Beautiful Scars (3 page)

He hadn’t even realized he’d had the problem until later in life, anyway.

The biggest issue it caused for him was accidentally pairing a yellow tie with a green shirt or something. Easiest if he could stick with black and red, and he tended to do that a lot.

The clothes had labels and everything was coordinated.
Goes with jacket #4, #16, #22,
etc., etc. Made it easy on him. But tonight he hadn’t been in the mood to root through the damn closet. It wasn’t a date for him and he didn’t care what his “companion” thought. She was getting paid nearly a grand to put up with his cranky ass and to keep her mouth shut about it.

As for the people at the party…they wouldn’t care anyway. The black silk shirt, a pair of black jeans…that worked well enough for him. The black leather Italian shoes were an indulgence he allowed himself on pretty much any occasion that suited. A party was definitely an occasion. A quick look in the mirror showed a familiar sight. Him, his hair too long, stubble—he’d forgotten to shave. Again. He didn’t have time to mess with it now. His sister would kick his ass if he was late.

“Shit, knowing her, she’d charge me double,” he grumbled.

Not that he couldn’t afford it, but after so many years of growing up with barely enough money to scrape by…yeah, he wasn’t going to pay
that
kind of money just because she felt like charging him.

And again, he could have avoided it if he’d given Chaili a call. He doubted she’d mind wasting a night at some dumb-ass party. Wasn’t like she ever did much other than pizza and movies with Shera, right?

They could have caught up. Had a decent night and he would definitely have had more fun with her than whomever Shera had found.

He frowned, wondering if it was too late to call the companion thing off. So what if he had to pay for it? He could call Chaili and ask if she had plans…

Then he sighed.

It was already after six. He was supposed to be at the office at seven.

Under his breath, he muttered, “Any reason why you couldn’t have this idea, oh, say, four hours ago?”

There was no answer. Just the endless, empty silence of his house.

Chaili smacked at Shera’s hands as she went to adjust the halter-styled bodice of the white cocktail dress Chaili had ended up picking from her miniscule selection. The bra she had to wear with it was irritating the
hell
out of her, but if she didn’t wear it, it wouldn’t fit right.

That, on top of Shera’s fussing, was just edging on her last nerve.

“Would you leave me
alone
?” Chaili snapped. Damn it, Shera was fussing over her like a mother hen. You’d think it was her first date or something.
It’s not a real date,
she reminded herself. He’d paid for it. And he didn’t know
she
was the one going out with him. Taking a deep breath, she went back to staring at her reflection. Oh, hell. She wasn’t really doing this, was she?

“Stop being a bitch,” Shera said. “And breathe, damn it.”

“Stop being an old mother hen!” Nudging her away, Chaili went back to staring at her reflection. The woman in the mirror was somebody she barely recognized. She hadn’t seen much of this woman in the past few years. Back when she’d been married, she’d had to do the cocktail party round often. Tim had been big into socializing and she hadn’t much cared…at first.

The woman in front of her didn’t exactly look the same. And she wasn’t. She was leaner. Harder. Stronger.

And scarred.

Not that the scars were easily seen, but still…

She adjusted the dress, smoothing it a little and twisting to make sure it laid the right way. “It looks pretty good, don’t you think?”

“Yep. That’s a great style on you, sweetie. And you practically glow. I’d kill to tan like that.” Shera smiled and rested her cheek on Chaili’s arm.

“Sunless tanner works just fine, ya know. Not all of them turn you that carroty orange.” She reached up and brushed her fingers through her hair. The choppy, asymmetrical cut fell right back into place, framing her face. She’d let Shera do her makeup and she had to admit, the woman knew her stuff. The bronze and blue eyeshadow wasn’t anything Chaili normally would have done on her own but it worked, accentuating her blue eyes, which were admittedly her best feature.

That and her mouth. She had a decent mouth, wide and soft, and right now it was tinted a deep, lush wine color. Again, not anything she would have chosen herself, but Shera knew her stuff. It was a henna-based dye that would supposedly last all night. Not that Chaili expected to do anything to challenge the dye’s staying power. Slicking her tongue over her lips, she took a deep breath and sighed. “Here goes nothing, I guess.”

She squared her shoulders and met Shera’s gaze in the reflection. “He’s not going to freak out when he sees me, is he?”

“A little late to worry about that now, isn’t it?” Shera flashed her a grin. Then she shrugged. “Relax. You two are friends. It will throw him for a minute, I bet, but he needed a date. I didn’t really have anybody available that wouldn’t end up in a disaster, so this is it. Relax. We’re good.”

We’re good
. Chaili squared her shoulders. They were good.

But the butterflies dancing in her belly weren’t exactly comforted. She placed a hand over her abdomen to calm them and turned away from her reflection. No matter how long she stared, she wasn’t going to change the woman she saw staring back at her anyway, right?

The office was tucked away not far from his home in Lake Forest. Marc knew most of the people in the area had an idea just what
Escortè
did, and he suspected a few of them also thought there was more to the companionship service that his sister offered. He also knew she had her hands full chasing away the idiots who weren’t convinced by the office policy. He’d seen their mother dealing with it before she retired, had watched Shera handling it off and on, had listened to some of her stories, ranging from the funny to the fucked-up.

Personally, he was glad he had an in to the place.

It made his life easier.

He could play the dating game okay, but he got tired of trying to do it. It was easier for him to keep it impersonal, professional. After Lily, he’d tried a few casual relationships, the
just friends
sort of thing, but those hadn’t ended up any better than any other fucked-up relationship in his life. So he’d quit trying for a while and used
Escortè
.

