Escorting the Billionaire by Leigh James
James
“What’s wrong?” I could tell that the phone call had made her upset.
“Nothing,” she said and shrugged. “Work stuff.”
I just looked at her for a beat. “I can tell you’re upset,” I said. “You can talk to me about it, you know.”
She nodded at me. “I know. Maybe after this.” She waved toward the museum entrance.
“Okay. If you’re sure.” I didn’t want to push her. She would tell me when she was ready, I hoped. I grabbed her hand and led her inside.
The Gardner Museum was gorgeous. It had an inner courtyard that looked like an English garden. I’d always loved it. As children, the Guatemalan nannies had been under strict orders to bring Todd and me here on a regular basis. We used to go back and forth between the Gardner and the Museum of Fine Arts, located a few blocks away. My mother thought it was important that we were cultured. So she left the instructions and went to lunch with her lady friends, and one nanny after another cultured us.
We went out to the middle of the courtyard, the ceiling soaring high above us. I saw Evie and her cousins all in fancy beaded dresses, sitting in an arrangement and having their hair and makeup fussed with. My family also was nearby, as was the camera crew and all their equipment.
I ignored everyone but Audrey. I watched her take in the glory of the space. “Oh. Wow,” she said, looking dazzled. “I’ve never been here before.”
“It’s perfect,” I said, and I didn’t mean the garden. I squeezed her hands and drank her in. She was so beautiful, it was as if it cut me.
“I love it here,” she said, still looking around, dazzled. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“We should come back here sometime,” I said. I drew her to me and kissed the top of her head. She didn’t say anything, but she hugged me, hard.
Todd came over, a hesitant smile on his face. “Hey, guys. I hate to interrupt.”
“So don’t,” I said, not letting go of Audrey.
Todd’s eyes widened a little, but he knew better than to say anything. He looked at me for a beat, studying my face, the way I was holding her.
I pulled back from her and gave him a wary smile. I needed to deflect attention from us. “Are they ready for me?” I asked, motioning to the camera crew.
“For both of you,” Todd said. He rubbed Audrey’s arm in greeting and beamed at her. “We want you both in the pictures.”
Audrey smoothed her dress and looked at me nervously. “I don’t need to be included, Todd. That’s really nice of you, though.”
“Nonsense. I insist. I want to remember everything about this time in my life, including you,” he said, holding out his arm for her.
“Okay,” Audrey said hesitantly. She smiled at him. Clearly, Todd had gotten the lion’s share of our family’s limited charm genes.
Pleased, I squeezed her hand in reassurance. We went over to my parents. Celia was watching us as closely as ever.
“Hello, Mother,” I said.
“Hello, James,” she said formally, mocking me. She turned to Audrey, inspecting her from head to toe. “And how are you this evening, dear? You’re looking very… satisfied.”
My mother was an astute observer. Plus, she’d been next to us at dinner last night. Looking at Audrey right now, I could see what my mother must have seen: Audrey’s skin was positively glowing, as if her every cell was lit up.
Audrey smiled at her without missing a beat. “I am very satisfied,” she said kindly and without irony. “Your son has been showing me a wonderful time.”
“I’m so sure,” Celia said, and she did not look pleased.
“Okay everyone, it’s time,” Todd called, breaking up the conversation and saving us. “We’re going to start with our family on one side of the fountain, Evie’s family on the other.” He grabbed Audrey’s arm and steered her toward the photographers, chatting happily.
My mother watched him, the look on her face shifting quickly from surprise to utter indignation. “These are family photographs. Where is she going?”
I gave her a savage smile and grabbed her arm, following after them.
“With the rest of us, mother,” I said loud enough for Audrey to hear. “My girlfriend is going to be in these pictures.” I unceremoniously dropped my mother in front. Todd winked at me as I went toward the back and grabbed a stunned Audrey’s hand.
I held it for every photograph they took.
“Well, that was… interesting,” Audrey said when we were back in the car. “I thought your mother was rooting for me for at least the rest of the wedding celebration, but now I’m pretty sure I’m on her radar. Her bad radar.”
“Oh, well.” I shrugged, not giving a fuck about my mother or her radar for the moment.
“And you didn’t have to say I was your girlfriend,” she said. I watched as a hot blush crept up her neck.
I played with her hair, brushing it off her face. “Yes, I did.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Audrey.” I waited until she turned to look at me. “Not only am I paying you to act like my girlfriend, I wanted to say it. So let’s leave it at that, okay?”
“Okay,” she mumbled and looked out the window.
“Are you going to tell me about before? What that phone call was about?”
She sighed. “Honestly, you don’t want to know.”
“I can’t help you if I don’t know what the problem is.”
