Undercover Escort: Madam Diary Mysteries

by Childs, Lisa

  But then he was at the wedding. So he must have already forgiven them both or why would he attend?

  “So it’s going according to plan now,” Michelle said with satisfaction.

  “Yes,” Taylor admitted. But then as her suspicions grew, she added, “I’m not entirely certain of the plan, though.”

  “You get your exclusive and Dominic gets a little payback for their betrayal.”

  “That’s all?” Taylor asked. “You’re not trying to play matchmaker like you did for Elaine and Bryce?”

  Michelle sighed. “Not at all. Like I told you, Dominic would have nothing to do with you if he knew you were a reporter. So how could the two of you ever have a real relationship?”

  How could they – when he hated what she was? Now the disappointment was all hers.

  “We couldn’t,” Taylor agreed. “Of course that’s the last thing I’m looking for...” Or it had been until she’d met sweet, sexy, sensitive Dominic Rowe. “All I want is the story.”

  “Good,” Michelle said. “I’m glad Dominic changed his mind about you staying. He kept telling me that he was fine with Courtney marrying rotten Roddy.”

  But maybe seeing her again had changed his mind. Had made him want her again?

  Taylor glanced at the time on her cell phone. He had been gone quite a while. Had Courtney already convinced him to take her back?

  Chapter Five

  May 15

  Night

  I should be happy that Dominic agreed to let Taylor stay with him as his date for this wedding weekend. And initially I was happy. But then I heard something in Taylor’s voice that I’ve never heard before. Because I never heard it before, I’m not certain what it was, but I think my usually fearless friend is afraid.

  Of Dominic? Or is she afraid of coming to care about him and having him find out she’s a reporter? I wasn’t lying when I told her how upset he will be about that. But I guess even I hadn’t considered the full implication. Even if they were to fall for each other, it would be too big a hurdle for them to overcome. Taylor won’t change her career, and Dominic won’t change his opinion of her career.

  I think they need each other. That she needs the security he can offer, and he needs the fun she can. But how can they ever really fall for each other if he will never be able to accept her. And now I find myself thinking about Detective Sam Butler, who would never be able to accept that I even pretended to be a madam...

  ***

  Dominic’s hand shook slightly as he passed the key card over the door and waited for the green lights to blink. When they did, he pushed open the door and stepped into his room. But it wasn’t his room anymore. It was hers.

  It smelled like her. It felt like her. And she filled it. Even as slight as she was, standing on the other side of the door, she filled the room. She was all that he saw.

  She wore that black dress yet, but she’d stepped out of her heels. Of course she’d had nothing to change into but the sheet she’d twisted around herself earlier. He had her suitcase.

  “Is everything all right?” she asked.

  He shook his head. He had a professional escort in his hotel room, and reporters milling about the hotel.

  She rushed forward and touched his arm. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

  “Damn paparazzi caught me in the parking lot,” he said and shuddered as he remembered how they’d snapped his picture and shoved microphones in his face. “God, I hate the press.”

  The color drained from Taylor’s beautiful face. And he sighed. “Sorry to sound so harsh, but they’re parasites, just feeding off the lives of others.”

  “I – I’ve never had a problem with them,” she said.

  “If you grew up like I had – with my dad and my brother – you would have a problem with them, too,” he said. “I think half my father’s marriages ended because of them.”

  “You blame the paparazzi for that?” she asked.

  He nodded. “They can take pictures and imply that something’s going on that’s not – make people doubt each other.”

  “You don’t think the distrust is already there?” she asked.

  “I don’t know...” He groaned. “And I don’t want to talk about it. I answered enough questions for the night.” Actually he hadn’t. He hadn’t replied to a single question the reporters had asked him. But when Roderick and Courtney had stopped him in the lobby to grill him about Taylor, he’d answered their questions – with lies. He’d never been a very good liar, but hopefully he’d pulled it off.

  It had also helped that the concierge had insisted on searching Taylor’s suitcase – for the safety of the other guests. Maybe somebody was worried that he might try to stop the wedding with a bomb or a gun or something. But all the concierge had found inside were Taylor’s clothes and her lingerie and big box of condoms.

  The concierge and Roderick’s face had flushed. And so had Dominic’s, as he imagined her wearing just those little scraps of silk and lace. He swung the suitcase onto the bed. “Like the restaurant bouncers, the hotel staff had to look through this, too,” he warned her. “So everything’s a mess.”

  “Thanks for getting it,” she told him as she opened the suitcase. “I’m sorry the reporters caught you.”

  “They weren’t the only ones.”

  She tensed.

  Maybe the concierge had made more of a mess than Dominic had realized. But she wasn’t looking at the clothes; she was looking at him. “Courtney?”

