Paradise & Vodka (Saddles & Racks Book 6)

by Kimberly Knight

  I had no idea what he was talking about until Brad responded, "You'll meet a woman who you'll start to care about, and then before you know it, you'll never want to go a day without her."

  "Fuck that." I laughed.

  "It could happen," Gabe stated.

  "All of you have lost your minds."

  "Then, should we bet?" Paul asked.

  "Do you all think I'll fall in love next week?" I questioned, and they each shrugged. "All right. I'll take your fucking bet." I shook my head in disbelief, and then took a sip of my drink. Fucking assholes.

  "What will it be?" Brad wanted to know. "Money—"

  "I think he should babysit if we win," Vinny stated. "Tessa and I could use a night out."

  "Oh my God." I laughed. "You guys have really fucking lost your minds."

  "Well, not all of us have kids," Brad stated, motioning to himself and Galen.

  "Yeah," I agreed.

  "Then what would you want?" Paul inquired.

  "Let's just bet money," I argued.

  "Fine," Brad agreed. "How much?"

  I shrugged. "A grand?"

  "A grand for each of us?" Galen asked.

  "Yeah," I confirmed. "When I win, you each own me a thousand bucks."

  "And when we win, you owe each of us a thousand?" Gabe questioned.

  I thought for a moment. I wasn't going to lose, so I took the bet, even though I would get the short end if I failed. The guys didn't make the money they used to make—or like I made—as an escort. I could afford to give them each a thousand dollars, but I wasn't going to fall in love in a week. That would be crazy.

  "Yeah." We shook, and the bet was on.

  Fucking suckers.

  Mark had set up drinks at Marché Bacchus, a French bistro with outdoor seating on Lake Jacqueline, as the first meeting with my Fiji client. It was perfect for getting to know each other, and for the type of date that it was, I needed to know everything about Ashleigh. For starters, I needed to know what she looked like. That was the only issue I had when it came to dates: new clients were always blind ones. They knew what I looked like, but it was always a surprise for me. It didn't matter in the end because it was my job, but when Ashleigh walked in, I was slightly taken aback.

  She had the most stunning smile I'd ever seen in my entire twenty-seven years, and it wasn't even directed at me. She was laughing at something the hostess must have said, but I still found it intoxicating.

  She was also tall, especially in her heels, had long, chocolate brown hair, and a voluptuous body that made my dick twitch. Even though I was an escort and loved all women, my type was supermodel-like. But as Ashleigh approached with the hostess, who was showing her to her seat, my body was telling me something different.

  I stood. "Ashleigh?"

  "Yes." She stuck out her hand.

  I chuckled and took it. "We're supposed to be dating, right?"

  She blinked. "Yeah?"

  Still holding her hand, I pulled her to me and wrapped my arms around her, feeling her ample breasts press into my chest. "Then handshakes are out of the picture." I wanted to kiss her, but I didn't. Instead, I took a step back and pulled out her chair.

  "Thank you."

  As I sat in my chair, I saw her pull out a small notebook. That was a first. "Note-taking?"

  "Yeah, I don't want to forget anything."

  "Do you do this with all of your boyfriends?"

  "Well, no, but this isn't like a normal relationship."

  I grabbed her hand. "We have to make it seem like it is."

  Pink tinted her cheeks.

  "Don't be nervous. Everything will be fine."

  "That's what my ex used to tell me. Of course, that was before he screwed my sister with me a few feet away, and now he’s marrying her."

  "Wait." I blinked and sat back. "The wedding we're going to is for your ex and your sister?"

  Ashleigh snorted. "Yep. Fucked up, huh?"

  "Yeah, it is." The waitress came over and took our drink order, and once she left, I asked, "So, this isn't really about you needing a date to a wedding, then?"

  She shrugged. "Well, I do need a date."

  "But you want them to think we're dating."

  "Yeah, and honestly, dating someone who is the complete opposite of my ex."

