The Mistaken Escort's Pleasure: A Liaison Novel (5 page)

“I’ll be right back.
 
Make yourself at home.”

She looked back at him before she walked through her bedroom door, and stopped in her tracks.
 
His hands were braced against the island that separated her living space from her kitchen, and he had his head bent down and his eyes closed.
 
She didn’t know whether he was affected by her affection for him so soon after they’d met, or whether he was still upset by the way she answered her door.
 
Either way, she took the opportunity to stare at his long legs, and up to his taut butt, his slim waist and his broad shoulders, and shivered.

Everything about him called to her.

She walked through her bedroom to the master bath, and cringed when she spotted the dark circles underneath her eyes.
 
The strands of hair that had escaped her braid that she had forgotten to brush out the night before were stuck up in all directions, and she couldn’t prevent a groan that escaped her throat at her appearance.

She flipped the handle to the faucet with more force than was necessary and scrubbed her face clean.
 
She loosened the braid and brushed out the tangles, first with her fingers, and then with a brush, leaving her hair cascading down her back.
 
After she brushed her teeth, she felt almost human.
 
She slipped on a white hooded sweatshirt and black yoga pants, and after a deep breath, she rejoined Lucian in the living room.

In her absence, he had found the plates and cups, and her stomach rumbled when she spotted the spread.
 
He had brought an assortment of bagels with several flavors of cream cheese, but the best of all, lox.

She glanced up at him to thank him, again, but the heated look in his eyes gave her pause.
 
Her mind conjured the dream from the night before, and as much as her rational side screamed for her to take their relationship as slow as possible, her body flushed with need.
 
All from a simple look.

“Lucian?”
 
She had no idea what she was asking him for, but she knew that he felt the same way.

Without a word, he pulled out a chair for her and sat close to her right.
 
A twinge of disappointment stabbed her chest, but she swallowed and relaxed back into her chair.
 
They were silent as they each created their breakfast, and when she brought a dollop of cream cheese to her mouth and licked it off her finger, she heard Lucian groan.

When she caught his gaze, he leaned forward and licked a small portion of cream cheese that she had missed.
 
Her entire body froze at the intimacy of his actions.
 
She wanted to lean into him, but confusion swirled at his actions, so she held herself in place and went on the defensive.

“You’re very good at this,” she said.

He sat back, looking confused at her statement.
 
“Good at what?”

“Making a woman feel wanted.”

“I do want you.”
 
His simple statement slammed into her with the force of a sledgehammer.

She gave him a sharp look when she felt a pang of jealousy slash through her chest.
 
She didn’t want to think about all those other women who he dated for his job.
 
She couldn’t stop thinking about him, so after her friends left, she searched Liaison’s web site for the escorts Rebecca had available.
 
But she couldn’t find a picture of Lucian anywhere.
 
The escorts were more along the lines of what she pictured when she had made the appointment to find a date.
 
Young, suave, and not even close to her type.

“Why are you up so early this morning?” she asked, changing the subject.

She watched, mesmerized, as his tongue darted out and licked his lips before he picked up his coffee and took a long drink from it.
 
She watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed as he drank and chided herself for being so fascinated by it.
 
She flushed as he sat his cup down and caught her staring at him.

“I’m an early riser.
 
I have another business that I own, and I spend time there on Saturdays.”

“You own your own business?”

“A small tech company.
 
We design software for business, but recently started a gaming division.”
 

She looked down at her empty plate as she tried to wrap her mind around what he had told her.
 
“You moonlight as an escort?”

“Sometimes.
 
I help Bec out when she needs it.”

He stood and gathered the plates, walked to the kitchen and setting them down in the sink.
 
As he started rinsing the dishes and placing them in the dishwasher, she gathered the leftovers and followed him around the island into the kitchen.
 
When he finished with the dishwasher, he shut it and washed his hands, as she tried to gauge his mood since he’d gone quiet.
 
She heard him as he paced from one corner of the room to the other, and turned to find a frown marring his face.

“Bec is my sister.”
 

The discussion that they had in front of Ellie yesterday snapped into place.
 
His concern was for his sister, not just a random woman.
 
He knew that she didn’t have another escort to spare, so he’d volunteered to help his sister.
 
She relaxed a little and slid onto the counter, crossing her legs, elbows on her thighs as she rested her chin on her hands.
 
She traced his easy movements for a few minutes before she spoke.

“That’s nice that you help your sister with her business.
 
I don’t know too many people who would date a stranger to help family out.”

“Don’t misunderstand.
 
Yes, I happened to be there to talk to Bec, but when I spotted you sitting there, I had to get to know you.”

She nodded in understanding because she felt the same way.
 
“I thought you were kissing me because it went along with the job, not because you liked me.”

When she looked up to see his reaction to her question, she was surprised to find him in front of her.
 
She leaned back and her legs dropped to hang off the counter.
 
Their bodies weren’t quite touching, but when he caged her in with his hands on the other side of her hips, she shivered at his closeness.

“I kissed you because I wanted to feel your mouth under mine.
 
It has nothing to do with a job.”
 
He paused for a moment.
 
“Why are you so hung up on me being an escort?”

“I don’t have a lot of experience with men.
 
I thought that we would get to know each other, but I didn’t think about the intimate moments between us.
 
I was unprepared for this.”
 
