I glanced over at Jagger, trying to do that mind-melding thing that usually came a little later in the relationship.
“It’s true!” Raven exclaimed when no one answered.
“I’ve got this,” I murmured to Jagger before meeting Raven’s eyes in the mirror. She greeted me with a death stare. The two of us had the mild-meld thing down, and this said how could you do this to me? loud and clear. Back to the road before I killed us all. “Yes. I hired him to come to the reunion with me.”
She gasped. “Why would you do that?”
Jagger looked uncomfortable, but he didn’t turn away from me. She wasn’t questioning him; her rage was all for me.
“I met your father when I was your age. Things change the second time around. It’s not so easy. I’m busy, and I don’t have time to waste with men I’m not interested in.” We’d reached a red light and I looked back at Raven. She was about to crawl out of her skin. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but you asked, and I’m telling you the truth. It was just supposed to be for the reunion, but we wound up hitting it off.”
“Are you paying him now?” Him was tipped with acid. I didn’t expect her to understand, but this hurt. And I could only imagine how Jagger felt.
“Jagger can hear you, sweetie.” I merged onto the highway, and it would be a miracle if I didn’t get pulled over between here and DC. My foot was too heavy for its own good. “No, I’m not paying him. And if you have any other questions about his job, he’ll be happy to answer them. He’s no different than he was before you found out what he did for a living.”
Before Christmas, Raven had opened up to Jagger, something she rarely did. She went from hiding in her room to actually hanging out with us. I never introduced her to any guy I dated before I met him. They didn’t mean enough to me to meet my daughter. She was almost eighteen and headed to college in the fall, and while no kid was ever ready to delve into their parents’ sex lives, she was more than old enough to have this conversation with Jagger.
This could go either way. She’d either put on her headphones and ignore us for the next eight hours, or she’d actually go through with it.
“Do you get paid to have sex with people?” Raven asked.
Jagger turned around in his seat, and out of the corner of my eye, I caught his smile. My heart was in my throat and I probably shouldn’t have been driving during this conversation.
“My official job description is that I provide companionship to the women who hire me. That means different things to different people.”
Raven made a sound that sounded like a groan crossed with disappointment. “Are you still providing companionship, now that you’re with my mom?”
Jagger didn’t shy away from the inquisition. “No, I’m not.”
“Good.” Raven visibly relaxed when I snuck a peek at her. “She’s already dealt with one cheating jerk. I like you. Please don’t turn out to be a jerk.”
He laughed. “I don’t plan on it. Listen, I understand that this is awkward as hell. It is for me, too. The bottom line is I’m not going to do anything to hurt your mom. And I’ll answer any questions you have. Or none, if you prefer. I don’t want this to be weird.”
“That makes two of us.” Raven smiled shyly before putting her headphones on.
Jagger let out a huge breath when he turned around.
“That went well,” I said.
“This is the stuff I never wanted to deal with. Justifying what I’ve done.” Jagger shook his head. “What Raven thinks matters to me. I want her respect.”
Rich would’ve never said that. Jagger was so much more of a man than my ex, and yet he was the one constantly playing defense. I wished I could tell him it would be okay. “Thank you.”
“I mean it, Leah. I don’t want this to be weird. And I’m not going to do anything to hurt you.”
I reached over and squeezed his thigh. “Don’t be a jerk, and the rest will work itself out.”
Chapter Three
Jagger
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Leah crawled behind me on the bed and put her hands on my shoulders. My head fell forward as she worked on the knot at the base of my neck. I could’ve done this in any room of her house, but this was the place. I’d been in a lot of women’s bedrooms, but none of them had ever felt like home until Leah brought me here.
“Never been more sure of anything in my life. But if you keep doing that, I won’t want to do anything but fuck you.” She’d just come out of the shower, and smelled amazing. It took everything I had not to join her. Leah and Raven shared a bathroom and after our discussion yesterday, the last thing she needed to do was catch us together in the shower.
