Unspeakable Truths (35 page)

To the bloggers who for the past year and a half have helped me to get my name out there and my books seen. There’s no way I could have come this far without your help. THANK YOU!!!

To my beta readers, Stephanie Locke, Anji Albis, Kristy Garbutt, and Mindy Guerreiros. You make the writing process manageable for me with all of your honesty, comments and suggestions. Thank you so much for taking the time to help me make my books even better.

Stephanie Locke, I can’t believe we did it again! Thank you for a friendship that started over a shared love for books but goes way beyond that now. Even though you like to take credit for all the awesome reads I find and you finished UT late… I hope you know how much you mean to me, you are the most supportive person I know and you get me in a way that not many people do.

Whitney Williams, OMG what a roller coaster ride we’ve been on over the last year. I’m so glad to have you in my corner through the highs and the lows. Your advice is invaluable and your friendship means the world to me. It’s come to the point where I don’t know what I’d do without our daily conversations. You make me laugh like no other, frustrate me like no other but NO ONE appreciates my dark side quite like you do. You’re getting everything that I wanted for you from the first day I messaged you about Mid Life Love. I’m so proud of all your accomplishments and I’m glad I get to witness it. STAN forever!

Wendy Ferraro, my very first author friend… You are always there to lend an ear and a helping hand. Your friendship means the world to me and I always look forward to our fun times together!

Mary Wasowski, your positive energy, light, and laughter are infectious. Thank you for the chats and encouragement and congrats on all you’ve accomplished.

C.P. Smith, thanks for your help on this project and for helping me brainstorm when the writers block kicked in, you have no idea how much that helped me!

Tamisha Draper, Your help on this project has been a life saver. I can never thank you enough for all that you did to help me get this book out there. You literally took the reigns and ran with it. Thank you for your honesty and your amazing ideas.

Turn the page for a sneak peek of

Sins & Mistrust

By

Isabel Lucero

Excerpt from Sins & Mistrust by Isabel Lucero

Chapter One

Marc

“So, what are we getting into tonight?” I ask Nathalia.

Nathalia is a beautiful new client that got in touch with me a week ago to discuss hiring me regularly. She’s a busy woman who is in the process of becoming the Vice President of marketing for one of her father’s hotels. Apparently he has a franchise, and she’s been learning the ropes of running a hotel her whole life. With sitting in on board meetings, and doing what her father needs her to, she says she doesn’t have time to date.

“Promise you won’t run scared?” she says with a wicked smile as she looks at me over her shoulder.

“I don’t scare easily,” I reply with a grin.

“We’ll see,” she states.

She turns back around and fixes her hair while looking into a large mirror on her wall. Her shiny black hair falls to the middle of her back. Nathalia is wearing a very form-fitting, black dress that dips low enough in the front to showcase her perfect breasts without showing too much.

“I wonder,” she ponders, looking at me curiously.

“Are you going to fill me in on what you wonder about?” I ask with a smile.

She walks over to the couch and begins putting on her heels. My eyes move from her dainty feet, all the way up her tanned and toned legs until her dress keeps from seeing anything else.

“I hope to find out the answer myself tonight. I’ll let you know when you bring me home,” she finishes with a mischievous smile.

After she fastens the black strap around her ankle, she walks to me and slides her hand through the crook of my arm, and we leave the hotel room she’s staying in.

“So, is this home to you?” I ask.

“Yes. I could get my own place, but I spend so much time here, that I might as well live here. Papa can never say I’m late to work,” she says with a smile.

“Are you and your dad close?” I ask.

“Very. He hops around to some of the other hotels quite a bit, but I stay here. The only other one I frequent is the one in California.”

I nod and decide that’s enough personal questions for tonight. When we get to the lobby of the hotel, she waves to a man that’s standing behind a desk near the entrance.

“Ms. LaBelle,” the man greets with a smile.

“Hello, James,” she responds.

“Sir,” he adds, nodding to me.

“Good evening.”

We walk out and straight into the car that’s waiting for us. Nathalia requested that neither of us drive so that we both could enjoy our evening with drinks.

“So, Marc, tell me something about you. Like we’ve discussed, I plan on hiring you quite often, and I’m not naïve enough to think I’m your only client, but do you have a regular girlfriend?”

“No, no girlfriend,” I answer with a smile.

“Really? But you’re so handsome,” she says, putting her hand on my leg.

“Well, thank you. But no, there aren’t many people out there who are okay with what I do.”

“Ah, yes. I understand,” she says with a nod of her head. “But it is your life, no? You do what makes you happy. Does this job make you happy?”

I hesitate for just a second, but I guess I wasn’t quick enough for Nathalia.

“You are not happy,” she states without a hint of question.

“Sure I am. This job has made me happy for a long time.”

“But not any longer. It’s okay, I understand.”

I ponder how she thinks she understands, when I’m not even sure I do, but I leave it alone.

“So, do I get any clues about this mystery place you are taking me to?”

“What fun would that be?” she says with a soft laugh.

“Such a tease.”

“Mmm. Just you wait,” she replies with a wink.

When we arrive at this mystery club, the car drops us off directly in front of the building. As I step outside and hold out my hand for Nathalia, I take a moment to gaze around the area. It’s a fairly busy area with lots of foot traffic, but they don’t seem to be going to the club we’ve stopped in front of. Everybody is making their way down the street to the other clubs or restaurants.

