Escorted (21 page)

And, sitting
there on a bench in front of the St. Lawrence River, Lori hated Ander’s father
with a passion that was both fiery and irrational. Whoever the man was,
whatever the man had done, he’d convinced his son that he had no intrinsic
value.

She was
conscious of a tiny flicker of awareness that hinted at the hypocrisy of her
hatred. After all, Lori had spent the last six months paying Ander for his
body. But it didn’t feel that way to her—not really—and she couldn’t let
herself think too deeply about it anyway.

She knew Ander
was an adult and had the power to make his own decisions about his life. But
she still hated his father. Wished she knew who the man was.

She crunched on
the last of her ice cream cone and tried to summon back her giddy happiness
with the day.

“The banquet
should only last a couple of hours,” Ander said. “Right?”

Lori perked up
a little. “Right. They said it should be over by eight or eight-thirty. And we
have all day tomorrow before we fly back.” She still had most of the weekend
before her, and all she had to do was sit through one boring banquet.

“We can go out
after the banquet tonight if you want,” Ander suggested. “I’m sure we can find
something interesting to do. What did you want to do this afternoon?”

“I’m not sure,”
she admitted. “I’m going to need lunch in a little while.”

Ander’s mouth
twitched a little and she knew he was thinking about the ice cream cone she’d
just eaten. He was still finishing off his cone, and she watched as he put the
last bite in his mouth and then licked the remnants of melted ice cream from
his lips.

Impulsively,
she leaned over and pressed her lips against his. She licked his lips too,
absurdly thrilled when she could still taste a little ice cream.

Gently pulling
her closer to him, Ander wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss. His
tongue met hers and teased it a little before he slipped it further into her
mouth.

She moaned
softly as she stroked the back of his head, loving the smooth texture of his
scalp beneath her fingertips.

The kiss was
lovely, but she didn’t feel particularly urgent. She’d been exhausted last
night after the flight and the lecture, so, when they’d had sex before bed, it had
been gentle, unhurried, and under the covers. She’d thought, if she spent a
weekend with Ander, she’d want to rip his clothes off constantly. But she felt
more relaxed than anything else. While she was sure they’d have sex at least
once today, she wasn’t desperate to run back to the hotel room.

She wasn’t
exactly sure why. She didn’t think it was because she was finally getting sated
with Ander’s services, but she wasn’t sure how to explain it.

Ander had moved
one hand up to curve around the back of her head, and his other hand cupped her
cheek. It was warm against her skin. Sometimes, the warmth of his hands, his
whole body, still surprised her—for a man who always looked so cool.

“Did you have
any ideas for lunch?” Ander mumbled against her mouth.

It seemed
perfectly natural to continue their conversation in the midst of the kiss, so Lori
didn’t try to pull away. “I don’t know. Maybe we can go somewhere around here,
since our hotel is close by.”

They were
staying at the Château Frontenac, of course. Lori wasn’t about to visit Québec
and stay anywhere else.

“And this
afternoon? We still have several sites on our list we haven’t gotten to yet.” Ander’s
hand was tangled in her hair as he pressed little kisses on her lips.

She smiled
against his mouth. “Yeah. Maybe we can do those tomorrow.”

“Did you have
something else in mind for the afternoon?” The timbre of Ander’s voice hinted
that he knew what she was thinking.

Lori laughed,
feeling her
joie de vivre
return. “I did.” She dropped her hands and
pulled back from the embrace. “I think I’m going to need a nap.”

* * *

Lori actually took a nap.

She was tired
from the trip the previous day, the lecture, and a morning of walking around
Québec, and she needed to be “on” that evening so she wanted to have enough energy
to go through the requisite schmoozing and smiling. So, after she and Ander had
a leisurely lunch on the terrace of a quaint restaurant, they went back to the
hotel and she took a nap.

Ander picked up
a book and looked perfectly content to read while she snoozed. But, when she
woke up about an hour later and glanced over to his side of the bed, she saw
he’d fallen asleep too.

