by Tina Donahue
His attention moved from the kissing couple back to her. Uncertainty raced across his face before he suppressed it as easily as he had his grin.
Her stomach fell. Was he having second thoughts about this? Not because of the money—if he was here, he had tons of that—but because he’d acted on impulse for whatever reason. And had now changed his mind after getting a good look at her.
He pulled a pen and what appeared to be a business card from his jacket’s inside pocket. As he wrote something on the back, he said, “Here’s the address you’ll need.” He stopped and turned to her. “Do you want someone to bring you there? I can send a car.”
They were still on? Tessa suppressed a pleased smile and wanted to ask where there was, but didn’t. After all, she was his for seven glorious days no matter where he wanted that to be and had absolutely no plans of picking her up himself. “I can get a ride.”
He nodded and continued scribbling on the card. “Is Sunday afternoon all right?”
She was about to ask, “For what?” when she realized he meant the beginning of their time together. Alone. Loads of sex. Oral. Vaginal. Possibly anal. Game playing, if he liked to do that. Was he into BDSM? Breathless at the thought, she murmured, “Do you mean the day after tomorrow or next Sunday?”
“Next. You have plans?” He studied his pen as he waited for her answer.
Her upcoming agency appointment wasn’t for two weeks. She wasn’t as popular as the other ladies. “I’m free.”
He clicked his pen and returned it to his pocket, then handed her the card.
Tessa took it, her hands trembling slightly. If Logan noticed, he didn’t let on.
She lifted her face. He studied her for a moment, then brushed a lock of hair off her shoulder, finally resting his fingertips on her cheek. A gentle, endearing touch that turned Tessa’s brain to mush.
“I’ll see you next Sunday,” he murmured.
“What? Wait,” she said as he stepped back. “You’re leaving?” Already?
“I can’t stay,” he said.
Why? Tessa could tell that a part of him wanted to. Did he have business to conduct? Had he set up meetings prior to the auction, figuring he wouldn’t be interested in any of the women tonight?
“Wait,” she said again, even though he hadn’t moved.
Before he could take off, she offered her hand. “Hi, I’m Tessa.”
A smile tugged the corners of his luscious mouth. “Yeah, I know.” He took her hand and squeezed gently. “I’m Logan.”
“Nice to meet you.” It wasn’t a lie or a come-on. Tessa already liked the man she’d seen beneath the façade he tried so hard to maintain. She sensed gentleness and strength within him, a heady combination. Suddenly, she couldn’t wait for their week to begin. Those days were going to be something.
“See you next Sunday,” she said.
He ran his thumb over the back of her hand, a surprisingly intimate gesture, the same as his expression, his neutral demeanor falling away. Didn’t last. Giving her hand one last squeeze, he released her and left the pool area.
Not certain what had just happened, she watched, hoping Logan would look back.
He didn’t.
Tessa slumped in her chair. Ronnie had just returned to the podium and was now introducing Felicity.
The men closest to Tessa voiced their approval of the young woman’s astonishing beauty. Bids came fast, escalating rapidly. However, none of them matched what Logan had offered for her.
Focused on the area where she’d last seen him, Tessa kept her silent vigil, wondering what she’d do if he did return. Give him a welcoming smile? Cross the area to meet him halfway? Lean into his hard body, her face pressed against his shoulder as she inhaled deeply of his scent?
She pictured him running his large hands down her back to her ass, cupping those cheeks to draw her closer. He’d trail kisses from her temple to her cheek, finally reaching her mouth, savoring its dampness and heat, her unique flavor. He’d look at her with frank surprise, followed by wonder, as he had tonight when their eyes first met. He’d command, wanting everything he could get, and she’d willingly deliver it.
On a wistful sigh, Tessa continued her silent watch even though she knew he wouldn’t return. Her fingers curled around his business card. The promise of their time together.
