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I liked John, had liked John. But I didn’t really know him, did I? I knew mere facets of his personality, because at the end of the day I was only there to please him. To keep him company while he had been in town on business.
“Jade.” He whispered my name this time, a knowing smile creeping across his face. “It’s so good to see you.”
I turned fully to face him, straightening my shoulders and pulling them back, feigning confidence. “What are you doing here?” There was no way to stop the words from blurting past my lips.
He shrugged. “I got an invite. I stayed here a couple of weeks ago. You would have known if you had—”
“Yes, well…” I cleared my throat, straightening my shoulders. “I’m doing other things.”
“I’m John.” He held out his hand to Everly. “I’m a…friend of Jade’s.”
“Johnnie New York,” Everly mumbled the words under her breath and caught my stare. When I confirmed it was in fact the same man we’d spoken about the day she’d asked me for advice on how to keep her relationship with Max strictly sexual, she nodded and held out her hand in reciprocation.
My heart raced, and suddenly the satin of my dress was stifling as sweat broke out across my body.
He made a move closer. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for months.” Immediately, I shrugged away from him. “If you’re not here with someone tonight, I would love to—”
“Is everything all right?”
I exhaled a shaky breath at the sound of Ben’s voice. My entire body softened when his hand pressed against the small of my back and I breathed, and for the first time since I heard John utter the name Jade, I took a deep breath. Ben was like a wave of sunshine blasting away the tension that had settled in my neck and shoulders.
“It seems I’m too late to ask for your company tonight, Jade.” John sipped his scotch. Most likely single malt and aged fifty years. I knew his drink. I knew his favorite movie. I knew exactly what he sounded like just before he was about to—
“I think you have the lady confused with someone else,” Ben said, his eyes burrowing a hole into John’s skull.
I wanted to cry—from happiness. He knew, without being asked, to shrug off my alter ego. To keep my secret even when it was sitting in the middle of the table, flashing lights and sparklers drawing everyone’s attention.
“Oh, no. I’m certain.” John’s air of confidence used to be appealing, but right now I wanted to smack the smugness off his face.
“I have to check on something so I’m just going to…” Everly slunk away. I didn’t blame her. I would if I could.
John brushed a finger down my bare arm, and I edged away, not liking the way his skin felt against mine. I hated the way his touch made me feel. Dirty.
“You should take my advice and keep your hands to yourself.” There was a ferocity to Ben’s voice, an angry growl I’d never heard before.
“Jade and I are good friends.”
“Somehow I don’t think that’s the case.” Ben looked in my direction, his eyes silently checking in with me.
My heart swelled. I’d had bodyguards watch over me, but I had never felt more safe than I did right now with Ben’s hand at the small of my back. Of all the people in the world to give me this feeling, it had to be Ben. Every encounter with a man I’d had over the last three years had made me feel like a prostitute—because I was one. But Ben never made me feel that way. He didn’t judge. He didn’t assume I was there to please him. He wanted to spend time with Grace. And that realization was more shocking than this encounter. Because Ben Lockwood wasn’t the man I wanted. Ben Lockwood lived his life in the messy, ambiguous gray, and I wanted to live in the perfectly outlined black and white.
“Are you sure I can’t convince you to come with me tonight?” John asked, a darkness that I’d never seen before edging his pupils. There was a cock-measuring contest going on right in front of me, and I wasn’t sure who was going to win.
You know who you want to win.
Anger vibrated off Ben, sending my own nerve endings on high alert. His hand fisted at his side and it was only a matter of time before it made contact with something. And I’d most definitely rather it be a wall than John’s face.
“You need to watch yourself, buddy.” I grabbed his hand when he advanced, and pulled him away, wanting to escape the scene as fast as possible, before it escalated into something bigger, more humiliating.
“Who was that fucking guy?” Ben asked, pulling me to a stop in the middle of the room. I had hoped we’d make it out into the foyer of the hotel before he confronted me, but I was sorely wrong.
“John. He was…” I lowered my head. I couldn’t say the words.
Tonight was a reminder that I might never find my prince charming. I would in fact always be an escort, no matter how hard I tried to be normal. But when I looked up, acceptance and understanding stared back at me through Ben’s brown eyes. I didn’t have to say the words, because with him the past didn’t matter.
He reached out, raising my chin with the tip of his index finger. “I don’t want you anywhere near that guy.” Something dangerous washed over his face. Something that scared and excited me at the same time. “I don’t like him touching you.”
Funny how he didn’t want anyone touching me, but he didn’t want to touch me either. It was driving me crazy. “You seem to have that same problem.” I looked down, focusing on his hand that was locked around my bicep. “You’ve touched me more tonight than you have the two times we’ve—”