  "What do you mean?" I asked, assuming she meant he wasn't an escort. Women didn't hire me because they had me at home.

  "Well," she snorted, "he's a collared-shirt-under-a-sweater-wearing future doctor who sleeps high in his ivory tower every night."

  I smirked. "So, you mean I'm the bad boy your mother never wanted you to bring home?" I felt as though that was why many of my clients booked me. They assumed that because I was covered in tattoos, I was always up to no good. The reality was that I just loved tattoos and wanted meaningful ones on my body like angel wings on my left pec for my grandmother who had passed.

  "You're the bad boy my parents never expected me to bring home," she countered. "My twin sister, Everleigh, yes. Me, no."

  "Why's that?"

  Ashleigh sighed. "Because we may be twins, but she's the beauty queen—literally—and I'm the nerd."

  I chuckled and moved my gaze over her upper body. "Ashleigh, baby, you're anything but a nerd."

  Her cheeks tinted a deep shade of red as the waitress set our drinks down and left.

  "You don't need to be embarrassed by me looking you over. In fact, we need to be comfortable with each other."

  She took a sip of her vodka cranberry. "I know. I've just never done this before."

  My grin widened. "Lucky for you, I have."

  Even though my original plan was to hire Nick because he screamed bad boy and would make Everleigh and Douglas jealous—I hoped—he actually seemed like a good guy. In a perfect world, I would have wanted to meet him and then date him for real. But I didn't live in a perfect world, and I had to hire a male escort so my family wouldn't know I was lonely and single. I hadn't had a serious boyfriend since Douglas, and when I went on dates, it never went beyond a few dinners. I just hadn't met many guys who I've clicked with in my twenty-five years.

  Or maybe it was the fact that I was scared of having my heart broken again.

  When I said goodbye to Nick, I thought about the entire date. He made me laugh, blush, and he made me feel giddy. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought it was a real date because he was attentive and asked all the right questions as though he wanted to get to know me. But I knew that he had to get to know me, and I had to remember it was all for show.

  We went over a backstory about how we met and started dating. It wasn't elaborate, and I hoped it was believable, but I wasn't sure, given how hard dating was. I'd only met guys on dating apps. The story we came up with was that Nick and I bumped into each other in the produce aisle at the grocery store.

  "Those are some nice melons," Nick had said, and the fake scenario made me giggle because thinking about this gorgeous man using a cheesy pickup line made me laugh. Even if he wasn't an escort, I didn't think he would need any pickup lines to get dates, but I liked the story. It reminded me of home because I'd heard of people meeting in the small market in town. Sadly, I had to keep telling myself that none of it was real. I was paying Nick to pretend to like me and be my fake boyfriend for a week. Once we returned home from Fiji, I'd never see him again.

  I would also be broke.

  As I was packing, I got a text from Adriane: So??? How was it?

  Me: Fine.

  Adriane: Fine? That's all I'm going to get?

  I chuckled and replied back: What do you want me to say? We established some details to get us through the week, and then we went our separate ways.

  Adriane: You didn't bang in your car?

  Me: What??? Why would we do that?

  Adriane: Because he's a gigolo and on the clock.

  I didn't really know how it worked, but yeah, I had assumed because of the stigma about escorts that at the end of the date the client got laid. But
I honestly hadn’t been thinking about that, and Nick hadn't made any moves. He had been the perfect gentleman.

  Maybe he didn't find me attractive.

  Me: It wasn't like that.

  Adriane: And why not?

  I thought for a moment before texting back, not wanting to be a sourpuss: Because technically, the date isn't over.

  Adriane: Technically, I would think it meant you would get laid as much as you wanted since you are booking him for 7 days.

  My stomach dipped, thinking about sleeping with Nick for an entire week. He was a professional, and I wouldn't mind enjoying a little roll in the sheets with him, but I wasn't going to make the first move. I didn't know how dating an escort actually worked. Plus, he hadn't mentioned sex at all during our meeting and drinks. He’d walked me to my car, and the next time we would see each other would be at the airport.