Logan eased his Mercedes to the side of the road outside the estate’s grand entrance. The area was so secluded he faced little possibility of any traffic coming by. In the distance, the pool’s torches gently illuminated the night sky, turning black to midnight blue, still studded with hundreds of stars. If he lowered his window and turned off his car’s motor, he might catch a hint of Ronnie’s amplified voice, carried here by the slight breeze.
He left everything as it was, telling himself to drive away, return to where he lived, not to think about what had happened a few minutes ago.
Tonight’s outcome certainly hadn’t been anything he would have predicted. He’d come to the event simply because he hadn’t wanted to be alone with his thoughts. Keeping busy was the only way he knew to get through endless days and even longer nights. If that weren’t incentive enough…and it was…the cover charge went to a good cause. Like Ronnie, his mother had suffered through breast cancer.
It was supposed to be a simple night out. Helped by his drink, Logan had actually begun to relax, reaching the I-don’t-give-a-fuck zone.
And then, he’d seen Tessa.
He gripped his steering wheel a bit harder, a wave of desire whipping through him again, tightening his chest, thickening his cock. The same reaction he’d experienced as he’d met her gaze. A response he hadn’t predicted and still didn’t fully understand.
Maybe it was because her loveliness and charm were so different from Nicole. Everyone who’d met his late wife had always thought she was an actress or a supermodel, she was that seemingly perfect. Of course, they hadn’t lived with her. They didn’t know the real truth.
Logan’s body tensed at what had happened, what she’d done, his mind wanting the memories to go away. He studied the night sky above the pool area, and forced himself to recall Tessa. Chained to that column. Offered to a bunch of horny men.
His protective nature kicked in now as it had then even though she’d clearly agreed to participating in the event despite her obvious embarrassment. When she finally shook it off, her concern had centered on those odd things on her feet…shoes, sandals, or whatever they were called that she wouldn’t be wearing while she shopped.
He smiled, remembering her comment and guileless attitude. She hadn’t behaved like any escort he’d known—in the last year he’d been acquainted with quite a few. Tessa had offered no fawning compliments to boost his ego, no blatant suggestions of sex…just an expression of honest attraction as she regarded him despite the surrounding crowd, almost as if she couldn’t help herself. He sure as hell hadn’t been able to. Faster than Logan would have believed possible, warmth snaked through him once more, pushing away a good deal of the bad. His hands dropped from the wheel. He breathed more deeply.
Tessa reminded him of spring…fresh, ripe, filled with promise and hope. He hadn’t a better way to describe her. Young, probably early to mid-twenties, she wore her honey-blonde hair long, the silky waves falling below her shoulders. A faint rose blush enhanced her creamy skin, making it even more delicate and enticing, while complementing her green eyes. Her lavish curves and lush breasts were perfect for a man’s hands. She wasn’t overtly sexy or exquisite like the other women tonight—like Nicole. Tessa’s features were closer to pretty, sweet.
Was that why she’d put that reddish junk on her nipples and cunt, believing that would make her more provocative? Not for him. Only the tiny jewels dangling beneath her navel had managed that. Logan recalled them and her unvarnished “okay” in answer to whether she’d spend seven days with him or not. He grinned at how she’d sounded and looked at that moment. Like a high school girl eager to attend her prom with the football hero.
My god, she’d seemed so youthful, so fucking artless. When was the last time a woman had made him smile so easily? When was the last time he’d behaved as recklessly as he had tonight?
Seven days? What had he been thinking?
Logan lowered his face and swore. He hadn’t been thinking at all. He’d acted on his feelings, wanting a few days to forget, to hope. To lose himself in her willing embrace, surrounded by her scent. Something flowery that bombarded him with sensations, the kind he’d experienced in his twenties, before Nicole, when everything had seemed possible.
However, it wasn’t, was it? Those youthful feelings were gone, shattered by the reality of living that was too often filled with jealousy, arguments, tragedy.
He rubbed the back of his neck and warned himself that Tessa was an escort, just as all the other women at this evening’s event. He wasn’t her protector. She wasn’t his salvation. This was about having a good time for a few days, engaging in constant sex.
