by Kendall Ryan
“I’ll wait,” I said, although I fisted my hands at my sides in self-disgust. I had no reason to stay. In less than five minutes, I had been insulted in more ways than I could count by a man I knew was my type—which made things all the worse. But the thought of being able to pay off what I owed on the brownstone and get ahead a little was tempting.
Almost as tempting as getting inside enigmatic Gavin Kingsley’s head and figuring out what the hell he was thinking. It was a curse. The same quality that made me a great researcher and a dedicated librarian also made me almost tragically curious. I couldn’t stand a puzzle unsolved, and Gavin was definitely that.
Cooper went back inside the office and closed the door behind him with a soft click, leaving me to wonder what exactly they were discussing, since the general topic was obviously me.
I should have left. Every part of me knew it, and my whole body vibrated with the desire to run . . . except one tiny part that I couldn’t seem to quiet. The ember burning deep in the pit of my stomach that kept me rooted to the spot.
The one that told me if I stayed, everything would change. That the adventure I’d been longing for waited just on the other side of that door.
Chapter Four
Cooper
This was so fucking amusing.
I’d never seen Gavin get so worked up over a girl before, let alone an escort, not even when he’d been with . . . well, not in a long damn time. To him, each one was pretty much interchangeable with the last. Yet this one was beautiful, feisty, and had him all riled up. I could have laughed, if it weren’t for the intense rush of blood engorging my cock.
Who could blame me? Emma Bell was stunning. Sexy, but subtly so. Confident, but with a hint of shyness that was as hot as fuck. And even odder still, she seemed to have no idea what she was doing here. Which, I supposed, made three of us.
I was sure there was a story here, and damn if I didn’t want to uncover it, but first things first. I had to deal with Gavin.
As soon as I reentered the room, careful to close the door behind me, Gavin launched into speech.
“She’s not right for this company, Coop. She’s—”
“I agree with you. She’s not the type to sleep around.” I held up one hand, wandering toward the windows to appreciate the city view below. I could feel his eyes on my back; he was surely wondering what the hell I was up to. After a moment of silence, I asked, “But I have one question. Who are you taking to the charity auction?”
“What? What does that have to do with anything right now?”
I knew he expected me to ask why he was being so hostile. Which, of course, meant I couldn’t. Not yet. If he was expecting the question, he’d never give the answer.
I shrugged. “Emma could be the perfect companion, don’t you think?” I turned to face his desk, where he still sat.
He rolled his eyes, and I swooped in for the kill. He’d had his chance. I’d given it to him on a silver platter. Which meant that the coast was clear. If he didn’t want her . . .
“So, you don’t mind if I take her to the Bennett Foundation gala?” I raised my eyebrows.
Gavin’s brow furrowed but his eyes went ice cold, his pause saying far more than his words. “Of course not. Why would I mind?”
Bullshit.
Maybe this little push was just what he needed to get his head out of his ass.
I nodded. “Good.”
His mouth turned down a notch, and I could tell he was thinking. Processing.
For a moment, I didn’t think he was going to take the bait. But then, I knew my brother. I’d laid down a challenge, questioned why he was so adamantly against the idea of hiring her, and although he didn’t want to open up and share, this topic was far from over. Our calendars were slammed, and we both knew it. His assistant had joked just that morning that it would make her job a hell of a lot easier if we each just found a girlfriend. Gavin had scoffed so hard, I thought he was going to bust an artery.
Gavin heaved out a sharp exhale. “What makes you so interested in her, anyway? I thought they were all a number on a paycheck to you?”
I shrugged. “They are until they’re not. You, of all people, should know—”
“Enough,” Gavin barked.
“Right.” I shoved my hands in my pockets. “Shame, though. Seems like there’s something . . . interesting between you two.” Briefly, I wondered if they had a history. “Anything you want to tell me?”
“No, but I have a question for you,” he snapped back with a lethal smile that didn’t reach his narrowed eyes. “What the fuck are you still doing in my office?”
“Trying to find out whether you’re going to let me have this one, or if we’re going to be fighting for the same prize,” I answered honestly.
Gavin looked up from his screen. “Are you high?” His mouth thinned into a firm, chiseled line. “If you want her, take her. I’m not playing with her like she’s a chew toy.”
“Okay. But that doesn’t change the fact that you need a date to the charity auction. A girl like her on your arm? Imagine the business we could do. She’s like a walking commercial. And when you’re done rubbing elbows with all the fancy people, I’ll take her off your hands for a couple of events of my own. Use your head, man, she’s perfect. The girl every guy wants to be seen with. Sweet enough to bring home to Mother, hot enough to imagine her on her knees, with that mouth—”
“Got it,” Gavin snapped. He stared at a point on the ceiling, then blew out an annoyed sigh. “If I take her to the fucking auction, will you stop, already?”
“Yup.”
“I’ll tell you right now, though, if this is business, neither of us are sleeping with her.”
I bit back a laugh but nodded anyway. If that was what Gavin wanted to tell himself, I wasn’t about to stop him. Fact was, though, if she would have either of us, we’d probably get our dicks caught in our zippers in the rush to get our pants off. Telling him that would only make him change his mind, and I’d gotten what I wanted.
