I paused as we walked into the main entryway of the mall and Abby looked up at the ceiling that was painted to look like a sky. She tried to hide her wonderment, but it wasn’t possible as her jaw dropped open and she stopped to look up.
“Come here to the fountain,” I offered, walking her over to what would surely be a huge hit for Abby. “Watch for a minute.”
“What is it? I don’t see it? They look like stone statues. What am I missing?” She urged me to tell her.
But part of the fun of Caesar’s Palace was the uncovering of the stone statues and their secrets. I wasn’t about to ruin the surprise for her. It had appeared that Abby was coming out of her shell a little bit, and I loved it. I loved seeing the excitement in her eyes and couldn’t wait to see her discover the moving statues.
“You have to watch them,” I said as I pulled her in front of me and wrapped my arms around her.
It felt natural to have her in my arms. Certainly not how I behaved with any other women I had brought to shop at that mall. Everything about Abby made me want to have her close to me. I felt my body drawn to touching her, holding her, and feeling her energy close to me. It was like I was physically unable to resist her.
For a moment, I thought she knew how much power she had over me. There was a glimmer in her eye of understanding that she did indeed control my affections toward her. But then she would smile and look in awe toward the statues, and I couldn’t imagine she had the ability to control her emotions at all. She seemed so totally enthralled in the moment that I felt bad for even considering that she knew her own powers toward me at all.
“Please Theo, just tell me. The suspense is killing me,” she said as she tried to turn around and kiss me.
I let my lips gently touch hers, but then quickly flipped her back around so she could watch the statues as their show began. Everything about that moment with Abby felt natural. It was impossible to imagine that she wasn’t the girl for me.
“Watch gorgeous, trust me. It’s worth your attention,” I whispered in her ear.
“Oh, my God. Are they alive?” she blurted out as the stone statues began to move. “No, way! What is happening,” she said in total astonishment.
“Isn’t it cool?”
“Yes, it’s amazing,” she whispered under her breath.
We stood there and watched the statues as they moved in their normal hourly fashion and all the other mall patrons in the area stopped to watch with us. It was fun to be there with Abby to experience something so fun for the first time.
“We better get going; there is a lot to do today,” I said as I pulled her with me down the hallway.
When we arrived at the Steve Madden store, it was set up perfectly, as I had requested. I personally didn’t like to show off my money because I felt it put a spotlight on me and my businesses. But in Vegas it was different; no one really knew you, all they cared about was your money.
“Mr. Stern, It’s a pleasure to see you again,” the young saleswoman said as she approached us at the door.
“Hello, this is my friend Abby…” I started to say and then realized I had no idea what her last name was at all.
“Abby Tessaro,” Abby said as she shook the saleswoman’s hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Tessaro. I have some styles here for you to take a look at.”
The saleswoman shut the glass door behind us and turned the sign over to say ‘closed’ as we made our way to the area that was obviously set up for our shopping experience. Sure this was a similar technique I used with women when I was trying to convince them to come into the escort business, but in this case, I really did owe Abby a pair of new shoes. After losing her shoes in the dance club, it was the least I could do to get her a new pair.
This particular Steve Madden store was especially good to my girls, and that was why I continued going back there. I wasn’t sure if they thought these girls were just random girlfriends I had or if they suspected what it was I did for a living, but it didn’t matter. They treated all the women I brought into them as if they were royalty.
“Oh, my God,” Abby said as she walked up to the table that had all the latest Steve Madden styles on it. “I’ve only seen these in magazines,” she said as she picked up a pair of the heels.
“Yes, those are the new spring line, they aren’t officially available yet, but for Mr. Stern, I wanted to bring them out.”
“I can’t believe I’m touching them,” Abby said as her mouth literally dropped opened and she made her way down the line of shoes. “All of these are so amazing.”
“Miss Tessaro, take a seat, and I’ll help you slip into a few of these so you can decide which ones you would like.”
That was my cue to find a comfortable seat in the corner and just enjoy the show. It was a fun little game to watch Abby as she tried on pair after pair of shoes and loved each and every one of them more than the last pair. She tried to hold her excitement inside and keep her cool, but she just couldn’t help herself.
I watched with a smile on my face as she walked an imaginary runway in each pair of shoes. When she took them off, she would put them in order of her favorite to least favorite, always spending an additional five minutes rearranging what her favorites were.
“Have you decided on your favorite yet? I’m going to be an old man soon,” I joked with her.
“It’s so hard. I’ve never seen so many pairs of fabulous shoes all at the same time. I bought mine second-hand, and they were the only pair in the store. I really don’t know how to decide. Why don’t you surprise me!” Abby said with excitement as she wrapped her arms around me and kissed my cheek.
She quickly started toward the door that led to the mall.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“I don’t want to see which ones you choose. I want to be surprised,” she said with a wide smile.