Nothing deep. Certainly nothing emotional. He’d been through that crap. Now all he wanted was to have a good time.
And he would. Bought and paid for. Seven full days to enjoy his prize, as that young man had said. A woman who looked innocent and behaved without an obvious agenda, but who also knew her role.
To please him. To offer comfort and release.
And by god, she would.
Chapter Three
Wrapped in an ivory satin robe that barely reached her upper thighs, Tessa lounged on the velvet sofa with Felicity. They were at Indulgenza Salon & Spa, the place for the District’s elite.
Decorated in seafoam green, their waiting room boasted feathery plants, walls papered in raw silk, candles scented with aloe, and a fragrance that reminded Tessa of freshly washed linens. A soothing instrumental of violins and flutes flowed through the sound system.
Felicity sipped her pricey chardonnay. A bead of the wine slipped over her plump bottom lip. She licked it away and practically purred. “This is nice.”
This was preparation for tomorrow…Sunday. Less than twenty-four hours before Tessa began her first day as Logan’s concubine, if one wanted to continue with the Arabian scenario. Given how they’d met, Tessa had to admit it seemed fitting. To be his pleasure slave, a woman who would bend to his sexual will, offering her flesh for whatever purpose he sought.
The possibilities were limitless given that he would take, use, enjoy her at his Virginia estate. A Google Earth map of the address he’d provided showed a fifty-acre spread. Secluded. Sumptuous. The mansion—featured in Architectural Digest—offered ten bedrooms, even more baths, a pond out front, and an expansive lawn to make love on beneath the stars. That is, if Logan desired that.
Tessa recalled the intensity of his gaze while she’d been chained to the column, naked and defenseless. She remembered the heat of his fingers on her hand and belly. His deep baritone and virile features.
A curious mixture of excitement and uncertainty pulsed through her, the uncertainty nurtured by too many days away from him, too much time to think. Weakness and tension spread equally through her limbs, making them sluggish, nearly too heavy for her to move.
Thankfully, she wouldn’t have to for a while. She’d already gotten various body parts waxed, along with a manicure and pedicure. Her massage, facial and having her hair trimmed came next. All so she’d be as perfect as possible. A man’s delight. Feminine, fragrant, willing, and submissive, if that’s what Logan craved.
What did he prefer? Endlessly, Tessa had considered that question, coming up with countless scenarios. Stirring sex that touched the soul, BDSM games, a mixture of the two, her performing a striptease, him remaining dressed for as long as possible so she’d fully experience her nudity, realizing how accessible to him she was, just as she’d been the night they met.
Tessa recalled each moment of it, her pulse pounding at the memories. Her mouth and throat grew parched. She drained her wineglass, greedily finishing each drop.
One of the spa’s staff, a new girl, paused at the doorway and offered an indulgent smile. “We’ll be ready for you ladies shortly. Would you care for more wine?”
Tessa held out her glass, pained at how her hand trembled from her wayward thoughts. If only she and Logan had hooked up the night of the auction. She was flying pretty damn high then. Now though…
Felicity finished her yawn and stretched, not unlike a cat, her body loose, relaxed. To the girl, she said, “I’m good.”
Hell, she was way better than that. Gorgeous and confident. Her appointment began tonight. The man who’d made the winning bid on her had opted for two days, with Logan having broken the one-day rule.
Tessa waited for the attendant to leave, then murmured, “Did your guy say where he was taking you?”
Felicity ran her fingers through her hair and smiled. “I would presume everywhere he possibly can.”
Uh-huh. “Guess that means you’ll be having your meals in. Wouldn’t want you thrown out of a restaurant because he, or you, ate the wrong thing.”
Felicity offered a throaty laugh. “There’s always private dining rooms, or if he’s feeling frisky, the ladies’ lounge.”
“I give him a few hours before he’s in love with you.” Tessa tucked her legs beneath her so she could face the young woman. “Just like all your other clients.”
Felicity waved her hand in dismissal. “That’s lust, not love.”
