Escorting the Billionaire by Leigh James
Audrey
Kai studiously avoided lookingat me as James led me to the car. I sank down into the back of the Mercedes SUV, defeated and resigned. I’d hurt James, and now James was hurting me.
He would no longer be needing the full range of my services.It was like a slap across the face. I should tell him he’d finally figured out the way to execute a bitch-slap, but that would require speaking to him.
I sighed and looked out the window.
“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Besides the fact that you’re back in this car with me?”
“You’re kind of being mean,” I said. “I’m just pointing that out to you.”
He said nothing. He just looked out the other window, away from me.
His words and his dark look hurt. But maybe that was a good thing. Maybe I could distance myself from him, and this would all work out for the best for the both of us.
Maybe.
Back at his place, I showered, changed, and made sure I had everything I needed.
“We’re all packed—everything’s ready to go. Do you have your passport?” James asked.
I nodded. I took a long last look around his apartment, mentally saying goodbye to it. When we got back from our trip, I would be going home.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I mumbled, shrugging. “This is the last time I’m going to be here, is all. I just want to remember it.”
James closed his eyes as if he were trying to ward off a headache.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’ll just stop talking.”
“I’m the one who’s sorry,” he said, opening his eyes and coming to me. He grabbed my hands, and I looked at him, a mixture of hope and fear coursing within me. “About last night. I didn’t get a chance to tell you—”
“S’okay,” I said, abruptly pulling back from him and cutting him off again. “Don’t even worry about it.”
His steel-blue eyes flashed with what looked like hurt for a second, but then he put his billionaire all-business face back on. It was like I could see him closing himself off from me. He straightened himself up to his formidable height, his enormous biceps accentuated by the snug fit of his T-shirt. “Let’s just go, Audrey. We’ve got a plane to catch.”
Jamesand I were silent on the way to Logan and as we went through security. Being next to him and not holding his hand was awkward; the absence of his touch was palpable.
Celia and Robert Preston were in the waiting area, as were Todd and Evie, Jenny and Cole, Evie’s cousins and their husbands, and a crowd of other people who I’d glimpsed at the ceremony last night.
Celia rose up as soon as she saw me. “Audrey, dear, we were worried you weren’t going to make it. What happened to you last night?” she asked. “I would have asked my son at the reception, but he avoided me like the plague, as usual.”
I felt James stiffen next to me. “I wasn’t feeling well, Mrs. Preston. I’m so sorry I had to leave—I missed everything. James said it was extraordinary.” I fake-smiled at Mrs. Preston and decided then and there that I needed to throw everything I had at her this week: James had protected me from my mother, and I needed to protect him from his.
“You’re better this morning?” She looked at us shrewdly, probably noticing that we weren’t holding hands for the first time ever.
I reached over and grabbed James’s hand, squeezing it. “I’m much better, thank you. I’m really looking forward to this trip.”
She smiled at me tightly and went to sit back down. But then stopped herself. “Oh, I meant to ask you—who was that strange woman you were talking to yesterday at the church? She caused quite a stir in the back, I understand.”
The fake smile was still plastered to my face. I hung onto it and James’s hand for dear life. “She was just some woman who wandered in off the street—I didn’t want her interrupting the ceremony. So I helped her out.”
Celia Preston managed to raise one eyebrow slightly, and her gaze shifted to her son. “And you left your brother’s wedding to go help Audrey with this random stranger?”
James shrugged. “I wanted to make sure Audrey didn’t need me. Turns out she didn’t. She handled it all on her own.”
“How impressive. You almost make it sound as if Audrey’s an actual adult.” Celia chuckled meanly and sat back down.
That’s when they called the flight; I exhaled in relief. “Saved by the bell,” James muttered under his breath. Then: “I really hope there’s a fully stocked bar on board.”
The private planewas impressively luxurious, of course. The chairs were wide and comfortable-looking, with plenty of space to spread out. James quickly said hello to Todd and Evie, and I hugged them both in congratulations. Then he dragged me all the way toward the back of the plane, far away from his parents.
