...AND SHE FELL IN LOVE WITH A HOOKER

Chapter 8

Jenny reached up and clapped her on the shoulder. ‘’Don’t worry. I convinced Peter to add a plus one to your name before we left work yesterday. He wasn’t happy about it at first, but he knows he can’t resist this sexy talker,’’ Jenny sniffed as she pulled on her jacket cuffs, brushing off imaginary lint.

Rose breathed a sigh of relief before feeling a hand at the small of her back again. She stiffened a bit as Adrian leaned closer, now knowing the type of thing to expect when this happened.

‘’Aw, that’s very sweet of you to think of me like that,’’ Adrian crooned.

Rose growled. ‘’Shut up.’’

Adrian laughed loudly and followed her as Rose turned and stomped away to go search for their names on the seating cards again, a sniggering Jenny and her man trailing behind.

Eventually, they found all of their names placed around one of the circular tables and sat down just in time to get introduced to the two middle-aged couples already occupying it before the opening speech began, held by the CEO. A silent auction was announced, and after the answering applause had died down, the CEO stepped down from the stage, and dinner was served. There was a bit of a lull in the conversation around their table as they dug into the delicious appetizer, occasionally exchanging polite agreements on the quality of the food.

‘’So tell me, Rose, have you and Adrian been together long?’’ one of the ladies at their table- Sarah had asked, addressing Rose with an inquisitive smile.

Her husband John nudged her with his elbow, whispering her name admonishingly under his breath.

‘’What?’’ she turned to him with an amused frown, ‘’They’re a cute couple! You know I’m a sucker for young love!’’

Rose’s eyes widened at the mention of the L word before snapping them to look at Jenny when she heard her friend snort loudly.

‘’Yeah, how long have you two lovebirds been together, Rose?’’ Jenny chuckled. Fluttering her eyelashes at Rose and smiling like the cat that caught the canary.

Rose narrowed her eyes, hoping that her glare conveyed how fine of a line her friend was treading, and when Jenny just winked at her in response, Rose was tempted to flash her a well-turned middle finger. Sarah was, however, patiently expecting an answer, so instead she turned back to her, trying to think of a plausible story for how Adrian and her knew each other.

‘’Well, we… As a matter of fact, we aren’t-’’

‘’We met quite recently, actually.’’

Rose turned her head quickly to stare at Adrian, who smiled warmly at Sarah, wondering what he was up to and silently begging him to watch his words. She jumped slightly when she felt Adrian’s hand cover hers as it lay on the white tablecloth between their plates. She looked down at their hands but lifted her eyes back to meet Adrian’s when he turned to look at her.

The smile on Adrian’s lips softened as he added, ‘’But I haven’t been able to let this vision out of my sight since.’’

Sarah made a cooing sound before she nudged her husband in retaliation. ‘’See, John? They’re so sweet! Oh, I remember when you used to look at me like that!’’

‘’What do you mean? I still do!’’ John scoffed indignantly. They fell into a light-hearted argument, the kind that long-time married couples had, soon turning to the others to tell the story of how they met.

Rose was still focused on Adrian, however, grateful that he’d kept his answer short and vague. He’d managed to tell the truth by not saying too much, instead of making up some elaborate story that they’d have to keep track of as the night wore on. The only thing was he hadn’t denied Sarah’s assumption that they were a couple.

Rose felt her face flush again as she felt Adrian’s hand tighten slightly around hers, but she didn’t break their gaze as she was lost in her thoughts once more.

Sure, Adrian was charming, good-looking, and had undeniable s*x appeal, and Rose was finding it increasingly more difficult not to take his compliments to heart. The only problem was that with someone like Adrian, you would never know if he meant what he was saying or if it was all just an elaborate sales pitch.

But while letting herself be drawn in by the sparkling blues, Rose could physically feel some of her resistance crumble as she began to wonder if the sincerity of Adrian’s words mattered all that much.

****

The hand under Adrian’s palm was warm. He could feel the whisper of a heartbeat through the soft skin as he squeezed it in what he hoped was a reassuring manner, letting his smile soften to increase the effect.

He hadn’t been lying when he used the word ‘vision’ to describe Rose. The woman sitting by his side was gorgeous; her face delicate yet endearing, the well sculptured jawline and high cheekbones framing full, beautiful pink lips, and the bluest eyes Adrian had ever seen. He’d learned quickly that he enjoyed having Rose’s full attention, especially when it meant he could stare into those eyes unhindered, like he was doing now.

But where Rose’s looks were the stuff of poetry, his personality was reserved- cautious to not let her guard down. Of course, it was not that surprising, seeing as it seemed like Rose hadn’t been prepared to have someone from Adrian’s line of work as her date.

When elaborating to clue Rose in on his role as an escort, Adrian had automatically launched into the little speech he’d held countless times before to convince a potential client to buy the additional services that the agency couldn’t advertise for legal reasons. The words had fallen effortlessly from his mouth, an air of confidence accompanying them like second nature. Pocketing extra cash from performing s****l services was usually something he aimed to do, provided that the person he was with wasn’t a total creep. Adrian had met his fair share of those and, learning the hard way, he could now spot them from a mile away, which gave him ample opportunity to dodge their attempts at further negotiations when the per-assignation was over. Of course, when Adrian had contacted Jenny after receiving the booking, they’d agreed for Adrian to spend the night, and additional fees had been settled. What Jenny had failed to mention, however, was Rose’s lack of involvement in the scheduling of their appointment.

A plate suddenly invaded Adrian’s line of sight, abruptly breaking his thoughts. He blinked, momentarily confused before he realized he’d been staring at the girl beside him for what was probably an awkwardly long time and that the entree was now being served. Adrian shifted his gaze to where he felt the hand underneath his pull away, and when he looked back at Rose, he found her fiddling with the napkin in her lap; another faint blush dusted over her cheeks. Rose cleared her throat discreetly and lifted her eyes to the food that had been placed in front of her, effectively ending their little moment by grabbing her cutlery and cutting into the tender veal.

Adrian felt his smile widen at how, quite frankly, adorable his ‘date’ was. He grabbed his glass of deep red wine, sipping it while turning back to his won plate as well as his thoughts, once more drowning out the conversation around him.

Certainly, Rose’s stunned reaction earlier was quite understandable. Adrian was used to it. His occupation was, after all, one that carried a heavy stamp of taboo. But watching as realization dawned on Rose’s face and seeing her tentative attitude towards him instantly change to caution, Adrian couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed.

Although, it was those unintentional, bodily reactions to Adrian’s insinuating remarks that posed too tempting of a challenge not to accept. They intrigued him, making him fully intent on inspiring on a blush as often as possible, despite Rose’s protests. They also made him look forward to maybe- hopefully- making the girl flush for very different reasons later on. Adrian smiled secretly as he carefully speared one of the delicate miniature potatoes on his plate with the fork. All he had to do was to lay on the charm and hope that Rose would allow him the chance before they had to part ways