Slow Hands

upon the perfect thing. “My sister’s wedding! It’s in two weeks, and I desperately need an escort. You can be my date. That’s within your purview, isn’t it?”
    He tsked-tsked lightly. “Buying another date with me, hmm?”
    “Well, you are a paid escort, right? Isn’t that your usual job title? You’d actually be escorting me, rather than, well, you know, just…”
    “Screwing you.”
    That was very crude. It was also very exciting, almost dangerous. She’d never had a man treat her with anything but gentlemanly restraint, but she sensed that, if she wanted to let him, Jake could be much more aggressive— wildly so.
    “But I suppose I could live with being arm candy for a society wedding.”
    He’d be a perfect escort, tall and strong and utterly magnificent in a tux, she knew.
    She would not think about Tabby laughing her ass off over this, or about Deborah choking on her chateaubriand. There was too much at stake right now. Even more than Maddy had suspected, given the way she could barely breathe.
    “So, what do you say? You’d be doing me an enormous favor,” she insisted, hoping she wasn’t babbling. “You already know as well as I do that I have no use for the typical games—romance and love and such. I’m a businesswoman and this is a business proposal I’m making.”
    “Strictly business. That’s the only way you want it.”
    Gulping, she nodded. It wasn’t exactly a lie.
    If she and Jake decided at the end of their thirty days that there was more to this than lust, maybe she’d find her way clear to at least consider dipping her toes in romance waters again. Maybe.
    Really, when she thought about it, this was the perfect way to build up to that—with no risk. No embarrassment. No scenes or breakups. It was like getting to test-drive a sporty little Mercedes for a month without getting her heart set on the pretty pink color. Without expecting it to possibly look as good to her in thirty days as it did the day she’d first set eyes on it.
    And without letting anybody else behind the wheel until she’d figured out if she could afford it.
    “So, constant wild sex and a date to a wedding for…how much?”
    Constant wild sex… think, damn it . She quickly named a figure off the top of her head, figuring he had to make at least what a top executive at the bank would make. But she suddenly remembered that before she had stepped into the fray at the auction, the bid had been over five thousand dollars for one date with the man. Thinking of that, and how incredibly he’d made love to her, she worried she’d offered far too little.
    He didn’t respond by so much as the quirk of a muscle.
    “If that’s not enough…”
    “It’s enough,” he snapped. “Let me ask you something, Maddy. Why do you think…” He cleared his throat, started again. “How is it that you know so much about me? I mean, about who I am and what I do ?”
    “My sister told me.”
    “Gotta love that sister of yours. How’d she know?”
    “One of the auction sponsors told her about the infamous male escort, and Tabby found out in advance what number you’d be. And, of course, the bio in the program fit.” Smiling ruefully, she added, “I’m afraid it wouldn’t take much for the rich women of this town to ferret you out.”
    “The bio,” he murmured, rubbing his hand against his jaw. “What did it say again?”
    “I don’t remember exactly. Just something about you being a world traveler, someone who appreciates fine wine and beautiful women. It also claimed that you were European. But I’ve decided that must just be part of your character—the role you play. Because if you’re anything but a beer-drinking all-American boy, I’m Mary Poppins.”
    “Busted, Mary,” he muttered, “I guess you’re too smart for me.” He crossed his arms over his big chest, still leaving her hanging, not responding to her offer. She wondered if he liked to torture bunnies in his spare time, too.
    “One more question. If you were set on buying my services , why did you run out on me the night of the auction without even telling me your name? Did you get cold feet?” He sounded almost hopeful, for some reason, as if this answer was more important than anything else. “Did you have a change of heart about doing something so…reckless?”
    She shook her head, not sure how much to admit. Especially since he might be meeting her family members—her father and his wife—at Tabitha’s wedding.
    That,