Page 5 of Scarlet Secrets

Bare.

Oh. My. God.

I’m naked. I squeal and start to step back, and my feet slip.

He’s there in an instant. Electric hot fingers on my wrist, holding me up. I can’t look at him and instead look past him to the open closet. There’s a tux. And shoes. And now that I’m looking, there’s a shaving kit, too. A sonic toothbrush inblack on a stand. How… On the bed’s a briefcase and a key card.

The key card.

That’s how he got in.

I want to die.

I’m in the wrong room.

But something warm, soft, and somehow less pleasing than his hand presses against my front. My collarbone.

“Yeah,” he says, humor lacing his voice. “The last thing I want is the high-class escort with mundane role-playing game fantasies suing my ass after falling in the tub.”

“This is your room?” I swallow. Hard. Because I still can’t look at him and behind him, on the vanity, is a glass of golden liquid, and I can smell that pleasant sugared scent of whiskey on him with him so close.

“It is.” He helps me out of the tub and I wrap the towel around me, clocking his ice-blue gaze, not lifting as I do so. “Do you mind telling me what you’re here for, aside from the… obvious.”

Does he mean bath? Then heat flashes through me as he steps back to get his drink and leans back against the vanity. I catch a glimpse of a blonde wild child trapped in icy headlights in the mirror, but I turn my gaze to him from my reflection. “Apart from the hooking?”

His mouth curves and my heart throbs, and down deep between my legs, I tingle. It’s a hell of a sexy smile. “I said escort.”

“There’s a difference?”

“Money and class,” he says, “and you’re nothing like any escort I’ve met.”

I somehow withhold a snort. “Met many?”

His grin widens and then vanishes behind his glass as he takes a sip. “A few.”

“So…” I say, “I’m not your first?”

“Oh, you’re definitely a first.”

I gather my flailing thoughts. I’m naked under a towel and it isn’t mine. “Can you turn around while I dress… Actually, get out of here. Please.”

“I’ll let you dress.”

Oh fuck. Oh, holy shit. Oh, everything. I slip my dress on, which has seen better days, and try to pull it from sticking to my damp skin. I rush down the stairs and almost run into him. With a stumble back, I put up my hands.

“I’m sorry, I thought… there must have been a mix-up.”

He holds up my key card. “Right card, wrong room.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. Oh hell, is he good-looking, and I can’t read his expression. This man, this room, is out of my league. “I just thought they hadn’t sent up my bag. I… there was a mix-up, and they upgraded me. I’m here for some meetings and I’ll go. I’m sorry.”

I start for the door, but he just holds out a drink. “What’s the rush? You’re here now, on the clock.” He smirks and winks at his little joke. “So you might as well join me for a drink.”

And even though it’s not something I do, I nod. “Okay.”

I take the drink.

Chapter Two

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