“Think of it as a taste of things to come.” She kissed my shoulder. “Good luck.”
I prepped myself for the shitstorm as I made the call.
“What the hell is going on with you?” Barry, my boss, asked as soon as he answered the phone. “Beth Barnes is threatening to sue, Jagger. Blow the cover on the business. I’ve already given her a refund. So don’t even think about looking for a check for that job.”
“I don’t want her money.” How did I sum up the fuckery of this client? “Beth Barnes wasn’t honest about her intentions.”
“So fucking what? Our entire business is built on dishonesty.” Barry laughed. “And discretion. If she sues, it’s not just your ass on the line. It’s the entire roster, as well as our clients. This isn’t one lawsuit. It’s many, if the information falls into the wrong hands.”
No surprise Beth would be a complete pain in the ass, but I didn’t think she’d actually go through with a lawsuit. She didn’t seem like the type to lead a witch hunt. More like the kind who was perfectly content to stoke the flames and leave everyone else to put out the fire. “Give her what she wants. Keep her quiet,” I said.
“She wants an apology.”
I laughed. “I should be the one asking for an apology.”
Barry groaned. “You should be begging for your job. Your client for tomorrow night called to confirm. Don’t fuck this one up. She’s an A-list actress in town for New Year’s Eve.”
“Replace me.”
Silence. “What did you just say? No.” Barry heard me just fine. “Rent a tux and go to the party, Jagger. Snag some famous pussy and call it a year.”
“I said replace me. I quit. Don’t bother trying to talk me into it. I’m not in Miami.”
“Where are you?” Barry usually checked in with us after long jobs. Nothing was guaranteed in escorting, including our safety. With a lawsuit hanging over his head, protocol went out the window.
“DC.” I turned around, aware of Leah in the doorway. She blew me a kiss and disappeared.
“What the fuck are you doing there?”
“I met someone.” And you introduced us, Barry.
“Wait a minute.” Barry scrambled on the other end of the line. “Who did I send you there to work with? Leah Godfrey. Jag, you can’t date a client.”
“Why not?” I was so fucking tired of people telling me what I couldn’t do.
“It’s unethical. Especially in light of the Beth Barnes situation. These women talk. You know that. If they find out they can get free time with the escorts, it will kill this business.”
“Ethics? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” I laughed. Barry had some big brass ones. It was what made his business so successful.
Barry scoffed. “Don’t act like you’re holier than thou since you met someone. This business has been very good to you for years. It’s not the time to create problems.”
“It’s not a problem. I’m not an escort anymore.”
“Listen to me, Jagger. I’ve seen Leah on TV. She’s a beautiful woman, but you know better. You’ve had clients think they’ve fallen in love with you before. It’s never ended well. We’ve got one lawsuit on our hands. Let’s keep it at that.”
An occupational hazard of playing into women’s fantasies was the lines sometimes blurred into rea
lity. I’d had women think we were in a relationship before, and bankrupt themselves to live the lie. It was painful to watch, but I’d always been able to keep myself detached. I had to, for sanity’s sake.
I never let myself fall. I knew better. Until Leah.
I couldn’t stand the emptiness anymore. For years there’d been a phantom pain where my heart was supposed to be.
The last thing Barry wanted to hear about was feelings. “You tell all of us if it’s not fun anymore, get out. It’s not fun anymore. I can’t give a client her money’s worth if all I can think about is how much I want to be with someone else.”
Barry exhaled loudly. “Okay. If this is what you think you want. The door is always open, Jagger. This is what you’re good at.”
**
Fuck. I’d just quit the only job I’d ever had for a woman I barely knew. Her star was on the rise, and mine was bobbing in the gutter.
Raven squeezed by me on the stairs without a word. Headphones blaring, something that looked like a Pop Tart in hand. In the eternal battle of Leah vs. Rich, Raven usually took her mother’s side. But this battle I’d lost; she hadn’t said a word to me since our conversation in the car.
