Ties That Bind (The Escort, #3)

by Kristen Strassel

  I cupped between her legs, finding her clit under the lace and fingering it, showing her the rhythm that I’d hope she’d use on my cock. I couldn’t read her plan, but she was ready for it. I slipped my fingers under the edge, getting lost in her wet heat.

  She let her head fall back. All I could see was her open mouth. I wished I had my camera. Grabbing my phone with my free hand, I startled her when I took her picture. Fuck, this had nothing to do with art. It was just for me, something I could look at her when I worked alone in the office with only her scent lingering and the mess of papers on her desk to remind me of her.

  “I said take them off, Jagger.” Our gazes locked, and she had me under her spell. I tossed the phone on the table and balled a handful of lace in each hand. The ends fluttered under my grip when they gave way. Instead of dropping them, I went back to what I was doing, rubbing her pussy hard with the ripped panties.

  Her shoulders bowed forward, and she put her hand over mine. She shook her head, her curls hanging in her face. Just a tap was enough to make me move my hand away. I dropped the panties. Didn’t matter if we lost them. They were ruined.

  She straddled my lap and grabbed my cock, harder this time. I moaned in appreciation and she licked her lips. They’d still taste like me, and what she’d done to me. A couple quick strokes, and then she stopped again, down near the base. If she touched my balls, I’d come. She had to know that.

  Instead she circled her hips, catching the tip of my shaft with her pussy. My mouth opened, but no sound came out. It was tangled somewhere with all the other emotions that charged through me. It had been too long since I’d touched her like that. My balls hitched up, and I willed myself to ride it out.

  Leah stopped with my cock against her slit. She moved my shaft back and forth, just like I’d done with the panties. I’d forgotten how good she felt, warm and soft and so fucking wet.

  “I can’t fuck you,” I barely managed. “The baby.” We’d agreed not to do anal, either. Too risky. And too tempting.

  “I know. I missed the way you felt against me.” Swirling her hips, her tits and her belly brushed against mine. She was starting to fill out, her stomach firm and round under the sweater. We were still dressed on top, but it didn’t feel that way when we touched. My hips bucked to meet her, careful not to drive up inside her. Instinct was taking over, raw need, and I wasn’t sure I could be held responsible for my actions.

  My cock slipped forward, against her slit. Safe. Leah moved up and down in my lap, like I was inside her. The rhythm of her skin moving against mine, she reached down for my sack, getting a firm hold on it as she continued to ride my lap.

  I was done. Cum splattered our shirts. She climbed off me quickly, finally sinking her mouth on my shaft, and brought me down from my climax.

  Her head landed on my thigh when she finished. “That wasn’t boring.” She brought her finger to her lips, slipped it in and sucked on it. “I think you should show me the ring.”

  “Not tonight.” I pulled her into my lap. I needed to kiss her, to take back some of the magic. “It gets its own night, and its own reward.”

  **

  It wasn’t a cold call, but it didn’t make it any easier. I stared the screen after I punched in the number Leah gave me. My sister and I had never been close like it sounded like Leah had been with her sister; we were never in the same school or had the same friends. Now she was a stranger, and I had to remind myself not to invest too much into this call.

  If it hadn’t been for what went down with Kim and Leah, I may not have been able to go through with it. I walked away from shit like this and didn’t look back. I didn’t believe for a second that the two women had anything in common, besides me. Leah wanted to make everyone around her better, and she honestly believed she could make headway with the she-devil. Sometimes the best intentions came in the form of a shit-dipped Popsicle, I’d come across more than my share of them. The difference was I wanted Leah. All of her. The stuff that she hated about herself, and the stuff she fucked up. She gave me the strength to accept those same things in myself. I’d ignored all of it for too long, pretending it didn’t exist when everyone else saw it.

  “Jagger?” Ruby said when she picked up the phone. No hello, no nothing.

  “Yeah. How’d you know?” As weird as it was, it broke the ice.