“On your end.”
She turned her face to Tessa, her expression serene and knowing. “I’m not looking for love, kiddo. Been there. Done that.”
Tessa nodded, having heard the story. When Felicity was just out of high school, she’d fallen hard for a guy, a student at Georgetown whom she’d met at a local bar. He came from money. She didn’t. It hadn’t seemed to matter, not when two people were so in love. Even before she’d given birth to their child, he’d lost interest. There was his schoolwork, future, other women more attuned to what someone from his position needed. When he took off without apology or regret, Felicity’s parents insisted she give up her baby for adoption. Periodically, the adoptive parents sent pictures showing the little boy’s progress.
Felicity had admitted that she’d first started drifting after losing her child, trying to forget that pain, insistent on having nothing but a good time, just like her lost love. She went from one man to the other and a series of dead end jobs until she’d found out about Ronnie’s agency. A chance to flaunt her beauty and enjoy her sexuality, while also making great money. Serious cash she was saving for her little boy to give him when he grew up. Whether he’d need it or not didn’t matter. At least, she’d offer.
She never claimed to want anything more than being who she was now…Felicity. Not her birth name, of course. None of the young woman used their real names with clients.
After another luxurious stretch, Felicity rested her arms on top of her head. “I hope Vincent’s in a good mood today.”
Vincent was her current hair stylist, talented but mercurial. “If he’s not,” Tessa said, “I’ll fix whatever he messes up.”
“You’re a doll.”
Tessa smiled. Nearly a year ago, she’d been a hair stylist here, one of the few women given the opportunity thanks to pure dumb luck. Despite Tessa’s talent and the headshots of her work that she’d shown the spa’s owner, he initially hired her as a shampoo girl.
“In an establishment as renowned as this,” he’d lectured, “the ladies like true professionals to work on their hair, male stylists trained by the very best.”
Felicity hadn’t been one of those ladies. One day she’d shown up needing an emergency appointment. None of the truly professional male stylists were able to fit her in. Tessa offered to do the job herself, for free. Desperate—and liking what Tessa had done with her own hair—Felicity agreed. The outcome impressed her to the point that she recommended Tessa to Ronnie. And then to Alexa, who Tessa eventually learned had once been an escort until she’d met the guy of her dreams.
With
so many of the agency ladies coming into the spa and demanding Tessa, the owner had no choice except to promote her to hair stylist. One night when she and Felicity were bar hopping and slightly tipsy, Felicity confessed that she worked for the agency. During Ronnie’s next appointment, Tessa had asked the woman about it. One thing led to another and soon she was no longer working on hair but men’s sexual and emotional needs, including their loneliness, the longing for closeness too often denied. They knew she didn’t expect anything from them, especially marriage and kids. Her attention and acceptance was unconditional, probably the first they’d experienced since their mothers.
Tessa knew what it was like to lose a parent, to feel alone in the world and so she offered all that she could. More than once, she wondered if she should have been a shrink. During her hair stylist days, it wouldn’t have been a possibility, the expense too prohibitive even with what she’d made at this spa. Given her current earnings, the future had definitely opened up, education and career-wise.
As far as men were concerned, nothing had changed. She’d never dated much. There weren’t a lot of eligible or straight men strolling through salons. Those at singles bars either looked right through her or simply wanted sex after buying her a drink and a meal, if they were feeling generous. None of those encounters had ever worked out nor had her few boyfriends come close to proclaiming love. She remained unattached, no longer waiting, hoping, or even wondering if there was anyone out there for her.
Without thinking, she blurted, “Why do you think he chose me?”
“Logan?”
Who else? “Yeah.”
“He liked how you look.” Felicity sank farther into the sofa and rested her head against the back cushion. “Trust me, you’re adorable.” She patted Tessa’s knee. “Why else would he want you for a week?”
“That’s what I can’t figure out. I’ve been thinking about it for days. He left minutes after the bid. When I look back on it, he couldn’t get away quickly enough.”
