No Strings Attached (The Escort #1) (4 page)

“Yes, you can.” He sat back. “Let me watch you.”

My heart slammed against my chest. I’d never even had a sex toy when I was married, let alone used one in front of someone else. And truth be told, when I did this alone, I always felt more guilty than satisfied. What can I say, I was raised Catholic. Jagger’s eyes were glued to my body, fixed on that damn fake purple dick in my hand. His breath was deep and slow, his chest noticeably rising with each one. He wanted this.

This was crazy. And even crazier, I was actually considering doing it.

I had absolutely nothing to lose. This was safe, nothing was on the line. Jagger would be back in Miami in the morning. I flicked on the vibrator and damn, it never seemed that loud before. It lit up the room, blinking with each pulse.

Jagger laughed. “You’re worried about me drawing attention? It looks like a nightclub in here.”

“Shh.” The last thing I needed was Raven knocking on the door, wondering what the hell was going on.

I bucked up from the mattress when the vibrator hit the soft folds between my legs. I gasped, catching the cry before it could pass my lips. Pressing the vibrator against me, I had yet to make the thing move. I looked back at Jagger. His eyes were heavy-lidded and still fixed on the dildo. He bit his lip, I don’t think he was aware I was watching him, and made a sound that could have been a purr.

That was all my body needed to hear. Just like that, need kicked shyness’ ass. I dragged the instrument down the length of my slit, drenched with my arousal, and working up the courage to open my legs and press it against my clit.

Having an audience was so much sexier than I could’ve ever dared to imagine. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Jagger. His mouth was slightly open as I began circling the tender little nub, my hips rolling up off the mattress when I hit just the right spot.

I groaned as the pulsing began deep inside and I began to lose feeling in my toes, my legs heavy, but I couldn’t stop.

“Use your fingers, too.” Jagger’s voice was strained. “Make yourself come.”

I was panting by the time I slipped the vibrator inside of myself, my body clenching around it like Jagger had entered me. My hips began a slow grind as I fingered my clit with the other hand. I pumped the vibrator inside me faster, to match the pulsing beat of my core. I squeezed my eyes shut, the orgasm slamming through my body in waves, looking for escape.

“Look at me, Leah.” Jagger could barely speak.

When I opened my eyes, completely spent, Jagger had slipped his hand inside his jeans, moving his hand back and forth. It took all the energy I had left to crawl over to him on trembling arms, but he shook his head. “I want you to watch me.”

I curled on the edge of the bed, my eyes glued to his hand manipulating his hard cock, running his fingers over the tip, glistening at the first sign of release. He’d leaned back, his body a long line, his hair falling down his back, and his mouth open. He was offering no fucking apologies for the fact that I’d brought him to this state, and it was the sexiest thing I’d ever had the pleasure of watching.

When he finished, he slumped down and grunted, and I handed him my boy shorts to clean himself up. I wanted to lick his release off of that hard stomach, but instead I let him wipe it away. There was still a line yet to be crossed between us, and I wasn’t ready to go for broke tonight. My comfort zone was in a different zip code.

Once he was clean, he picked up his shirt and began buttoning it. “You’re leaving?” I asked. It was five past eleven. Our time was up. That’s all Kari had paid for.

“Yeah.” Jagger smiled, leaning over to kiss me just on the lips like none of that happened. “We’ll pick this back up at the reunion.”

Chapter Six

Jagger

Shit. I Never Kissed My Clients
. It meant too much. Leah’s lips begged to be kissed and she tore down all my defenses. That never happened. I couldn’t stop thinking of her, even now that I was on the plane headed back to a place where things made sense.

Leah was on a suicide mission with this stupid reunion. She wasn’t cut out for this sort of thing. But the money for a destination weekend gig was too good for me to tell her any different. One step closer to the gallery.

And I didn’t want anyone else to bring her.

I’d been hired for this kind of disaster a million times. Usually the client wound up making a fool out of herself and got pissed when I didn’t pick up the pieces. Once I was off the clock, their shit show wasn’t my business anymore.