It was not anything I had ever dealt with before. Typically, women were more than willing to pick out their favorite pair of shoes; sometimes, they would even ask me if they could get two pairs. It was refreshing to see how excited Abby was about the shoes, and yet she wanted me to do the picking for her.
She didn’t wait for me and didn’t even peek into the store as I made the purchase and had the shoes sent to our hotel room. I was pretty positive Abby was going to flip out when she saw which shoes I got for her.
As I made my way out of the store, I looked up and down the mall for her and found her helping an elderly woman who had dropped her bag. Abby was on her knees picking up some tiny pieces of jewelry beads that had spilled. It only further convinced me that I needed to keep her for myself and not let Aldo expose the underworld that I was still involved in.
I was positive that Abby wasn’t the kind of girl that would stick around me if she knew that I really ran a high-priced escort business. Although I had never been ashamed of my business before in my life, at that moment, I wished that my financial riches had all been acquired via legal businesses.
Abby was the kind of woman I had always wanted to bring home to my mother. Really, I hadn’t met any women since being in New York that I thought my mom would be proud of until I met Abby. I hadn’t expected to meet her and certainly hadn’t been looking to find a woman that I wanted to keep around, but there she was standing right in front of me, and I was going to do my damnedest not to fuck it up.
It wasn’t that the other women I dated were bad at all. But Abby had a genuine honesty about her that you just couldn’t fake. The way she looked into my eyes, I always felt she could see every secret I was trying to keep from her.
“Your pants are all dirty now,” I said as I stood next to Abby and helped her up.
“Thank you for your help darling,” the older woman said to Abby as she walked away.
“They are just plain pants, nothing to worry about. Now, where should we go next? I love window shopping. It gives me ideas for the future.”
I had no intentio
n of letting Abby window shop all day. What she didn’t know was that I was planning on buying her whatever her heart desired. I certainly wasn’t going to let Aldo wine and dine her without first establishing that I could do the same for her.
The problem was, I didn’t think that wining and dining Abby was going to be the way to her heart. She certainly needed money to help her family. But Abby wasn’t driven by money at all. I wasn’t exactly sure what she was driven by yet, but I intended to figure it out. She was a unique creature who had fallen into my life, and I couldn’t wait to pull back her layers and figure out what made her happy.
“I think we need to let you try on some dresses from Versace. I made plans for us to meet an old friend of mine and her boyfriend later tonight if that is alright with you?”
“Sure, I’d love a look into your past.”
“Oh, you would? What is it that you’d like to know? I’ll tell you anything you’d like.”
“How did you really get so rich?” Abby asked as we walked into Versace.
My heart felt like it dropped into my stomach at her words. Was she suggesting that I had made my money in some illegal way? What exactly was she getting at? I felt nervous as I tried to come up with an answer that wasn’t lying to her but obviously wasn’t telling her the whole truth either.
“I invest my earnings; do pretty good in the stock market. My early businesses were really about connecting people with each other, and I’ve maintained those relationships over the years.”
I didn’t want to lie to her. Whatever my story was, I had to make sure I wasn’t blatantly lying to her; it would be my only saving grace down the road if she found out the truth. Which to be honest, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to keep my secret forever.
“So you really weren’t born rich?” Abby said as she looked through the high-quality dresses.
The store clerk at Versace didn’t look familiar to me, and I was sure she didn’t like the idea of a girl in jeans and a T-shirt pillaging through the designer dresses. But there was a huge commission to be had if the sales clerk could keep her composure and humor with Abby and I while we shopped.
“No, I wasn’t born rich. My family is working-class. My parents both still work to this day and refuse to let me do anything for them except pay off their mortgage. I’ve tried to buy them a new home, but they didn’t want one. They are very proud people.”
“So you really built all of this from nothing?” Abby said.
“Yeah, I’m no spring chicken. I’ve been working since I was a teenager.”
“I’m impressed.”
“Is there something specific I can help you find?” the clerk said as she came up to Abby and me.
“I’m not sure.”
Abby seemed intimidated by the clerk, as she instantly stopped touching the dresses and stood still. Her usual confidence faded as Abby looked down to the ground and wouldn’t even look the clerk in the eyes.
“With your hair color and figure, I think a royal blue cocktail dress would look amazing. Come this way,” the young clerk said with a smile as she grabbed Abby by the hand and pulled her to a different part of the store.
Instant relief hit me. I hated to deal with the snobby clerks in fancy stores. It was the twenty-first century, and they often were still judging people by what they looked like. But I knew for a fact there were millionaires that walked around in hoodies and tennis shoes. I was relieved to see this clerk wasn’t a snob.
“That is so pretty,” Abby said as she held up an embroidered dress.
“Go try it on then,” I urged her.
Abby smiled as she rushed off to the dressing room. Well, she actually was practically jumping as she made her way to the room. I liked seeing her happy. It made me feel good to know that something I was doing had put a smile on her face. It wasn’t very often that I actually made people smile, and I couldn’t get enough of it.