She watched him
for a minute. The book lay on the bed beside him, and one of his hands was
resting on his belly. He still wore the black t-shirt and gray trousers he’d
been wearing all day, although he’d taken off his shoes and socks. She’d never
seen him sleeping. She assumed he slept the night before, but he’d been awake
when she fell asleep and when she woke up. For some reason, it felt weird to
watch him sleep now.

He looked
different—without the smooth demeanor he wore like a designer suit. She saw
little creases on the corners of his eyes and noticed a long, faint scar just
under his right ear. His chest rose and fell with his steady breathing, and her
eyes rested for a long time on the way his eyelashes spread out against his
skin.

Part of her was
fascinated by Ander’s humanness. By the fact that he did something as natural
as sleep.

But she also
felt an odd twisting of her belly. An uncomfortable heaviness in her gut. She
didn’t know what it was, but she didn’t like it. So she carefully got out of
the bed and went into the bathroom, closing the door softly so she wouldn’t
wake him up.

She decided to
take a bath, since Ander was asleep and the banquet was still more than three
hours away. She ran hot water into the deep, old-fashioned tub and had a
wonderful soak, using lavender-and-honey scented bath oil.

She felt
relaxed and drowsy when she heard Ander’s voice from outside the door. “Lori?
Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” she
called out. “Just taking a bath.”

She gave a
little squeak when the door opened. She hadn’t realized her response was an
invitation for him to come in, but apparently he took it that way.

Ander walked
into the bathroom, barefoot and rubbing his face.

Lori was
immediately self-conscious, until she assured herself that there were enough
bubbles in the water to keep her naked body from being the focus of Ander’s
gaze. When he sat down on the side of the tub and idly dipped his hand in the
water, she said with a teasing smile, “You had a nice little nap.”

She knew her
tone would provoke a reaction and he didn’t disappoint her. He narrowed his
eyes and made a monosyllabic grunt.

She giggled.
She never suspected he might be cranky on first waking up, and she found the
idea strangely fascinating.

“How long have
you been in here?” he asked, letting his hand drift in the water. “It’s getting
cool.”

“I don’t know.
A half-hour or so. It is getting kind of cool. I was about to get out.”

She waited,
assuming he’d take her words as a sign that he should vacate the premises.

He didn’t. He
just leaned against the tile wall and watched her with an idle languor.

After a minute,
he prompted, “I thought you were going to get out.”

“I am.” She
waited for him leave.

He stood up but
didn’t move to the door. Instead, he picked up the big, soft towel from the
towel-warmer, looking down at her in expectation. When she didn’t move, his
brows drew together. “Well?”

Lori huffed.
“Are you going to just stand there and watch?”

He made a
guttural sound that was half expression of surprise and half laugh. “I’ve seen
your body before.”

Frowning, she
gave him her most frigid glare. While he wasn’t exactly grouchy, he was
definitely not at his most accommodating after waking up from a nap. In fact,
he was being rather annoying. “That’s not the point.”

“Then what is
the point?”

She wasn’t
quite sure what the point was, actually. So she demanded, “If you’re not going
to leave, can you please hand me the towel?”

Ander held out
the towel like an offering, but it wasn’t close enough for her to reach it from
the tub. On his face was a quizzical, absolutely infuriating look—like he
couldn’t believe she was being so silly.

She was sure he
was doing this on purpose, but there wasn’t enough evidence of intent for her
to reproach him for it.

She glared up
at him, deciding he wasn’t quite as attractive as she’d always imagined.
Apparently, his act with clients was so good that he was able to mostly hide
this obnoxious part of his personality.

He arched his
eyebrows. “Didn’t you want the towel?”

It was a
challenge. She knew it. And he knew she knew it. And she was trapped. She
either had to stand up naked and take the towel or confess she was still
self-conscious about her body.

Technically,
she could demand that he give the towel to her. She was paying him for this
weekend, and it was his job to please and accommodate her. But she couldn’t
fathom holding that over him, taking unfair advantage of the unequal power
dynamic of this situation.