Leah wasn’t like my usual clients, brash and expectant. There was something about Leah that remained girlish and unspoiled, an innocence that life had yet to shatter even though it sounded like she’d had her ass handed to her. She had an edge that she was just starting to discover. It wasn’t something I saw often. She created beauty wherever she went because it came from inside of her. I didn’t want to take that away from her. Instead, I wanted to watch it blossom.

I knew I should’ve never gone to DC.

And I felt guilty as hell about what we’d done. I’d hardly touched her, but I pushed all her limits. Fuck, it was hot, watching someone let go and lose control. I wanted to stay and fuck Leah until she believed me when I told her she was beautiful. But I didn’t, because she’d paid me for four hours. Well, eight. But we’d agreed to four. I’d already crossed too many of my own lines last night.

My dick screamed at me all the way back to my hotel. I took a long hot shower once I got there, but it didn’t stand a chance of washing away the memory of her body, soft and voluptuous. I wasn’t used to real women anymore. Most of my clients paid to have everything just how they liked it. Their bodies and their men. Leah had no idea how gorgeous she looked in the pulsing glow of that ridiculous dildo when she threw her head back, lipstick smeared all over her face from our kiss, and let herself become completely unglued.

I hated leaving her raw, quivering, and confused. But it was part of the game. I had to keep playing it or everyone would get hurt. Rules were in place for a reason, and I had to follow them before I could break them.

She’d call me for the reunion. I hoped. I actually wanted to see this guy who walked out on her. I was probably going to want to knock him to the ground, but instead I’d take great satisfaction in fucking the woman who should still be his wife. I smiled to myself as Miami came back into view, the bright colors popping against the sandy landscape. Leah would love it here.

Shit, I knew better than this. This woman had me thinking like a rookie.

**

“So did you bag the old broad?” My buddy Zach met me at the gym. “Or was she hot, like one of those senators’ mistresses who was bored and needed a spanking?”

This is why I didn’t tell anyone what I did for a living. They either said dumb shit like this or never talked to me again. The problem was they didn’t believe me when I said I supported myself with my photography. I wouldn’t believe it, either. Zach worked for the same agency I did, so there was no way out of talking shop.

“No, it was cool.” Two hundred and twenty-five pounds of weight hovering over my head disguised my grimace. “We had a good time.”

Zach hovered over me with his mouth open, spotting my lift. “Come on, you went all the way to Washington and you didn’t fuck her? She must be pissed, dude. I heard she’s Karina’s friend. Have you ever worked with her? She’s a legit freak. Maybe you can set up a threesome with her friend…”

The weights came down way too fast and I almost missed the holder. An inch away from splattering my brains on the floor. “No.” I sat up quickly and pulled my arm behind my back to stretch my bicep. I’d lifted more weight than usual today. I needed to feel something.

“Hello? I thought I was here with Jag.” Zach circled the bench to stand in front of me, laughing. “Since when do you say no to two chicks? And double the money. Have you lost your fucking mind?”

I wasn’t going to talk about this with Zach. He’d nail it for exactly what it was. Me thinking too much about a lonely single mom who’d taken an interest in my photography. One who looked like a fucking angel when her blonde curls crushed against her pillow, and the sweet little noises she made just before she came…“Probably.”

“Where are you going?” Zach called to me. I was headed back to the locker room. “We just got here. I need you to spot me.”

“Get someone else to do it.” I batted down the towel he threw at me. “I need to get some air.”

“You can’t let yourself get attached to them, Jag,” he said before I turned around. Yep, he nailed it. “You know better than that.”

**

The Florida sunshine kissed my skin when I pulled my motorcycle out of the gym parking lot. DC left me with a chill deep in my bones that had nothing to do with the weather. I needed to take a ride and get these thoughts out of my head. After a quick stop at my condo to pick up my camera, I headed up to Homestead for some urban exploration.

Urbex was the most fun I ever had with my clothes on. The ever-present danger of getting caught, the utter desperation of what was left behind, I couldn’t get enough of it. The best art was the stuff no one planned on, the things that just happened naturally. This was history you couldn’t find in books. These were our dirty little secrets.

Maybe that’s why I liked it so much. I had something in common with these crumbling buildings.