If this girl had my big brother this riled up? She was something special. And no matter what he thought of himself, he deserved something special in his life again. If I had to agree to take her out as well just to get him to go along with it, so be it.
It wasn’t exactly a hardship, after all.
Gavin turned his attention back to laptop, ignoring me and signaling that the conversation was over. If he wanted me to believe he didn’t care about the beautiful creature whose scent still lingered between us, he almost had me fooled.
Almost.
But I’d known him too long. He never let a woman affect him, and this one evoked a response from him that I hadn’t seen in a long time. It was dangerous, but I believed Gavin had learned his lesson the hard way. The past needed to stay there. Emma could be a fresh start.
“May the best man win.” I stepped around his desk and clapped him on the back, and Gavin’s frown deepened.
“This is not a contest,” he ground out.
“Sure, it’s not.” I chuckled. It was an outright pissing match, and something told me it was going to be damn amusing watching Gavin lose his cool when I won her over.
I went out of the office and ushered a confused and nervous-looking Emma back inside, then closed the door behind us.
“Sorry about that, Emma. Please, have a seat.”
She did, lowering herself into the chair once again, this time with a demure smile. I certainly had better manners than my beast of a brother, and Emma, for one, appreciated them.
One point for Cooper.
Only once she was seated did Gavin’s attention lift from his laptop.
“If we do this,” I began, “enter into this arrangement with you via the company, things will be different from our usual contract with our escorts.”
“Different, how?” Emma asked, looking between us.
Gavin cut in. “What did Sonja tell you about how the agency works?”
Emma crossed one slender leg over the other, and her hesitant gaze flitted up to his. “That the clients of your firm are professionals, often CEOs and professional athletes who need tasteful dates who are both beautiful and discreet and often available on short notice.”
She’d gotten the gist. The escorts were also paid handsomely—the average going rate was about a thousand bucks for an evening.
“Good. What else?” I asked.
Her cheeks flushed and her gaze dipped to her shiny black pumps. “She told me about the blood tests and medical exam, though she stressed that sexual relations are not part of the deal and totally up to the escort and the client, but that sometimes it does happen.”
“That’s true, as well,” I added.
Gavin’s smirk made me want to knee him in the balls. Damn desk was in the way, though.
“You’ll have to excuse my brother,” I said. “He’s like a naughty preschooler who can’t share his toys.”
The crease between Emma’s brows told me she didn’t miss the reference to being one of our toys.
“What he means to say,” Gavin said, looking exasperated, “is that rather than have you work as an agency girl, we feel we could keep you busy just between the two of us.”
Emma’s pretty mouth pulled into a frown.
Goddamn it. Gavin was about as smooth as a sheet of sandpaper.
“As owners of the company and heavily involved in the day-to-day operations, we have little time for dating, or visiting local establishments to pick up women. You understand,” I said. “And we’re always looking to drum up new business. What better way to do it than to be seen with one of our girls?”
Emma nodded hesitantly, her pink cheeks going a little pale. “That makes sense.”
“I have a charity gala later this week, and Gavin has an event the week after. We thought perhaps . . .”
“I see. So, just us three.” Her voice wavered as she looked between us.
I smiled. “Exactly.” Just us three.
My goal was to put her at ease, but two rich, powerful men sat before her asking her to essentially date us both. Of course, this was all new to her. The pulse in her neck strummed hard and fast and yet she remained willing, at least, to hear us out.
“Can I think it over?” she asked.
“This is a surprise, I’m sure. Of course you can,” I said.
I half expected Gavin to cut in and tell her the offer expired in twenty-four hours, or something equally ridiculous, but fortunately, he did no such thing.
“The girls who work for us are treated very well,” I told her, “and I’d be happy to refer you to any of them if you want more information. We have nothing to hide.”
Emma nodded, and then we all rose to our feet. Gavin shot me a warning glare, but I grinned back at him with a wink.
Game on, bro.
In my head, though, I was seriously rooting for my brother. He’d been in such a dark place for so long. The thought of him stepping back into the light, seeing him smile a little more?
Man, I’d give almost anything for that. Maybe pretty little Emma Bell could be that light.
But in my heart? There was a part of me that hoped I was wrong. That maybe he’d find sunshine somewhere else.
Because I could use a little sunshine too, and for some strange reason, Emma Bell made me feel warm from the inside out.
Chapter Five
Emma
What a disaster.
I hadn’t meant to sign up for their agency. I’d merely wanted to go to Gavin’s office to see if I might catch a glimpse of him, to ease a little of the burning curiosity I’d had since finding his business card. Now, I couldn’t recall exactly because it was all a blur, but I was pretty sure I’d agreed to prostitute myself out to a pair of brothers who owned an escort company.
Good grief!
When I’d arrived and the woman at the front desk assumed I was there for an interview, I hadn’t corrected her, I’d just followed her inside her office and answered her questions politely. Admittedly, I’d been curious about Forbidden Desires, and was eager for a glimpse into the company that Gavin ran.
