No Strings Attached (The Escort #1) (9 page)

Chapter Fourteen

Jagger

“
Can I Watch You Do Your Makeup
?” I’d convinced Leah to go down to the reunion. She was still a trembling mess, flittering around her hotel room trying to get ready, but nothing was getting done. I wanted to grab her and kiss her until I could make her mind slow down and concentrate on one thing--her body against mine. My cock twitched at the thought of it. If I touched her, she’d never set foot in that function hall tonight.

I promised myself I wouldn’t hit that bastard when we got there. I didn’t want him to have the satisfaction of running her out of there, either. Leah had spent a fuckton of money on this weekend. I couldn’t make it perfect for her (thanks, asshole), but I could make it better. That’s why she’d hired me.

“Really?” That got her to slow down. She turned back to me, complete surprise on her ruined face. Pressing her lips together as she considered my request, I readjusted myself to keep myself from pushing her up against the mirror and having me watch her take her against it. Just so she could see what I saw in her. “Okay.”

I followed her into the bathroom and sat on the closed toilet lid. She wiped away the remnants of her fight with her ex. The rivulets of mascara, the ruined eye makeup, gone in a few graceful strokes. Now she was ready to start her night over. Her face was bare, and she looked at herself in the mirror and exhaled heavily. Perfection, just as she was. I didn’t know how she didn’t see it. Her skin was smooth and her cheeks were slightly pinked, either from the night or naturally. Big brown eyes stole the show, but her lips were plump from all the attention I’d been giving them this weekend. I wasn’t done yet. She laid out her tools and got to work on the new Leah.

She dabbed a base over her eyelids and swiped shadow across them. She stopped, one eye still closed, and considered my reflection. “You really like watching this?”

I nodded. “It’s art.” She had no idea what I saw when I looked at her. It was like I had my camera in front of me. The shadows complimenting the almost blinding light, the composition telling a story with layers that needed to be peeled away slowly. But like a butterfly’s wing, if I wasn’t careful I’d ruin the whole thing. Cause her pain that she could never recover from. She was a work of art, and she took my fucking breath away.

“It’s a pain in the ass.” She laughed as she leaned in closer to the mirror adding a perfect black line to each lash line. She pulled out her eyelash curler. “How would you like one of these things next to your eyeball every day? There have been a few close calls when I’m trying to do six other things and get pretty for the day. You just wake up and look like…that.”

“Careful.” I smirked at her reflection. “You wake up and look like that. Your face doesn’t need any of that.” Now that she was done with the curler, she rolled her eyes at me as she put on her mascara. “But to answer your question, it’s the transformation that fascinates me. It’s how women get ready for battle, whatever the battle is.”

“You really are an artist, you know that?” She smiled back at me, slathering goo all over her face. It erased her natural flush. “The way you look at the world, it’s poetic. I never thought of it like that, but it’s so true.”

“We can be anyone we want to be,” I said. She added blush to each cheek. I liked it better before. “Anytime we want.”

She leaned forward, inspecting her work in the mirror. Another mirror I could take her in front of and show her exactly how beautiful she really was. Hopefully we weren’t going to be staying at this train wreck of a party long. There was only so long I could keep my hands off of her. Once she was satisfied, she turned around and leaned against the counter. “Thanks for doing this with me.”

“It’s…”
my job,
I almost said, but I wasn’t an asshole. “Been a great weekend.”

“I honestly don’t think I could’ve gotten through it without you.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and gave me a wobbly smile.

“We don’t have to go.” I had a million ways to change her mind. But it had to be her decision.

“We should.” She sighed. “But I really don’t want to.”

I stood up and held out my hand to her. “Then let’s get it over with.”

“Hang on.” She took my hand, but only to use for balance. I pressed my lips together, my heart was throbbing as hard as my cock. We had time for something quick before we went downstairs. “I need to change.”

“No, you don’t.” I put a hand on her back as she slid her stockings down and kicked them off. “You’re perfect.”

“Remember our conversation at dinner?” she asked, black lace dropping to the floor. Jesus Christ. I could barely remember my name right now.

“Which one?” I gulped hard. Leah was standing in front of me in her little black dress and her panties in her hand.

“You know which one. You were telling me why you thought older women were sexy. That it wasn’t just their bodies that turned you on.” She raised an eyebrow and dropped the panties into my open hand. “You mindfucked me.”

Holy shit.