There were similar services in other cities where he did the same thing. Kept it all nice and simple.

Then he hadn’t had to worry about it for a while.

He’d met Selene. They clicked. They were compatible—in bed and out, and he hadn’t had to mess with this shit.

Now? Starting all over again.

He tried not to feel aggravated. It was just a business thing. He paid for a date, had a woman with him for a few hours, spared himself the headache of dealing with some of the nightmares that came from being single at some of these parties. He also spared himself the nightmare that came from trying to have a friendly relationship that would just end in a disaster.

Really, this was for the best, right? All he had going with Selene was friendship anyway—granted, it was the friends with benefits sort of thing, but that could be found elsewhere.

Impersonal as hell. Yeah, that bothered him, and right now it was bothering him more than normal, but he’d finally found a way to balance his life and he didn’t need anything rocking that boat.

You need to stop being so negative
, he told himself. But it was damned hard considering every relationship he’d been in since high school had gone from hell to hella-bad in a blink.

“No.” He threw the Porsche into park and climbed out, leaning against the side. “Not thinking about that.” Part of the reason he hated coming back here. And that pissed him off. Chicago was
home
. It was home, and he avoided it like the plague except for rare visits home to see his sister, all because coming back here made him think of…

“And you’re doing it again.” Shoving away from the car, he pocketed the keys and headed toward his sister’s office. It was quiet around here at night. During the day it was busy, but at night it was mostly vacant. Just a few random cars scattered in front of the other businesses. He recognized his sister’s car, parked in front of the office, but he didn’t see another one close to hers.

He didn’t want to have to drive her home…that made it seem even more like a date.

A taxi, then. He’d get her into a damn taxi, or hell, Caleb would probably have cars there.

Yeah. He could get her into a car once the night was over with.

Then he’d head out to Blue’s. Blue usually preferred that people wanting the…more
private
services contact her in advance, but she’d work something out. Distracted, thinking about that, he pushed through the door, thinking about maybe trying to put in a call to her before he even left Shera’s. He needed to do something, right? He was edgy as hell and the only way to burn this kind of energy off was—

His brain just stopped.

He caught sight of the woman standing with her back to him and his mind came to screeching, crashing halt. All the blood in his head slowly started to sizzle and burn. A long, sleek back, displayed in a backless, pale dress, leaving lots and lots of sexy, smooth skin… His heart bumped once, hard, against his ribs, as his gaze dipped, lingering on the narrow curve of her waist, the round swell of her ass, and then onto long, sleek, sleek legs…

Ah, maybe he wouldn’t be calling a car for her, after all.

Dragging his gaze up, he studied the back of her head and something started to click in the back of his mind. Dark hair, not quite black, shot through with lighter threads… His heart started to race. He knew this woman.

She turned around and he found himself staring into Chaili’s blue eyes.

Marc had a fondness for her eyes. He didn’t know why, exactly. Maybe it was because they were blue, and such a vivid blue they almost looked purple to his screwy eyesight. He didn’t know why. Didn’t care. He just knew she had amazing eyes.

It was a punch. A hard, brutal punch straight to his gut and he closed one hand into a fist as he continued to stare at her. Okay. She wasn’t here for him. Chaili wasn’t one of his sister’s girls. She had something else going on… Then it occurred to him—Shera had absently mentioned setting up a line of male companions. Was Chaili…?

No.

Just. No. Even thinking about her paying some guy to take her out pissed him off.

What the fuck—

Shera appeared from the back office. “Hey, Marc.” She had a smile on her face. An overly bright one. The kind of smile she’d always given him when she’d done something she shouldn’t have and she wanted him to help keep her out of trouble with Mom. Except she was a grown woman.

Oh, shit.

Swinging his gaze back and forth between the two women, he lifted a brow and waited.

“Awesome news.” Shera still had that wide, too-bright smile plastered across her face. “Chaili is going to keep you company tonight.”

He was staring at her like she’d grown a second head.

Chaili felt like she might have.

Her heart raced and if he didn’t say something, she was pretty sure she was going to start babbling like a fool.
No, you won’t,
she told herself. He was here because he needed an intelligent, level-headed woman at his side for the night. Somebody who could carry a conversation
without
babbling, and that probably started now.

“Hello, Marc,” she said, angling her head to the side. She could make polite small talk. She could do it, and do it well, even if it bored the hell out of her.

Something flashed in his golden eyes as he continued to study her.

So far, he still hadn’t said a word. He prowled deeper into the office, looking oddly out of place. He came to stop a foot away from her, watching her with narrowed eyes, the gold in his eyes burning hot as he studied her face. “Just when did you start doing the companion thing, Chaili?”

She’d half-suspected he might ask. With a lazy shrug, she answered, “It’s fairly recent. I’m…picky, we’ll say, about those Shera pairs me with. But I get tired sitting at home and well, you have to admit, this is an easy way to make money.”

“So you’re in it for the money.”

Careful…careful…
She knew he had more than a few people trying to get at his bank account. “Honestly, Marc, I told your sister I’d be happy to keep you company tonight without…” she waved a vague hand at the office and sighed, “…this. But your sister is something of a stickler about the rules. Since you came here, she’s kind of adamant about doing it this way.”

“Yes. I am.” Shera came up and held out a hand, smiling at Marc. “You came in wanting a companion for the night. I’m providing the companion. Pay up.”

The tense moment shattered and he scowled at his sister, reaching into his pocket. He shoved some bills into her hand and then looked at Chaili. “Shit, if I’d known you were up for going to stupid parties, I could have saved myself some money and the headache of dealing with Shera.”