“I’m proud of you,” Leah said when I came in the kitchen, and she went up on her tiptoes to kiss me. I held her in place, taking absolutely everything I could from her lips. Her beauty, her perseverance, and her never-ending belief everything would be all right.
With her warm, soft body pressed against mine, there was no doubt in my mind I’d done the right thing.
“It’s scary as hell, isn’t it? I felt the same way when I left Rich. I had nothing and I had to start from scratch.” She handed me a coffee mug and sat down with her own. I made that call without coffee. Damn. It could’ve gone much worse.
“I’ve been waiting for years for the perfect time to walk away, but it never came.” That wasn’t true. This was it, right now, drinking coffee with Leah.
. “There is no perfect time. But if you wait too long, you have no options. And that’s when you’re really in trouble. We start the development stage of the show on Monday.” Her face lit up, and she nudged me. “We’re hiring, and since you’re looking for a job—”
“I appreciate the offer, really, I do. But I have to decline.” Turning her down felt like ripping the skin from a healing wound. This was probably my only chance at a job that would keep my head above water.
Leah frowned and scooted her chair closer to me. The excitement that had accompanied her job offer was gone. “Why? I know you think it’s a pity fuck. But—“
I burst out laughing, holding my hand over my mouth not to snarf coffee across the kitchen.
She whacked my arm. “Listen! I wouldn’t have this show if it wasn’t for you. After our first date, appointment, whatever it was, I couldn’t sleep. I lay in bed all night thinking about you.”
All the blood in my body drained into my cock. “I always think of you when I’m in bed.” Another reason why we couldn’t work together.
“Are you going to let me finish? I’d never met anyone else who cared about abandoned properties before. Who wanted to make things better. I need you on my team. Someone who shares my vision.”
I kissed her again. Coffee tasted better on her lips. “First of all, you can’t go from my client to my boss—“
She rolled her eyes. “Nobody cares how we met.”
We both knew that was a lie.
“Now you’re not letting me finish.” It was impossible to fight with her. We were still floating on that cloud above reality, and the impact would hurt when we came down. “I don’t trust myself to keep my hands off you in an office. Your parents are awesome, but holy shit, they were everywhere in that house, and now all I want to do is pin you against the counter and fuck you, but Raven could come downstairs any second. She hates me already.”
“She doesn’t hate you. Don’t worry about Raven. I’ll talk to her.” Leah checked my mug to see that it was empty and stood. She wedged her leg between my chair and the table, between my thighs. Aware of the danger, she looked over her shoulder at the staircase. It was so fucking sexy. Coast clear, she turned back to me and leaned down. “Raven’s going to her friend’s house any minute.”
Best news I’d heard all day. My mouth went dry; I had an intense craving for Leah’s warm, sweet taste. “Happy New Year to us.”
She nodded. “What do you want to do tonight?”
That was easy. “You.”
Chapter Four
Leah
Jagger Holiday was finally mine.
I didn’t let myself think about this day because I wasn’t sure it would ever come. The one where I didn’t have to share him with any other women, no matter what he said. He’d given all of himself on our first meeting before he could’ve possibly had any feelings for me. Or at least, I thought he did.
That was another thing I didn’t let myself think about. If I was with the man who seduced women for a living, or if I was really with him. I’d gone into love blind before, before I even knew what it was. Twenty something years later, I knew what it wasn’t. Jagger could be fooling me, but now that he’d quit his job as an escort, I had a pretty good feeling he was all in.
Holy shit, he quit his job. For me. I was a hypocrite for hating it so much. If he hadn’t been an escort, he’d never be sitting in my kitchen, with me in his lap, catching his breath between stolen kisses.
And I was never letting him go.
“Funny thing about that,” I finally said. He’d gotten this look in his eyes before he said you. It made my knees weak and I’d sunk into his lap. I wished there was a way I could bottle this feeling. Light a candle and share its essence with the whole world. “I was thinking the same thing.”
