Ties That Bind (The Escort, #3)

by Kristen Strassel

  Jagger grinned as he took my hand. “Nope. See the No Trespassing sign up there? Makes things a little harder.”

  I raised an eyebrow at him as my feet sunk into the sand. The car would’ve been doomed. “Are you sure this is a good idea? If this is the place, we’ve got to get my dad up here. He’ll be swearing up a storm. There’s no sneaking him anywhere.”

  Jagger laughed. “If this is the place, we’ll get all the proper permits. There’s got to be an easy way up here. If not, we’ll find another way. Don’t tell me you’re chickening out over a sign.”

  “No way. But it would be nice not to get arrested on our wedding day.” The road sloped upward, and from the low, overhanging trees, I would’ve never guessed we were anywhere near a beach except for the smell of salt air.

  “The mug shots would take care of the photographer problem.” He chuckled as he adjusted his gear over his other shoulder. This was how I had imagined my time with Jagger in Miami—one sun-soaked adventure after another, the easiness of the afternoon that could turn to heady, twisted passion at any moment. All the real life stuff got in the way, but it hardly seemed like work. It simply grounded us to one place.

  The brush thinned to long grass and the sky was once again visible when we rounded the corner. The spire was all I could see of the old church at first. It was gray from weather and wear and very possibly forgotten with time. The bottom of the hill ended in beach sand, with some wild flowering bushes that led to the entrance.

  Jagger tried the door, and if it had been locked, it gave easily. Our footsteps echoed as we stepped inside. At one time, this island must have been well populated, judging from the love that had gone into building this church. Paintings of Bible passages still hung on the walls, their colors faded but the messages clear.

  I ran my hand along the smooth wood of the pew before sitting down. Jagger put his bag down across the aisle and adjusted his camera settings. He turned the camera to me.

  “Hey.” I put my hand in front of my face instinctively, not expecting the flash. “I didn’t think I was the subject of this photoshoot.”

  “You weren’t.” Jagger sat in the pew, snapping more pictures. “But the way the holes in the roof are casting shadows on your face is amazing.”

  Jagger and I had done several photoshoots before, each of them dissolving into a lust-fueled haze. “We can’t do this in a church,” I said.

  “No way. Just a couple quick shots and then I want to explore.” He moved the camera away from his face, his lips parted like he’d just kissed me. “I have another idea for you.”

  “Are you going to tell me what it is?” I scooted back in the pew. No answer. Jagger had forgotten about me, or I’d moved out of the shadows he’d liked so much. He considered the room, the hanging, rotting wood, and the high ceiling that made him seem tiny.

  He was completely captivated, his body just an instrument for the camera to work through. Nothing else existed besides what he wanted to see through his lens. He sunk to one knee to get a shot, then looked at the screen and frowned. He opened cabinet doors and angled the camera against the wall. I knew the finished product would be almost unrecognizable, like we hadn’t looked at the same thing or stepped into the same building.

  Watching him work was art in itself, and I couldn’t wait to see the world through his eyes one more time.

  Chapter Twenty

  Jagger

  Overgrown and forgotten, the abandoned church on the beach was the most beautiful place I’d ever seen in the Keys. The beach wasn’t huge, and its white sand wasn’t overly rocky. As long as we could get permission to be here for the wedding, Leah’s folks wouldn’t have a hard time navigating it.

  Leah glowed. She’d adjusted to Miami, and most importantly, impending motherhood. She lay on her stomach on a towel in the sand, sun radiating from her skin. It was the same position she used to get into every night when we talked on video chat. I loved having her here, but I missed the anticipation of those calls, counting down every minute until I could see her. Spending the day craving that moment.

  I sat beside her in the sand, checking my shots on the camera screen. I’d mostly concentrated on the church, inside and out. Ocean shots would sell, but I only took them from inside the church, making sure to catch some element of the building in the shot. Now that this was a business, I had to think about branding, and what people expected from me. If they loved these shots, I wanted them to be interested in the rest of my stuff, too.

