Page 16 of The Escort
She touches him on the shoulder. “I’ll be fine.” She leans in and kisses him on the cheek. “I’m heading to the store. Do you need anything?”
“No,” Brett says between thinned lips.
Damn. He’s an overprotective prick. I hope I’m not like that when or if I ever get a girlfriend. I’ve thought about it. It’d be difficult managing work, the escorts, and a woman. Not to mention the lies. I couldn’t tell her what calls me away at times. Couldn’t talk to her about it.
Cassie and Harper know what we do, and they accept it. Still, it’s a lot to ask. Let alone for someone to understand why we do it.
That’s personal. I haven’t met anyone I want to divulge that information to.
“Okay.” She turns to me, reaching for her purse. “Give me a few days’ heads-up when you’re ready so I can make sure I’m all caught up at work for the painting.”
“You got it.” I wink, watching her head out the door. “I’m going to take a shower.” I start to leave.
“I talked to Willa about the Luna Moon situation,” Brett says, halting my feet at the door.
My eyes slither over to him. Fuck. Here we go. “Yeah?”
He rocks back in his office chair. “Maybe you shouldn’t take any more escort calls until this shit with the reporter is sorted out.”
“I told you.” I walk back to his desk. “I’ve got a handle on it.”
His eyes snap from the receipts to me. “You don’t know this reporter?”
“No. I just met her the other night at the bar. Why?”
“It seems odd. Her interest in you and not me or Cole.”
“Yeah.” I stare at him, contemplating. Fuck it. If I trust anyone in this world, it’s my brothers. They drive me insane, but they got me, and I got them, always. “I thought the same thing. I’m not sure she’s really after the escort story.”
His eyebrows dive inward, causing more stress to his already wrinkled forehead. His dark-gray eyes peer up at me, his fuse about to pop.
I give a quick tug on my ear. “I think there’s more to it.”
He sits up in the chair. “Like what?”
“I’m not sure, but I plan to find out. I’m meeting her tonight.”
“That’s not—”
I lift my hand to shut down his quick disapproval. “It’ll be fine, Brett. I need to figure out what she wants, and this is the only way.”
“I don’t fucking like it,” he grumbles.
“I assumed you wouldn’t, but what else can we do?” It’s the truth. We can sit back and wait for her to write the story, or I can try to find out what she’s really after and stop her before she does any damage.
“Fuck.” He picks up the receipts and tosses them in the drawer. “Just keep me updated.”
“Yeah.” I lie. I’ll take care of Chosen Ashley and Luna Moon as I see fit. Brett’s just going to have to trust me on this one. “And don’t take me out of the rotation. I’ll do the escorts. It’ll be fine.”
“Yeah. Yeah.” He waves a frustrated hand in the air. “You keep saying that.”
I throw out my hands and grin. “When have I ever let you down?”
“Ah, the time you leveled the Wilton’s garage.”
Fuck. He loves to remind me of that! “It had bad bones. How many times do I have to explain to you why the structure wasn’t safe? It had to come down.”
“Lix, we had to start from scratch and lost a lot of money.”