Page 35 of Personal Escort

She’s a gorgeous contradiction. Unaware of the strength of her own sex appeal, but so desperate to embrace it anyway. A quiet girl with a sexy tattoo. A rebel who refuses to date under the pretense that nobody is good enough for her, when really I think she worries she’s not good enough herself.

She’s perfect.

And not because of a tattoo, or a dress, although those are both causing my blood supply to do some serious re-routing right now.

She straightens her spine, then holds her bodice to her chest with one hand and picks up her skirt with the other. “Good night, Toby,” she calls as she heads into her room.

“Night,” I say under my breath. I disconnect the call, then sit quietly in my office for a few minutes.

Thinking.

Worrying, too.

My assistant pings me ten minutes before the Q&A, and I drag my mind back to work. It takes more effort than I’d like to admit.

Most of my brainpower is still stuck on how many kisses it would take to trail from the nape of her neck, down her spine, to edges of that tattoo.

And what Cara will say when—when, and not if—I tell her I want to.

CHAPTERSIXTEEN

CARA

WHEN I GO BACK to my phone—fully clothed in my usual yoga pants and t-shirt—Toby is long gone.

My pulse is still racing from that exchange.

Friends can flirt, right?

And that’s all that was. But whoa, it was fun.

Maybe it was the dress.

I’m definitely wearing it for the elopement if it gives me magical acting skills.

But kissing Toby in the park was the same. No awkwardness, just easy, sexy teasing, and that’s a dangerous train of thought.

I check my email, and sure enough, there’s a message from Toby introducing me to Alex. He’s got a disposable email address, presumably to keep me out of escort-hiring-jail. Not like that’s a real thing, except in Toby’s mind, but I appreciate the concern.

From: Cara Russo

To: Alex

Subject: Friday, June 23 details

Thank you for helping me with this…project. The first date is Friday, June 23. We’ll need to discuss a trip to New York after that, but that timing is flexible based on your availability. Alex is a workaholic—ha!

On Friday, I’ve hired a photographer and an officiant.

We’ll meet the photographer on the platform of St. George Station at eleven, take a few photos there, then head onto campus. I have a permit organized, so this is all allowed, and that’s where the officiant will be meeting us. As a reminder, they don’t know you’re an…actor. The photographer thinks this is an actual wedding, and the officiant knows we don’t have a license and we just want a commitment ceremony.

Do you have any questions? If it’s easier, we can text using the email app.

Nice to “meet” you,

Cara

He doesn’t reply before I go to sleep.

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