  Leah put her hand on my arm, trying to angle the camera in her direction. “Can I see?”

  I shook my head. “Not done yet.”

  “You’re not done shooting, or you haven’t edited them yet?”

  I’d meant editing, but she gave me an idea. We’d been here for well over an hour, and we had yet to lay eye on another soul. “Not done shooting. Want to get in the water?”

  “Wasn’t planning on it.” She sat up, a sly smile spreading across her face. “Didn’t bring my bathing suit.”

  “Who said anything about a bathing suit?”

  Leah looked around. There was nothing but long grass, a few birds, and a church God moved out of long ago. “Will you show me the pictures when they’re done?”

  “When they’re done.” I stood up and held my hand out to her. When she got up, I pulled her into me. Sand rained down from her body to my feet. Her gaze was on fire. We were both headed for the ocean. “This is what I’m thinking. I want to see you with the water beading against your skin. All your curves. I want to shoot it so you’re in silhouette, so everyone else just thinks they see you. But you’re all mine.”

  “You got me to the nude beach after all.” She shimmied out of her shorts and pulled off her tank top. Covering her bra like it was our last trip to the topless beach when she got approached by a fan, she headed to the water, hesitating at the shoreline. She looked back at me, her teeth scraping against her bottom lip. When she did that, I could practically feel them against my skin.

  Concentrate. Or you’ll never see your camera again when it gets washed out to sea.

  She tipped her head back and laughed when she realized I was already shooting. I moved closer because I loved the way her face looked, tipped up to the sky, and her smile fooling me into thinking she’d never suffered a day in her life. Pure fucking bliss. Every time we shot, she had a moment when she realized she was being recorded. She hesitated, but it was no different than everything else she did. Every move she made was branded into my memory. The camera just made it easier to share it with her.

  I sunk to one knee, capturing her sliding her panties down her thighs and stepping out of them. It was the lines of her body, the way she moved that I was interested in. I couldn’t see her face, and she still seemed unsure of herself. Her shoulders rose before she reached back to unhook her bra, and she exhaled before taking it off.

  With her hand outstretched, lace dripping from her fingers, she approached me. Leah, completely naked, on the beach. I was never going to make it through this. Her tit brushed against my arm when she whispered in my ear. “Hold these for me, okay?”

  Prying my fingers away from my camera, she hooked the bra and panties on my wrist. For a moment she folded her fingers over mine, and I was seconds away from leading her down in the sand and taking her there. It wasn’t a matter of if it was going to happen, only when. But I really, really wanted these shots. I had a particular one in mind, and as long as this woman didn’t lead me into temptation, again, I was determined to get it.

  Leah kissed my fingers before trotting back to the sea. She shrieked as the water splashed around her calves and then turned around. The view was even more enticing from here. Her tits bounced as she jumped with the waves, her bare skin sunk into the water as she walked slowly backward.

  “What do you want me to do?” she called out, her voice getting swallowed by the surf.

  “Swim. Get totally wet.” I could barely speak. “Go underwater, and when you come up, stand to the side a
nd flip your hair back.”

  She sunk down on her knees, splashing water over her arms. Every so often, she’d flick her gaze up to the lens and hold it. I hadn’t realized I’d come so close to the shore until my feet got wet. I couldn’t stay away from her.

  All I could see of Leah as she floated on her back was the tips of her toes, the beginning of her round belly and her pebbled nipples. Of course, her face, too. I could never ignore it, because she was so expressive without even trying to be. Eyes closed, lips curled upward. Total surrender.

  It was even fucking hotter when we were totally out in the open. Exposed.

  Licking her lips, she looked back at me. “Are you ready?” she asked.

  I’d never wanted anything more in my life.

  The bottom half of her disappeared, and she sunk down into the water, submerged to her neck. Dipping her head forward, she stood up, wiping her hair back.