“That’s okay—it’s not your problem. It’s mine, and I’ll deal with it.” She took out her phone and looked at it. “I have a voicemail,” she said miserably. “I have to listen to it.” She was quiet for a minute, her brow furrowed. When she hung up the phone, she looked pale.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Do you think Kai can take me somewhere after this? I have to deal with something,” she said in a small voice.
“Of course,” I said. “I’m coming, too.”
She looked at me, her face reddening some more. “No, James. Please. You’ve seen enough. Let me handle this by myself.”
“Is it a guy?” I asked. I was suddenly, unmercifully angry.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I wish.”
“Then what?” I was surprised by the frustration in my own voice. I wanted her to stop being so stubborn, to stop holding back from me.
Audrey sighed. “It’s my mother, James. She’s just causing trouble. I need to go see her tonight.”
I was relieved it wasn’t a guy, some boyfriend I didn’t know about. I was also relieved that she’d told me. My anger eased back a bit. “Fine,” I said. “But I’m coming, too.”
For some inexplicable reason, Cole was at the bar waiting for us, looking like the cat who’d just swallowed the canary. “I didn’t invite you here,” I said, clapping him on the back. “But it’s nice to see you anyway.”
“Todd texted me,” Cole said. “He wants me to come to everything I can. He said he wants to make you happy.”
“Aw, that’s sweet,” I said. I inspected him further. “You’re looking smugger than usual,” I said, making sure that Audrey was tucked safely behind me. “Why’s that?”
Cole beamed at me. “That’s why.” Cole pointed to a woman hustling into the room. She was walking fast and applying lip gloss, her curls bouncing and her voluptuous chest jiggling as she went.
It was Jenny.
“Ho my frickin’ God!” Jenny shouted when she saw Audrey. She practically bowled me out of the way to get to her.
“Yay!” she yelled, grabbing Audrey into a hug and jumping up and down. “You got me my own billionaire! I’m so freaking excited!”
“Oh, Jesus.” I said to Cole. “You didn’t.”
“Yes, I did. Ho my frickin’ God, I did,” he said. He looked very pleased with himself. “I’m gonna marry this girl. She’s got a mouth like a—”
“Cole,” I said, cutting him off. “My mother is ten feet away from us. Please.”
“I don’t have to finish the sentence, anyway,” Cole said. He was watching Jenny. “You know what I mean.”
I sighed. “I can guess.” We stood and watched the girls talking excitedly to each other.
“You’re the one who told me to call her,” Cole reminded me.
“I didn’t mean for you to bring an escort to my brother’s wedding functions,” I said.
He raised an eyebrow at me. “You should talk, bro.”
I glared at him, but I didn’t mean it. “Buy me a free drink. I need one.” He motioned for the bartender. “I’m happy you’re here and that Jenny’s working out for you. But I need to protect Audrey. No one but you knows the truth. It has to stay that way.” Cole slid a martini in front of me, and I ordered some wine for Audrey.
“Of course. I promise I won’t say anything about either of them,” he said. “I wouldn’t do that to you—you know that. But I have to say, for the hired help, you’re being very protective of her.”
“She needs my protection,” I said darkly. I took a sip of my drink, and the vodka warmed me instantly. “She’s a sweet girl. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it’s true.”
“It doesn’t sound ridiculous. But what are you going to do after this is all over?”
I shrugged. “Probably nothing.”
“That sounds ridiculous,” Cole said. “And I’m only saying that because you’re my best friend.”
“Sometimes I think I need to protect her from myself,” I said lowly.
Cole looked as if he was going to say something admonishing, but Jenny and Audrey came to the bar then, still happily chatting. I put my arm around Audrey and pulled her to me, kissing the top of her head. The two minutes we’d been apart were too long. Cole looked at me, reading me like a book, and just shook his head in mock disgust.
“I didn’t know you owned part of the Rhode Island Thunder, Cole. Jenny just told me. That’s so cool,” Audrey said.
The Thunder was the NHL farm team that Cole was currently obsessed with. “We have box seats tonight,” Jenny squealed. Cole put his arm around her and squeezed her against him.
“We can have box seats whenever you want, Princess,” he said and kissed her on the nose. Jenny smiled at Cole happily, and he beamed down at her. I didn’t know how sophisticated Jenny was, or how well she could read people. But I hoped she knew that Cole was a player, through and through. He would be happy to play with her and spoil her for a while, but he was not a one-woman man. Never had been.
Jenny snuggled up against Cole, and Audrey watched her friend carefully. “Jenny, come to the bathroom with me,” she said after a while, grabbing her by the hand. She flashed a dimpled smile at us. “We’ll be back in a few, guys.”
“What’s that all about?” Cole asked, watching Audrey drag Jenny away from him.
“I think Jenny’s going to get a talking to,” I said.
“About what?”
“Not getting her hopes up about the billionaire with the box seats,” I said.
“Huh,” Cole said, watching them retreat.