  Me: Well, the 7 days are just beginning.

  And two of those days were travel days, but I didn't tell her that part.

  Adriane: When you get home, I expect a full report.

  I laughed.

  Me: Why? Are you thinking of hiring him to bang YOUR brains out?

  Adriane: Maybe :P

  Me: All right. I'll see what happens.

  We didn't have a direct flight. Instead, we had a two-hour layover in Los Angeles before our almost eleven-hour flight to Fiji. We also wouldn't arrive until Wednesday morning and would lose a day, but the less time I had to spend pretending I was okay with my sister marrying my ex, the better.

  When I got to the airport, Nick was waiting inside at the check-in. My belly did that thing again where it felt as though it was going to drop out through my vagina. I smiled wide as I approached, and when he saw me, he slid his phone into his pocket and stood.

  "Snookums," he greeted with a grin.

  "Is that really what you're going to call me?"

  He pulled me in for a hug, and I could have sworn I would have melted to the floor if he hadn’t been holding me up. I needed to get a grip. I was paying him, and he was only showing me affection because he had to. The problem was that it felt good to have a man wrap his arms around me. His strong, toned body pressed into my soft one. Plus, I had been thinking about my text conversation with Adriane, and I was wondering if Nick and I were going to hook up. Since I was spending my entire savings on the trip, I should get rewarded, right?

  "I'm testing snookums out. Does it work?"

  We pulled apart. "Yeah, if you want to."

  "What did your ex call you?"

  We started to walk to get in line to check our bags. "I don't think he called me anything except Ashleigh or Ash."

  "The more I think about it, I don't think I can keep saying snookums."

  "Okay, that's fine." I couldn't really see him using that term of endearment either.

  "What do you want to call me?" he asked as we advanced in line.

  I shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't thought about it."

  "Well, we're in love, right?"

  I snorted. "Yeah, we're supposed to be."

  "Then what would you call your bad boy lover?"

  I chuckled again. "I don't know. Lover?"

  "Lover?"

  We moved again in line, and I lifted a shoulder before responding, "I don't think I've ever called anyone anything other than their name."

  He stared at me for a few moments, his blue eyes searching my dark brown ones. "Are you telling me that this guy has been your only boyfriend?"

  "No. I had another one my freshman year of college."

  "And you didn't call him anything?"

  "We didn't date that long."

  "What happened with that guy?"

  I sighed. "Well, it was more so I could—you know." I shrugged.

  He furrowed his brow. "Lose your virginity?"

  I looked around to see if anyone was listening as I felt my face heat. I couldn't believe we were having this conversation in line to check in our bags. I lowered my voice. "Yeah. He was cute, and we started talking at a party. We hooked up before summer break, and then I never talked to him again."

  "So, he really wasn't a boyfriend."

  "I guess not."

  "Are you also telling me that you've only fucked two guys?"

  I looked at the people in line around us again, my eyes wide. "No, I've been with others over the years, just nothing serious."

  It was our turn to check in, so we stepped up to the counter, showing our passports and checking in our bags before getting our boarding passes.

  "Come on, Sugar Tits. Let's grab a drink."

  "Oh my God." I started laughing. "Is that what you're going with?"

  "I'm not sure I can until I taste them." He winked.

  I was really starting to like Ashleigh. Although she classified herself as a nerd, I would never have pegged her as one. She told me about her job and how she liked science stuff, but she didn't look like a nerd to me. In fact, I thought her smarts were sexy.

  She was sexy.

  It surprised me that she was single and had only had one boyfriend before. I’d only had two girlfriends in my day, but that was by choice. I didn’t want to have anything serious. What I gathered from Ashleigh was that she wanted something long-term—she wanted what my friends had.

  "So, tell me about your work," she said as we sat at a bar near our gate.

  I took a sip of my drink. "It's glorified dating."

  "Really?"

  "Yeah. Women hire me to go with them to important things."

