Escorting the Billionaire (The Escort Collection 1)

And what I usually avoided.

“Ladies,” I said, smiling at them tightly from where I was. “One of you is coming with me.”

The blonde looked as though she was going to hurl herself at me for a second. She must have had some loyalty, though, because she held back. She took her friend’s elbow and brought her forward a little bit.

“Mr. Preston, this is Dre,” the blonde said.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“Dre,” the blonde repeated. Dre herself came forward then and shook my hand firmly. She was shorter than most of the women I dated, and curvier, with breasts, hips and…I wanted to ask her to turn in a circle for me so I could check out her backside. But I figured that would have made her feel too much like livestock being eyed for the slaughter. Her dark brown hair was thick, falling in waves down past her shoulders, and her eyes were a sweet, liquid Bambi brown.

Sweet, liquid Bambi brown? I seethed at myself. Where the fuck did that come from?

“Pleasure to meet you,” I said, relieved that no one could hear my ridiculous thoughts. “I’ll have your bags brought down now.”

“Okay,” she said and smiled at me. Her smile was lovely and revealed two dimples. She put her hand on me, and I felt as if I’d been electrically shocked. My cock actually twitched, as though it was trying to get closer to her.

This Dre was trouble. I inwardly cursed Elena for picking her, my mother for having me, and my stupid brother for getting married. Then I cursed Dre for being drop-dead gorgeous, having hips, a lovely smile, and eyes like fucking Bambi.

Fuccccck, I thought, and I knew that word was going to get me in trouble over the next two weeks, one way or another. It would certainly get me in something. Or maybe so

meone. I hoped that it would and wouldn’t all at the same time.

My cock twitched again. Traitor.

“Are you ready, Mr. Preston? Or do you want me to call you James?” Dre grabbed my elbow, and I stiffened—several parts of me stiffened, actually, and I cursed myself some more—as I tried to smile at her as if I was a normal person.

“James is fine,” I said, leading her through the door.

“Bye, Jenny,” she called over her shoulder. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye!” Jenny called, clapping her hands together. “Have fun!”

Elena was waiting for us at the front desk; she beamed at me over her glasses. “I see you found her, Mr. Preston,” she said. “Everything to your liking?”

I might have imagined it, but I thought Dre winced a little.

“Everything’s perfect,” I said smoothly. I decided I did not care for Elena. “We’ll see you in two weeks.”

She smiled at me and nodded at Dre. “Have fun,” she said to her, sounding like a mom trying to convince her shy daughter to dance at the prom.

We got into the elevator, and Dre released my arm.

“What sort of name is Dre?” I asked. “I’ve never heard it before.”

“My name’s Audrey,” she said, looking up at me from under all that luscious hair with those big brown eyes. I felt myself stir again, and I bit the inside of my cheek, hard, just to bring myself back down to earth.

“But I go by Dre for work,” she continued, and shrugged. “It’s more street. Audrey’s too prim.”

“Why would you want to sound street?” I asked her.

“Because I’m a streetwalker,” she said and laughed. “So I figured, if the shoe fits…”

“You’re not a streetwalker,” I said. “You’re an escort.”

“Aw, James…are you complimenting me?” She gave me that smile again, and I realized that it was practiced, that she was using her dimples against me like she had used them against hundreds, maybe thousands, of other men.

“No,” I said. “But I’d prefer to introduce you as Audrey to my family. Prim is fine with them.” As long as prim has a trust fund and a penchant for vodka at midday, I thought.