Chapter Fifteen

Leah

“
Leah!” I Ignored The Voice And The Clicking Of Heels That Followed Us Through The Lobby
. Even though Jagger had calmed me down, I couldn’t trust myself not to throttle Shelley on my best day. Everyone said that I needed to get over it and act like an adult around Shelley. I couldn’t. Not because she ruined my life, I did that to myself before she came along. Shelley just magnified how empty that time actually was. Besides Raven, who I wouldn’t change a thing about, none of the rest of it had been worth it. “Please let me explain.”

I whipped around so fast I would’ve lost my balance if Jagger didn’t squeeze my hand. Beth hovered in the background with a couple other harpies who’d been at the table when Rich admonished me. “What is there to explain?” She smiled weakly at me, losing her nerve. “I want to hear this.”

“Rich didn’t mean what he said. Not like that. It’s just that we’re not used to seeing you with a date.” Her gaze shifted to Jagger, eyelashes fluttering. What, was she after this one, too? Did she need my stamp of approval on every man she fucked?

I stepped closer to Jagger. She could never know that he wasn’t really mine.

“Now you know how I felt when I caught you in bed with my husband.” I kept my tone as even as possible. “Wasn’t used to that, either. And don’t fool yourself, Shelley. Rich means every last rotten word that comes out of his mouth. It took me a long time to figure that out. Don’t the same mistakes I did. They don’t end well.”

The smile turned to venom. “Not for you they don’t.”

I pulled Jagger’s arm, heading into the function hall before I did something I regretted. “This was an awful idea. We’ll just find Kari and then get the hell out of here.” He nodded, slipping his arm around my waist. When he touched me all the bad things went away. Until tomorrow morning when we walked out of each other’s lives.

Kari was exactly where I expected her to be. At the bar.

“I was about to put your face on the side of a milk carton,” Kari said as I crushed her against my body.

She swung me around. Cool air hit my naked lady parts when my dress crawled up under her grip. “Careful.” I yanked the fabric back down my thighs and turned as red as the wine in her glass. I’d been so distracted after Jagger shoved my panties in his pocket and his tongue in my mouth I forgot all about putting anything else on before we left my room.

Kari looked puzzled, but when she watched me adjust my dress against my bare legs she whooped with laughter and cupped between my legs. I cringed when she made contact, which made her laugh even harder. “Oh my God, what’s gotten into you?” She gazed over my shoulder, still pushing all the buttons in command central. She smiled drunkenly at Jagger. “Never mind. I know exactly what’s gotten into you.”

“Yeah, now you.” I wriggled away to the tune of more laughter. I guess I didn’t have to worry about Kari after all. She was dealing with this in her own way. “How you doing?”

“These people are horrible, but that’s nothing new.” She took a sip of her sangria then raised her glass to the crowd, who mostly ignored her. “I’m making the best of it.”

“What happened?” I asked. A beautiful man I’d never seen before came up behind Kari and wrapped his arm around her waist. She melted into his body, tipping her head back for a kiss. “Nobody’s bothering you, right?”

Kari steadied herself after the kiss and rolled her eyes. “We’re not actually still in high school, Leah. They don’t have to do anything. They’re just horrible. Everything about them.” Another sip of her wine. “I’m fine.”

She wasn’t. “Sorry I’ve been shitty this weekend.” Kari wasn’t going to remember any of this in the morning. But I had to get it off my chest anyway. I’d talk to her for real on the plane ride home tomorrow. “I should’ve been here for you and I haven’t been.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Her words slurred. She pulled on the mystery guy’s tie. He didn’t bat an eyelash. “Reno’s here, and right now, I see two of you.” She laughed hysterically. Leaning in to talk against my ear, she didn’t let go of Reno’s tie. “And I don’t see those bitches staring at us at all.”

I turned away from her before I was completely shitfaced from her breath to see which bitches were staring. I smoothed my skirt down as I got caught in the crossfire of Shelley and Beth. They’d honed in on our little group with unwavering interest. I wiggled my fingers at them and plastered a smile on my face. The glares I got in return made me sure I’d regret that decision. Do your worst, bitches. You couldn’t make me look any worse than Rich did in the restaurant.

They turned away before I did, and I considered that a victory. Kari and Reno had melted into the dance floor. Jagger had been a silent witness to the entire exchange. He was a million miles away. I nudged him. “What are you thinking about?”

His hand slipped around my waist, and again I was aware of the dangerous rise of lace against my thigh. “I want to photograph you.”

