Her Wedding Escort: A BWWM Alpha Male Romance

by Alexis Gold

  “Why do you love San Francisco?” he asked with a smile.

  She raised one hand in the air. “Who knows? There’s so much to love about it! I love the sourdough bread, the salty air, the cold thick fog that creeps in. I love the painted lady houses, the huge hills, and Chinatown. I love Golden Gate Park and the music that is created here. I love the entrepreneurial spirit of the startup businesses that have made so much success here. I love the ocean and the Golden Gate Bridge. I love the boats that are always out on the bay. I love the redwood forest just over the hill. I love the diversity and the wildness, the vibe of acceptance for so many different varieties of people. I love the seafood. There are a million things to love about that city, and it’s why I can’t ever leave.”

  She glanced at him and grinned for a moment, then looked back at the road.

  “I like the trolley cars,” he told her. “And everything else you said.”

  She laughed and nodded. “You’re a man of good taste then!”

  He nodded. “I am indeed. So what else?”

  She bit her lower lip in thought. “I love good books, especially ones that keep you up until the sunrise reading them because you can’t put them down. Those are the best! I love libraries and museums, and I love art, history, ballet, the symphony, the opera, and football. I like baseball too, once in a while.”

  He laughed out loud at her. “You are a renaissance woman if I ever met one!”

  She nodded. “I guess I must be.”

  “Okay... how about your bucket list? What do you want to do while you have the chance to do it?” he asked curiously.

  She threw one hand up in the air. “Everything!” she shouted, feeling free and happy and excited as she drove down the highway beside the ocean with a new friend in the car.

  He rubbed his chin with his finger. “That’s a lot. How about the top things on the list?”

  Her head tilted back as she laughed at him and his eyes followed her full red lips down her neck to her chest, and then he looked away from her, feeling a little guilty for the way he had let himself take her in. He had to remind himself that he was hired to be her date, and that he wasn’t there because it was a real date.

  “Let’s see. I want to go climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. I want to go up in a hot air balloon. I want to tour the Napa Valley vineyards and taste all the good wine they make there. I want to go out on a whale watching cruise and see them out in the ocean where they belong. I’d love to go diving in the Caribbean. I want to go to Europe for a long trip. I would love to learn to fly an airplane. How’s that?” she asked with a grin.

  “That’s a good list!” he told her. “I hope that you get to do all of those things.”

  She nodded. “Me too!”

  She glanced at him for a moment and then said, “Okay, my turn... why are you working at an escort service? You seem like a good man. You’re smart and handsome... why the escort service?”

  He shrugged. “Well, I’ll be honest, I’m a starving artist, really. I paint and I sculpt, and so far my work has been as yet unloved by the masses of art lovers out there, so to keep the wolf from the door, I date women who pay me to date them, or escort them, as the case may be.”

  Julia smiled in an understanding way. “I get it. You do what you have to do to make it all work!” She reached over and patted his shoulder. “I’m really grateful that you’re doing it for me, though, because you’re really saving me this weekend.”

  He smiled back at her. “Well, I’m glad to be saving you. So, tell me what Theo is like, so I will know what they expect me to be.”

  She pursed her lips in thought and shook her head slowly. “You know what, you have the part of a lifetime here, because they’ve never met him and I almost never talk about him. They know almost nothing about him. You can make Theo anything you want him to be. All that they know is that he and I get into arguments from time to time and we’ve broken up and gone back out again afterward. They don’t really know why, they just know that things have been bumpy for us from time to time.”

  He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “So, really, I could be anyone at all! That’s fantastic! Do you want me to be someone that you would keep around or someone that you might break it off with sometime soon?”

  Julia immediately shook her head. “We want to look like we are deeply in love and things are going beyond amazing for us, because if my mother thinks for one second that she can get me hooked up with Ronald, she’s going to do it. She already knows that things have been hard for us, so she’s not going to be on your side, and you’re white, so that’s not going to help our case at all, but we’ve got to show her and Ronald that we are solidly together and there is absolutely no possibility that either one of them could come between us. We have to show them that no one has ever loved each other as much as we love each other, or they’re going to try to make me go to the dark side and marry Ronald.”

  She shuddered at the thought and he laughed at her.

  “So... that means we’re going to be affectionate with each other all weekend?” he asked with a little trepidation.

  She realized then what he was saying. “Oh...” she bit her lower lip and it made him smile. “Uh... yes. I guess I didn’t think about that.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, it wasn’t in the job description that I’d be holding your hand, or hugging you, or kissing you in front of your whole family.”

  Her eyes got big and she drew in her breath as she realized that he was right. They would have to do all of those things for anyone to believe it. “I am so sorry,” she said with a grimace.

  He chuckled at her. “I’m not. You’re a beautiful woman and a good lady. I think I can suffer through some romantic acting with you. I just hope it’s all right with you.”

  She nodded her head. “It’s going to have to be. We’ve got to make everyone believe it!”

  Derek looked at her with a cocked eyebrow and asked her a question that had been burning the edge of his mind ever since she had brought it up. “So you haven’t ever actually really dated a white man before, have you?”