  “Florida number on my caller ID. It was either you or a robot.” She laughed, then paused. Neither of was sure who should go next. “How have you been?”

  “Really good.” It didn’t quite sum up ten years of absence. “I know Leah told you about the baby and the gallery.”

  “She did, but I wanted to hear it from you.” Ruby’s voice was soft, and I felt like the younger one.

  “Leah hired me, and it changed my life. The gallery’s off to a good start. I’m figuring it out as I go, but it’s pretty awesome. We have a big event the first Friday of every month. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Miami, but we’re in the middle of the arts district. We throw a party after the monthly art event, and it’s a lot of fun.” I stopped short of inviting her.

  “You always had big brass ones.” She laughed. “And never cared what anyone else thought.”

  If it was a jab, I forced myself to ignore it. “Leah said you have a daughter.”

  “I actually have three kids. Two girls and a boy. Avery and Ainsley are both six, and Ava is four.”

  My sister had three fucking kids and I didn’t even know it. I balled my fist, banging it on the cushion while I digested that information. I was talking to a complete stranger, and so was she. “Wow.”

  “Leah told me about the wedding. With three little ones, it’ll be hard that time of year. But I’d really like to see you, Jagger. You could come to Houston, too. A lot of people ask me about you, especially now.”

  I didn’t expect that. It had been twelve years since I’d set foot in Texas.

  “I think you should come see Mom and Dad,” she added when I didn’t say anything.

  Damn. I chuckled. “How do you think that would go?”

  “There’s no telling. It would mean a lot to them. We’re all stubborn, but you know what? When Leah called me, I thought it was because you were dead. I’d never been so relieved to be wrong in my life. You don’t want that to be the next time they hear about you.”

  “No.” That was for damn sure. “I’ll think about it.”

  Since I was no longer fucking women for money, my last words to my mother, there was an outside possibility she wouldn’t slam the door in my face if she saw me. But the wounds I’d most likely ripped open with the scandal would take a long time to heal, if they ever did. My parents were all about their reputation, and I marred it with an ugly smudge.

  “Don’t have Leah call them. It will backfire, badly. Even I debated calling her back. My first thought was ‘why isn’t he calling me himself?’ That’s why I thought something bad had happened. If I didn’t recognize her name from the TV show, I don’t think I would’ve called her back.”

  I couldn’t sit back and hope everyone decided to play nice around me. I had to show Leah that I could commit to something bigger than myself. She’d feared that she had too much in common with Kim. I did have something in common with Kim—I ran when things got hard. No more.

  “It sounds like you’ve come a long way, Jagger,” Ruby added as I mulled things over. “And Mom and Dad love to spoil their grandbabies.”

  That was exactly the thing, right there. “I’m the same person I’ve always been.” Less angry, not as alone, but I still stood for the same things. I’d always known what I wanted, and I hadn’t been afraid when I realized it wasn’t the same thing my folks wanted for me.

  I didn’t regret my time as an escort. It had been long past time to get out when I left, but it had served me very well. And the divide with my dad went long past my sex work. It started when I took an interest in art instead of science. He’d gotten a son when he expected a clone. I refused to apologize for that.


  Ruby sighed, back in her familiar role, refereeing between me and our dad. “Give them another chance to see it. It might be different this time.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Leah

  It didn’t take much to knock Jagger on the gallery couch. It slid back a few inches on impact, and I was glad he hadn’t been standing near a table filled with a bunch of breakable trinkets behind it. Although the shattering glass would’ve been the perfect punctuation for my statement.

  I climbed on top of him, straddling his lap. My purse dropped to the floor, but I still held the manila envelope with the news we’d both been waiting for in my hand. He grinned up at me, his gaze fixed on the envelope. He snatched it from me. “I take it you have good news.”

  “Yup. And you won the bet. Both bets.”

  He slid the photograph out and his face lit up as he studied it.