She pointed to herself, to him, and back again.
 

“This, as in how I turn you on?
 
Or that you forget where we are when I kiss you?”

“Yes,” she breathed.

He brushed a kiss against her lips, and without a thought, she leaned farther into him.
 
His hands opened on her waist and pulled her closer to the edge of the counter, all the while he teased the corners of her mouth with light caresses.
 
When her hips brushed against his taut stomach, she groaned and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, needing more.

He kissed a trail to her ear, and when his deep, raspy voice spoke, she bit her lip to hold back the moan that threatened to escape.

“I want you and every time I touch you, I can feel and hear how much you want me.
 
Let’s forget about how we met and concentrate on getting to know each other.
 
You intrigue me.
 
Even before the kiss in the elevator, I wanted to get to know you.
 
Is that enough for now?” he asked.

She had never felt a connection with anyone in her life, but with Lucian, it seemed as easy as breathing.
 
If her dreams were any indication, she hadn’t stopped thinking about him.

She had already taken a chance with a man she had known most of her life, and he’d betrayed her in a way that should’ve devastated her, or at least shaken her.
 
But she felt nothing but a pang of hurt because neither her boyfriend nor her roommate could tell her the truth of their relationship before they were discovered.
 
She was happy for Tim and Amanda because they had found each other despite their relationship starting with dishonesty, and it was obvious to anyone that they were dedicated to each another and in love.

She had waited her entire life to have a man look at her the way Lucian did every time they were together.
 
He had knocked on her door first thing in the morning, and she hoped it was because he wanted to get to know her.
 
She found him intriguing; the most handsome man she’d ever met, and she knew that whatever followed, it would be worth it.

“It’s enough,” she said, her voice steady.

Chapter Five

Lucian stared down at Ellie’s beautiful face, relaxed in sleep, as he ran his fingers through her hair, loving the feel of her long, soft strands brush against his hands.
 
His hands stilled as she purred and burrowed closer to him, but when she relaxed back to sleep, he continued his movements.

They had settled on the couch in front of her huge curved TV, absently watching made-for-TV movies while he gave her details about his job and she told him about her current project at work.
 
Throughout their day together, he would find ways of touching her, kissing her, and for the first time in his life, knew that he was becoming obsessed with a woman.

He had woken up at six and had every intention of going into the office and getting several projects sorted out, but he had found himself at her door at an ungodly hour because he needed to see her.

She was a refreshing change from the women he had dated in the past; and if he were honest, his other dates paled in comparison to Ellie.

He had never been the man who chose his dates based on any criteria, other than his attraction to the woman in question.
 
Throughout the years, he’d found most women had shown an interest in him because he was the CEO of his own company or because he made billions from his ventures; none of them saw the man he was.

When he started his business, he hadn’t had the time to dedicate to a full-fledged relationship because of the long hours he put in to make Thomas Cole Technologies successful.
 
The past three years, with his business on a steady footing, he could’ve stepped back and worried about the overall details of the company, but he worked alongside his other employees to grow the business in other areas.
 
Because of that, they’d become one of the most successful tech firms in the country.
 
But no matter how many projects he took on, or how hard he worked, in the back of his mind, he found something to be missing from life.
 
Casual dating held no appeal.
 
He found himself looking for a woman who was attracted to him because of who he was, not what he did or owned.

He couldn’t explain, even to himself, why he needed to get to know Ellie, but he found everything about her refreshing.
 
She was successful and talented in her own right, but she was also self-effacing, funny, and oblivious of how beautiful she was.
 
When her blue eyes landed on him, he was drawn to her in a way that threw out all logic.
 
He knew that he would have to tell her the truth—the sooner the better—but until he could, he was going to stick as close to the truth about his life as he could.

He was pulled from his thoughts when she stretched her legs and groaned.
 
He glanced down when she turned onto her back and stared up at him.

“Hi,” she breathed.

“Hi.”

“What time is it?”
 
She sat up and rubbed her eyes, before she blew out a breath and glanced down at her watch.
 
The band had twisted the other way; she righted the face of the watch and glanced at it.

“I have no idea,” he growled.

She blinked at him before gracing him with a huge smile that lit up her eyes.
 
“You’re very sweet.”

He teased her with a growl before he cupped the back of her neck and brought her mouth close to his.
 
He nipped at her bottom lip and groaned when she slid closer to him on the couch, and deepened the kiss.
 
She cupped his cheeks and leaned into him.

When her tongue swept into his mouth, he pulled her onto his lap and took control of the kiss.
 
He devoured her mouth and loved the pinch of her hands when she grabbed his shoulders for support.
 
His hands drifted to her back and he rubbed his hands up her spine, feeling her body shiver as he continued his exploration.
 
He pulled her closer on his lap; when he felt her heat through her thin yoga pants, he pressed her hips down to brush against his hardness.

She ripped her mouth from his and stared down at him, her eyes round, filled with surprise.
 
“Oh, you feel so good,” she groaned.

He leaned toward her and blew out a breath when his forehead touched hers.
 
He noted that her lips were swollen, and she shivered with unrestrained need.
 
As he thought back to their conversations, he realized that his Ellie was innocent when it came to men.
 
He wrapped his arms around her and brought her into his chest.
 
He smiled as she laid her head on his shoulder.

“Do you have any plans for tomorrow?” he asked.