  He nodded. “And Roderick. They grilled me about you.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said again. “I promise you no more questions. We’ll just go to bed.”

  His breath left his lungs as his heart kicked around in his chest. “What?”

  “To sleep,” she assured him. She glanced around the room. “I’d offer to take the couch, but it’s too short for me, too. The bed is big enough. We’ll both fit.”

  Would he fit – in her? She was tall but slim and delicate looking. He wanted to find out if they would fit. He wanted her. But she wasn’t telling him she wanted sex. She was saying she wanted sleep.

  But Taylor was the one lying awake – hours later. The bed was wide enough that they did not touch. But she could feel him anyway. She could feel the heat of his body – could feel the excitement of being this close to him. And she wanted to be closer.

  This was a bad idea. Sleeping together. Posing as an escort. It was all a bad idea. But she couldn’t leave now – not with paparazzi surrounding the hotel. She couldn’t go back to the security of her little apartment over Michelle’s garage. And she wasn’t entirely sure that she wanted to.

  What she wanted...

  Was to turn toward Dominic, to touch him, to kiss him...

  Desire compelling her, she rolled over and stared at him in the faint moonlight filtering through the blinds. His profile could have been sculpted from granite – from a gorgeous polished stone. With his sharp nose and jaw and chiseled cheekbones, he was more beautiful than any work of art. Her breath escaped in a wistful sigh.

  “You can’t sleep either?” he asked. And he turned his head toward her.

  “No,” she admitted.

  “Why not?” he asked.

  She could have lied to him. She’d been doing that since they’d met, but she found herself replying honestly, “Because I want you.”

  And his breath escaped in a gasp followed by a groan. “Taylor...”

  “I understand that you didn’t want any part of this charade,” she assured him. “That I’m only here because Roderick and Courtney saw me. So I don’t expect you to be attracted to me – especially given my career choice.”

  “At least you’re not a reporter,” he murmured then chuckled.

  And her heart sank. He could never find out what she really was. And because he couldn’t, there was no future for them. She knew that. But at the moment, she wanted him too much to care. Maybe one night would be enough.

  “Seriously,” he continued. “I owe you an
apology.”

  “You owe me one?” she asked. She was the one who’d lied to him.

  “I have no right to judge you,” he said. “I don’t know why you do what you do, but that’s your business.”

  He was very sweet and way too trusting. And she felt no better than Courtney and Roderick because she was betraying his trust just like they had.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have told you...”

  “That you want me?” he asked. And he rolled to his side, too, so that he faced her.

  But she saw only his bare chest, a wall of sculpted muscles, and her heart pounded frantically with desire.

  “I – I shouldn’t have told you that,” she said.

  “Were you lying?”

  “No.”

  “I’m glad you want me,” he said. “Because I want you too.”

  But even though he said the words, he didn’t reach for her. Taylor held her breath, waiting for his touch.

  Then he said, “I’m not sure how to do this...if we can do this...?”

  And she smiled. “I want you,” she repeated. “Not as a client. I want you as a lover.”

  He touched her then, sliding just his fingertips along her bare shoulder. She wore a nightgown from the suitcase, but Michelle had packed it so it was super sexy thin silk. She shivered in reaction to his light caress, and her nipples pushed against the silk. He groaned and leaned in, closing the distance between them as he kissed her.

  A kiss had never affected Taylor like his kisses affected her. Heat rushed through her, and her clit began to pulse with desire. She’d never wanted anyone this desperately. Maybe it was just because she’d gone so long without sex. But if she’d ever felt this way with anyone before, she doubted she could have gone as long. Fear tempered her desire for a moment. But then his fingertips slid along her shoulders and over her collarbone to brush across her tense nipples. And she moaned.

  His groan echoed her moan. “Taylor...” Then he was pushing down the spaghetti straps of the nightgown until the silk pooled around her waist. And he cupped her bare breasts in his palms and stroked the nipples with his thumbs. Then he leaned over, and his tongue replaced his thumb.

  “Dominic...” she moaned, as the heat inside her grew hotter yet. And she came a little. It had been too long.

  He moved his hands from her breasts to the bottom of her gown, pushing it up as he trailed his fingers along her thighs. He brushed a finger across the core of her, and he must have felt the dampness in her panties because he groaned again. “You’re so hot, so ready...”

  So lazy, she cursed herself. If he was going to believe she was a professional escort, she needed to start acting like one. So she started touching him, too. His skin was hot and smooth beneath her hands, and his muscles rippled as she ran her hands over them.

  He groaned again, and through gritted teeth warned her, “Don’t make this end too quickly. It’s been a while for me...”