  "Like weddings." She smiled.

  I grinned. "Yeah, like weddings, but also parties and stuff like that."

  "And you enjoy it?" Ashleigh took a sip of her cocktail.

  "I do."

  "Do you …" She looked away, staring at a baseball game playing on the TV.

  "Do I what?"

  She took a deep breath as though she were nervous. "Do you ever want to settle down?"

  I chuckled. If I had a dollar for every time I was asked that question … "Honestly, no. Why would I?"

  Ashleigh shrugged. "I think it would be nice to come home to someone every night after work and just have that love and connection you can only have with that one person."

  "My friends seem to love that life, but I just can't imagine it."

  "Are they married?"

  "Most of them are."

  "And you really don't want that?"

  "No." I shook my head and took a sip of my salty dog.

  "What about when you're older?"

  "Hopefully, I'll be doing this until I can't get it up."

  She snorted. "So, women want older escorts?"

  "Sure, why not? Even older women need to have a man on their arms."

  "True, but I hope that's not me. I want the whole thing: love, husband, kids."

  "And I just want to fuck and get paid for it."

  "Why am I not surprised?" Ashleigh laughed.

  I shrugged. "Because I'm a bad boy."

  "Are you?"

  "No." I shook my head, smiling. "My friends say I'm the prick of the group, and everyone else assumes because I'm covered in tats that I'm bad news, but I'm just like any other guy, except my job is to treat a woman to a good time."

  "Well, here's to having a good time." She lifted her glass, and so did I.

  We cheered, then finished our drinks before walking to our gate to board our first flight.

  Fiji was the farthest I'd ever traveled.

  Being in an airplane for almost fifteen hours sucked. I tried to sleep, but it was hard, so I watched several movies. I did get to know Ashleigh better, which would help with my job. I told her about my friends who’d gotten out of the game, and all the shit they encountered with the women in their lives.

  "Wow, that's crazy," she'd said.

  "I know. And they wonder why I like to travel."

  "But some of the stuff with your friend Brad didn't happen in Vegas."

  "True, but I also don't have the same background as them."
>
  "Vinny didn't either."

  I'd chuckled. "And you were worried you wouldn't remember anything and needed to take notes when we first met."

  She'd snickered. "True. I find all of their stories fascinating, I guess. Maybe that's why I remember details."

  "Or because I just told you."

  "That too." She laughed.

  "Ready, Honey Boo?"

  Ashleigh looked up at me as I stood to leave the plane. "Is that what you've settled on?"

  "Not sure yet. Testing it out."

  We debarked from the plane and made our way to the baggage claim. To play up my role, I grabbed her hand in case anyone was around. She didn't pull away, and honestly, I enjoyed having her on my arm. As I looked out the window, I realized the sun was just now starting to rise.

  "Are we staying on the main island?" I asked.

  "I think so. We're to take a taxi to the hotel."

  "Are we going to be able to check in this early?"

  She lifted a shoulder. "I'm not sure."

  "Are your parents and the bride and groom here?"

  "Yeah. My mom told me they were getting in yesterday."

  "Do you want me to meet them this morning?"

  We stopped to wait for our bags. "I'd rather we freshen up first."

  "What? You don't think I'm sexy when I haven't showered in over twenty-four hours?" I teased.

  She looked down at the floor as though she were embarrassed. "I'd think you were sexy even if we were stranded on this island without showers for five years."

  "So, you think I'm sexy?"

  "Um, duh."

  I slung my arm across her shoulders and brought her to me, kissing her temple. "We're getting somewhere, Doll."

  "Doll?"

  "Yeah?"

  "No." She shook her head and chuckled.

  "Peach?"

  "Eh."

  "Pumpkin?"

  "Does it need to be a food?" She wrinkled her nose.

  "Darling?"

  "Can't see you saying that." She snorted.

  "Kitten?"

  "Do I look like one?"

  I shook my head and whispered into her ear, "You look like a caramel sucker I want to lick and suck for hours."