London Dusk (A Dawn to Dusk Novella) (4 page)

Half an hour later
, I walked into the kitchen to the welcoming aroma of hot coffee brewing, a roaring fire in the living room, and Jax relaxing at the dining table looking a million pounds with her feet up on one of the dining chairs. "You have a few hours to mentally prep yourself before we have a meeting with Annalise."

"
Annalise," I repeated slowly, my stomach dropping as I poured hot coffee into my waiting cup.

"
Yes." Jax smiled. "She's on top of the London Escort scene. The same woman who recruited me. She'll look after you, Mack, you have nothing to worry about." Jax took a sip of her coffee. "She'll teach you everything you need to know."

"
Today?"

Jax laughed
. "No, probably not. Unless of course you want to. No, no, she just wants to meet you first."

Butterflies swept through me. I so wasn
't ready for this. Prostitution was something that went against my moral high ground like you wouldn't believe, but yet here I was – desperate. I couldn't get a job. And the bank wasn't going to give me another loan, so I wasn't even going to bother asking. Desperate people do desperate things.

*

Jax was a real estate agent
, and she made a lot of money. She had been one ever since I had first met her. She wasn't scared about putting herself out there and meeting people. I had always preferred my own company to large crowds. What on earth made her think I could do this I didn't know. I didn't even know what I would talk about with these men who would be paying for my company.

We sped through the wet
, cobbled streets of London in Jax's Porsche, and pulled into an underground parking garage of a high rise. She ushered me into the elevator a few moments later, looping her arm through mine and stabbing her manicured finger at the highest floor.

She patted my hand
. "Just be yourself."

More people got into the lift as we made our way up the building
, preventing me from asking Jax any more questions. The doors opened, revealing a beautiful reception area. ‘The Agency' was titled in gilt letters above the reception desk. A young woman sat behind the desk with a headset, perfect hair, Prada glasses, and well-tailored suit.

"
Jax," she exclaimed. She ran around the counter, and wrapped herself in Jax's arms. "It's so nice to see you!"

Jax chuckled
. "You too, shortcake." She turned to me. "This is Mack. Mack – this is Annalise's daughter, Isla."

I automatically reached my hand out and shook hers.

"Welcome to the team." Isla grinned. She turned back to Jax. "I'll just go get Mum."

Jax guided me to a plush leather sofa
. "Lovely kid," she whispered.

"
She seems to know you rather well." I eyed up Jax. "You're not still working for them are you?"

"
God, no. But I always kept in touch with Annalise. She's a gorgeous woman with a very shrewd mind for business. She often sends clients my way if they are looking for property or selling. I do the same for her if my clients need some form of entertainment."

"
Darling!" A shout came across the room as one of the most striking women I had ever laid eyes on swept through the doors towards us. I was in awe. She had long, luscious, dark curls, vibrant green eyes, full lips, not a wrinkle on her face, and if I had to guess, she was probably about fifty. She was dressed head to toe in designer clothing, and she looked like a footballer's wife instead of a woman running a prostitution business. She air-kissed Jax, and turned her eyes to me. Suddenly I felt incredibly self-conscious.

I swallowed as she brushed her critical eyes over me. After a moment
, she smiled and reached for my hand. "You must be McKenna."

I nodded
. "And you must be Annalise." She looked nothing like a prostitute. It suddenly occurred to me that I had never asked Jax if she was still putting herself out there, or if she was just running the business.

She tinkled with laughter
. "I am." She turned on her heel. "Come to my office, and we'll have a chat."

We trailed after her
, passing multiple desks, filing cabinets, and coffee break areas with designer furniture and kitchenette units. Large floor to ceiling windows overlooked the distinctive London skyline. "Is all of this your Agency?" I asked as we got to her mahogany office door.

"
Yes. Obviously, most people aren't here today as it's the weekend, but I do have a team coming in shortly to start work for the evening." She opened the door and we walked inside. It looked nothing like a standard corporate office. It was plush, with rich colouring, and had beautiful artwork lining the walls. The only thing office-ish about the room was the large oak desk in front of the window. Annalise sat down on a leather sofa, kicked off her high-heels, and gestured for us to sit with her.

I bit my lip
, waiting for her to say something. This was the strangest meeting I'd ever had.

"
You have very good structure," she started, looking me carefully over. "Your height is a wonderful advantage in this business. How tall are you?"

"
Five foot, eleven," I responded, unsure how it was an advantage.

"
Can you remove your glasses for me?"

I pursed my lips together
, and carefully took them off my face, letting them rest on my lap.

After a few awkward moments
, she turned her eyes to Jax. "You're right… she has fabulous bone structure, even if she is a little shy. We can help her with that."

I felt like a prized idiot. This was the very last thing I expected to be doing. In fact
, I would rather be doing anything else in the world than sitting here being critically analysed about whether or not I would be fit for hiring out as a sex object. I had to keep in mind that I was doing this to pay Luke back, and for my loving Aunt Elsie. This wasn't me, but it was a short term solution to a very big problem.

