Sins & Mistrust (4 page)

When I return to the room, Tawnya has switched positions, but is still lying in the bed with the sheet around her.

“Not paralyzed, I see.”

“Guess it was only temporary,” she says with a smile.

“I had fun with you,” I say as I lean down to give her a kiss.

“Me too.”

“If you’re in town again, you know where to find me,” I say with a wink.

“Definitely,” she says breathily.

“Bye, Tawnya.”

“Bye, Marc.”

“Smith, what’s the relationship between Ms. LaBelle and the man she was with last night?”

“I don’t know, sir.”

“I’ve never seen him here before.”

“Me either, sir. I’m pretty certain last night was his first time here.”

“Hmm. Okay. Thanks, Smith.”

“Of course, sir.”

As I walk back to my office, I pull my cell from my pocket, hit a button, and bring it to my ear.

“Hello, Thalia.”

“Well, hello, Lincoln.” She clears her throat. “Why am I not surprised to hear from you?”

“You shouldn’t be surprised. This isn’t my first time calling you.”

“I know this, but I know you’re calling for a specific reason now.”

“I’m always calling for a reason, Thalia,” I say as I sit in my chair and rest my feet on the corner of the desk.

“Indeed you are. What is it now, Lincoln?”

“Who was your friend?”

“I told you who it was. His name is Marc.”

“Marc what?”

She’s quiet for a few moments. “Do you not know his last name?”

“I don’t know why
you
need to know his last name.”

“I guess I don’t
need
to. I just
want
to.”

“Why’s that, Lincoln?” she asks.

I drop my feet from the desk and walk over to the decanter filled with scotch and pour two fingers into a glass.

“Just curious is all.”

I hear her laugh. “I’m sure that’s all it is.”

“Are you serious with him or is this new?”

She sighs. “Do you need something, Lincoln?”

“You know what I need,” I growl and then take a sip of my drink.

“I don’t know if I can give you what you want.”

“I think you can. You almost did once.”

“Yeah, well, that didn’t work out and you know why.”

I huff out a breath and take another drink. “We won’t know if it will work if we don’t try again.”

“I don’t know, Lincoln. If and when I do know, I will let you know.”

“Will you?” I question.

“Goodbye, Lincoln.”

“Bye, Thalia.”

Finishing my drink, I make another call. “Hey, I need your help with something. Can you come by?”

As soon as I see Nathalia hang up her phone, I walk to her and plant a small kiss on her cheek before sitting across from her.

“I’m not late. I just saw that you were on the phone, and I figured I’d give you privacy.”

She smiles. “Thank you.”

“Have you ordered yet?” I ask.

“No. I was waiting for you.”

The waiter appears and takes our order without writing any of it down, and then we’re left with glasses of water.

“I always wondered how they do that,” Nathalia says quietly.

“Do what?”

“Remember orders without taking them down. Let’s see if he messes it up,” she says with a smile.

“Nah. He’ll get it all right. I’m sure he’s been doing this a while.”

“I ordered a side order of extra ranch with my salad. I’ll bet he forgets that.”

“I’ll take you up on that bet.”

“What are we betting?” she asks excitedly.

“What are you willing to give up?” I ask with an arched brow.

“I’m not losing,” she replies confidently with a perfect smile.

“I think you will.”

“If he remembers the ranch, you get to choose where we have our next date, and if he forgets the ranch, I get to ask you a question and you have to answer it.”

“What makes you think I wouldn’t answer it anyway?” I ask, avoiding correcting her on the whole date/appointment mix-up.

“I just know.”

“Hmm. Okay, it’s a bet.”

We shake hands and wait for our food to come out.

“Your hair looks a little wet,” she announces.

“It probably is. I had just got out of the shower before I came down here.”

A slow smile touches her lips. “Ah. An appointment?”

It’s not normal to talk about your other appointments with other clients. Nobody really asks about who you just got paid to fuck.

“Maybe,” I answer slowly.

“You don’t have to lie to me, Marc. I already know what you do.”

“I don’t talk about other clients with…other clients.”

“That’s because they don’t ask. They don’t want to know the man they are attracted to, or have sex with, has just had sex with somebody else or plans to later, even if they are paying for it.”

“You’re probably right. So it doesn’t bother you?”

She shrugs her shoulder. “Why would it? We aren’t in a committed relationship. Anyway, how long have you been doing this?”

“Well, it’s been about ten years now.”

“Wow! Ten years. That’s a long time, Marc. A long time to be lonely.”

“I’m not lonely.”