The meeting with Sonja went by in a blur. She was polite and discreet. It was almost as though she was interviewing me for a secretarial position.
And then I’d been so nervous when she ushered me into Gavin’s office, I’d barely been able to string together a coherent sentence in front of him and his brother.
I’d nodded along with what they said, waiting until I got outside the building to let a string of curse words rip. I’d just have to call them back in the morning and let them know there was no way in hell I could ever go through with something like this.
The two of them together were overwhelming. So much masculine energy, the room practically overflowed with testosterone, making me dizzy. They were each over six feet tall, and where Gavin was dark and handsome with a chiseled jaw dusted in dark stubble and piercing hazel eyes, Cooper was lighter with messy golden hair, green eyes, and a playful grin.
But Gavin . . .
I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but his demeanor and harsh words seemed to bypass my brain, charging straight into that secret part of me I always kept firmly hidden. The part of me that wanted to be cherished and worshipped, to please a man so deeply I knew without a doubt was my other half.
I’d left with a promise to call tomorrow and give Sonja my response to their proposition. Too bad I wasn’t entirely sure what that proposition was. Did they really just want someone on their arm for a couple of events? Or did they expect me to sleep with them?
I shivered at the thought, recalling the way Gavin’s gaze moved over my body, leaving a trail of flames in its path. As I made my way home on the number seventeen bus, I let out a panicked chuckle and pushed the thought—and the Kingsley brothers—from my mind, forcing myself to contemplate what to do with my evening. On my phone, I placed an order for Mediterranean take-out food and mentally calculated how many episodes I had left to watch of my favorite show on Netflix.
Back at home, I changed from my black pencil skirt and cream silk blouse into yoga pants and a sweatshirt. Then I proceeded to gorge myself on falafel and shawarma, promising I’d hit the gym extra hard in the morning.
Only after my pre-bedtime routine, while wrapped up in a blanket on my couch with a book in my lap, did I allow my mind to wander back to the day’s events.
Gavin had been totally unlike I’d expected. He was cold, almost rude. I realized now that my expectations had been based on pure fantasy. A fantasy that was better left to my dreams at night.
I pushed my glasses higher on the bridge of my nose and tried to shove him from my brain. He was nice to look at, but I was done with men who treated me like I was merely an afterthought. It was foolish, but I wanted the kind of love I read about in the pages of my favorite romantic literature. I wanted a man who worshipped and adored me. My very own Heathcliff, without the dramatic ending, of course.
And Cooper? He was different. I knew he would be sweet and kind . . .
But he was still a man who was looking for a date with an escort. And that meant he had no interest in something real.
Talk about delusional, Emma.
Releasing a heavy sigh, I willed my gaze to focus on the words on the page and ignore the discontent stewing inside me. But now that my mind had started to wander, it was intent on taking stock of how lonely I’d become in the ten months post-Nathan . . . and even long before that, if I was being honest with myself.
This was how I ended my days—alone in my brownstone, one of my favorite literary classics in my lap, my glasses pushed up high on the bridge of my nose.
Getting up to pour myself a glass of my favorite nightly treat, the chocolate milk I kept in the door of the fridge, I realized my life hadn’t always been like this.
Back when I was with Nathan, when it had all started out, I’d thought it was going to be a typical relationship. Girl meets boy; girl falls in love. And all that did happen, but it wasn’t that simple.
We were set up by a mutual friend, and everything was fine for a while. I never could have imagined it would turn into such an ugly, abusive relationship.
Before Nathan, I was confident, strong-willed, and knew right from wrong. I wasn’t a pushover. But slowly, as he burrowed deeper and deeper into my life, he began to manipulate me, taking me down a very, very dark path.
My waking hours were spent worrying over what he might do, what he might say about a decision I’d made. He had opinions on everything, from my job and my friends to my wardrobe and how I spent my paycheck.
Slowly, Nathan began to isolate me from my friends and family, making it so I was reliant only on him. The scariest thing was that I didn’t realize any of it was happening. It was a gradual fall.
And then? I woke up two years later with a swollen, puffy red eye and knew I had to leave, or one day he would quite literally kill me. My self-esteem was at an all-time low, and I knew I needed to make a drastic change.
I took a gulp of my drink, dumping the rest down the drain as an unexpected sharp knock at the door startled me.
Pursing my lips, I tossed on my fluffy pink robe and ventured to the peephole to look out. No one was there. When I opened the door, I found a large round black box resting at my feet, a pretty silver bow affixed to the top. Looking up, I watched a uniformed messenger climb into a delivery van in front of my house.
With trembling fingers, I lifted the box and carried it inside to my dining table, tugging the white note that was affixed to the top of it. In elegant, bold script, there were three words staring back at me.
For you.
— Cooper
Again, I had that tingling sense that everything was about to change.
And suddenly it made me angry.
Yes, I’d harbored a secret crush on Gavin for the better part of a year—but it was a dream, a wishful thought. In my imagination, he was untouchable, and therefore a safe option to fantasize about. The reality of him and his interests was a little too grim for my liking.
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