screen.
Jake: Hey man, I’ve got great news. I proposed to Jana.
Jake: And she said yes. LOL Key detail.
Toby: Congratulations, that’s fantastic.
Jake: So you’re coming to the beach house, right? You can finally meet her?
Toby: I’ll be there. But listen… I’ve got some news of my own, too.
Jake: Yeah?
Toby: I eloped last week.
THE END
* * *
for Jake and Jana…
* * *
But Toby's story is next! Click here to keep reading, or turn the page for a look at the first two chapters of Personal Escort.
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Personal Escort Excerpt
Personal Escort was written for the Love in Transit anthology. One blurb, six stories.
Chapter One
TOBY
Toronto
St. George Station
* * *
End of June
I see her before she sees me, and I’m glad to have a second to process how stunning she is before she realizes I’m the man she’s here to meet.
The dress is perfect, the skirt flowing around her legs as she gets off the subway, the rest of the chiffon molded to her slim, delicate frame. Her hair is swept up off her face, but she’s left it long in the back, and her golden waves catch the overhead light in the underground station.
People are looking at her, but she doesn’t care, and that changes how they look at her—with awe, and whispers. Do you know who that is? She must be someone…
And she is.
Cara Russo. Grad student, secret badass, and a billionaire whisperer to boot.
My best friend’s little sister, too.
And for the next hour, my pretend bride.
Or more accurately…I’m her pretend groom.
I adjust the boutonnière on my lapel. That’s what she’s looking for. I was in charge of the flowers.
You’ll be wearing an orchid on your suit jacket, and you’ll have a small bouquet for me, too. That’s how I’ll know you’re my fiancé. I’ll look for the flowers.
She’s turning in a slow circle now, scanning the crowded platform. Her eyes are on the guy in the suit five bodies away from me. No, not him.
He doesn’t know how special you are.
Keep searching.
She glances in the other direction, then stops. Her back straightens and her head tilts to the side.
Turn around.
I should be nervous about this. She’s not going to understand.
Come on, Cara. Turn around and see me.
Anticipation zings through me as she turns slowly. Somehow, I’ll find a way to explain what I’ve done.
I’ve got the flowers, after all.
I’m the escort she’s hired for the afternoon. She just doesn’t know it yet.
Chapter Two
CARA
New York City
Upper West Side
* * *
Beginning of May
Once a month, I fly home to New York City to have lunch with my Nana.
The rest of the time, I’m a data nerd studying at The University of Toronto. A coffee addict with no social life to speak of, and no complaints about that fact.
My monthly trips may seem excessive to most people, but most people haven’t met my Nana.
She’s a battle-axe. She turned her husband’s failing business around, and then after he died at the age of thirty-five, married four more times. Each new relationship was a strategic business move. Mergers and acquisitions.
For forty years, she ruled as the CEO of Gladiator, Inc. Now that dubious honor falls to my brother, Ben. But she’s still on the board of directors, and as we discuss on a monthly basis, she wants me to take her seat.
I definitely do not want to do that.
But I love my Nana, so I tolerate that discussion, if only because it distracts her from her other serious concern about my life—that I haven’t gotten started on my own merger and acquisition with an acceptable male specimen.
“I’m not even dating anyone, Nana,” I remind her as I reach for the sandwiches.
She snatches the tray away from me. “Maybe because you keep stuffing your face.”
I roll my eyes. “Pretty sure you can’t get fat on watercress sandwiches.”
She pins me with a hawkish glare. “Men don’t like women who are lippy, either.”
“Their loss.” I’m going to have to run these rules past Toby. No sandwich padding, no lippy-ness… They don’t sound right, but on the other hand, I’m not dating anyone.
And when you’re twenty-four and not dating, there are some needs that start to make themselves apparent.
Not merger and acquisition level, though. More like…small scale experiments. A pilot study to determine feasibility of…I’m not sure what.
Having sex with a guy without making a fool of myself. Yeah. That would be a good place to start.
My grandmother keeps talking as if I hadn’t taken a weird detour in my thoughts to Perv-town.
“What do I need to do to sweeten the deal, young lady?”
I laugh. “Nana, I don’t want to sit on the board.”
“Have you looked at the stock options?”
