Chapter 10 One Night - Spencer
The moment I met Avery, I knew I was fucked.
Never in my life had I met a girl that has taken up this much room in my mind. She was out of the ordinary, stunning, and dangerous. There were secrets whirling around inside her that I needed her to break free. I was desperate to know more about her.
It was undeniable that she felt the same spark I was feeling. It was evident when we were two seconds away from kissing before she ran out of my penthouse.
In that moment, the fear in her eyes told me everything I needed to know. She wanted it, but she was running from it. Not allowing herself to feel.
She was scared.
She worked as an escort, and I know she had to be used to people judging her. Avery had her own personal reasons for doing this job and I didn’t want to force her to tell me why, but I wanted to find a way we could make this work.
That’s why tonight, I was going to show her what to expect when it came to being with me. How I could spoil her. How I could be the perfect gentleman.
Tilting my wrist, I glanced down at the time. In about five minutes, she’d be walking down the curved staircase lined by glass walls.
The Chandelier Bar was surrounded by sparkling diamond-like strands, truly making you feel like you were floating in a diamond chandelier hanging in the entryway to a multi-million-dollar mansion.
Hues of pink light reflected off each strand of diamonds, making the bar placed in the center of the casino feel isolated. Even with the chaos surrounding the bar, it felt intimate.
Strategically, I chose a blue plush couch placed in the corner behind the stairs. Being seated here, I’d be able to see her walk in before she spotted me. I’d steal a moment to appreciate her striking beauty, before I broke the news to her that I was actually who she thought was Cameron.
Like clockwork, her heels clicked down the stairs, and her midnight black hair waved side to side in a high slicked back pony. Even with her backside facing me, I knew it was her.
The shape of her body. The sway in her hips. The small tattoos sprinkled on the back of her arms.
Fuck, she was gorgeous.
The stairs led straight to the bar where I watched her lean in to tell the bartender she was waiting for someone and she’d wait to get a drink until they arrived.
My eyes started at her heels then traveled up her long legs covered in brown faux leather flair pants hugging her hips and fitting perfectly over her round ass.
Disappearing beneath her waistband, she wore a cream-colored corset top that I could only imagine was made with the intention to tempt men like me.
Her gold bracelets clinked against one another as she typed away on her phone.
“Looking for me?” I walked up behind her, setting my hand respectfully against her mid-back.
Avery turned around with a bright smile; her red lips immediately frowned when she realized it was me.
“Spencer, I can’t do this right now. I’m waiting for someone.” Her bright eyes looked around in a panic.
“Waiting for a client?”
“Yes. Don’t ruin this one for me, please.” Her voice was desperate. If I had to guess, the amount of money I was paying her tonight really made a difference to her.
Putting her out of her internal panic, I inched closer to her ear. “Cameron, nice to meet you,” I whispered, reaching out for her hand.
Her red lips popped open.
“You … You … You’re fucking kidding me.”
“No, Bella, I’m not. Give me one night, please.” I was damn near close to dropping to my knees to beg.
One night to change your mind about me. One night to show you how a woman of your caliber should be treated. One night with no rules—whatever happens, happens.
Her features softened, giving into my plea to spend a night with me.
“What would you like to drink?” I asked, inviting her to stay.
“Um … Maybe I’ll just start out with some chardonnay.”
“Bottle of your best chardonnay, please,” I asked the bartender before walking away with my hand on her back, guiding her to where I sat as I watched her walk in.
“Shouldn’t we wait for our drinks?” Avery looked back at the bar in concern.
“The place is ours for a few hours before dinner. He will bring it over to us.”
“W-what do you mean the place is ours?”
She wanted to meet in public, but what she didn’t know was that I rented out the entire bar. I told her it would be a private setting and the last thing I wanted was a distraction.
Her eyes would be on me tonight with nothing—or no one—around to interrupt us.
“The only thing I lied about in those e-mails was the false name I gave you. I requested a private night, and that’s what I’m giving us.”
“You didn’t lie about anything else?” She raised an eyebrow in question.
“Maybe I left out a little bit of information, but I didn’t lie.”
“Mhm, and what did you leave out?”
Just when I was about to answer, the bartender walked over, placing two glasses of white wine on the table in front of us and the rest of the bottle chilling in a silver ice bucket.
“Thank you.” I nodded toward him as he walked back to the bar to give us the privacy I requested.
Picking up our glasses and turning back toward Avery, I handed her a glass and continued where I left off. “I’d like to treat tonight as a date. What you’d get from me if I didn’t pay you to do all of this.”
“And what does that include?” She took a sip of her drink, leaving a red lipstick stain behind.
“I’m not going to force you to do anything.
But I want to start by getting to know each other.