  I’d been absolutely terrified for this doctor’s appointment, even more so when I realized Jagger couldn’t come with me. Claudia had class, and Shannon wasn’t scheduled to arrive until this weekend. That made being in a strange city hit home—I couldn’t call on my mom or Kari to hold my hand. Didn’t matter how good I felt, I was still in the middle of a risky pregnancy. To distract me, Jagger placed a couple bets: boy or girl, and if I’d be taken off pelvic rest.

  “The way I see it, there was no way to lose.” He sighed at the photo. “She’s gorgeous.”

  “She is. Look at her little hand, she’s got it up like knew she had an audience and she’s waving. The nurse said that her spine and heart look good for this stage of the game.” I ran my finger along the picture, and I swore I could feel it deep down inside me, like she was reacting to my touch.

  “She looks like she’s pretty comfy in there.” Jagger put his hand on my belly. “She kicked me!”

  I laughed. “Get used to it. She’s been running a little baby marathon in there all afternoon with all the poking and prodding.”

  There was something I’d never seen before in his eyes. “That’s the first time I’ve felt it,” he said softly. “She’s really coming.”

  My breath caught in my throat. I wondered if it didn’t let himself believe there was really a baby until he actually held her in his arms. It would take more than the arrival of a new baby for the scars to fade from everything that happened with Jacob.

  “All my vitals were good. Doesn’t totally mean we have the all clear—“

  He kissed me before I had a chance to finish the thought. “All the news so far has been good. Let’s not worry about things that aren’t happening.” He tugged on the photo. “Show me the placenta.”

  “It’s still low, but it’s shifted away from my cervix, just like the practitioner thought it would.” Which was the news we’d been hoping for. There was no easy way to get a baby out, but I didn’t want to have a C-section. “She still wants me to take it easy. I’m cleared for low-impact exercise like yoga and swimming.”

  “That’s great.” He raised an eyebrow. “Anything else?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I shrieked when his fingers fell between my legs, making his intention perfectly clear. “Oh, yeah. No more pelvic rest.”

  Jagger’s head fell back, but there was no missing that smile. “I was thinking out our bet the whole time you were gone. And I want to amend what I get as the winner.”

  “You can’t do that.” Especially since I’d been practically salivating at the thought of paying up. “Or you should’ve said something before you got the news.”

  He scoffed. “How do you know plan B isn’t better?”

  Good point. “Let’s hear it.” If it didn’t end him being inside me, it was getting so vetoed.

  That grin that made my insides flutter was back. Had we not been in the middle of the showroom, surrounded by giant windows and an open door—I’d be taking off my clothes already. Pregnancy could be summed up by wanting things. Wanting my new little girl to be healthy, to not wake up sick, and to wear my favorite jeans one more time before they didn’t fit anymore. That was before I factored in the cravings. The coffee shop on the beach probably had to double their frosted banana loaf production since I conceived, and I had an insatiable craving for Jagger.

  He hadn’t left me wanting, but there was a certain satisfaction about being totally connected. No beginning, no end. Feeling the same things without having any control over how we reacted. That was what pelvic rest had taken away from us. It was kind of like being on a diet. I enjoyed my veggies, but I dreamed about the hot fudge sundae.

  I was definitely having one of those later. No need to deny myself anything.

  “Nope. Not here.”

  “You play dirty.” I pushed his shoulder and narrowed my eyes at him when he burst out laughing.

  “Who do you think you’re talking to? Dirty is my favorite game. If I tell you now, it will be impossible to keep our hands off each other.” He stopped to nod at a customer and I scrambled off his lap, never feeling so incredibly frustrated in my life. “If I make you wait, you will be so ready for me when we get home,” he murmured in my ear before getting up to greet the customer.

  “I already am,” I called after him, smiling when the customer caught my eye.