  I’d thought the water spraying from her hair was the shot. It could’ve been one of them. She was a goddess, round and glorious in all the right places. Moving like she was part of the ocean. The sun was behind her, blowing out the details. There was only Leah. That was the magic of this photoshoot. I couldn’t have done this with any model. Only her.

  “Did you get it?” she asked. I nodded. “Good. Come swim with me.”

  She didn’t have to ask me twice. I stripped down, leaving my clothes in a pile next to my camera bag. The only thing that would make me forget to worry about leaving my gear unattended was the woman waiting for me in the waves, the water splashing against her bare chest. I dove under the clear water, wrapped my arm around her waist, and dragged her down with me.

  Her hair moved in slow motion underwater. Blinking slowly, she opened her eyes and reached for me, her fingers landing on my lips.

  We shot up to the surface. Even when I wasn’t underwater, sometimes I forgot to breathe around Leah.

  “Too bad we couldn’t do that underwater,” she laughed. “We’d have to use snorkels. Not sexy, but imagine the possibilities.”

  I pressed her against me, taking her hand and putting it near my lips. I wanted her to complete that thought. “I can think of so many things to do you with that.”

  “Oh yeah?” She traced my bottom lip, her own parting with the movement, like she wanted to will me to open my mouth and let her in. Like she ever left. I welcomed her, sucking on her fingers, clamping down hard on them as she moved them back and forth. She lowered her gaze, and looked back up with heavy lids. “Let me do this,” she rasped.

  I nodded, rendered speechless by her fingers moving against my tongue and the raw expression on her face. Her body wasn’t the only part of her that was naked. She drew one ragged breath after another.

  Something was bothering her.

  I moaned and she slipped her fingers out of my mouth, running them down my chin, and to my chest. Her gaze followed the motion. I tried to catch her fingers, but she shook her head.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Nothing.” She was lying. I’d call her out on it, but I didn’t want to ruin the sanctuary we’d found in this forgotten place. I wanted to be as unspoiled on our wedding day as it was when we found it a few hours before. “I keep thinking about our wedding. Kissing you surrounded by everyone we love.”

  “Then why do you look so sad?”

  “I’m not. I watched you take pictures. There’s something in you that changes when you put the camera up to your face. Like you can finally see the world.”

  I nodded. She was right, but she wasn’t answering my question.

  “I never realized that was the same way you looked at me.”

  I didn’t get it. “And that upsets you?”

  She shook her head. “It humbles me. That you consider me in the same way you consider something you turn into art. And that’s truly what it is. Much more than a photograph. You breathe new life into anything you look at like that. Including me.”

  Our lips met in a slow, soft kiss. The breeze cooled against our damp skin, and Leah shivered under my touch. “Like that,” she whispered when we separated. “That’s the look.”

  “What’s the look?” I knew it when it was happening. Something came over me, that same warm feeling like I’d had a drink or two, or got in the zone taking pictures.

  “I can’t describe it. Just know it’s my favorite.” Another kiss. “Because I know you’re happy when you’re looking at something like that. I want you to always feel that way.”

  I shook my head. “Then it wouldn’t be special anymore.”

  Her hand fell into the water, landing on my cock. I closed my eyes as she began to stroke. “I want you to always feel that way about me,” she said softly.

  She continued pumping my cock, rubbing the tip with her thumb, twisting her fingers down to the base, and massaging my balls. I licked my lips, desperate to taste her, but Leah wanted this for herself. I understood—I’d asked for the same thing not too long ago. We had to get past the feeling of one owing the other, and it was hard when straightforward fucking had been taken out of the equation. It was fun, exciting never knowing what to expect, but not as easy. Receiving without giving back felt like stealing. For so long, sex had been the only place I’d been accepted. My gateway into a world that had left me behind.

  And it was something that Leah had been denied. I couldn’t express myself without sex, and Leah without taking care of someone. They were two dialects of the same language.

