The Mistaken Escort's Pleasure: A Liaison Novel Read Online Free Page A

had seen Gabriel look at his sister with such affection that sometimes he couldn’t stand to be around them.   Not because he wanted to deny either of them happiness, but it reminded him of how incomplete his life was.
    He realized that work was just that.   Work.   When he came home to his empty apartment, his loneliness would sneak up on him until it crowded out everything else.   He’d dated enough women over the years to know that most of them wanted him for his position or the money that he made.   He’d found out the hard way that money blinded people to what they wanted and who they were.   Instead of making him balk at relationships, it made him yearn for a real one.   One that he could imagine with Ellie.
    Unable to stop himself, he opened the file and memorized her address and phone number.
    “I’ve never known you to lie,” Rebecca said.
    “She thought that I was out of her league, and if I would have told her that I wasn’t an escort, she wouldn’t have agreed to get to know me.   I plan to follow the rules you set out for your escorts, and I plan to tell her the truth, but after she gets to know me.”
    “And if she chooses not to see you again?” Rebecca asked.
    His heart jumped in his chest, but he kept his calm exterior, despite the rage that coursed through his body.   He knew that could be a possibility, but he would do his best to convince Ellie to explore their attraction.
    He shook his head and ignored the question.   “I know what I’m doing.”
    “I hope so.”

Chapter Three

    Ellie glanced up as the cab slowed outside her apartment building.   She hadn’t realized that she gave the man her home address, but she pulled out a crisp twenty and slid it to him before she opened the door and stepped out.   She thanked him before she shut the door, and walked to the entrance of her building.   She absently nodded at Henry, the doorman, for opening the door, and she walked to the elevator, all without conscious thought.
    She couldn’t stop thinking about Lucian and the kiss they shared.   She could still feel his arousal as he pressed her to his body, and she couldn’t bring herself to care less that the man was paid to get to know women and to know what they desired.   As she slipped her key in the door to her apartment, she shook her head in an effort to expel the images of Lucian in her mind.   But they refused to budge.
    She let out a gasp as the door was opened from the inside, and she reached out and grabbed the doorframe to prevent the nosedive from the abrupt movement.
    “Well?”
    Ellie straightened and looked into the eager faces of her two best friends, Nina and Ben.   Nina was as beautiful as ever, dressed in a crisp black fitted jacket over a cream blouse.   Her matching pencil skirt ended just above her knees, with her makeup as perfect as it was first thing in the morning, even though it was late afternoon, and her sandy-blonde hair was bound in a tight bun.
    Ben, who worked as the one IT guy in the entire firm, dressed in blue jeans and a blue V-neck sweater over a white t-shirt, but his hair was thoroughly mussed and his eyes sparkled with mischief.   He looked like a model, but his wicked smile, sense of humor, and his casual outlook on life made him one of the two true friends she had in her life.
    “Work was great, thanks for asking.”   She skirted around her two friends, who had posted themselves as sentries in front of her door.   She pulled off her messenger bag and laid it on the couch, trying to keep herself busy so she wouldn’t have to answer questions she didn’t quite have the answers to.
    Nina’s very un-ladylike snort brought a smile to her face.   “You’re such a bitch,” Nina moaned.
    She couldn’t hide her smile.   “I love you, too, Neens.”
    At the sharp intake of breath, she jerked her head up, and when she saw tears in her friend’s eyes, she felt horrible.   Today was a record for her.   She made two women cry, and