  Julia looked around at him slowly and shook her head almost imperceptibly. “No, I haven’t. This is a first for me.”

  He smiled a little. “Well, it’s a first for me, too. I think we can make it work, though.”

  She tilted her head and gave him a grin. “Do you think so? Do you think you can fool my family into believing that we’ve been deeply in love for two years?”

  Derek grinned. “I’m going to give it my best shot.”

  They drove on over hills and down them, around sharp corners and through small seaside towns, and made their way down the beautiful California coastline, talking and getting to know one another as they went. The further they went, the more they both felt like old friends who hadn’t seen each other in a long while, and the more comfortable it made them.

  Derek’s easy going manner and attitude made the partnership more comfortable for Julia, and the prospect of selling him to her family and Ronald as her long term boyfriend much easier.

  “So,” she said, looking over at him for a moment, “do you have a girlfriend or do you just date the women who pay you and call that good for a romantic life?”

  His smile slipped away a little bit and she knew then that she had touched a sore spot in his heart.

  “Well, the truth is that the paid dating is actually a pretty lonely thing. I don’t have a girlfriend. I do just date the women who pay me, but it’s lonely because they want me with them on their arm as someone to adore them, or keep them company, or for show. They aren’t with me because they are interested in me as a person, and at first I was okay with that, but then it really begins to feel like a job because none of them are with me for myself. I’m being paid, they are putting me on display, and it’s all very... cold and calculating. Some of them want more than just the public show and I don’t ever do that. I’m not a prostitute. I’m just escorting to pay the bills. It’s not a career for me, but it takes up a
lot of my nights so I don’t really have time to date, and I wind up feeling alone a lot of the time because of it. It’s a weird situation.” He sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

  Then he looked at her and realized that she felt badly for him. “Oh! I’ve made you uncomfortable. I’m sorry. Too much information?” he asked.

  She laughed at him and the difficult moment dissolved. “It was your turn for a TMI moment.” She was quiet a minute and then she added, “You know, it’s not my business at all, but I feel sorry for you. I wouldn’t have imagined that it could be a lonely lifestyle, but now that you have explained it like that, I can see why it would be. I hope that you’re able to make something of your artwork soon so that you don’t have to keep dating for money.”

  He nodded adamantly. “Me too!”

  They stopped at little cafe on the beach for lunch and ate fish and chips and drinking lemonade. When they finished he looked at her and asked, “Would you like to walk on the beach for a few minutes and stretch your legs? We’ve been going a while.”

  She nodded and smiled at him. “That sounds good!”

  They left the little cafe and began to walk through the sand to the water. He looked around them and whistled. “Boy, this is beautiful, isn’t it?”

  Julia sighed and agreed with him. “It is. I never can get enough of the ocean. There’s just something that draws me to it.”

  Derek grinned and reached for her hand, holding it in his and drawing her near to him. “Me, too,” he said softly.

  She felt her nerves begin to dance all through her body as he pulled her close to him and lifted his hand gently to her face. “I hope you don’t mind, but I thought maybe we’d have our first kiss here, so that we have that out of the way before we see your family. It might be awkward if we try to kiss for the first time in front of them. I don’t want to blow my cover right away!”

  She hadn’t thought about a first kiss with him, and the idea of it made her heart began to beat swiftly. “Right... of course. We’d want to already have that figure out,” she agreed quietly.

  He slid his hands around her cheeks and tilted her face up to his. “Just close your eyes and pretend it’s someone you’re really in love with,” he told her quietly. Then he touched his lips to hers softly, brushing them over hers with the barest caress, and it felt like her entire world twisted upside down. She drew in her breath and her hands closed over the muscles on his arms, holding him tightly as he leaned in closer and opened her mouth with his, running his tongue over the inside edge of her lips.

  Her heart pounded in her and she closed her eyes and lost herself in the taste and feel of him, as his arms closed firmly around her and he held her close, his tongue moving over and around hers, as his hands slid from her face into her red curls. He held her that way, kissing her deeply for a long moment and then he let her go and there was something strange and electric in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. She felt that same electricity in her body, and all she could do was try to catch her breath and stand up straight.

  She held to him for a moment and his serious expression gave way slowly to a smile. “Wow,” he said softly.

  She raised her eyebrows. “Wow indeed,” she repeated.

  “So, that wasn’t so bad,” he told her quietly, his hands moving slowly from her curls over the sides of her neck and just barely touching her collar bone before they dropped away from her, sending waves of heat through her as his touch drifted over her skin.

  “No...” she sighed. “That wasn’t bad at all.”

  He tilted his head slightly and turned away for a moment and then looked back at her. “I’d believe it, if I saw us kissing like that.”

  She laughed a little. “Me, too,” she told him and then she turned in the sand and tipped her head at the car. “We’d better go. We have to get there in time to check in and get ready to have dinner with everyone.”

  He nodded. “Dinner with the family. Okay, let’s do it.”

  Chapter Three

  They walked back to the car and got in, both of them unsure of how to go back to the easy friendship that had begun between them, now that they had tasted a wild electricity with one another.

