by Ella Jade
Copyright © 2018, Ella Jade
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
www.authorellajade.com
Dirty Lessons
By
Ella Jade
Acknowledgments
A huge thank you to Lacey Wolfe. Without her my words would never make it to the readers. True story!
In addition to Lacey, this book wouldn’t have been possible without Tamaria Soana, Shelly Small, and Erika Lang. Thank you for all of your help.
To my readers...
Thank you for indulging in the Clark Brothers. They’re something else.
Back Cover Copy
I remember him from high school. The rich, entitled, bad boy who had way too much money and every pretty girl dropping their panties for him. Not me. He tried but I was too smart for his games. Once a player, always a player.
Why is it years later I find myself falling for him? Was I really smarter at eighteen? He says he can teach me things I’ve been missing out on. Lessons, he calls them. Sexy, provocative, orgasm-inducing, dirty lessons...
***
Some lessons we learn the hard way...
Miles Clark never had a problem getting what he wanted. Except that one time in high school when the studious, sexy Kirsten Dunlap said no. He’d convinced himself she was a snob, a prude. What other reason would she have to turn him down? Years later, Kirsten’s best friend is marrying his brother and they’ll be spending plenty of time together. What are they going to do with all that time?
Pediatrician Kirsten Dunlap has thrown herself into her education and career for over a decade. She’s more successful than she ever thought possible, but when she turns thirty she wonders just how much she’s missed. Now that she’s watched her friend CC fall in love with Jameson Clark, she realizes she wants to settle down and find the one. Before she can do that, she needs to live a little. Is the hot billionaire, with years of experience, the man who can show her a good time?
Miles agrees to teach Kirsten all about physical attraction but first he has to lower her inhibitions. The good doctor needs a few lessons in letting go. Is Miles who she’s been searching for all along? Will he help her find what she’s missing? In the process, can she accept that this is more than a game?
Featuring Jameson and CC from Do Bad Things.
All books stand alone.
Chapter One
Kirsten
Starting my second glass of champagne, I leaned over the stone wall that overlooked the perfectly manicured yard. I wasn’t on call tonight. No patients to worry about. My cell was off so I could enjoy this fabulous party. I couldn’t recall the last time I’d had a night to myself. It wasn’t as if I needed one. I didn’t have much of a social life. I’d chosen my path right out of high school. I’d wanted to be a pediatrician for as long as I could remember. Once I went to college, I was determined to succeed. My life was good. I couldn’t complain, but lately, I’d been feeling a bit lonely. Like something was missing. But what? I had a thriving practice, a beautiful home, wonderful friends, and a supportive family.
My thoughts wandered into the abyss as Miles Clark strolled across the lawn looking rather charismatic in his expensive suit. I hadn’t seen him in years. We had gone to high school together but I lost track of him when I went to college. Most people in D.C. knew him. He and his brother, Jameson, ran the top political firm in the country. Any politician who wanted to be the next big sensation wanted to be represented by them. The years had been kind to Miles. He was one of the city’s richest, sexiest, eligible bachelors. Now that his brother was getting married, Miles had moved to the front of the list, and judging by the way all the women at this party were swarming him, he’d have no problem keeping up his status.
Desperate women. I remembered his player ways from high school. The entitled, spoiled, bad boy who had a new girl in the backseat of his sleek, Mercedes SUV every weekend. He was the talk of the school. Every girl had his name written in her notebook with a heart around it. Well, maybe not every girl. I was probably the only one who turned down his predictable, teenage advances. Looking at his impressive chest and arms, I wondered if he’d proposition me now? Would I say yes this time?
Sipping my champagne, I gazed around the massive backyard. I couldn’t have been happier for my friends, CC and Jameson. They seemed like an odd couple. She was shy, reserved, and came from modest means. He was outgoing, magnetic, and descended from one of the richest families in the D.C. area. When they got together, I worried CC wouldn’t be able to handle him. Now as the two of them danced, celebrating their engagement, smiling and staring into one another’s eyes as if no one else existed, I knew they were meant to be. They loved one another. Deeply, madly, and insanely. I couldn’t imagine a love like that existing for me.
“Dr. Dunlap.” A trendy, fresh-faced girl approached me. She looked to be no more than twenty-two. Her bubbly smile and flawless make-up made me feel old but I was only thirty. “I’m Rayne Stanford. “We’re going to be bridesmaids together.”
“Yes, you’re friends with Jameson. CC has told me so much about you. Please, call me Kirsten.”
“I love CC.” She motioned toward the newly engaged couple. “Look how happy she makes him.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
“So, we get to plan the shower and the bachelorette party. We’ll have to exchange numbers.”
