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Escorting the Player (The Escort Collection 3)

Page 31

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"It's okay. I love kids," I told the mom.

"That's awfully nice of you." She beamed at me and turned to her son. "You can say 'hi'."

"Hi." The kid whipped off his baseball hat and held it out to me. "Will you sign my hat?"

"'Course, buddy," I said. "What's your name?"

"Tyler," he said, still staring at me. His eyes were huge in his face. "You're really big in real life, you know that? I have a lot of football cards and I watch all the games—and NFL Network—but I can't believe you're so big."

Avery smiled at the boy. "He eats a lot."

I smiled and handed him back his hat. "It's true. I do."

Tyler nodded. "I do, too."

"Do you drink milk?" I asked.

He nodded solemnly. "I love milk."

"I love milk, too. You wanna take a picture?"

"Yes." A huge smile broke out over his face. He came over, pulling his younger brother next to him and their mom snapped pictures, grinning the whole time. "This is so awesome," Tyler said. "This is the coolest thing that's ever happened to me."

"This is cool for me too, buddy. Thank you for making my day."

The mom leaned over to us. "You're very kind," she said. "Both my boys worship you. I love that you're a nice person in real life. Thank you again."

"It's my pleasure." I meant it.

I felt like I was on a high as Avery and I climbed onto our swan boat, which was a glorified pontoon boat decorated with large swans on the front. The sun dappled the water as the boat meandered around the park.

"This is fun," Avery said. She sounded a little shocked.

"You didn't think you'd like the swan boats? Everybody likes the swan boats."

She shook her head. "No. I meant being with you."

"You didn't think you'd like me? Everybody likes me." I pretended to pout.

"You weren't exactly nice when I showed up," she pointed out.

That humbled me. "I know. I'm sorry. But I wasn't expecting to like you, either."

"S'okay. We're making the best of it."

I grinned at her and squeezed her hand. "We sort of are, aren't we?"

* * *

"Are you buying this house for you, or are you buying this house for Avery? Or to shove it in Jessica's face?" Eric asked me. "Not that there's anything wrong with that—the last option, anyway." We were sitting on my back deck, each of us nursing a Bloody Mary. My agent was studying my face again, searching for clues about my emotional state and annoying me.

I took a sip of my drink and scoffed at him. "I'm not buying a house for Avery. That might be the stupidest thing you've ever said, and that's really saying something."

Eric regarded me calmly. "I know you slept with her. I won't ask you for details, although I'm sure it was awesome. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been mooning over her all day, holding her hand and asking her if she got off on the wainscoting as much as you did."

"Why're you being a dick, Eric?"

"I'm not. I'm protecting you. Which is my job, if you'll remember." He sighed. "I wanted you to have fun the other night, and I'm glad you did. She's a nice girl, Chase. But she is also an escort."



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