“I don’t care about stock options.” I hold up my hand. “And don’t tell me men care about that, too. I don’t want to date a tycoon or a banker or…anyone like anyone in our family.”
“You want us to leave you alone to that laboratory at the university in that country.” She sniffs in the general direction of Canada, like the country stole me away from her.
The truth is, I jumped at the chance to put an international border between me and my family.
“Is that really so awful? Ben and Elena are happy to carry on the family business. I’m the baby. Nobody cares about what I do.”
Nana gasps. “I care.”
“You have a funny way of showing it,” I mutter, lunging for the sandwiches.
She doesn’t stop me this time and I take two, just to show her who’s the boss of me. Me. That’s who.
“I understand your grants for next year have not yet been approved,” she says silkily.
Noooo. I drop the sandwich I was about to take a big bite out of. I give her a horrified look, terror streaking through me. “You wouldn’t.”
Seventy-five years old. A matriarch of a New York establishment family. And pure evil. She shrugs. “I would.”
“Nana!”
“I want you married, and I want you on the board. It only meets quarterly. The rest of the time you can play scientist.” She lifts her teacup into the air. “We’ll discuss this again next month.”
Okay, I’m not the boss of me. Nana is, and she knows it. That’s…not ideal.
I glare at my tea, wishing I could turn it into a triple shot latte. “No, let’s discuss it now. You can’t…how did you even…please don’t mess with my academic life!”
“Please get married.” She gives me a bland, unwavering look.
“I could get other grants.” I could use my trust fund. I could quit my program and run away with the circus.
I have options, but that’s not really the point here. The point is that my Nana—crazy, bossy, bitchy, but still my grandmother, for better or worse—has decided I need to be married.
So I let her think she’s won. I nod slowly. “Okay. Look. I’ll be open to the idea. How’s that?”
She narrows her eyes at me. “No funny stuff.”
> “Of course not. But you must understand, these things take time.”
“Never took me any time.”
“Well, I’m not nearly as cute as you were. Please don’t mess with my funding, and I’ll say yes to anyone who asks me out on a date. I’ll drop broad hints about my love of peonies and white lace. Make sure to dress to accentuate my birthing hips.”
“Don’t be crude, Cara.”
I’m pretty sure anyone who would be willing to marry me might like a bit of crude, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not actually going to be asked out. I’m not actually going to do any of that.
Despite what Nana said, I’m totally, one hundred percent going to resort to funny stuff.
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Acknowledgments
Just before Thanksgiving last year, Jana Aston hit the New York Times bestseller list with two books on the same day.
I sent her a present, because that was a really cool achievement.
I sent her cat, Steve, a present too, because it’s gotta be hard for a cat to see one’s human be showered in gifts.
They arrived on the same day, but in different deliveries, and when Jana told me Steve’s present had arrived—yet another delivery to her house that day—I joked that it was a shame the delivery driver wasn’t super hot. She said it was a shame he wasn’t a billionaire.
I wrote a couple of paragraphs, and she asked for the entire book, please and thank you.
Jake’s book may have started as a joke, but it took on a life of its own. I wouldn’t have been able to fit it into my writing schedule without the cheerleading of my reader group and newsletter subscribers, especially Crystal and Michelle. Thank you for loving this story as I wrote it, without any clue how long it would be or when it might end. And thank you for naming the other characters as I went along—Toby, Ben and Marcus will all get books of their own now.
I also owe a big thanks to Kimberly Cannon for doing a final copy editing pass. It’s hard to edit a book that can’t be changed too much because people have already read it!
And as always, I need to mention how awesome my Vikings are. The big one, for cooking and supporting and parenting the little ones. Also in this case, inspiring the illustration story line.
My little Vikings, who don’t really understand what Mommy does, but they cheer me on anyway. I do it all for you.
Also available from ainsley booth
Forbidden Bodyguards
Hate F*@k
Booty Call
Dirty Love
Billionaire Secrets
Personal Delivery
Personal Escort
Personal Disaster
Personal Interest
Frisky Beavers
Prime Minister
Dr. Bad Boy
Full Mountie
Mr. Hat Trick
Copyright
All rights reserved
2017, Ainsley Booth
Personal Delivery: A Billionaire Secrets Story Page 14