“That sounds like fun.” I placed my glass on the empty tray a server held in front of me. “Have you known Jameson long?”
“My whole life.” She finished her champagne, placing it on the tray too. “He was friends with my brother.”
“Sam.” I nodded, recalling that her brother was taken too soon by a harsh cocaine addiction. “I went to school with both of them.”
“Were you in their class?”
“No, I’m the same age as Miles.” I glanced across the pool, noting Miles was still there talking to a perky blonde. What were they talking about? Why was she giggling like a teenager? Why did I care?
“Hey, you two.” CC made her way over to us. “I’m so glad you finally met. We’ll be spending much time together these next few months.”
“I can’t wait!” Rayne exclaimed. “I love weddings.”
“I’m thrilled you agreed to be a bridesmaid.” CC practically glowed. I never would have thought Jameson would be the one to capture her heart but there was no denying it.
“I’d do anything for Jameson.” Rayne hugged the bride-to-be. “And now you too.”
“That’s very sweet of you.” CC hugged her back. “You’re very special to him.”
“I love him and I know you’re going to take really good care of him.” Rayne nodded across the patio. “I’m going to say hello to Max. I haven’t seen him in months.”
“He came back from Oxford for the party.” CC laughed when Rayne bolted in the direction of Max, the youngest Clark brother. “I guess she’s excited to see him.”
“She’s a ball full of energy.” I rested my hands on the wall, trying to take my attention off
the handsome middle brother. “She’ll be fun to plan a shower with.”
“She’s great. Jameson adores her.”
“This get together is something else.”
“My future mother-in-law is something else.” She joined me by the wall. “I’m sorry your parents had to miss it.”
“They are too.” I’d given them a cruise to Greece for their anniversary. It was planned long before CC got engaged. “They’ll be at the wedding though.”
“What’s got you so intrigued?” She leaned against the wall, following my gaze.
“What do you mean?”
“I happened to notice you noticing Miles.”
“What?” That was ridiculous. I wasn’t noticing him. “I was just surprised to see him.”
“At his brother’s engagement party?”
“I haven’t seen him in a few years except in the papers or in some internet article.” The blonde he was so intrigued with was no longer in his reach and Jameson was making him laugh. Maybe I was noticing him. “He’s aged well.”
“I’m sure he’s thinking the same thing about you.”
“Why would you say that?”
“I caught him staring at you when you arrived.” She ran her fingers over my bare shoulder. “Actually, several men were taken with you when you got here.”
“No one was noticing me.”
“This dress is fabulous.”
“You can borrow it.” I winked. “Not that you need to anymore.”
“I’d love to borrow it. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have had anything to wear when Jameson and I first started dating.”
“Now look at you.” I admired my beautiful friend. “A successful job, a wonderful man, and an upcoming wedding. I’m envious.”
“The brilliant pediatrician is jealous of me? Every parent in this influential town wants you to be their child’s doctor. I hear there’s a waiting list for you.”
“I’m blessed with my practice.” I loved my job even if it was a bit demanding at times.
“You’re an amazing woman. Your guy is out there. Maybe he’s even here tonight.”
“Maybe.” I brought my attention back to Miles who was now staring directly into my eyes from across the yard. Stunning, simply stunning.
***
Miles
I’d caught Kirsten Dunlap staring at me several times this evening. I’d have to admit the reason I caught her so often was because I’d been checking her out too. No one would blame me. She was incredibly hot and every guy at this party recognized it. Most of them gawked over her. I couldn’t help but notice she arrived alone. How a woman of her caliber didn’t have a date was beyond me, but I would take that as a positive sign for me.
I hadn’t seen her in a few years. She was good friends with my sister-in-law to be, and she was going to be the maid of honor to my best man. We’d gone to school together but we weren’t friends. I’d been friends with plenty of girls back then but Kirsten wasn’t interested in being that particular type of friend.
“Hey.” My brother Max bumped into me as he shoved his flask into his inside pocket. “Lots of sexy women around here tonight.”
“Yeah and most of them are mourning the loss of Jameson’s bachelorhood.”
“They’ve still got us.” He arched his brow. “So many of them and so little time.”
“Not if you take your time and savor them one at a time.”
“Just one at a time?”
“I’m getting older.” I placed my empty beer bottle on the table next to me. “Jameson works me so hard at the firm I don’t have time for a social life these days.”
“That’s why I’m not coming to work for him.”
Max was the wildest of the three of us. He followed in our footsteps and got a degree in law but he showed little interest in joining the consultant agency. He liked living in England but we hoped we could convince him to come back home. At twenty-five, he showed no signs of slowing down his partying ways.
“Now that you’ve graduated from Oxford, we were wondering when you’re coming back.”