Like the first night at the bar. The only difference is you’ll spend all night with me.
I’ll treat you to a good meal. I’ll take you home with me, we can talk more or watch a movie, whatever you want.
I’d like to hold your hand as we walk together, and I’d like to hold you while we sleep.
And like I said in my e-mail, I’d like to make you breakfast before you leave.
The ball is in your court for anything else. ”
Crossing her legs, she took another sip of her wine.
“Let me get this straight…” She cleared her throat.
“You spent twenty thousand dollars to date me for one night; you rented out this entire bar for a few hours to get me alone,” her finger swirled in the air, pointing out the empty bar, “and you want to spend the night talking to show me that you’re the perfect gentleman? ”
“Precisely.” The corners of my mouth lifted into a smirk.
“I’m going to need more wine for this.” As she went to grab the bottle, I beat her to it.
“Let me know when to stop.” I topped off her wine, the liquid hitting about halfway.
With a few more sips, the expression on her face began to relax. Her legs uncrossed and a small snicker slipped from her lips. The hand that wasn’t holding her drink propped her head up as she leaned her elbow on the back of the couch.
The girl from the first night at the bar was starting to come back to me.
“What’s got you laughing?” My gaze shifted from her red lips to her sapphire eyes.
“I just didn’t expect tonight to go like this.”
“Yeah? What were you expecting?”
“Honestly? I was nervous.”
“And you aren’t nervous now?” I’d spent minutes lost in her intoxicating smell that I forgot I was sharing the bottle of wine with her. I took a sip of the buttery chardonnay—not bad. Not usually a big wine drinker, but I wanted to have what she was having.
The first night we met, she drank my go-to drink. Tonight, I’d savor the flavors of the drink she wanted while soaking up every minute of having her near me.
“I guess not…” She shifted in her seat before adding to her thought. “You make me nervous in different ways than what I was feeling earlier.”
Her admission made me smile. “Feel like sharing more about that?”
“You’re really going to make me open up tonight, aren’t you?”
I nodded. “That’s my goal.”
“Out of every job I’ve ever gotten, I’ve never made close to what you paid me for tonight. And then your e-mail came off all … gentlemanly—I honestly didn’t know what I was getting into. It was like experiencing the first day of work all over again.”
“I can understand that. And how do I make you nervous?” I inched closer to her.
“That, right here.” She pointed at me.
“My close proximity to you makes you nervous?”
“Among other things.”
“You like me,” I stated.
When she didn’t deny it, I took a chance and slid closer to her once more, leaving only a couple of feet between us.
“We have a while until dinner, might as well spend this time getting to know each other.”
“I’m really not all that interesting. Why don’t we just talk about you?” Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink, matching the colors of the bar around us.
“That’s not how it works, Bella. I’m an open book, you can ask me anything, but there is so much about you I’m dying to know.”
“Okay, fine. What do you want to know?”
Starting off light, I blurted off the first thing that came to mind.
“What was the name of your first pet?”
“Really? My first pet? Is this so you can have the answers to all my deepest darkest security questions?”
She’s got jokes.
“Funny.” I couldn’t help the chuckle that slipped out. “Not my intention, but now that you mention it … I’d love to get a peek inside of your Netflix account.”
“Watch out, you might not want to see all the crime documentaries I’ve binged. I’m basically a hit woman for hire.” She flipped her ponytail in a way that said, ‘don’t mess with me.’
“Okay, tell me all about your first pet, then your favorite crime documentary.”
Little did she know, crime TV was just about all I watched outside of sports.
“I’ve only had one pet in my life. Willy.”
“Willy?”
“Yes. He or she—I’m still not sure—was a zebra fish. I was five and one of my favorite movies was Free Willy. When I begged my parents for a whale, only to be told it wasn’t possible, I settled for a fish.”
Why was that so fucking adorable?
“My favorite crime documentary? That’s so hard.” She took a sip of her wine as she looked off into the distance in deep thought. “It feels weird to have a favorite story of people’s life tragedies. But if it has anything to do with a cult leader, I’m sold.”
“Well, I’ll have you know—and I’m not just saying this to have things in common with you—but I love anything crime related. Specifically, anything to do with the Mob. It makes it ten times more interesting living in a city that was once run by organized crime.”
“Since we have all night together, maybe we each pick one of our favorites to watch later.”
I couldn’t help it as my lips formed into a smile thinking of our night ahead. The money aside, it truly felt like she was on a date with me because she wanted to be, and not because I was paying her to do so.
“I couldn’t imagine a more perfect night, Bella.”
With her intoxicating cherry scent floating around me, and the wine buzzing through my veins, I was confident that this night wouldn’t be the last for us.