“Me?” My voice went up an octave. He nodded. “I guess that makes sense since you like old and broken things.”

He put his finger over my mouth before I had a chance to finish making fun of myself. “Don’t.” Any traces of a smile on his face disappeared and he yanked me in against his warm, hard body. “Your ex might think that way about you, but I don’t.”

I swallowed hard, his finger burned my lips. I swatted it away but then grabbed it again when his hand fell to his side, running my fingers along the length of his. Jagger’s chest rose and fell with the same slow, dramatic rhythm. How did this perfect stranger put all the pieces back together when I wasn’t even sure how they were supposed to fit? It was probably easy for him. He didn’t have to worry about how it was supposed to be. He just saw things for what they were.

And a photoshoot. The idea simultaneously exhilarated and terrified me. To be laid bare before Jagger’s lens, letting him turn all my imperfections into art. If anyone could do it, it was him. And he’d already proven he saw me in a way no one else did. I wasn’t drunk off the wine anymore, he was the one intoxicating me. I went up on my tiptoes, probably mooning every member of the class of ’95, but I didn’t care. At that moment, there was only one other person in this room. “Did you bring your camera?”

The lights from the dance floor flashed in his eyes. “I did.”

“Then let’s get the hell out of here.”

Chapter Sixteen

Jagger

“
Can We Stop At My Room First
?” Leah whispered to me in the elevator. Another couple boarded with us, offering wobbly smiles before hitting the button for the second floor.

I hit the button for the third floor. “No.”

She bit her lip and watched them unload on her floor, pulling my arm toward the opening but not committing to it. The doors closed. “All I have on is my dress and my bra,” she pleaded.

Perfect. “You think that’s going to change my mind?” I raised an eyebrow.

She chewed on her lip. “I wanted to plan for this a little better.”

When the doors opened on the third floor, I led her out and backed her against the wall. I’d learned my lesson about elevators in this place. My knee settled between her legs and her skirt rode up to the top of her thighs.
Focus.
“I want to photograph you raw and untamed on my bed. Do you understand what I’m looking for?” Her eyes grew wide. Her red lips parted, but she didn’t say anything. “The best art is the stuff no one plans on. It just happens. Go with it, Leah.”

She nodded and followed me. My hands shook as I opened the door. I had to get my shit together or I was going to ruin this. This boudoir type shoot wasn’t my usual thing and Leah was turning me inside out. I closed my eyes and pictured her in a series of snapshots tangled in sheets. That short blonde curly hair, the red lipstick, and her soft, curvy body, it was going to come together perfectly unless I fucked it up.

I pulled my camera out of its case and attached the fifty millimeter lens. I looked back to Leah over my shoulder. She leaned against the wall near the bathroom, her hands hooked around her waist.

“What do you want me to do?” she asked.

I considered the space, turning on lights as I circled. Leah did the same on her side of the room. The bedding here was crisp and white, perfect for what I had in mind. “Lay on the bed,” I instructed.

One knee hit the mattress. Perfect for a test shot. She startled, not ready for the flash. “On my stomach or on my back?”

Good question. “On your stomach. You’ve done photoshoots before, right?”

She nodded. “Usually with my underpants on.” She rolled her eyes and I fired off another test shot. “Are you going to give me any warning?”

“I’m testing lighting.” I dropped to my knees at the foot of the bed and took another photo. I pulled the camera away from my face so I could check the screen. I wasn’t used to working with the harsh hotel fluorescents, but Leah was my muse and I was completely in her thrall.

Leah propped herself up on her elbows, feet up in the air. She craned her neck trying to see the screen as I adjusted the aperture. “Can I see them?”

“Not yet.” I snapped another picture, then put the camera down out of Leah’s reach. I was already drenched with sweat and out of breath and we were just getting started. Happy with my settings, I rolled up my sleeves and loosened my tie. “I want you to do whatever comes naturally to you. But don’t take your eyes off the camera unless I tell you to.”

Leah pursed her lips together. The nervousness was back. “Okay.”

“Just so you know,” I picked up the camera and brought it to my face, “you look fucking incredible.”

That got the first smile out of her. After that she froze like a deer in headlights, but it was perfect. The innocence, the honesty, that was the shit I wanted to capture. I kept snapping. She ran her teeth over her bottom lip and I leaned in closer. A hand raked through her hair. These shots were going to be unbelievable.

