by Missy Lyons
"Dad, I will fill you in on everything when I get back in a week or so. Tell Mom I love her."
"Okay, Son. I hope we get to read a good review about you in the Washington Press."
"Me, too, Dad."
Bradley clicked the cell phone off, slipped it back into his pocket, and picked up the bottle of suntan lotion lying on the table beside him. Only in Southern California would the weather be in the eighties in the middle of December. It was a beautiful sunny Christmas day. It would be nothing like this back at home in the suburbs of Washington. He might as well enjoy it as long as he could.
He walked toward her, until he shadowed her with his body. She shone a warm smile up at him.
God, what he wouldn't do to keep her like this! But he was afraid it wasn't going to last. He had to tell her the truth, before she found out for herself. Tomorrow he would tell her for sure what had happened. Today they could just enjoy what remained of the day together. “Can I oil you up, Angel?"
"Sure.” She rolled over, exposing her backside to him. He rubbed the lotion between his hands, and like a surgeon he methodically and carefully began to massage her body. He covered every inch of her, rubbing the lotion in to her skin with a lover's touch. His hands worked their way down her shoulders, across her back. She gave a little sound of pleasure, murmuring her approval as he worked his way lower. He worked the lotion even lower, just outside the line of her suit, on the edge of each of her round cheeks. When she didn't say anything, he caressed her inner thighs.
He leaned down close to her face, and his breath tickled her neck as he spoke. “It is my pleasure to serve you. Whatever your heart desires this weekend is yours, Angel."
Her lips curled up in a sly smile. “What if I just want you?"
"If that's what you want, then you can have me."
Chapter Eight
"Thank you for dropping me off at work. I hate those emergency phone calls, but that's the price of my life. You really didn't have to go out of your way to do this, though."
"No problem. I had fun this weekend."
"Me, too.” She unlocked the large walnut door to her office.
"I want to see you again."
"I—uh—I'm not sure that's wise, Brad.” Angelica's eyes drifted to the ground.
For the first time in his life, a woman wasn't throwing herself at him. She wasn't after him because he was a powerful attorney or because he was running for office. “I need to see you again. I haven't been honest with—"
A light flashed, and simultaneously both of their heads flew to see what had just happened. A blonde girl smiled, lowering the camera from her face. His heart dropped in his chest and he felt a coil of tension tighten there. “Oh, my God! I can't believe it."
"It's not what it looks like, Darla.” Angelica hurriedly covered.
"It's not? Then who is he?” Darla was not only the head of the editorial department but also worked as the gossip columnist for the newspaper, and she enjoyed getting into everyone's personal life. Angelica was not about to tell her friend she had hired an escort for the weekend.
Bradley's arm drifted around Angelica's middle protectively.
"He's my boyfriend.” Angelica blushed.
"You are dating Bradley Pennington?"
Bradley remained silent. He had not meant for it to come out this way, but since it had, he swallowed hard while preparing for the worst. Angelica looked back and forth between Brad and Darla. Angelica had never heard his last name before and yet Darla knew him on sight.
"How do you know who he is?” And why did that name sound so familiar? Pennington sounded like an old family name. A name connected to power and money. He had never told her his last name, on purpose it seemed. Angelica cocked her head to one side, examining him closely for any reaction. He withstood her gaze without flinching.
"Everyone knows who Bradley Pennington is. Duh.” Angelica swallowed hard as Darla went on, oblivious to her friend's discomfort. “He's running for Congress, and seems to be the polls favorite. He has a good chance of winning.” Darla gave him a flirtatious grin before turning her gaze on Angelica. “You mean, you didn't know?"
Angelica let out a furious sigh. Congress? “Bradley likes to keep that part of his life private it seems."
"Well, I hope you don't mind if I use the picture in the paper this weekend. It would get great publicity."
"No!” Angelica blurted. “I mean, I don't want everyone to know right now."
Darla sighed in disappointment and rolled her eyes. “Fine. I won't use it. But if I had a looker like him on the line, I would be proud to show him off, Angel. I'm happy for you both."
"Thanks.” Bradley pulled Angel toward him and attempted to give her a kiss on the cheek. Vexed, his Angel pushed out of his embrace and wiped the kiss away. He wanted to tell her himself. Now he needed to get her alone somehow. They would never be able to talk in front of Darla, not on the level they needed. He had kept his secrets too long and he didn't want to wait so long to clear the air between them that she would lose her trust in him.