I had to admit that I could never have done this by myself. I never ever would have even dreamed about it.
My career compass just didn't point in this direction. Jax was definitely hand-holding me throughout this, and if anything went wrong, she was going to get a stern word from me once this was over.

"
Would you like to see how we operate?" Annalise asked me, her eyes turning kind and less critical.

"
Yes please."

She laughed
. "McKenna, you look exactly like all the other women who come to me for the first time. Scared out of their wits, and questioning whether or not they can actually do this." She sighed. "Well trust me, my dear, I have transformed even the most reclusive women into beautiful, poised peacocks. You have absolutely nothing to worry about."

I gave her a wobbly smile
, and nodded. "I guess I don't want to lead you to thinking I'm fully committing to this as a career," I said clearing my throat. "This is only a short term thing for me. I'm in a bit of a financial bind that I need to get out of and Jax thought that this would be a good solution."

"
You're in good hands," Jax commented as she stood. "Trust me."

Annalise clasped my hands within hers
. "This is an established corporation with a very elite reputation. You will never have to do anything you don't want to. I have many women who work for me, some who have for years. This agency is nothing like working a street corner in the USA. This is a professional establishment."

I swallowed
, nervous, yet somewhat comforted by her words. "Okay."

"
Now, come with me. I'll show you the place, and if at the end of the tour you still don't think you want to work for me, we can shake hands and you don't need to feel any obligation."

I looked at Jax
, who in return winked at me. We followed Annalise out of the office. "This is the call centre part of the operation." She gestured out at the sea of desks. "My staff should be arriving shortly to start work for the day. We operate from 2pm through to 8am the next morning, seven days a week." She smiled. "Some clientele like company during the day of course, so we do have a skeleton staff on during the other hours." She sighed. "Half the call centre are dedicated to responding to client calls, and the other half responds to staff calls – whether they need a taxi, or if they just want to have a chat while waiting for their clients to arrive."

She turned
, and walked down the hallway. "Down here we have our medical facility." She paused at a door. "All of our women have complete check-ups each week, and are monitored very closely. In today's environment, you just don't know what's out there – so we make sure all those working for us are in optimum health."

Yikes.

She opened the door to a sparse and sterile looking space, with a few comfortable looking chairs scatted about and a stack of magazines. A couple of doors led off the waiting area. "Through each door is a doctor's office. We have two female practitioners, and one male." She opened a door, and I peeked around, doing a quick scan of the room, before she closed it again.

"
That's a lot of doctors," I commented.

Annalise smiled.
"Yes. I have forty escorts who service our clientele, and with all the check-ups it's much cheaper to have our own doctors on staff. That way if anything happens it can be picked up immediately."

I had to admit
, it all seemed incredibly professional.

We trailed after Annalise as she stepped back out of the medical area
. "Down here is wardrobe and makeup." She turned to me as she walked. "If you like dressing up, you'll love this."

Dressing up?
Was she kidding me? I didn't know how to respond. I would much rather slop around in my comfy clothes than actually get dressed up. Yes, I liked to see beautiful women on the pages of magazines, but if I was being honest, I preferred reading house and garden magazines, and dreaming of all the nice things I would do one day in the future if I ever had any money. Cripes, I had to change my mind-set. This was a completely different world.

We turned a corner
into a brightly lit room lined with mirrors, stools, and makeup stations. "All makeup is done professionally, unless you're really good at applying your own. We have a number of staff here on rotation full-time. Whatever look you want, they can provide it. If you don't know, then they will sort you out with their professional eye." She walked through the makeup area and through a set of floor to ceiling double doors, and held one open for us. "And this is wardrobe."

I stepped through. Everything was brightly lit
, and clothing hung in organised rows. There were mirrors placed every now and then. "Wow," I said quietly. "I have never seen anything like this."

"
Incredible, isn't it?" Jax commented from beside me. "I loved working here. Mind you, it was in a different office back then, but it had the same set-up. Makeup artists and a wardrobe to die for."

I couldn
't disagree. It was incredible. I felt as though I could be standing in the middle of Vogue Magazine headquarters, not an Escort Agency. I was completely out of place. "How do you do all this?" I asked Annalise.

She shrugged
. "I saw that there was a need for upmarket company. Naturally I take a cut of what you make, and that helps fund this operation. But it all works rather well, lucrative for everyone."

I trailed my hand along some of the clothing in the nearest rack. The quality of the fabrics felt amazing. No
thing about this operation was cheap. And the fact that they didn't skimp on any costs, made me feel more and more confident. Actually… something within me welled with excitement ... like I was going to be part of some secret organisation or something, as if I could be anyone I wanted to be. But I still had to talk money with her. Although Jax had told me I could make ten grand a night, I had to have some sort of confirmation.

"
So… in terms of how much money I could make, what are your expectations?"

Annalise threw her head back with laughter
. "Oh you are just darling!" She winked at Jax. "I think I could safely say that once we have you cleaned up and looking the part, you could definitely have an average of ten to twelve grand per date, if you wanted to."