Escorting the Billionaire - Part 1

He reached me, and to my complete surprise, he took my hand. I looked at our hands linked together like that. I just stared at them as if they belonged to other people, and then I looked up at his gorgeous face.

He was glaring at Cole. “That was a di**ck move,” he said. “By the way, I heard almost everything you said.”

“It’s not like I was trying to hide it,” Cole said easily.

James looked at my face. “Are you okay?” he asked.

I nodded, biting my lip.

He turned back to Cole. “You are on my shit list.”

His friend looked at him and snorted, unfazed. “I’m an entrepreneur—you know that,” he said. “I see an opportunity and I move for it, fast.”

James smiled at him tightly. “You’re my best friend,” he said, “which is why I haven’t punched you in the face. Yet. But for the record, Audrey is a person, not an opportunity. So please do not approach her with any more business propositions in the future.”

Cole studied his friend’s face and let his glance trail down to our interlocked fingers. “Why James, I didn’t know you cared.”

I felt James stiffen for a second but only slightly. “I care that you find someone else to put your entrepreneurial hands on tonight. Audrey has agreed to be exclusive with me for the next two weeks. Please don’t get her into trouble—not with me, and not with her employer.”

A look passed between the two friends, and Cole nodded at James.

“Call me tomorrow,” James said. “If I answer, it means I’m speaking to you again.”

Cole smiled at the both of us, unabashed, and then he winked at me. “See ya,” he said. “It’s too bad James can’t share—I’m much more fun than he is.”

James gave him one final disapproving glare and then hustled me out to the car. I was shaking a little, still biting my lip. I nodded at Kai and got into the car silently. James climbed in after me and sat close by.

“That was unfortunate,” he said.

“Is that how all your friends treat you?” I asked.

“Cole is my only friend. And he would never do anything to hurt me,” James said carefully. “He must have thought it was okay.”

“I wasn’t going to say yes, if that’s what you think,” I said and looked out the window. Cole could have offered me a million dollars, and I wouldn’t have taken it. Which meant I was completely f**ked up and in deep trouble, as far as I was concerned.

“I can pay you what he offered—so that you don’t have a loss,” James said quietly.

“I don’t consider it a loss,” I said. I kept my face turned away. There was a tumble of emotions inside me—I felt betrayed that James had shared our secret with his friend, thrilled that he had stood up for me, and darkly hopeful that he wanted me for himself.

It was the darkly hopeful part that was killing me. That part had to go.

“I’m sorry that I told him about us,” James said, and I heard him pour himself another drink. I kept still, my face turned toward the window. “He thought we were an actual couple, in love. He was making such a big deal out of it. So I told him to shut him up. Which was a di**ck move in and of itself.”

I shrugged, looking out at the darkness, but I felt as though my heart was being ripped in two.

He thought we were an actual couple, in love.

I’d only met James today. We were not in love. We were playing a game, putting on a show. But I had all sorts of inappropriate feelings for him, bubbling up right underneath the surface. I was not a feelings person—I didn’t have the space for them in my already-complicated life. But for whatever reason, or for a whole host of reasons, James had gotten under my skin quickly. He was not just a John to me. That was a huge f**king problem on a long list of huge f**king problems.

I needed solutions, not more problems.

I also needed money. I closed my eyes and willed all my stupid feelings to go away. But they didn’t, and I found myself on the verge of tears. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t cry in front of him—that was Escorting 101.

“I don’t know if I can do this tonight,” I said, my voice treacherously thick.

He sighed. “I’m sorry, Audrey. I’ve hurt your feelings twice tonight. I’m completely f**king this up.”

“I think I should go home,” I said miserably.

I turned back just in time to see him finish his bourbon, a bleak look on his face.

“I think that would be for the best,” he said stiffly.

I had them drop me off three blocks from my apartment. I didn’t want him to see the crappy building where I lived. Kai pulled over, and James got out with me.