A wooden gate warned that I wasn’t welcome, but it was easy enough to maneuver my Harley around and continue down the lonely road to the Aerojet silo. This is where they used to test rockets for the moon. When was the last time anyone went to the moon? Another abandoned property.

I had to straddle the last gate and walk to the buildings. Today I was alone, but I wasn’t the first person to be here. Bright graffiti tattooed the corrugated walls inside the first building I went into. Someone had ripped the rusted door off the hinges and tossed it in the middle of the room. I tapped it with my boot, not at all surprised when it rocked under my weight. After a few test shots, I kept going back to that door. I lay on the floor to get the rust in the bottom of the shot. I only meant to capture a little bit of the spray paint, I was focused on the exposed gears. Satisfied I’d told the right story, I stood up and wiped the filth from the front of my clothes.

I wanted to find the rocket.

There were only a few openings that it was visible through. I hung over as much as I could, wanting to get it all. This fucker was built to be shot up to the moon. Fifty years later it still waited patiently for its chance, festering in the hot Florida sun. It deserved my full attention.

I sat on my bike looking through the shots before I headed off. I’d got a few more outside the property. The low afternoon light was perfect for shooting. I played with the shadows, with what was there and even more with what wasn’t.

I tried to tell myself I hadn’t thought about Leah the whole time I was there, but I chuckled as the silo got smaller in my rearview mirror. I was an idiot. She was the whole reason I came here. I’d been meaning to shoot this place again now that I got my new gear, but I’d been too lazy to come. No one cared about this stuff but me. It didn’t matter if I captured it or not. No one was going to see it.

My portfolio didn’t represent my best work. I wasn’t going to show Leah the shit I had in there now.

If
she hired me again. She might hate me after last night. I had no way to tell.

No matter what, I needed to get on my A-game.

Chapter Seven

Leah

“
I Have An Idea
,” I announced as soon as I came into the production meeting. I’d been at the office for a while already. This concept started swirling around my head well before my alarm went off, and I’d come in early to research it and see if we could actually pull it off. This was worth chasing. There was no reason why we couldn’t; I just had to get my team on board, which was going to be the hardest part. “What if we picked an abandoned property somewhere and rehabbed it? We could have viewers write in and bring one to our attention, or have them vote on it, so we could get them involved in the progress?”

Everyone around the table looked at one another. The problem with production was everyone was afraid to be the first with an opinion.

“I don’t know,” Diane, my executive producer finally said. “It’s so out of character of what you usually do. And we’ve already hashed out this season’s schedule. It’s not easy to coordinate the celebrities. We can’t reschedule them.”

“It could be next season.” I wasn’t willing to give up on this idea yet. Kari’s powers of persuasion had rubbed off on me. “Once we figure out how to introduce the segment, we could get the viewers involved in the selection process. And we can filter it into our next cycle, maybe get some of my clients to pitch in. Wouldn’t you want to know that a movie star painted your walls or installed the cabinets in the bathroom? It could be really cool, and a way to bring attention to all the buildings that are forgotten and left to rot.”

“You’ve given this a lot of thought.” Denise looked like she’d sucked on a lemon. It wasn’t much of a change from our past production meetings. “Where did you come up with this idea?”

I had given it a ton of thought because it kept my mind off of Jagger. I’d woken up thinking about him, knowing there was still so much more to discover. And I probably never would. Instead of remembering him with his head thrown back, eyes squeezed shut, working his own cock to climax, I had to funnel this craving for more into something I could actually have. He seduced me, but it had nothing to do with the lines he probably dragged out for every one of clients when he’d been so confident and relaxed, knowing just what to say. What really got me was when he leaned forward, the light shining in his eyes when he talked about his photography. There was a vulnerability there, and a sadness. His enthusiasm bubbled over, and that was the part of him that really turned me on.

So my pet project du jour didn’t exactly keep my mind off of him. Instead it gave me an outlet for all the emotions that were crashing against my insides. I’d opened my nightstand drawer this morning, looking down at the silly purple dick that I’d bought after drinking too much wine at someone’s toy party back in Scituate and laughed. All the dumb crap in my past had prepared me for my future.