  The interruption came at the right time, as much as I hated to admit it. We’d become too quick to lock the office door when the heat between us got unbearable. Claudia had to know what we were up to, but she had yet to say anything, and thankfully yet to catch us. Each time we became increasingly more brazen, sometimes neglecting to lock the door. It may have been old hat for Jagger, but for me, having sex at work was completely inappropriate.

  And so flipping hot.

  Jagger was getting so much better with the customers. He sat on one of the other couches, chatting with the couple. He wasn’t trying too hard anymore, he was just being himself and talking about the art with a passion only he could bring to it. His pieces weren’t traditional or anywhere close to traditionally beautiful, but they were striking and thought-provoking. Once the customers had the story behind the picture, it was hard for them to leave empty handed. Claudia had come up with the brilliant idea to print his photographs on cards, and now almost everyone left with a little something.

  I could watch him all day, but I had so much of my own work to do. Deliveries and contractors needed to be confirmed so Shannon could get to work next week. My plan was to have her oversee the execution of the design of Claire’s living room. We’d decided on all the colors and pieces, but Shannon would lead the crew who made it happen. I wasn’t cutting the apron strings completely, I’d give her all the help she needed, but she had this. Claire, so far, was my best advertising, and if she sang Shannon’s praises like she did mine, I’d be able to give Shannon more responsibility and eventually her own clients.

  Reluctantly I headed back to the office, winking at Jagger as he took one of his prints off the wall.

  Soon I wound up back in the gallery, not because I couldn’t resist Jagger, but because the reception was much better in front than in the office. I’d been playing phone tag with one of the contractors for almost a week and I refused to let his call go to voicemail again.

  “Today’s a good day,” Jagger said as he sat in the chair across from me. He held the pillow in his lap like he knew we needed some sort of barrier, this close, this electrically charged. “Baby girl, healthy mama, a good sale, and some hot sex coming up. Can’t really ask for anything else.”

  Except for the work day to end. My mouth was watering just looking at him. “Nope.”

  “All I can think about is our little girl, picturing how things will be once she arrives.” His face was absolutely glowing. “Somehow I keep picturing a little Raven. Think this one will come out with purple hair?”

  I laughed. “The purple hair came later. My reasoning was if I let her express herself, she wouldn’t sneak around behind my back.” Shouldn’t have said that. Jagger had forgiven me for going to see Kim, but the
wound was still fresh. I had to turn this around, and quick. “As long as she doesn’t come out with the half-shaved head, I’ll take any color she throws at us.”

  “I like it. It’s always surprised me how much that bothers you. You’re an artist.”

  It surprised me, too. “I don’t want people to not consider her for things because they make assumptions based on her appearance.”

  Jagger shook his head. “I think it would work to her advantage in the field she’s interested in. No one wants to hire a boring game programmer. They know as soon as she walks in that she’s willing to think outside the box.”

  “True.” That wasn’t the only thing that bothered me about it. “Maybe I’m a little envious I didn’t have the balls to express myself like that when I was her age.”

  “But you do now.” He tipped his head back, and he’d gone somewhere far away. “I didn’t know how to express myself when I was a kid. It came out as a lot of anger. I wonder if without all that, if my photography would be different. If I’d even take pictures at all. Do you ever think that?”

  Interesting point. “I never thought of it that way. I’ve always been involved with interior design, but if Raven wasn’t a baby when I was ready to start working . . . I don’t think I would’ve had the same viewpoint if I’d gone straight to work for a design firm. And it’s definitely not a nine-to-five job. Rich would’ve had a meltdown.”

  “It’s a good thing we didn’t get what we wanted right away.” He moved to the couch and I put my head on his shoulder.

  I melted against him. “It makes it that much better now.”

  It was that transitional time of day when the day trippers wrapped things up and the nightlife had yet to awaken. It was a great way to wind down and not go home thinking about the thousand things I didn’t get to. Unlike in production, where they’d hit us with a bomb on the way out the door and send us scrambling to come up with a solution.