Which left her
no choice. She wasn’t about to back down to Ander.

Lori stood up,
the sudsy water streaming off of her skin as she lifted herself up. Ander
didn’t even make it easy on her. His eyes raked over her naked, curvy form before
she could grab the towel and wrap it around herself.

“Jerk,” she
muttered, walking out of the bathroom with what she would describe as righteous
wrath but Ander would probably describe as a flounce.

Ander followed
her. “Did you just call me a jerk?”

She stuck her
chin out indignantly as she shuffled through her suitcase, which was open on a
rack. She couldn’t find anything to wear. She didn’t want to get dressed for
the banquet yet or put back on her jeans and top from this morning. But all the
loungewear she’d brought was kind of slinky.

She definitely
didn’t want to put on something sexy at the moment. Not when Ander was sitting
in a chair, leaning back with his legs stretched out as if he didn’t have a
care in the world. And he was still watching her, probably just waiting for the
towel to drop so he could revel in his smugness.

Finding nothing
good to put on, she secured the big white towel around herself more carefully,
tucking the end under as tightly as she could.  Then she went over to the bed,
laid down, and picked up the book she’d brought with her.

Pretended to
read.

After a few
minutes, she peeked over the top of the cover and saw that Ander was still
watching her, his lips twitching uncontrollably.

The bastard was
just sitting there, having a private laugh at her expense.

Her own sense
of humor surged up at the sight of his warm, handsome face. She had to hide
behind her book so he wouldn’t see she wanted to giggle at herself.

No sense in
letting him win so easily.

After a minute,
Ander asked, “Are you all right?”

She composed
her face and lowered her book. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean—are you
all right? You looked like you were wincing.”

Lori thought
quickly and came up with the best excuse she could on short notice. “Oh. My
feet are just a little sore. From all the walking this morning.”

It sounded
fairly convincing and Ander didn’t question it, although his eyes narrowed
slightly. So she lifted the book again and tried not to snicker at his
suspicious expression.

She was
concentrating on keeping a poker-face, so Ander wouldn’t think he’d won her
over with his smug tactics. So she was shocked when she felt a warm hand on her
bare ankle.

She squeaked
and jerked her foot away.

Ander had moved
over to sit on the end of the bed and he stared at her like she was crazy.

“You startled
me,” she said, explaining her dramatic reaction. “What are you doing?”

She actually
wouldn’t be opposed to sex now, if Ander could manage to keep from acting
obnoxiously about it.

“You said your
feet were sore. I was going to rub them.”

“Oh.” She
stretched her legs out again and watched him warily as he set one of her feet
in his lap. “I thought you might be trying to tickle.”

Ander gave a
dry huff of laughter. “I wouldn’t dare when you’re in this mood.”

“What mood is
that?”

“I believe
prickly might be the word.” The corner of his mouth tilted up irresistibly as
he started to give her foot a firm massage.

Lori couldn’t
hold back a long sigh at how good his hands felt. But she wasn’t yet ready to
admit surrender. “Well, the word for you is obnoxious.”

“What have I
done?” His tone was innocent, and his fingers kneading the ball of her foot
were delicious.

“You know very
well what you’ve done. You’ve been smug and obnoxious since you woke up from
your nap. Now be quiet or you’ll ruin my foot rub.”

Ander chuckled,
his soft, warm laughter wafting over her and making her smile too. He was a
very odd man, and she couldn’t seem to figure him out. She couldn’t believe
he’d taunted her into getting out of the bathtub naked.

She wondered if
he thought she was pretty.

He gave great
foot rubs. He worked one foot over, deeply massaging from the toes to the heel.
Then he pulled her other foot into his lap and gave it the same treatment. It
didn’t take long for her to drop the book and stretch out more comfortably so
she could enjoy it, making sure to tug the towel down over her thighs.

She closed her
eyes and breathed deeply, but when his hands moved from her foot to her leg,
her sighs turned to soft moans. His hands felt incredible, and eventually he
was caressing rather than massaging.