I climbed up on the bed, straddling her body. “Follow me with just your eyes for now,” I told her. She followed directions perfectly. Such a heady mix of submission and rebellion. A sultry gaze over her shoulder sent my cock into kickstand mode. Slowly she rolled onto her side and rested her head on her curved arm, fucking me through the lens with just her eyes. One bare leg slid up the other, so slowly I thought I was going to drop the camera. Fuck, she was the sexiest woman I’d ever laid eyes on.

Leah yanked on her twisted dress, it had ridden up to her hips. “Don’t.” I pulled away from the lens. She never broke eye contact with me. “Let it all happen naturally.”

“Just let it all hang out, huh?” She laughed. “Literally.”

“Yeah.” I wanted to drop to my knees and bury my face in her pussy. I swallowed hard. “You have no idea how hot this is.”

Leah’s smiled changed like I’d flicked a switch and she let go of the dress. She reached down to her foot, running her fingernail lightly up the length of her leg. Letting her fingertips catch in the hem, this time she dragged the dress up, exposing herself up to her belly button, but she stopped. Her flat palm slid back down to her hip and she pushed her leg down, covering her sex with her thigh. She moved back up, playing with the hem of the dress, never taking her eyes off of me. For a second, I forgot to keep clicking.

“You’re a tease.” My legs were shaking watching her.

She ran both hands up the front of her dress, crossing them over her tits. “Do you like it?”

“I fucking love it.” I gave in and fell to my knees under the guise of wanting a closer shot. Leah wasn’t giving it up that easily. She crawled back on the bed on her elbows, the dress creeping up ever so slowly, and once again let her legs fall to the side. She still had her heels on, too. Goddamn it.

When the dress was too bunched up even for her to make look sexy anymore, she sat up and took it off it one long graceful line. She let the fabric fall to the floor, only breaking eye contact with me to see where it landed. I kept shooting because the profile shot was fucking gorgeous. Remembering her instructions, she snapped back to me and grabbed a fistful of the sheet. She tangled it around her body, snaking it through her legs. She’d scissor her thighs open slowly but then snapped them shut and pushed them down over each other. I groaned, her little peep show was breaking me into pieces.

Leah writhed in the sheet, letting it curve around her like a hungry snake. I never expected her to come alive like this in front of the camera. No wonder they put her on TV. I had hoped for a couple of sexy shots and then planned on getting down to fucking, but this was hotter than any foreplay I’d ever come up with before. It might even be hotter than the night at her house when I watched her make herself come with her fingers and her vibrator.

She rolled back onto her stomach and stuck her bare ass high in the air. Definitely hotter than the night in DC. Curling up slowly to kneeling position, she looked at me over her shoulder with her lips parted and she reached around to unhook her bra. She watched one strap fall, freezing in time so I could capture the motion, then the other. Her hands brushed her skin, whisking the fabric away. All of it. She pushed the sheets back to the foot of the bed and sunk back into the mattress, easing down to her back.

My breath kept catching in the back of my throat, matching the rhythm of Leah’s. It was the only sound in the room besides the click of the camera. Even with her gorgeous naked body spread out before me, I couldn’t stop taking pictures of her face. She’d totally given herself over to this and I couldn’t get enough of it. She put her hand on her neck, playing with her necklace for a moment before sliding her hand down between her tits. She covered them with her forearm and let her head fall back. For the first time, her eyes closed.

I captured it all.

One finger slid over her nipple. It tensed and puckered under her touch. She didn’t move right away but then she began to slowly circle it. Her eyes were still closed, her mouth fell open. Leah had sensitive nipples. Her whole body reacted to each tiny circle. I didn’t pay nearly enough attention to them last night, I’d been so hot to fuck her. I needed to make up for that mistake when we were done with the photoshoot.

Leah quickened the movement, her lips moving against each other, trying to hold in some emotion. Her hips twitched on the bed and her eyes snapped open, still focused on the lens as she moaned.

She was going to make me come in my pants.

It was a test of my will to keep going. I took a deep breath and concentrated on the technical. The light and shadow. The curve of her waist as her finger ran down the line of her stomach. Like that was going to get my mind off of my aching cock. I thought I was going to be done for when her fingers hit her pussy, but she stopped.

Leah sat up, crawling over to me. She didn’t break eye contact with the lens as she untied the knot of my tie, sliding it away from my neck and laying back down, dragging it beside her like a leash.

