Escorting the Billionaire by Leigh James
James
“I’m sortof surprised you’re calling me, James, after your little hissy fit earlier,” Cole was saying. I could hear people laughing in the background. Cole was probably still at the party, or at some other party, picking out a woman to go home with.
“I just dropped Audrey off. She was upset,” I said.
“Because I asked her to come home with me and I offered to pay her? She is a hooker, right? Because I really wasn’t trying to offend her,” Cole said.
He was an asshole, but he was also my best friend. On top of that, Cole was brutally honest. He wouldn’t steal a date from me, not a real date I’d gotten to first. But someone who was for hire, who I wasn’t planning on fucking because I wanted to keep my boundaries intact?
He’d do it just so he could tell me everything I was missing.
“I’m not sure why she’s upset. Maybe because I told you she was an escort,” I mumbled.
“Well, she’s right about that,” Cole said loftily. “You probably shouldn’t have said anything. She was pretending to be your girlfriend and doing a pretty good job of it. You threw her under the bus with that one.”
“Thanks a lot,” I mumbled.
“So she’s gone? Did you fire her? Or did she quit?” Cole asked.
“Neither,” I said.
“So why’d she go home? I thought she was with you for the next two weeks?”
I didn’t say anything for a moment. “I think she just needed to be alone.”
“You mean she quit,” he insisted.
I furrowed my brow. “Is that what it means?” I felt like a confused, hormonal teenager. I’d been horrible when I dropped her off, not saying a word about when I would call her. I thought she wanted to be away from me.
On top of that, I was upset for some damn reason. Upset that she was leaving, upset that I was going back to my apartment alone and that I was clearly no longer in control—if I had ever been in control since I’d picked her up this afternoon.
“Sounds like she quit to me,” Cole said. He waited a beat. “So if you two are done…can I have her number? There’s not a lot of action out here tonight.”
My jaw clenched again. “No, you cannot have her number,” I said hotly. “I’ll text you her service’s number—there’s a girl there you might like. Jenny. She’s Audrey’s friend. Go get an escort of your own.” Leave mine alone, I thought.
“I know you like this girl,” Cole said. It sounded as though he was yawning. “You can try to hide it, but you suck at it.”
“Thanks,” I said tersely.
“You might want to call her,” he said. “If I want her number, other guys do, too.”
“Talk to you later,” I said.
“If you’re lucky,” Cole said and hung up.
I opened up Audrey’s contact information and stared at it for a minute. Then I took a deep breath and stared at it for a while longer.
“Mr. Preston?” Kai asked. We were still idling at the curb near her house.
“Just put it in park,” I snapped.
One hour later, I dialed.
She answered after the first ring.
“Audrey?”
“James?”
“I’m sorry to bother you. Are you still up?”
“I just answered my phone. What do you think?” she asked.
I sighed. “Would you consider coming back to the apartment with me tonight? My mother just called,” I lied. “We have an early breakfast.”
“Oh,” she said. “Sure.” She waited a beat. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”
She was going to make me work for this, I could tell. “Of course that’s what I want.”
“Okay,” she said. She sounded cautiously optimistic. “I’ll just call a cab. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“No need,” I said smoothly. “I’m still parked on your street.”
She was quiet for a second. “Then I’ll be right down,” she said.
Five minutes later she slid into the car next to me. She was wearing fuzzy boots, pink sweatpants, and a T-shirt.
“I was in my pajamas,” she said apologetically.
“It’s okay. I want you to be comfortable,” I said.
She looked at me with raised eyebrows and said nothing.
We drove to the Stratum in silence. I couldn’t tell if it was awkward silence or not, but I felt relieved that she was back with me, which was stupid.
Kai let us out, and we went through the opulent lobby together in silence. She shuffled across the marble floor in her fuzzy boots, not looking at me. I hit the elevator button, and we rode to the top floor. I noticed, against my will, that she looked very cute in her pajamas.
I inwardly groaned. Between the Bambi eyes and the use of the word cute, I needed to slap myself, hard.
I unlocked the door, relieved to be back home. I just wished it was Los Angeles, far away from my past. Audrey went over to the window and looked out at the city spread out and glittering beneath us.
“It’s so beautiful from up here,” she said, and she sounded very young to me. She was young. Too young to be living such a harsh life.
I wished I could explain myself to her. I sighed and sat down on the couch, finally loosening my tie. “Audrey, I’m really sorry about before,” I said.
“Which thing?” she asked.
“All of it, actually,” I said. “I’m sorry I told Cole about us. He’s the one person I’m usually honest with. And I’m sorry I just left you on the sidewalk like that.”
She said nothing, still staring out at the lights.
I sighed again. “I’m not good with people,” I said. “I’m more of an analysis guy.”
“You’re fine with people,” she said immediately. “You just don’t like them very much.”
“I’m not used to liking people,” I corrected her.
She gave me a searching look. “Is that because of your family? Because I know you don’t like them.”
“I have issues with my parents, like I told you…” I said, my voice trailing off. The headache was coming back. “It’s about some stuff that happened a long time ago. Some of that is what makes it difficult for me to trust people.”
I had what I loved taken from me, and I could never let that happen again.
But I couldn’t say that. I could barely stand to think it.
“That and my, uh, present circumstances,” I said instead.
“You mean your money,” she said.
“That’s right. It’s hard to tell if people are being genuine with me. It doesn’t happen often. So when you turned out to be a nice girl, it was just hard for me to believe it,” I said.
Audrey snorted in exasperation. “I’m a fucking escort, James,” she said, her hands on her hips. “I’m anything but a nice girl.”
“But you are,” I said. “You are a nice girl, Audrey.”
“Where do we go from here, James?” she asked, her face a businesslike mask. “I need this assignment. I need it to go smoothly. Just tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it. Even if that means fucking your best friend.” She shrugged. “I am a hooker, after all. It’s not like I have a real right to be offended.”
“Yes, you did. Cole was being a complete prick, and so was I. I talked to him again, and I told him to stay the hell away from you.” I paused for a beat, willing my hotness to subside. “I also suggested he call Elena and ask for Jenny,” I said, almost apologetically. “I hope that’s okay.”
Audrey’s face perked up. “Jenny would love him,” she said. “That was actually really nice of you.”
I smiled, pleased that I’d done at least one thing right since I’d met her.
“So…where do we go from here?” I asked, echoing her question. “I want you to stay. I want you to stay with me, and I don’t want you to fuck my best friend, and I don’t want you to say mean things about yourself, and I don’t want to hurt you.” The words just tumbled out. Perhaps I’d had one too many bourbons.
To her credit, Audrey said nothing, her face an impenetrable mask.
“Just stay. Let’s stick with the agreement.” I stood up abruptly, lest I started trying to take her to bed.
“We have a brunch tomorrow and then a bunch of other crap events for the rest of the week. Let’s just make it to the wedding. Together.”
“Okay,” she said. If she was disappointed by something I said, she did not let on.
“It was better tonight with you there,” I said, heading off to my room. “It was almost bearable.”
“Almost,” I heard her say before I closed my door.