  Probably because of Courtney. Either because he hadn’t been able to get over her, or he hadn’t trusted anyone after her betrayal. She preferred to think it was the latter, but just in case it wasn’t, she intended to make sure he forgot all about the back-stabbing bride-to-be.

  She pushed him onto his back. Then she peeled off her nightgown and tossed it beside the bed. As she leaned over to kiss him, his breath shuddered out in a ragged sigh. “You are so damn beautiful,” he murmured.

  She kissed him deeply, teasing him with her tongue. And as she kissed him, she touched him – moving her hands all over him. His chest was bare, but he wore a pair of boxer briefs. She pushed those down to release his pulsating cock. And she cupped her hand around the girth of him before sliding her palm up and down the impressive length of him. He was so big. So damn big...

  He pulled back from her kisses and gasped for breath. “Taylor...”

  She smiled. But she didn’t stop until she moved her lips down his body, over his chest and his washboard abs. Then she replaced her hand with her mouth, moving it as far down him as she could manage. The tip of him pushed against her throat. He was so damn big. So hot...

  His hands gripped her shoulders, and he dragged her up. “No...”

  “But this is how it works,” she told him. “I give you pleasure.”

  “You said I’m not a client,” he reminded her. “So you’re not working...” And he pushed her onto her back. Then his mouth moved all over her body, like his hands had done. He touched her everywhere with his lips and with his tongue.

  Taylor squirmed on the bed as tension spiraled inside her. He was driving her out of her mind. She clutched at his shoulders, trying to pull him up, so that she could reach his cock, so that she could drive him as crazy as he was making her.

  But he slid further down her body, parted her legs and slid her thighs over his shoulders. First he teased her with his hot breath and then with his tongue, stroking it over her.

  “Dominic...” she murmured his name between pants for breath as her heart pounded madly. She was beyond crazy now. She was out of her mind completely as passion overwhelmed her. “Please...” She needed him – so desperately that it scared her.

  Then his fingers slid inside her and flicked the tip of his tongue against her clit. She arched off the bed and screamed as the tension shattered and she came. Her body trembling, she slid her legs from his shoulders and reached for him. As wonderful as the orgasm had been, it had only taken the edge of her desire for him. She needed more. She needed to feel him inside – filling her as she knew he would.

  “Dominic, please...” she murmured, her voice thick with passion.

  He groaned as she touched him. She skimmed her nails over his back before moving her hands between them. She ran her palms down his chest to his pulsating cock. He needed her just as badly as she needed him. But when she slid her fingers over him, he jerked back and rolled off the bed.

  “Dominic!”

  But seconds later he held up a condom packet. “We need this.”

  She tensed and asked, “Are you always prepared or did you plan on getting lucky this weekend?” And with whom? The bride?

  “The concierge found a box of these in your suitcase,” he informed her.

  And she gasped. “Oh...”

  He smiled. “You don’t remember packing them?”

  “Michelle packed my suitcase.”

  Dominic tore open the packet. “Remind me to thank her...”

  Taylor had more suspicion than gratitude. Why had Michelle packed the condoms? She’d assured her that she wasn’t matchmaking – that there was no way Dominic would sleep with an escort and definitely no way he’d sleep with a reporter.

  But yet here he was, reaching for her. He stopped, though, when he saw her face. “What is it? Have you changed your mind?”

  Taylor wouldn’t be that selfish and cruel – to either of them. She shook her head. “No. Just trying to figure out Michelle...”

  Dominic laughed. “I’ve learned to not waste my time on the impossible.”

  She’d thought this would be impossible, too – being with him, like this...

  But it was just sex, she reminded herself. Nothing more – it could never be anything more. That was what was impossible – a future for them. Not that she wanted one. At the moment, all she wanted was him. So she took the condom from the open packet and rolled it down the length of him.

  Dominic groaned as her fingers slid over him. Even with the latex between their skin, he could feel the heat and silkiness of her caress. And he nearly lost control then; he nearly came. But he wanted her with him. He wanted to give her more pleasure. He knew he’d given her some already. He could taste the sweetness of her orgasm on his tongue. He wanted to do that again, too.

  But he knew he wasn’t going to last much longer. He’d already pushed his control to the limit. He could go no longer without seeking his own release. The pressure inside him wound tightly, coiling all of his muscles. He caught her wrist and pulled her fingers away from
him. Through gritted teeth, he told her, “I can’t take much more.”

  “Then take me,” she urged. And she laid back on the mattress and parted her legs for him like he’d parted them earlier. And as he leaned down, she lifted her legs and slid them over his shoulders as he slid his cock inside her.

  He groaned at the sensation of being sheathed in her tight core. Her inner muscles clutched at him, pulling him deeper even before he moved. Then he moved his hips and thrust deeper.