Sweet, liquid Bambi brown? I seethed at myself. Where the f**k 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 co**ck 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 hi**ps, a lovely smile, and eyes like f**king 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 someone. I hoped that it would and wouldn’t all at the same time.
My co**ck 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.
Technically, under that narrow definition, I was prim.
“Whatever you prefer, James,” she said smoothly, the pleasant smile still on her face like a mask.
“Which do you prefer?” I asked.
“Audrey,” she said. She gave no further explanation.
We reached the ground floor, and this time, I took her arm. From now on, I was going to initiate all contact, stay out in front and in control of every interaction we had. I’d hired her, and I needed her to fill a specific function.
If I changed my mind about the things I needed her to fill, or what I needed to fill, that was fine. But it was going to be a choice, not some stupid reaction to her doe-like eyes and my mystifying, painful erection.
Kai was waiting for us at the curb, a wide smile on his face.
“Mr. Preston,” he said, nodding politely at me, and smiled at Dre. Audrey. She went into the car ahead of me, and I finally saw her glorious as**s. It was one that you could grab on to with both hands.
“Don’t smile at her,” I said to Kai as soon as she was out of earshot.
He nodded and dropped the smile immediately. I slid inside the car.
“Why don’t you want your driver to smile at me? We’re the hired help, after all. We should stick together,” Dre said as soon as Kai closed the door. She’d heard me after all. She crossed her toned legs and smiled at me playfully.
“I’m a divide-and-conquer kind of guy,” I said. “I don’t want to get ganged up on.”
“I won’t do that. I promise,” she said.
The car pulled out, and Audrey suddenly laced her fingers through mine. Heat shot through me at her touch, and I winced. I looked at our hands and then at her, my eyebrows raised in a question.