"Well, I had better go. I have an interview this morning.” Darla exited and just as Bradley felt relieved, his Angel put a corkscrew in his plans.
"So soon?” Angelica called out to Darla's retreating form. “Well, Bradley was just leaving too. Why don't you walk her to her car Bradley?” Before he could protest, she shut the door behind her.
Chapter Nine
Angelica wondered if she had done the right thing by kicking Bradley Pennington out of her life. Regret pricked at her soul. He was good to her for those three days. He wanted to see her again. She had not met a man who had survived an encounter with her family so well and still liked her enough to speak to her afterwards. Of course she never gave most men the chance to meet her family.
Bradley had enough good points that she should be chasing him, with his good looks and his charming personality. She just wished she knew what kind of game he was playing. He never did take her money for the weekend.
He'd been sending her flowers for the last week. He called her and left message after message—all of which she pointedly ignored. She didn't really want to see him again. Did she? He had played her for the fool.
No. If she never saw him again it would be too soon. So why did her heart twist cruelly in her chest every time she thought of him?
She opened the paper scheduled to be print the next day, and picked up her third cup of coffee for that morning. She didn't always have time to review the paper, but she had all the confidence in the world in her staff.
The image of Bradley Pennington caught her by surprise, and she spit out the coffee across the paper. “Oh, shit.” Hurriedly, she mopped up the coffee to read the headlines. Someone had stuck in a last minute article without her permission.
She glanced at her watch. Her heartbeat sped up, hammering in her chest as if she had spent the last half hour running. It was already too late to pull it. The paper had gone to press by now. The title read, “Scandal at the Pennington House", and it had a perfect headshot of Bradley Pennington smiling to the public.
She didn't know how they managed to confuse the facts, but someone was going to have to do a better job checking them. Angelica made a mental note to give the author of the article a good tongue-lashing. The article accused his brother of working in the escort industry. It was Bradley, not Dustin, who worked as an escort. They would just have to pull a retraction in the morning.
Unfortunately, she was going to have to call Bradley in the meanwhile so he could do damage control for his campaign and talk to his publicist about the headlines.
* * * *
Angelica waited outside her brownstone home, impatiently tapping her three-inch heels on the sidewalk. Her black skirt fluttered in the breeze.
Dinner?
How had she managed to let him talk her into dinner and a date? He had used the opportunity to get back into her life, just as she should have expected a man of his persistent nature to do.
&nb
sp; A sporty black BMW pulled up in front of her, shining in the sunlight. She frowned, not wanting to like the car any more than she liked him. He greeted her with a smile, then got out of the car and came to her side to open the door. Angelica got in without a word. She still wanted to be mad at him—still didn't want to forgive him. But seeing him again did something to her senses. She wasn't sure she liked it.
She noted the rise in her body temperature, the flutter of butterflies in her stomach and the increase in her heartbeat all with calm dismay. If she was still attracted to him, she wasn't about to let him know it.
"I don't want this to be awkward."
"Nothing should be awkward between old friends like us.” He placed his hand on hers. She withdrew it quickly, as if she had been burned.
"We aren't really friends, Bradley."
"We could be.” He shifted gears, and pulled into traffic.
"When everything I know about you is built on lies?"
"That's why I have wanted to talk to you. We need to set things right between us."
"Then, this article hit the paper spreading even worse lies.” She shook her head.
"Isn't it funny how sometimes the truth can be harder to believe than lies?” She gave him a shocked expression, not quite understanding what he was saying. “Don't worry about it. If you print the retraction, my publicist can handle the rest and everything will be fine."
* * * *
Bradley was glad she hadn't made a big deal about printing the retraction, even though he had misled her with the very facts her newspaper truthfully reported. He had worked hard to make it this far in the election, but he worried more about what Angelica thought of him than the rest of the world at that moment. He wanted a second chance with her.
"What restaurant are we going to?” She broke the silence with her terse question.
"I thought we would go for a drive first, and just talk a little.” He hesitated before going on. “I am not really a paid escort."
She snorted in disdain. “Mmm-hmmm. Yeah, I gathered that much. I figured it would make a terrible second job for a lawyer who was running for Congress.” She folded her arms loosely over her chest.