At least we were still holding hands.
Jenny and Cole flopped down across the aisle from us. Cole was wearing enormous sunglasses on top of his head and a polo shirt, his black hair artfully wild and spiky. Jenny was wearing a fedora, a black jumpsuit, and a frown—directed at me.
“Where’d you run off to last night?” she asked. “We had to watch James drown his sorrows in about ten bourbons.”
“I had a thing,” I said, still forcing a smile on my face.
She frowned at me some more then turned to James. “Hey, James. Wanna switch seats for a minute?” He nodded, probably relieved to break our stony silence. Jenny turned to me as the flight attendant went through the safety presentation. “What’s the matter with you two?” she whispered.
I leaned over to check that James and Cole couldn’t hear us; they were deep in conversation. “A lot,” I admitted. “I’m thinking I just need to be his escort. No more feelings. It’s too messy. There’s too much at stake.” Including my sanity, I thought. Not to mention my heart.
And, most importantly, James’s whole future.
She raised her eyebrows at me from under her fedora. “He was a mess last night at the reception, Dre. Seriously. He was miserable without you. And he still looks like that today—like he has an emotional hangover. You need to make that right.”
I picked at some imaginary lint on my skirt. “I don’t know if I can do that, Jenny.”
“Dre.” Jenny waited until I looked up and met her eyes. “Don’t you try to fool me. I know you have bona fide feelings for that man.”
I looked at her defiantly. “I thought you said thoughts and feelings were invisible, Jenny. No one’s supposed to be able to see them.”
“They’re not invisible when they’re written all over your face,” she snapped.
We just looked at each other for a beat.
“I’m trying to do the right thing,” I said. “For both James and me.”
“Did you talk to him about how you’re feeling? Did he tell you what he wants?” she asked.
I shook my head no. “He tried to. But honestly, I don’t want to know. Because no matter what he says, I know I’m not the best thing for him.”
Jenny squeezed my arm. “You’re such a good person—one of the best people I know. When’re you going to give yourself a chance?”
“A chance for what?” I asked miserably.
“To be happy,” Jenny said.
“I am happy. At least I know what it feels like now,” I mumbled.
She frowned at me again. “If you love him—and I’m guessing that’s what you mean—you’ve got to give him a chance,” she said.
“I can’t, Jenny.” I felt as if I might cry. “I’m just trying to keep this from going from bad to worse. Bad is where I’m at. I love him, and he’s totally out of my league. His mother hates me, and she’ll never accept me into their family. My mother’s already tried to blackmail him. That’s why she came to the wedding. It’s not like we’re ever going to be one big, happy family.”
I took a deep breath. “And it could get so much worse—that’s why I don’t even want to know how he feels. What if he loves me back, huh? It’ll never work out and that would break my heart. Or what if he doesn’t love me back? Then that wouldbreak my fucking heart. You get it?”
“I get it.” Jenny sighed. “But you gotta stop this overthinking. And you gotta let him have a say. Otherwise you’ll never find out.”
“Find out what?” I asked.
“Who he is, Dre.” Jenny looked like she pitied me a little. “If you don’t let him tell you how he feels about you, you’ll never get a chance to know. And that might seem safe and perfect, in that little airtight container that you’re trying to create for yourself, but it’s not right.
“I know you: you want everything in order. You want to take care of Tommy and keep your Mom out of trouble and keep James up on a pedestal. But that little airtight container’s not big enough for you, girl. It’s not big enough for you to have a life.”
“Huh,” I said. I picked some more imaginary lint off my skirt. Jenny knew me better than I wished she did. “Have I told you lately that you’re smart?”
“You have,” she said and smiled. “So if you think I’m so smart, you listen to what I’m saying. You gotta be brave here. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And maybe some liquid courage.”
She hit the button above us and an attendant appeared instantly. “We’d like two large glasses of alcohol,” Jenny said. “Any kind you got. This being such a fancy flight and all, I’m sure it’s all good.”