“You’re not?” she asks, tilting her head.

“No.”

“Hmm. Okay. Have you had a girlfriend the last ten years?”

I think back. “Well, I’ve tried relationships, but again, not many people are okay with my job.”

“So, just clients, then? Just you being what somebody else wants you to be?”

I furrow my brows. She’s pretty spot on, but the fact that she’s speaking these things aloud annoys me. Maybe it’s because I’ve never wanted to admit the truth, and certainly didn’t think anybody would call me out on what I’ve thought for so long.

“No, not just clients,” I say, thinking back to the person I spent time with yesterday. Although, that has never been a relationship. Not even close.

“Okay.”

She stops asking questions, and for that, I’m grateful. I’ve never enjoyed talking about my personal life, specifically with clients. You always have to maintain a professional relationship with them. It’s easy to blur lines, especially when they are long term clients that you see fairly regularly.

“So, how was your night last night?” I ask.

She rolls her eyes and makes a small
pft
sound like she’s annoyed. “It could have been better.” Raising her eyes to meet mine, she smiles. “If I had been able to finish my night with you, I’m sure I’d have been much happier.”

I grin back at her. “Oh, you definitely would have been happy with me.”

The waiter appears with our food, and we both look at each other, waiting to see if he’s forgotten the extra ranch or not. He places my dish in front of me first, and then gives Nathalia her salad. And her extra ranch.
I smirk at her from across the table, and she playfully rolls her eyes.

“Can I get you two anything else?” the waiter asks.

“Do you need anything?” I ask Nathalia with a raised brow.

She turns to the waiter and smiles. “No. I think you got it all. Thank you.”

After he walks away, she gives me a pout. “Now I don’t get to ask my question.”

“Aww,” I answer with a chuckle. “You know you can still ask me.”

“But now you don’t have to answer.”

“True,” I reply with a smile. “Come on. Is it that serious that you think I wouldn’t answer?”

She only shrugs in response. I’ll admit she has me curious, but there may be a question or two that I really wouldn’t want to answer.

“Okay, well, I’m just going to ask,” she says, tossing her hair over her shoulder and looking right at me. “You don’t have to answer, but I’m hoping that your body language or facial expression when I ask will let me know anyway.”

I tilt my head a little and eye her inquisitively. “Before you ask, I want to ask you something,” I say. “Last night you said you were hoping to find something out about me. What were you wondering?”

A smile lights up her face. “I was hoping to find out the answer to my question last night, but I didn’t really get to.”

Leaning forward, my arms resting on the table, I say, “And what question was that?”

“How kinky are you?”

My back straightens. “What?” I ask, caught off guard.

Her laugh envelopes me. “That’s what I was wondering, Marc.”

“And you weren’t able to find out last night?”

“Not really, but I don’t plan on giving up.”

“I told you how long I’ve been doing this, right? You’re gonna be hard-pressed to find something I haven’t at least tried.”

“But I want to find out what you actually like,” she responds seriously.

“You’ll come to find out that I pretty much like it all,” I respond with a smile.

Her lips turn up slightly at the corners. “That’s a good escort answer.”

But it’s not a Marc answer, and she knows that. I decide not to comment and move on to the other question she wants to ask.

“So, is the kinky question not the same as the one you don’t think I’ll answer?”

“It might relate,” she says with a wicked glint in her eyes.

“Hmm. Well, you’ve got me a bit intrigued.”

“Does that mean you’ll answer?” she asks, her face illuminating with hope.

“We’ll see,” I say with a wink.

She pushes her dish away from her and crosses her arms on the table. Staring at me for a few seconds, she finally opens her mouth to speak.

“Are you opposed to threesomes?”

I almost want to laugh. In fact, a small chuckle escapes my throat before I even realize it.

“Are you serious? That’s the question?”

She nods.

“No, I’m not opposed to threesomes. I’ve had several.”

“With men?” she asks.

I falter for just a second. “I’ve had threesomes with a woman and another man, yes.”

“Let me guess. She wanted to have both of you fuck her?”

“Well, yeah.”

“So were they couples?”

“Not always. I have a client who is toying with the idea of me and another escort.”

Nathalia continues to watch me carefully. “Do you enjoy those kinds of threesomes?”

Shrugging, I respond, “I’m paid to enjoy whatever it is I do.”

She laughs. “Oh, Marc. What am I going to do with you?”

“Whatever you want to do.”

“I might be pretty kinky, myself. Are you prepared for what I like to do?” She arches a brow at me.