His grin was a precursor of all the filthy things that awaited me as soon as Raven got the hell out of here. “You want to do you, too?” He leaned back in the chair, running his hand through his dark, shaggy hair. “There’s an idea I can get behind.”
I pushed his chest and the chair rocked back. Jagger’s reflexes were sharper than mine, and he grabbed the table before we toppled over.
Raven’s sigh pushed all the oxygen out of the room. “I’ll be back on the first.” She slung her backpack over her shoulder and left without another word.
It broke my heart. We hadn’t seen eye to eye on anything after the divorce, and it was like living with a roommate, someone who rented from me, instead of my teenage daughter. I was always so jealous when I saw other moms that had girls Raven’s age that actually said more than three words at a time to them. They considered each other friends. I wanted that so bad. In the last few weeks, things had been much better. I thought it was something I did to make it improve, that I was more approachable when I was happy.
I raised my daughter to share my values. I divorced my husband so she’d know she never had to settle for less than she was worth. Maybe now that she knew how I met Jagger, she thought I didn’t know my worth. We had to talk. I couldn’t go through that again.
“It’ll get better,” Jagger said softly, running his fingers over my cheeks, drying tears I hadn’t realized I shed. “I’ll book a flight back to Florida for the second. She needs some time to get used to things without me here.”
“I don’t want that, either.” I held his face, drawing my fingers over it slowly, memorizing the curve of his cheekbone, and the stubble beneath it. His lips were chapped and swollen from spending Christmas in a winter wonderland with me. This wouldn’t be easy, I knew that. Nothing good was. “How are we going to do this?”
“Same way we were before. I come see you, you come see me.” His fingers were warm under my sweater, his voice husky. “I can’t wait for you to come to Miami. We can go salsa dancing. I’m taking you to the topless beach.”
I burst out laughing. “Yeah, right.” This body was going nowhere near a bikini, and especially without its top.
“I’m serious. Promise me you’ll at least try it. Until
then, I’ll picture the sun kissing you in places only I get to touch.”
Jagger’s gaze bathed my body in warm light, but I shivered. The idea terrified and excited me at the same time. He was used to women who wanted to test their limits. Just because those women were out of his life didn’t mean I wasn’t competing with them anymore.
“I promise to think about it.” I grabbed the empty mugs and stood up. “What do you want to do for New Years? Everything’s already booked for tomorrow night. I would’ve planned ahead, but I didn’t think I’d have you here.”
And have him, I would.
“Who said anything about going anywhere? I finally got you alone.” Jagger pushed the chair back and came up behind me. He pressed me against the sink. I almost dropped the mug. “What do you have in mind, Leah?”
I knew exactly what I wanted, but I didn’t answer him right away. I liked this way too much. The way his body felt against mine. These normal, stolen moments. I rinsed both mugs and set them in the drainer. It was a tight squeeze turning around, but I liked this even better—Jagger’s hard body, his heart beating frantically. “I want you to teach me how to salsa dance.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?” I nodded. His hands fell to my hips, rolling them up and down. Closer to him, which I didn’t think was possible. “I don’t think that will be too hard. You’re a natural.”
**
We’d just gotten back from my parents’ house, and I wasn’t ready to host anything. Having Jagger here was a pleasant surprise. But I had science fair experiments in my fridge instead of food, and most tragically, no wine. We needed to do something about that.
After a late brunch and an afternoon of shopping, we kept it simple. We picked up wine, cheese and crackers, strawberries, and chocolate. I didn’t feel like cooking that night; we’d been force-fed by my mother for the last week, and I planned on getting drunk on Jagger and dancing the night away.
“Should we dress up?” I asked once the wine was poured. Salsa seemed like something that shouldn’t be done in jeans and socks.
Wrapped Around My Finger Page 2