As I inspect the place we’re soon going to be entering, I understand why nobody is interested. There’s no sign, nothing to let you know what it is or that it’s even open for business. It’s quite dull looking, actually.

“Is this the place?” I ask, pointing at the building.

She straightens out her dress after closing the door behind her and glances at the darkened club. “Yes, this is it,” she says with a laugh. “I promise there’s more to it than you think.”

Nathalia walks toward the building and I fall in step next to her. She raps on the door with three hard, quick knocks, and almost instantly it’s opened by a large man in a black shirt and black jeans. The scowl on his face quickly morphs into a look of recognition when he sees Nathalia.

She smiles at him and he nods his head in response before we walk in. The hall is fairly dark, and another large man stands in the way with a clipboard in his hands.

“Ms. LaBelle,” he says.

“Hello, Smith,” she chirps.

Smith eyes me speculatively momentarily.

“He’s fine,” Nathalia says and Smith moves to the side and allows us in.

“Secretive place,” I state.

She shrugs one shoulder in response as we walk down the narrow hall. Once we get to the end of the hall and step into the large room, I think my jaw drops slightly.

Nathalia turns to look at me with a sneaky smile on her face. “Scared yet?”

I take my time to absorb everything that’s going on in the room in front of us. Directly to my right, leaned up against the wall is a couple. While this is pretty normal, what’s not, is that the woman’s dress is pushed up around her waist and the man has his fingers in her pussy.

Moving my gaze to the left, I see a wall of mirrors, and what grabs my attention right away are the three people standing in front of them. Well, the man is standing behind a woman who has her hands resting on the mirror. She’s bent over, her dress pushed up as well, with the man fucking her from behind while she watches in the reflection. Another woman is leaned up against the mirror and has her hand down her pants as she watches.

Not everybody is half naked or having sex, but they definitely don’t seem surprised or bothered by the happenings around them.

Finally returning my gaze back to Nathalia, I smile and respond. “I’m an escort. I’ve done or seen these kinds of things plenty of times,” I say with a smirk.

She playfully rolls her eyes. “Oh, Mr. Experienced over here.”

“You have no idea,” I reply with a wink.

“Well, come on, Mr. Experience. Let’s get a drink.”

After we walk clear across the room, maneuvering through plenty of people who seem to be checking both of us out, we approach the bar and place our order.

“So, you come here pretty often, don’t you?” I ask.

“Not too often,” she answers as she reaches for her drink.

I place a twenty on the bar and grab my glass. “Do you always bring a date with you?”

She places the straw between her lips and peers up at me with large green eyes. “I’ve brought someone here once before. The other times I’ve been here, I’ve come alone.”

“Do you, uh, participate?”

Nathalia lets out a small laugh. “Participate? You mean, have sex out here for people to see? No, I haven’t done that. However, if you’re interested, there are more private areas,” she says mischievously.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I answer with a grin.

As we stand near the bar, talking and enjoying our drinks, I notice a man walk out and head over to the people who are having sex by the mirrors. He leans in and says something to the man, and soon after, the man straightens up and pulls his pants back up. He gets the women who are there with him and starts walking towards the back of the room. The man who spoke to him pats him on the back and walks away.

“What’s that about?” I ask, noticing Nathalia was watching the same thing I was.

“Oh, he likes to keep the sex to the other rooms. While people always do the touchy, feely stuff, he doesn’t really like the all-out sex to be out in the open.”

“And who is he?” I ask as I watch the man in the black suit scope out the rest of the room.

“Oh. The owner. Lincoln Cash.”

I take a gulp of my drink and watch as his eyes fall on us. He does a double take and suddenly starts making his way towards the bar. I take a glance at Nathalia who is smiling in his direction.

“Thalia, how are you?” he asks in a deep, charming voice. His smile stretches across his face as he takes her in his arms.

I take another gulp.

“I’m great, Lincoln. How are you?”

“You know me,” he says with a smirk. “You look beautiful tonight.”

She throws him a radiant smile. “Thank you.”

He turns and looks me over before asking, “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Marc,” she answers, gesturing towards me with her palm up. “Marc, this is Lincoln.”

Lincoln extends his hand and I take it in my own. “Nice to meet you,” I say.

“Mm. Likewise,” he responds, and I’m not sure if he has a slight attitude or not.

We drop hands and I straighten up, finish my drink, and place it on the bar. There’s a bit of an awkward silence between us three, and I can’t help but wonder if they’ve had a relationship before.

“Well, I suppose I’ll leave you two alone. I hope you both enjoy your evening. Will you be staying a while?” he asks, paying more attention to Nathalia.

“We just arrived, so I’m sure we’ll hang out for a little longer.”

“Good, good,” he says, nodding his head. He takes another glance at me, and I hate that I can’t read his demeanor. “Well, I hope to chat with you again soon, Thalia,” he says, pulling her in and kissing both her cheeks.

He leans into her and seems to whisper something in her ear. When they part, Nathalia gives him a tiny nod with a hint of a smile. They communicate something in that moment, but I have no idea what.

“I’m sure you will,” she replies with a smirk.

“It was very nice meeting you, Marc,” he says, and this time he seems genuine.

I smile and return his handshake. “You too.”

When he walks away, I turn and face Nathalia. Her eyes look at me but she doesn’t move her head in my direction. She takes a sip from her straw, and then turns away from me to put it on the bar.

“Ex-boyfriend? Lover?” I ask.

It’s then that she looks at me, expressionless. A moment later a smile appears on her lips.