"My brother asked me to go see you to break his date for him that weekend. He's the paid escort."
She cocked her head to one side, looking as if she didn't quite believe the exposé was correct on his brother, but he tried to let her know from the tone of his words that he was being honest with her and what he was saying was heartfelt.
"We all have a black sheep in our family, and he is ours. He promised to stay out of the U.S. for the rest of the election. I'm hoping this new lady friend of his might even help him to settle down. He certainly seems enamored of her."
Angelica swallowed hard, digesting the information he had just given her.
"I am sorry, Angelica. I never meant to hurt you. I don't even know why I continued to play out the lie after the first day. I just liked being near to you.” Angelica didn't answer him, so he continued. “I want to see you again."
"Already? Let's see where tonight goes and then we'll see about a second date."
"Well, I did make that promise to take you to Graceland."
"You weren't serious, were you?” Angelica's voice held a thread of hope.
"I have a weekend booked at the Heartbreak Hotel already, and two tickets with our names on them."
"Okay then I guess we do have another date, Mr. Pennington.” She smiled up at him coquettishly.
Chapter Ten
Angelica really related to Bradley's statement about Dustin being the black sheep in his family. She felt the same way about her own family. She only wanted them to live out the best life they could, and to be happy. Seeing that compassionate side of him, the side of him that showed such a strong brotherly love, made her want to invite him back into her life and keep him close.
Angelica told Bradley how it was a dream come true when they arrived at to Graceland. Elvis had been her hero for most of her life. She looked up to the King. She also had posters of him in her room as a teenager and still listened to his especially soothing gospel music to calm down.
She held onto Bradley's hand the entire time, pulling him excitedly across the green lawns and into the Graceland mansion. She could tell he wasn't exactly an Elvis fan, but with Angelica's energy next to him, he seemed to warm up to the visit. His face lit up when he saw Elvis’ car collection.
They both thought it was fun staying at the retro hotel. They had gotten lucky enough to book the Burning Love Suite. It featured rich red color, and there were lots of romantic details through out the suite. Funky and energizing, it was just the thing to re-energize their relationship. It was a shame it was January and the heart shaped pool was closed. Angelica would have loved for Bradley to see her in her swimsuit again, just so he could oil her up, but perhaps they could come back one day to enjoy the pool. After all, they did do weddings there in the chapel.
Indeed, that had been her favorite part of their trip to Graceland. They found the Elvis Wedding Chapel on the 14-acre estate, and she couldn't help the way her face softened at the bride and groom taking pictures on the lawn, even though she knew Bradley watched her. He held her close to him, she melted against him, and her knees giving slightly as she leaned even further into him.
"When we get married, we'll have to come back here for the ceremony."
"Marriage?” She turned to look up at him. “Isn't it a little soon for that? Shouldn't you be asking when you can just see me again?"
"I already know the answer to that question.” He bent his head down to meet her lips in a kiss. “I'll see you again when you wake up tomorrow in my bed.” His lips brushed against hers in another tender kiss full of promises of more to come.
About the Author
Missy Lyons was one of four girls born in Santa Maria, California. She grew up along the beach and back in the country, catching lizards and climbing trees. No one knew she would grow up to have such a romantic heart from the tomboy she was as a child. She is currently trying to be a city girl living with her family in Nashville Tennessee.
Missy loves to write romance almost as much as she loves to read it. Her heroines are always strong women that can stand up for them selves. She is a multi-genre author ranging from contemporary romance to fantasy. Her favorite genre to write is paranormal romances. From dragons to druids, her work is inspired by fairy tales and daydreams.
You can see more of her work at www.missylyons.com. Missy loves hearing from her fans and you can reach her by her website or by email at [email protected].
If you liked Boyfriend for Hire, be sure to check out Missy's paranormal romance, The Warrior's Woman, coming soon from Whispers Publishing (www.whispershome.com).
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Kivra was bound by her honor to live as Kona's woman for one month. For one month she was to please him in every way. She never wanted to be in the lowest class of women. Lalani were the sex slaves, whose only job was to pleasure their master. But finding herself under the Barbarian's masterful body, she knew she would be begging to be used. There was nothing more than she wanted to seduce him and have him beg for more. Even though she surrendered her body, it was something altogether different to surrender her heart.
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