  Julia turned the radio on and for a little while, the miles spun away from them with the music, but then some of their favorite songs came on and they began singing along with the radio a little, and then singing along with the radio full blast, with shameless abandon, and the easiness they had found in the beginning returned to them.

  They drove on without stopping for much more than gas and snacks, and occasionally a photograph along the beautiful coastal highway, and by six that night they had pulled into the hotel parking lot. They were both impressed with it. It was a huge glistening resort on the beach, with every nuance and amenity that could possibly be desired. The valet took her car and as they were walking toward the front desk, Derek pulled Julia aside and looked into her big brown eyes.

  “I didn’t ask before, but I’ll need to know before we get to the front desk. Are we staying in the same room? It seems like if we’ve been together for two years that we would be.” His earnest eyes searched hers, making sure everything would be all right with her if he did stay with her. He didn’t really see that they had a choice, and he was worried that it might be awkward for her.

  She drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. “We are going to have to be in the same room together for this to be believable. Are you all right with that?”

  He nodded and gave her a half smile. “We’ve got to make it believable. We can do it.”

  They turned together and headed toward the desk, hand in hand.

  “Hello!” greeted the bubbly clerk at the check in counter. “Do you have a reservation with us?” she asked with a megawatt grin.

  “Yes, here’s my ID,” Julia said, handing her driver’s license over to the girl.

  The girl looked it up in the computer and her eyebrows shot up, “Oh! You’re with the bridal party this weekend! Lovely! Well, the bride has your room booked for you. You’re in a suite overlooking the ocean and the beach. It’s one of our best rooms. Now, it connects to the other suite next door to yours where some of your family is staying.”

  Julia raised one eyebrow in concern. “My room connects to another room that my family is staying in?”

  The clerk bobbed her head with a friendly grin. “That’s right!”

  “Who’s staying in there?” she asked in trepidation.

  The girl looked back at her computer and checked. “Evelyn and George Robinson,” she told them.

  Julia turned to glance at Derek. “My parents... well... that’s... nice.” she said with a fake smile plastered on her face.

  The girl at the counter missed her reaction, as she was busy gathering the room key and hotel information for them. “Here’s everything you’ll need. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to make your stay more comfortable!” she beamed at them both.

  They thanked her and walked away and Julia muttered under her breath, “You could put my parents on another floor of the hotel. That would make my stay more comfortable.”

  Derek laughed a little and placed his hand on her back, walking down the hall with her to their room. It was an enormous place: they had their own kitchen, sitting room, a bathroom with a jacuzzi tub, and a large bedroom with a king sized bed in it and a balcony going off of it through glass doors that led to a private beach for them, surrounded by lush vegetation for privacy.

  There was a door in the sitting room that Julia looked at suspiciously. She was sure that her parents must be staying in the room beyond it. She took her bags into the bedroom and set them on the bed, looking around at the bedroom. It was a truly beautiful room. Derek set his bag on the couch.

  Julia walked back into the sitting room and saw him there and said, “I think that the couch folds out into a bed. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize they had already booked a room like this. I was going to get us a room with double beds so you’d have
somewhere comfortable to sleep.”

  He shrugged. “I’ll be fine. It won’t be the first time I’ve slept on—”

  Derek was interrupted by a knock on the door in the sitting room, which opened up immediately after the knock, and in through the door walked an older woman and man who looked at them both with wide eyes.

  Julia’s jaw dropped slightly and she stared in surprise. “Mom! Dad! Uh... hi!” she went to them and hugged them tightly, and they hugged her back, holding her for a long while.

  “I have missed my baby so much!” her mother said, holding her greedily before releasing her to her father so he could hug her as well.

  They let her go and then all three of them turned and looked at Derek.

  “This must be Theo, right?” her dad asked with a smile as he reached his hand forward. “I’m glad to meet you, son. I wish we’d met before now. I’m George, and this is Evelyn.”

  Derek reached out for his hand and shook it, feeling the man’s strength and gentleness in his grip. He smiled at her parents and her parents both smiled back warmly at him.

  “I didn’t know if I was ever going to meet you!” Evelyn told him with a smile. “I’m so glad you were able to make it. This is a nice surprise.” She looked at Julia and winked. “I guess Ronald will be disappointed.”

  Derek looked from Evelyn to Julia and then he wrapped his arm around Julia’s shoulder and leaned close to her, kissing her cheek and making her eyes fly wide open in surprise. “I’m not letting anyone else get near my girl. I love her too much to let her be stolen away by another man. I’m sure he’s a great guy, but she’s spoken for.” He kissed her cheek again and held his arm around her shoulders snugly. Her face flooded with warmth and her breath caught in her chest.

  Evelyn smiled at them both and nodded, and then she looked down at his bag on the couch. “Aren’t you going to take that in your room and unpack?”

  Derek glanced down at his bag and raised his eyebrows. “Oh! Oh yes... I just set it there for a moment while we were looking at the place. It’s nice isn’t it? Huge. I didn’t expect it to be so big. I might need a guide and a map just to get around in here! Did you two get a good room as well?” he asked with a smile.