Naked Love

by Jones, Lisa Renee

  I had to prepare myself for that. And give her the one thing I knew she wanted more than my sorry ass.

  Our mission was a secret. “Shannon’s birthday is next month. I think that might be our best lure to get her grandma down here. That way, she won’t think there’s an ulterior motive. Not that you have one. But it will be enough for two strangers to convince her to get on a plane.”

  “What day is her birthday?” I couldn’t believe I had to ask Leah when Shannon’s birthday was.

  “The tenth.”

  “I was thinking of surprising her at First Friday.” Shannon would be at the gallery then; she’d never let Leah and Jagger down. And it wouldn’t require any special planning to get her there.

  “Perfect. And it gives you a couple of windows to aim for, either this month or next, in case Grandma has plans already. Shannon will be hosting the next couple of First Fridays, since I’m supposed to be on bedrest.”

  I knew something was up. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. I’m great.” She didn’t sound the least bit convincing, and from her narrowed eyes, I didn’t expect any details. “How do you want to do this? We can call her now and see if she’s game. But we should have a rough idea of what we’re asking her. And you’re going to be the one who picks her up at the airport and brings her places until Shannon’s in the picture. You know—because bedrest and possible baby.”

  I did some quick math in my head, but it wasn’t adding up. “When’s your due date?”

  “I’m waiting to find out when I’m having a C-section. Don’t worry. The baby’s fine.” Still not sounding convincing when she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Leah was making me nervous. “We’ll give Grandma a choice of First Fridays, and you bring her to some hot hotel on the beach. Give her the total VIP experience. It will be good for her to see Shannon’s doing well.”

  “I agree.” I hoped it was true. “How is she?”

  “She’s really upset. She told me about the party. I’m keeping her so busy she doesn’t have time to think about it. Do you remember Elizabeth? She’s working with her.”

  “Kathy is an old regular, and she was trying to rekindle old times. With her tongue in my mouth. I told her I wasn’t booking clients anymore.” If Shannon wouldn’t listen to me, maybe she’d listen to Leah. “But Shannon was gone before I had a chance to explain.”

  “I told her to go to the party. It was a mistake, but I don’t think it’s unfixable.” The only thing that gave me hope was Leah could talk anyone into anything. She pulled her phone out of her purse. “Ready for show time?”

  “Ready as I’ll ever be.” There was a huge chance this would backfire. Shannon made herself clear—she didn’t want my money. But she would want to see her grandma.

  Leah punched the number into the screen and hit Send. “Hi. Is this Mrs. Gallagher? This is Leah Godfrey. Shannon’s boss. Listen, I was hoping that you could help me and Shannon’s boyfriend with a little birthday surprise. Want to come down to Miami and jump out of her birthday cake? Our treat?”

  Only fucking Leah could pull that off. She nodded, said okay a couple times, and gave me a thumbs up. “We throw a party at my husband’s gallery the first week of every month. Shannon’s been instrumental in making those parties an event that can’t be missed. Have you seen her in action? She’s amazing.”

  Mrs. Gallagher said something, and Leah nodded a few more times. “Should we book your flight for this month or next month?”

  Leah grabbed a piece of paper and tapped my arm, to get me to hand her a pen. “Okay. That sounds great. I’ve heard so many amazing things about you, and I can’t wait to meet you in person. The two of us can gush about your granddaughter. But you have to promise to keep it a secret. She’s been working hard, and we want to surprise her.”

  I wished I could hear the other side of the conversation. Leah laughed. “Absolutely not. This trip is our treat. A reward to Shannon for doing such good work.”

  She winked at me.

  “Perfect. You’re going to hear from someone named Zach Collins. He and Shannon have been dating. He’ll book your flight and your hotel room. He’s lovely, and he’ll take good care of you. If you have any questions in the meantime, let me give you my number…”

  Leah grinned when she hung up the phone. “One grandma, on her way to Miami.”

  “I feel like we duped a little old lady out of her life savings.”

  She shook her head. “Grandma doesn’t sound like she misses a beat. She’s dying to come down here. And Shannon’s told her about you.” It came out sing-song. “I assume only the good stuff, since she’s eager to meet you.”

  “There only is good stuff.” I wiggled my eyebrows at Leah, but she wasn’t paying attention to me. “What happens now?” I asked.

  “You need to book her a flight.” She put her hand over her swollen belly. “But now I need you to take me to the hospital.”

  Holy shit. “Do you want me to call Jag?”

  She pulled herself out of the chair. “I’ll call him on the way. We’ve got to go.”

  I got up too fast and pushed my chair into the guy behind me. He’d get over it. “Is everything okay?” I asked. Obviously it wasn’t, but I needed to know what degree of not okay we were dealing with. “Where are your car keys? I rode the bike here.”

  “In my purse. You can get them.” She put her arm around me, and her eyes were wild. “I feel really weird, and I don’t want to take any chances.”

  “I’ll get you there. Don’t worry about anything. Tell me the name of the hospital you want me to take you to.” I was freaking the fuck out. This was Jag’s baby, and nothing was going to happen to her or her mama on my watch. “Violet’s going to be fine.”