“I talked about it with a friend, and then the idea stuck with me.” Or something like that. It was the closest to the truth Diane was ever going to get. “I think it’s time to give something back. The people who watch our segments can’t relate to what we do. They’ll never have the kind of budget to buy what we use on the show. If we can make something equally beautiful for a fraction of that, they’ll know they can do it, too.”

“They want the fantasy.” My mouth dropped at Diane’s words. So much for getting my mind off of Jagger. I never realized that I was providing the same experience as he was with a much different service. “For the time that you’re on, they can forget their shitty lives and daydream that it’s their house you’re decorating.”

“What if it was their house that we showed them how to decorate?” I tried to make eye contact with any of the team. I couldn’t tell whose side they were on. They typed on their laptops, afraid to look up. I needed to get one person to commit. Damn it. Diane and I were both executive producers, but she never wanted to take a chance on anything. “Everyone hires me for the retro look which you should be able to find in your grandma’s attic. But all the stuff we buy costs a fortune. This way they could come home to a little piece of luxury, something they created themselves, and enjoy it anytime. That’s what we need more of. Things that make us happy just because.”

One of the production assistants looked up and smiled. “See? Shannon agrees with me.” She nodded. “We’re getting people away from their shitty lives, but what if we made their lives less shitty?”

“It’s not a bad idea.” That was as close to an endorsement as I was going to get from Diane. “I’ll talk to the network and see what we can do.”

**

“All right, tell me everything.” Kari came straight to my house that night, still sweaty from spin class. Well, almost. She stopped to pick up Chinese on the way over. I’d been planning to cook, but like with her men, Kari was happy to order takeout.

“It was interesting.” My voice went up an octave as I dove into the brown paper bag. She always ordered the same thing. A pupu platter, sub gum fried rice, and moo goo gai pan, which I never touched after fourteen years of cooking chicken every frigging night for Rich. I side-eyed Raven, who was making her own dinner as we set up our spread. She wasn’t paying any attention to us. “I had a really good time.”

“What are you talking about?” I’d been wrong about Raven, who looked between Kari and me after she finished pouring milk in her bowl. It caused a nuclear reaction with the cereal and the milk turned pink on contact. I’d given up trying to cook for that kid. All she’d eat was cereal and pizza rolls.

I half choked, half gagged, between that repulsive cereal and having to cover my tracks. “Nothing.” I glared at Kari as she cackled. “Take some chicken fingers, at least. What are you going to do when you go to college?”

Raven reluctantly took some chicken. I wanted to do a touchdown dance, I’d actually convinced her to consume some protein. “The same thing I do now.” One more look to Kari, then back to me. “There were some weird noises coming from your room last night.”

A piece of fried shrimp lodged in my throat. Kari hooted, not noticing that I was having a near death experience. No. This was not how it ends. I coughed hard and took a couple deep breaths.

“Are you okay?” Raven asked.

“Yeah. Something went down the wrong way.” I coughed again. Kari covered her mouth with her hand, still laughing. “I watched a movie last night. That’s probably what you heard.”

Raven wrinkled her forehead in confusion. “I thought you went out to dinner with people from work last night.”

“I did. Then I watched a movie.” I sat down at the table and dug into my rice, doing my best to shrug things off. But I worked in reality TV and I was a terrible actress. “I’m sure it wasn’t any worse than your anime.”

Tentacle porn. I still couldn’t believe it.

“Whatever.” Raven picked up her bowl and headed upstairs to sequester herself in her room for the rest of the night.

“Love you, Raven,” Kari called after her.

“Love you, Auntie.” She echoed back from the stairs.

“Did you know there was such a thing as tentacle porn? And I’m going to put cyanide in your wine,” I hissed.

“What the hell are you talking about? On both counts.” Kari ripped into a piece of teriyaki.

“Tentacle porn. Never mind.” I shook my head. I was going to have to delete my browsing history as soon as I looked that little gem up. “Why did you say anything in front of Raven? I don’t want her to know about guys who aren’t sticking around. She’s going to start dating any minute and I don’t want to send the wrong message.”

