Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
“I’ll call Bianca and see if she can find you someone else… Someone who is less of a whore. I didn’t know you were my client.” She steps outside and closes the door behind her.
Flinging my door open, I go around to her side. She’s dialing a number. I snatch the phone out of her hand before she can make the call. “Look, I’m sorry for what I said. The woman I was going to take didn’t work out. Then the date I hired had to cancel. I’m pretty sure you’re my only option.”
“Great.” She closes her eyes for a long beat before she opens them back up. Her blue eyes don’t look cold like they usually do. Today, they look deep like the bottom of the ocean, and if I’m not mistaken, they look sad, burnt out as if the light in them faded.
“If you want to call your boss, maybe she can find someone else.” I hand her back her phone. The last thing I want is to be stuck on a date with Giselle, who would rather be anywhere but with me.
“She told me if I didn’t go, I would be fired.” She frowns. “I can’t afford to be fired.”
“All right, then why don’t we just go and make the best of it?”
Giselle looks up at me and nods, resigned. “Okay.”
We get back in the limo, and I let the driver know we’re ready to go. The drive to the event is awkwardly silent, neither of us daring to break the tension in the air. When we arrive, Giselle’s head whips around to me.
“Oh my god! This is the Prince George Ballroom.” She jabs her finger toward the building.
“Yeah…” I confirm, confused.
“This is the Prince George Ballroom,” she repeats, and this time I chuckle.
“I’m aware.”
“Oh my god—”
“You’re not about to tell me for a third time where we are, are you?”
“This is where the charity event is. Olivia and Nick’s event.” Oh…now I see where she’s going with this.
“Olivia doesn’t know you’re an escort, does she?”
“Of course she doesn’t know!” Giselle shouts. “It’s not exactly something I’m proud of.”
“What I don’t understand is if you’re escorting on top of working at that design place, why are you always so broke?” I don’t know how much she gets paid, but I know what I pay the company she works for, and it’s a small fortune.
Giselle glares daggers my way. “You don’t know shit, Killian. Don’t you dare make assumptions or pretend to know anything about me or my life.”
I raise my hands in surrender, not wanting to piss her off right before we go out in public. “I’m not. It was just a question.”
“Whatever, let’s just do this.” Giselle grabs the handle, but the driver opens the door before she can, and she almost falls out of the vehicle. I circle her waist to catch her and she shakes me off with a quick “Thanks.”
The moment we step out of the limo, the press go crazy. At first I’m worried about how Giselle is going to act in front of everyone. But as we walk the carpet slowly, allowing the press to take pictures, the entire time Giselle has on the perfect game face. She links her arm around mine and smiles for the cameras. When different magazines ask me questions, she stands slightly back while I answer them.
“Can I ask you about your date tonight?” one of the reporters asks. “I don’t believe we’ve seen her with you before.” I feel Giselle’s body stiffen next to me, while she waits for me to answer.
“She’s actually the best friend of Olivia Harper, the woman who made this entire evening possible.” I smile, and we move forward.
“Thank you,” Giselle murmurs once we make our way inside.
“Outing you would only make me look bad,” I say. “If anyone else asks, I’ll give them the same answer I did out there.”
We head through the grand ballroom and over to the table with numbers. The woman asks for my name and then hands me two place cards so we can find our seats. The entire place is decorated in gold, silver, and cream. The outer walls have tables lined with silent auctions for the guests to check out. All of the winnings will go toward Touchdown for Reading and the Arts.
We find our table and set our place cards down. Nobody is sitting at the moment, so I suggest we head over to the auctions. Giselle follows me through the room while I place bids on a few auctions. When different people stop me to talk, Giselle is sweet and charming—the same way I’ve seen her act when she’s with her other dates. And then it hits me. All those men I’ve seen her with. They weren’t dates. They were clients.
“Killian, I’m so glad you could make it.” Olivia pulls me out of my thoughts and in for a hug. “And who’s your date?” She tilts her head to the side, and that’s when I notice Giselle is hiding behind me. Laughing under my breath, I move to the side.