  “I know. She’s impatient, like her mama.” Leah got into the passenger’s side of her car.

  I didn’t shut the door right away. I didn’t know how the hell I was going to drive.

  “We’ve got to go.” The last part came out as a groan.

  I jogged over to the driver’s side. “Sure you don’t want me to call Jag?”

  “Positive. I’ll call him while you drive. He’ll freak out if he hears this from you. He’ll think I’m not able to talk. Seriously, I’m sure it’s okay. I don’t want to take any chances.”

  “Whatever you need me to do, tell me, and it’s done. I don’t want you to worry about anything.” Fuck. She was scaring the shit out of me.

  She closed her eyes. “Zach?”

  I looked back at her before I pulled out of the spot.

  “Everything will work out. For all of us.”

  26

  Shannon

  Jagger wrapped me in a bear hug when I got to the hospital, rocking me back and forth.

  He called me at Elizabeth’s house and told me to come to the hospital immediately. The baby was coming. It was way too early, and Leah had assured me this very thing wouldn’t happen. I was afraid to ask, but— “Everything’s okay?”

  “Yeah. We had a scare, and they decided it was better if she came out. Baby’s fine, Mom’s fine and resting, and Dad’s a hot mess.” He chuckled as he pulled away. He ran his hand through his hair, and it didn’t settle right, but there was no hiding the new dad glow. “Fuck. I didn’t expect it to be like this. I thought we’d have more time to prepare. But she’s here and it’s amazing... She’s beautiful. Tiny, but gorgeous. Looks like Leah.”

  I fell against him with relief that nothing was wrong with Leah or the baby. “Babies never do what you expect them to, but this is a hell of a way to get a crash course. What happens now?”

  “Violet will be staying here for a while. They’re going to do some tests—make sure everything’s working like it should be. We knew that, though. They want to keep Leah for a couple days, too. Give her a chance to heal after the surgery.”

  I nodded. “I’ve got everything handled on the business end.”

  “Didn’t cross my mind that you wouldn’t.” Like he was thinking of anything
but his wife and daughter. “She’s out now. Anesthesia hasn’t worn off yet, but I knew she’d want everyone who was important here when she woke up.”

  “I’m glad you called me. I wouldn’t want you to be alone, either.” I couldn’t imagine what must be going through his head. I was freaking out, and it wasn’t my kid.

  “I’m not.” He smirked. “Zach’s with me.”

  “He is?” Shit. I wasn’t mentally prepared to see him today. I’d been ignoring his phone calls after I tried to surprise him at the escort party. After I caught him kissing a woman I’d never seen before. I’d tried to prepare myself for that reality, but there was no way to guard myself from having my heart ripped out of my chest and stomped on.

  “Yeah. He brought Leah here.”

  “Okay.” Somewhere in this hospital, I entered an alternate universe, where Leah and Zach spent quality time together.

  Jagger put his hand on my back as I walked into the waiting room. Toward Zach. Like he knew I considered making a run for it. Zach stood as I got closer.

  Fuck it. I hugged him. Because I was relieved that everything was okay, and because I wanted to. There was no need to lie to myself.

  Even better, he hugged me back. “It wasn’t what you thought it was,” he said softly.

  “I wanted to surprise you,” I said against his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

  He pulled away from me, grinning. “About what? Everything’s good with Leah and Violet. Jag’s glowing like the sun and speaking gibberish. Just wait, he’ll say something totally stupid. And you’re here. As far as I see it, things are good.”

  I’d missed so much about him. How warm his hands felt through my thin T-shirt. The way his tattoos moved when his muscles tensed, like they were animated. The way his voice rumbled against my skin when were close. What it was like to wake up with him holding me—feeling safe and as close to loved as I had been by anyone with a choice in the matter.

  “I miss you.” It wasn’t what I meant to say, but time didn’t make me any better with words than we were before. This time, I wouldn’t let him go. There was so much to say, and I wished we were anywhere but in a hospital. It was a place full of hope and tragedy, but most of all, uncertainty.

  “Why don’t the two of you take a walk or something?” Jagger said, and for the first time, his exhaustion showed. “So you don’t sit here with everything all awkward.”

  Zach laughed. “Told you he’d start speaking gibberish.”

  “I’m pretty much having an out-of-body experience. You’re lucky anything I say is in English.” He tipped his head back and closed his eyes. “Seriously. Do your thing. I’m gonna go in with Leah. I want to be in there when she wakes up. Keep your phones on. I’ll text when she’s ready to see you.”

  “Will we be able to see Violet tonight?” I asked.

  His face lit up. “I hope so.”

  “Go in there before you fall asleep.” Zach tapped Jag’s leg with his foot. “We’re not going to leave you out here snoring, with drool running down your chin.”

  Jagger stood. “I don’t snore.”

  Zach nudged me. “He drools, though. It’s nasty.”

  “Fuck you, Zach.” Jagger pressed his lips together, the corners of his lips quivering, but then he gave in and laughed. “Get out of here. Talk this shit out. We had a serious fucking scare today, and life’s too short to be mad at each other.” An exhausted Jagger pulled no punches.

  “You heard the man,” I said.

