My Favorite Daddy (Dark Daddies 6)

“Sounds like the dream,” I say, laughing again. “But who would pay for that?”

“You’d be surprised,” she said with a gleam in her eye.

And that’s how it all started. Turned out, she got her start online and took her business into the real world. She was looking for a partner, someone to take on extra clients. In exchange for a small percentage, she’d help vet new guys for me and teach me everything I needed to know.

That’s what I did through college. That’s how I met a lot of my current clients, including Michael and Louis. After college, Trina moved to California and I started out on my own, making my own rules, meeting new clients, expanding my business.

And now I’m here, somehow still working, a couple years after college. I’m twenty-four, and as soon as I can pay off my undergrad debt, I’m going to law school. I’ll become a lawyer and quit being a companion as soon as I can. I’ll have a normal life and a normal job I don’t have to lie to everyone about.

I’m so lost in thought about my future that I don’t notice the man approach. I look up suddenly and he smirks down at me, cocking his head slightly to the side.

“Aria?” he asks.

I blink, completely surprised.

This is not what I expected.

Brady Price is handsome and younger than I expected. Despite the young voice, I figured he’d at least be in his fifties, but this man can’t be a day over forty. He’s broad, muscular, clearly very fit. His eyes are startlingly green and bright, his hair is full and pushed back almost casually, his lips are full and almost sensual, and his perfect jaw is covered in just the right amount of stubble to make him look almost irresistibly sexy.

The men I take on as clients typically don’t look like freaking models. They’re normal men just looking for an outlet, an escape. Some of them are even unattractive and have always struggled to find intimacy.

None of them are beautiful, not like this man.

“I’m Brady,” he says as I continue to stare.

“Right. Mr. Price.” I stand up suddenly and we shake hands.

“Please,” he says. “Call me Brady.”

“Okay, Brady.” We sit down at the little table. His navy suit is perfect tailored and there’s a little flag pin right on his lapel, just like he said there would be.

“I knew it was you,” he says, smiling at me. “There are a few girls in sundresses in here, but I knew it had to be you.”

“Why?” I ask, genuinely curious.

“You have this… thing about you. I don’t know.”

“An aura?” I ask, laughing. “Don’t tell me you’re into New Age stuff.”

He grins. “No, not that. You have an attitude. Like you’re looking out at the world, watching it.”

I raise an eyebrow. “You got that just now?”

“I’m a quick study.”

“I’m sure you are.”

He laughs again and I feel strangely at ease with him. I came into this not expecting much, but Brady is exceeding any vision I had of this.

“So, Brady,” I say. “Tell me about yourself.”

“I’m forty-two,” he says, confirming my guess, “single, own my own marketing consulting company, and I guess I’m looking for something more.”

“Something more?” I ask.

“You know.” He sighs a little. “More than the usual string of one-night stands and other bullshit.”

“You won’t find that with me,” I say.

“I know. Michael told me. You’re a… companion?” He frowns a little.

“Emotional companion,” I say softly. “I’m sure Michael gave you some details, but basically, I’ll be like a girlfriend and a therapist all wrapped up in one. Except there won’t be any sex or anything resembling it.”

Something flashes in his eye. It’s only brief, but I catch him look at my breasts, at my lips, and back up to my eyes. I feel a strange flush at that, a little excitement runs down my spine. There’s no rule against him finding me attractive, and honestly, that usually helps.

But I don’t normally find my clients attractive in return. I don’t know how I feel about that, to be honest.

“Right,” he says. “No sex. Just… talking.”

“And dates, and jokes, and movies, and TV, and whatever else you want.”

“A girlfriend without the sex,” he muses. “Seems like a weird idea.”

“It is,” I agree. “But that’s where the therapist part comes into play. If I agree to take you on as a client, I’ll be on your side unconditionally. It’ll be my job to give you what you’re missing… and it doesn’t sound like you’re missing sex.”

He grins at that. “No, no, I’m not.” He leans back in his chair and looks at me. I feel his gaze slip along my body again, lingering on my lips. “Why wouldn’t you take me as a client?”

“What I do isn’t really a science,” I tell him. “A lot of my success comes down to picking clients that I mesh really well with. Sometimes, it just doesn’t work.”