She let the green fabric slide up her legs, over her stomach. A couple rubs back and forth against her taut pink nipples, then she brought it to her face. One last slide of her tongue over her lips before she draped the tie over her eyes and tied it behind her head.

Behind the lens, my mouth dropped. This photoshoot was fucking over. My hands shook as I put the camera down on the nightstand and sunk down next to her on the bed. She pressed her lips together in anticipation. I pulled the bottom one away with my finger but she caught me, sucking me back in, swirling her tongue around the tip like she was giving me head. I added one more finger, and then another, fucking her mouth with just my hand.

I dropped my head beside hers while she continued working. “You’re amazing,” I whispered against her ear. She smiled around my fingers.

Dragging my wet fingers down to her nipple, I repeated the motion she’d done minutes before. I caught her soft sigh on my lips. Leah kissed me with everything she had. The seductress was nowhere to be found now. Even as I continued rubbing and rolling her nipple, everything about her was soft and giving when we were connected like this. It was too easy to get lost in, and if I didn’t fuck her soon I was going to burst into a million pieces.

Buttons, zippers, all fucking annoying as I freed my cock from my pants. The tip was already wet and I had to reel myself back or I’d be a two pump chump like this was my prom night. No way. Leah ran her hands over her body, having absolutely no idea what she was doing to me.

I could watch her all night.

If my dick didn’t explode.

She’d gone back to her nipples. Liking the way that felt, she bit her lip, smiling. I pulled her toward me by her legs, spreading them to either side of me. The blindfold came off in the move and we made eye contact like it was the first time we’d ever seen each other.

Leah’s breath was ragged as she adjusted the tie back over her eyes. Like that, she was gone again, but she’d left her body behind so I’d never forget her. I slid a condom over my aching dick and ran it down the length of her slit.

My God was she ready for me. I think she might have purred as she opened her legs wider. That was all the invitation I needed to come inside, one tight fucking inch at a time. I slid completely inside her, collapsing and burying my face in her neck before I started to move.

During the photoshoot I planned to fuck her so hard that everyone still at the reunion was going to know when she came. But that’s not what happened. Instead I lifted my tie away from her eyes and looked into them as I fucked her slowly, making sure I felt every inch of her as she clamped down on me. Her moans and cries vibrated through my body and I swallowed them all. I wanted to remember every second of this. The way she looked as I moved inside of her and every noise she made.

Leah had mindfucked me.

Now that I was back in familiar territory, I had some of the control back. My thrusts picked up, crashing against her while ravaging her mouth. Still inside her, I rolled back, pulling Leah with me so she wound up on top. The blindfold fell away, she let her head tip back and moaned. I pistoned up, still slamming against her body. Watching her luscious curves bounce on top of me was a frigging sweet reward for the torture of containing myself during the photoshoot. She rocked against me and I held on for the ride. I got totally lost in watching her fuck me. I almost reached for the camera again.

“I’m going to come,” she said between gasps of air. “But I want you inside me when I do it.”

“I’m close too, baby.” Grasping her hips, I pounded against her. The tremors had started and she locked down on my dick. Her head slumped forward and she cried out as her release flooded down around me. I kept thrusting up into her, but I didn’t have long to go. My cum ran down the inside of the condom.

I eased her down on the bed beside me and Leah pulled the condom off. She took hold of my dick, wringing every last bit of cum out of me, licking it with long strokes. This woman was relentless on my cock whether she was touching it or not.

Running her finger through the puddle above my shaft, she ran it over my lips. I moaned. We tasted good together. I did the same thing to her, and she scraped it off my finger with her teeth.

“When are you going to show me the pictures?” she asked. She’d nestled her head on my shoulder, lids heavy, fingers tracing the lines of my tattoo.

“Not tonight.” She tipped her head up and pressed her lips together in protest. I pulled a damp curl from her neck, twisting it between my fingers. That pout wasn’t going to work. “I want to save them.”

“For what?” She picked her head up so her lips hovered over mine. I stole a kiss. “That seems awfully selfish.”

“Maybe,” I smiled. Truth be told I didn’t want to look at them with her over my shoulder. I’d shot enough women to know she’d pick out every flaw and demand I deleted the shots she hated. No fucking way. We were looking for two totally different things out of this photoshoot. Leah would want to look perfect, and she wasn’t seeing those photos until I could show her that her imperfections were beautiful. “I’ll know when the time is right.”