  The maternity ward had a cute sitting area outside the waiting room, with rocks and palm trees. The sun had gone down, and all the other visitors besides me and Zach had gone home. I crossed my legs on the stone bench. “What the hell were you doing with Leah today?”

  He straddled the bench, facing me. “I plead the fifth.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Whatever it was made a baby come crashing out of her.”

  “That was an added bonus. It was a super-secret mission, and there are consequences to telling you.”

  He was trying to be cute, or he still didn’t trust me. Unfortunately, the latter was more plausible. “Will I find out eventually?”

  “I hope so.” He put his hand over my sneaker, tracing the blurry lines of my drawings. “Still got these old things on, huh?”

  “I keep waiting for inspiration to strike. Then I’ll buy a new pair.”

  “Another passion project?” he asked.

  “I might stick to business for a while. My last passion project got me into trouble.”

  “What exactly was your passion project?” He rested his fingers on a heart. I’d filled it in with red ink and had to recolor it several times. The rest of the designs were all black or blue.

  “You. And the blog.” I sighed, trying to think of a good way to explain my intentions to him. “I’m sorry that I mislead you. When I asked you for the trade, I knew about the call for entries. I thought this edgy, grown-up Dear-Diary style blog would get attention, but I never thought anything like this would happen. So, I wrote it for myself, never expecting them to pick me out of the hundreds of entries they got. And the money—”

  “I know. Your grandma.”

  “She’s all I’ve got, so I want to make sure I protect her. Eventually, I’d like to get her out of Detroit.” I drew my foot closer to my body, and his finger came away from the sneaker with red ink smudged on it. “You understand that.”

  “She’s not all you’ve got. You have Leah and Jagger.” He met my gaze. Lights from the hospital cast a shadow over his body, but his face was in the light. “And you have me.”

  “The easy thing would’ve been to take your money, send it to my grandma, and call it a day. But it felt like a handout, because what I did for you didn’t feel like work. I did it for fun, because I wanted to help you out.”

  “But that’s your job. I accepted your offer expecting to pay you for it. And when you came up with a trade”—he tipped his head back, and darkness covered him—“I felt like I was stealing from you.”

  Interesting. “So, we probably shouldn’t work together, then.”

  “I was hoping we could. Every time Insight posts one of your blogs, I get a wave of new people calling. I’m not taking clients. I haven’t taken one since I met you. What you saw at the party was nothing. She kissed me and I let her, to see if I wanted it. And I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt, I don’t want anyone but you. I’m looking to hire a new guy. If you can figure out how to do that for me, you’re a genius.” He chuckled. “Whether you were thinking of your blog in terms of my business or not, you should be getting a cut. Seriously. We’re reaching a group of women who would’ve never contacted the agency because you took the taboo away. I ask them why they’re calling, and they keep telling me about that fucking Insight blog.”

  “Would you still be mad if you weren’t profiting off what I did?” I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that people were reading my words and experiencing the rush of emotions Zach showered over me. More than that, they could sympathize with why I wanted to do what I did. Money made everything better. Even if I told myself I was doing something noble with the Insight money.

  “I miss you.” He laced his fingers through mine. “I never should’ve taken you up on your offer. But fuck, I wanted you. To get inside that head of yours and figure out what made you tick. But you suck at hiring an escort.”

  I swallowed hard. No more secrets. “I’ve been offered a book deal, based on the blog.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah. I got a call from my editor, which I figured was to let me go. Instead, she offered me a book contract. Said I needed an agent, and there’s the potential for a movie deal.” I still couldn’t believe this was my life.

  He whistled low. “Wow. When’s it happening?”

  “I haven’t accepted it yet.” I squeezed his hand. “I wanted to make sure I had your blessing.”

  “How much money are we talking?” Not the answer I expected.

/>   “A lot. Not enough to be your neighbor in that fancy apartment building, but enough that I could actually buy you for the night and not worry about it.”

  I missed his kisses so much. This one was better than the rest, because I didn’t take it for granted. Anyone could have Zach Collins for a price. But he belonged to me.

  “I think you should do that,” he said, only stopping his kisses long enough to get the words out. “A book is a lot of space to fill. And your fans are going to expect something absolutely filthy. You need to keep them happy.”

  I laughed. “I learned from the best.”

  “I’ll give you the next appointment for free. And all the others after that.”

  “Deal.” I wanted to rip his clothes off, steps away from the maternity ward. “And if you still want my help with the site, I’m happy to do it. That type of stuff is fun for me.”

  Zach grinned. “I’d love that. But only after you tell me what I owe you. Don’t hold back, either. You’re making me a shit ton of money.”

  “When can we start? Not with the site. With everything else.”

  “How about tonight, after we see Leah?”

  “I can’t wait.”

  * * *

  Episode Seven: The Reunion

  My escort and I have something in common. We’re terrible with words. The hardest ones, like sorry, I was wrong, I miss you and most importantly, I love you. But our lives are twisted together, and an almost tragedy put us in the same place. One of those moments that make people realize time doesn’t wait for us to get words right.

  We have other things in common, too. We were left in the dark, expected to wither and die, but neither of us listened. Instead, we thrived.