“First of all, I didn’t say anything. I asked you to tell me everything. You were the one making enough noise to get her attention last night. I stand by my original statement. Spill it. Everything.”

I pushed the rice around on my plate. Now that I’d been out with Jagger, all the apprehension I had about our appointment was gone. But it didn’t mean I wanted to provide detailed color commentary. And I also knew that Kari wasn’t going to settle for a half-assed account of my evening, especially since she footed the bill. “I had a really good night. If you hadn’t booked for me, I probably never would’ve gone through with it. But I’m glad I did.”

“So what’s he like?” Kari leaned forward. “And don’t tell me he’s gorgeous because I already know that. I have a confession. I had you tailed.”

“What?” I shrieked. Weird noises were becoming a nightly thing around here.

“I knew you were going to The Eighty Seven. So I sent one of my interns.” She shrugged. “Twenty-two-year-olds will do anything for free drinks. Anyway, she made a point to go up and talk to him before you got there. She said he was very gracious, but made it clear he was waiting on someone. And I believe she described him as ‘sinfully beautiful’ with a swoon.”

“So we went to The Eighty Seven.” I laughed, biting my lip before I continued. “And we talked for a while. I told him why I’d called him, and he nailed it right away that I was trying to stick it to Rich. He warned me that it probably wasn’t going to work, but he’s in. And he’ll be perfect for my mission. We wound up talking about his photography. He’s into urban exploration…”

“The only exploration I care to hear about is in your pants.” Kari cut me off with a laugh. “So did you fuck him or not?”

I deflated. I’d wanted to brag about the fact it sounded like he was an amazing photographer and that he checked out all these cool abandoned properties, but it wasn’t worth it. “Not exactly.”

“I don’t understand what that means. You either did or you didn’t.” Kari polished off her wine. “Do you know how much I paid for this? The least you could do was get laid on my behalf.”

“I’m sorry to be so selfish.” I shook my head as she laughed. I took a bite of my teriyaki. “We did other things. Just not that.”

Her forehead wrinkled. “Like what?” I played with the bare stick with my tongue as I watched last night replay in my mind, the line of Jagger’s muscles as they tensed before he came, watching him clean himself up. With my panties!
Who was I?
I had to choose my words carefully. Kari would take any hole in my story as an opportunity to dig deeper. “Whatever it was, it had to be good. I haven’t seen you look like this in years.”

“How do I look?”

“Content.” The word surprised us both as she said it. “Yeah, that’s it. I’m telling you, Lee. Don’t romanticize this. Take it at face value. I don’t want you to hate this feeling somewhere down the line.”

“I’m not. But I’m not going to lie to you and say I didn’t feel anything. I liked him. More than I expected to. I know you want me to get in and get out. Rub some sanitizer on my hands and forget the whole thing when it’s over. But I can’t do that. You knew that going into this. I’m not built like you.”

“Good thing.” Kari grinned. “Because I’d probably think you were a heartless bitch.”

“Right?” I laughed. “I don’t think that this is going to go anywhere, besides the reunion. I’ll just think of him as the one that got away. I need one of those under my belt.”

“You’re probably right.” Kari sighed. “So stop skirting around it. What the hell did you two do?”

I took a deep breath and a quick look toward the stairs to make sure there was no sign of Raven. “We…he had me get myself off. With my vibrator. And he watched.”

Kari’s mouth parted slightly, and for once she had nothing to say. “Did he do anything?” Her voice was husky.

“He did the same thing to himself.” I gulped. The image was back in my mind, the heavy-lidded look on his face, his huge cock in his hand. I held in my groan. My body was going absolutely haywire and he wasn’t even in the state anymore.

Kari was far away, biting her lip. “That’s actually pretty hot.”

“It was.” Content was right. Now that she put a word to it, I could add another. Free. No shame, and no apologies. Just like Jagger asked. “I think you got your money’s worth.”

“So he’s coming to the reunion?” Kari straightened up, emptying the wine bottle in her glass. I nodded. “You’re sure about this?”

“Yeah.” I leaned over and picked up her empty plate to bring it to the sink. “I’m going to call and make the arrangements in the morning.”