“Would you like me to pull a few other things for her?” the store clerk asked me.
“Sure, cocktail length, please.”
The young woman hurried off, grabbed several other dresses and was waiting outside Abby’s door when she emerged. I liked this clerk very much and made a mental note that I would have to come back to her if I ever brought another woman to the store. Although, I certainly hoped that I wouldn’t have to bring another woman to Vegas. Perhaps I could really get out of the business and live a normal life like I had hoped for.
“What do you think?” she said as she came out with bare feet and fidgeting with the dress.
“Wow,” was all I could say.
Abby looked like a famous runway model in the designer dress. It fit every curve just right, and she looked absolutely incredible. I wasn’t sure how I had expected her to look, but she looked even better than I could have imagined.
“So does that mean he likes it?” Abby asked the clerk.
Both the women laughed and whispered to each other as the clerk handed Abby a few more dresses. I sat in a relaxing chair and enjoyed the best fashion show in the world as Abby came out with dress after dress that looked fantastic on her. If I had to choose just one, I wouldn’t have been able to; they all looked amazing on her.
“Which one do you want?” I asked.
“I don’t want any of them. Are you crazy? These are much too expensive. We can go to J. C.Penney’s, and I’ll get something there.”
“Well, we are here, so I’m going to get you one of these.”
“No.”
“It’s my money. I can do with it how I please. Which one do you want?”
“Theo,” Abby said as she came close and looked up at me. “I can’t take a gift like this. I only let you buy me the other shoes because of the club and losing my pair. I can’t accept a dress from you too.”
Abby went back into the dressing room to put her black slacks and T-shirt back on. I could see it in her eyes; she wasn’t about to let me buy her any of the dresses. But that didn’t mean I was going along with her plan.
“I’ll take them all,” I said to the sales clerk. “Please have them delivered to our room.”
“Yes, sir!” she said enthusiastically.
When Abby emerged from the dressing room, we made our way around the rest of the mall. I couldn’t even get her to look in any other stores though because she was afraid she would fall in love with something else in the mall. It was by far the best afternoon of shopping I had ever had in my life.
Chapter 11
ABBY
Theo was not like any guy I was usually around. Normally, I felt so in charge, so able to get the guy to do anything I wanted him to do, but not with Theo. He had control over me. When I was near him, I felt my legs tremble. He was confident and quiet, and it was impossible to know what he was thinking at any one time.
My life in New York had veered off of my intended plan by a long shot. My hopes and dreams of dancing on Broadway had died almost instantly when I arrived in New York. As I shopped with Theo, I let my mind drift to the fantasy life that I had once had, which had included finding an amazing man like him. In the years since arriving in New York, I had blocked off my heart to the idea of love. Not because I hated love, but because I fell in love so easily. And as I stood with Theo in that mall, I felt my wall coming down and the idea of love building up with every moment I was with him.
As we made our way up to the hotel room, I had to promise to myself that I wasn’t going to sleep with him right away. I was attracted to him, I wanted him, but I didn’t want to be that girl who slept with a guy just because he brought her on a trip and a fancy pair of shoes.
On the airplane, things had been spontaneous and fun. That’s how I wanted to keep things between us. Just because I liked him didn’t mean that I was going to go all crazy around him. I could control myself, or at least, I was going to do my best to try.
I felt myself gingerly stepping with every decision I made. I didn’t want to seem too eager and didn’t wan
t to be rude either. Was this how girls felt when they were dating a guy in real life? Was I dating Theo?
My usual emotional detachment wasn’t there, and I felt my heart pulling me closer and closer to Theo. But I couldn’t get saddled down with a boyfriend. As much as Theo was a great guy, I didn’t want to have a boyfriend at all. What I needed was someone like Aldo. With Aldo, there was a definite sexual attraction, but I could control myself very much. Aldo had a wife, and I didn’t have to worry about the emotions that went along with relationships.
To tell the truth, I didn’t know what I needed at all. I felt like myself around Theo, and that was totally unusual for me. Typically, I had to spend my time trying to pretend to be someone that I wasn’t. It was scary to be around a man who I was being totally authentic with. It was even scarier that I felt he didn’t have a problem at all with who the real me was.
My biggest problem was going to be deciding between what my heart wanted and what my brain thought was best. For the last five years, I had successfully lived off of listening to my brain. I had survived in New York City, and that hadn’t happened because of my heart. I was a smart girl and knew that fairy tales didn’t happen in real life. Something was bound to go wrong between Theo and me eventually, and then I would hate not taking Aldo up on his offer.
Sure, I could have a good time with Theo in Vegas, but as soon as we got back to New York, I needed to distance myself from the guy. My heart wasn’t going to get in my way of providing for my sisters. I had to use my brain; I had to work and get their home paid off, and then I could look for love. I kept trying to tell myself not to listen to my heart, but it was really damn hard with Theo there with me.
“Do you always get the penthouse?” I asked as we stood in front of the door to our room.
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