  I had to learn to listen.

  Leah brought me to my knees when I came. She followed me down to the sand, kissing my face, my wet hair, and wherever her lips landed, murmuring things I couldn’t hear, but I understood. She made me a panting, shaking mess with only her hands.

  And she wondered why I looked at her like that.

  “Is this the place?” I asked when I caught my breath.

  “It definitely is.” She held her hand between us, showing off her wrinkled fingertips. “We’ve got to get out of the water. We’re shriveling.”

  We walked out of the ocean, hand in hand. I scooped up the towel before she had a chance to get it and wrapped it around her, patting the water from her skin. It was torture not to put my bare hands on her, to feel her, and it would be all I could think about until I got her home.

  “You must be freezing.” Her body shook as she stepped into her shorts.

  I shook my head. My goosebumps came from something other than the weather. “Nope.”

  “What do you think about Christmas?” she asked.

  “For what?” I looked up at her as I stepped into my shorts.

  “For the wedding. It was kind of a defining moment in our relationship, and I think it makes a statement.” She grinned. Leah thought I had a look that she didn’t want to share with anyone else, and for me, this was hers. Her face would light up, and she’d press her lips together, unable to contain her smile. Her fucking passion. “That they can’t break us. All the shit they put us through brought us together. And that’s not the only reason I think that’s the day. My parents can’t pull the ‘we think there should be snow on Christmas crap,’ and the most important reason of all.”

  She slipped her arm around my waist but didn’t continue.

  “Do you want me to guess?”

  “You never will.” She squirmed and laughed when I ran my fingers under her shirt, aiming for the sensitive spot on her ribcage. “I want to make Christmas special for you. I can decorate and give you all the presents my money can buy. Whatever. But if it’s our wedding day—“

  “I’ll give you my heart,” I whispered, brushing my lips against hers. “And it will be the best day of my life.”

  The kiss left her speechless. “Mine too,” she finally said.

  The light grew fuzzy as the sun set, and we had to get back to the car before we couldn’t see shit on that path. “I want you to promise something.”

  She squeezed my hand. “Sure. Anything.”

  “I want you to drop the
lawsuit against Beth and Rich.”

  “We’re close to settling.” Leah stopped walking. “I don’t want their money—“

  “Then why are you going through with it?”

  She bit her lip, and I didn’t wait for her answer. “You know what will irritate the ever living fuck out of them, besides us getting married? If you’re the bigger person. Walk away from it. Show them they’ve got nothing on you.”

  “I’ve tried that before. It didn’t work.” Leah let go of my hand and wrapped her arms around herself as she started walking again. I hated that Rich still had this kind of hold on her. She crumbled at the mention of his name.

  “He can’t do anything anymore.” I caught up with her in a couple of strides. “Raven’s eighteen, and your new clients won’t give a shit that you hired me, because this first wave of them hired me, too. If they want to work with you badly enough, and they will, they’ll get over it real fast.”

  “I can’t even stand the thought of having to deal with him.” She took my hand again. “If I drop the lawsuit, will you do something for me?”

  Like she had to ask. “Anything.”

  She took a deep breath. “Let me invite your parents to the wedding.”

  “Leah—“

  “Just let me try. Maybe there’s something I can say to break through, mother to mother.”

  She looked like she was going to cry. It was contagious, but I ignored the lump in my throat. Problem was, when they didn’t show, I’d know she failed.

  Things were different now. I wasn’t selling my body or my soul anymore, and I was about to be a husband and a father. If Leah couldn’t win them over, they didn’t deserve to be in my life.

  It was my turn to breathe deep. “Try my sister first. She’ll either help you out or tell you exactly why it won’t work.”

  Her face lit up. “I’ll do that. Do you know how to get in touch with her?”

  It had been years. “I’ll give you what I’ve got.”

  Leah let out a little squeal before kissing me. “Thank you for letting me do this.”