“You mean Mom was wondering if I’d be coming home, and Jameson and Dad want me to move back and work with the two of you.”
“Something like that.”
“Jameson should worry about planning his wedding. I’m not ready to settle in D.C.”
“Think about it,” I encouraged, knowing he was too young to tame. “Finish what you’re doing aboard and then we can discuss it in a few months.”
“Maybe.” He grinned. “I’m going to say hello to Rayne.” He nodded toward the patio. “She’s looking good these days.”
“She’s become a beautiful woman.” Rayne was a longtime family friend who Jameson was quite fond of. “I went to school with the woman she’s talking to.”
“Kirsten.”
“Yeah, you remember her?” Max was five years younger than me so we weren’t in high school at the same time.
“Not really, but I met her when she arrived tonight. She and CC are really close.”
“They grew up on the same street. Kirsten was a big comfort to her when her mother died.”
“Well, she’s really hot. I could go for an older woman tonight.”
“She’s not like that.” Or at least she wasn’t in high school. Believe me, I tried.
“Who is she? The one that got away?”
“Hardly.” I would have had to have wanted her for her to get away. “Go say hello to Rayne.”
“Oh, I intend to.” He smirked as he headed in the direction of the patio. “More than hello.”
My younger brother would score tonight, but I hoped it wasn’t with Jameson’s honorary kid sister.
“There you are.” Jameson approached me with his signature glass of sparkling water in his hand. I didn’t worry about him as often as I had when he was first recovering from his alcohol and drug addiction. Now that CC was in his life, I found myself stressing less. “Mom can really throw a party.”
“I think every political hopeful in a fifty-mile radius is here.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“Several of them have approached me about representation.”
“Really? No one has said anything to me.”
“They’re probably leaving you alone on your special night. You haven’t left CC’s side most of the evening.” I looked toward the patio to see CC and Kirsten talking. “Not that I blame you.”
“You seem to be a bit taken with the patio tonight.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve seen you taking in the view quite a few times. Are you going to say hello to Kirsten?”
“I suppose.” Would she even remember our high school days? “We weren’t very friendly in school.”
“You are going to be spending the next few months together. You may as well get acquainted tonight.”
“Don’t I just have to walk down the aisle with her and escort her into the reception? Maybe a dance with her?” It wasn’t as if I was marrying her. Although Max was right. She is hot. “I should say hello.” Why should Max have all the fun?
“I know that look.” Jameson laughed. “Don’t get any ideas. Kirsten’s not your type.”
“Why not?”
“Well, for one, she makes a living keeping her clothes on.”
“You’re never going to let that go, are you?”
“You and the stripper? No.”
“Exotic dancer,” I reminded him. “And that’s been over for a year.”
“Come on.” Jameson headed toward the patio. “Let’s go see those beautiful women.”
As Kirsten engaged in conversation, I admired her. I took in her elegant beauty. She was taller than I remembered. Her dark hair was curled and styled in a high ponytail, exposing her long neck. The midnight blue dress dipped low in the back but it was the way it came off her shoulders that caught my attention. I’d like to trace my lips down her throat, over her collarbone, and to her shoulder as I unzipped the back of tha
t dress. Maybe I wanted her more than I thought.
When her gaze met mine, I stared into her fabulous hazel eyes. Those I remembered with clarity. Depending upon the way the light hit them, they were green and other times they were brown. They were quite unique. It was time to get reacquainted with my wedding companion. High school was a long time ago. Would she reject me after all these years? Judging from the soft smile she shot in my direction, I’d say the odds were in my favor this time.
Chapter Two
Miles
I’d grabbed another beer from the bar before making my way to the patio. Jameson already had CC in his arms by the time I got there. My brother had it bad. Good for him. He deserved all the happiness coming his way.
“Miles!” CC hugged me. “Where have you been all night?”
“Working.” I nodded at Jameson. “No one wants to bother him.”
“Tell them not to bother you either.” She kissed my cheek before returning to my brother’s arms. “Kirsten, do you remember Miles?”
“I do.” She stepped closer to me, extending her hand. “It’s been a long time.”
“Too long.” I took her hand but not to shake it. She was far too graceful for that. Swiping her knuckles along my lips, I gently kissed her hand. Her eyes widened briefly before a delicate smile crossed her mouth. “How have you been?”
“I’m well, thank you.” She discreetly removed her hand from mine. “I’m impressed with all you and Jameson have accomplished in the last ten years.”
“I could say the same for you, Dr. Dunlap.”
“Thank you, I got lucky with my practice.”
“She’s very modest,” Jameson said. “I have people calling me and asking if I have any pull with getting their kids in her office.”
“We’re in the process of hiring another physician, so hopefully we can expand our patients.”
