Getting Dirty. Rachael Stewart

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      He continues to study me and I know he’s warring with what he knows of my work and what he knows of me. I know he doesn’t like how I earn a living; we agree to disagree. As far as I’m concerned, these people deserve what they get.

      Just like the princess teasing me with her long bare legs, cute little arse and a face that’s bordered by a blonde low-swinging bob. She projects such innocence to the outside world, but not now, not in here.

      As if on cue she stands and bends over the table to whisper in the ear of her female companion. I clock the feline curve of her body, the gentle swell of her hips, the delicate arch to her back, and then her friend turns and they kiss. Not just a peck. A deep, tongue-sinking kiss that has a spasm of heat ripping through me.

      I straighten against it. Fuck.

      I’ve seen her dressed for swanky lunch dates, the gym, charity galas and shopping sprees, and now I get to see her half-naked, with an intent that screams one thing: sex.

      And in surroundings such as these, with soft lighting, plush grey sofas and the perfect balance of glass and warm wood, she’s lending a sophisticated charm that you could lose yourself in. It’s only the debauched goings-on here that make it more than just a hip wine bar, and she’s smack-bang in the middle of it. Adding to it.

      I don’t want to see the appeal. The allure. The legs that go on for ever. And that kiss that sears the air, my skin, my blood.

      ‘Ah, now I see…’

      Jackson’s enlightened murmur snaps me out of it. I pull my gaze back to my pint, chug back a gulp.

      ‘It’s a woman that brings you my way—now it makes sense. It’s about time.’

      I almost choke on the bitter drink. ‘Hardly.’ He’s close, and yet so far off the mark. ‘I can’t say I care for your choice of clientele.’

      He laughs. ‘You don’t need to care—not for sex. You ought to try it some time…a bit of no-strings fun. Celibacy doesn’t suit you.’

      ‘Really?’ My brow lifts. Never mind him punching me, I’m going to swing for him across the bar, to hell with the doormen flanking the place.

      He laughs harder as he pours clear liquid into both shot glasses and slides one across to me. ‘Your mistake was letting one get under your skin.’

      ‘One?’

      ‘You know who I mean—Jess.’

      I throw back the shot and wince. The harsh hit douses the burn of her—my ex, the woman who left the second my family lost it all. ‘Yeah, well, I’d take a woman out of my local over one from here any day.’

      ‘That’s not what your face was telling me a few seconds ago.’

      I glower at him—but, hell, he’s right.

      I drag my mind back to the job, to what I should be focusing on.

      Coco is clearly at home here, her open affection with the other girl and the show they’re putting on for the guy across from them makes that obvious. Nothing in my research suggested she swung that way, but Philip Lauren—my client, her half-brother—had suspected it.

      ‘I’m not sure I’m her type.’

      Jackson grinned. ‘Everyone’s her type if they can deliver in the bedroom.’

      Heat unfurls deep within my gut. I can’t pinpoint the cause. Desire, envy, anger… She’s just like my ex, I try to tell myself. Only, Jess’s vice was money. Coco’s is sex. Just as her brother had said.

      ‘How often does she come in here?’

      ‘Depends. You asking for you, or for work?’

      ‘Does it matter?’

      It really didn’t. It wasn’t like I’d put his livelihood at stake. It was the reason her brother was giving me shit. He expected me to have uncovered something by now, and the one thing I’d uncovered was the one thing I couldn’t divulge.

      ‘I’ve promised I’m taking your secrets to the grave regardless.’

      ‘Glad to hear it.’

      He’s talking to me but his eyes are on her, just as mine were. His expression is thoughtful, almost concerned. And I’m listening, my ears attuned to whatever has him looking so intent.

      ‘It used to be once a fortnight, occasionally once a week, but lately it’s been more.’

      ‘More?’

      ‘Yeah.’ He looks back to me. ‘She’s probably been here twice this past week alone.’

      ‘And that bothers you?’

      ‘Not so much bothers me, but you know… This place serves a purpose, and whatever that is for her seems to me she’s needing it more and more.’

      ‘It’s sex, Jackson. Perhaps she’s just on heat.’

      I’m purposefully harsh, flippant, but I don’t want his concern. It doesn’t pay for me to care, to soften towards her, but I can feel it happening. As each day goes by, each new discovery only adds to the appealing enigma that is Coco Lauren.

      ‘It’s more than that for people like her.’

      Jackson’s like a dog with a bone. He’s not letting this go. Maybe she’s ensnared him too. Not that I’m ensnared—unable to douse the attraction more like.

      ‘They come here to get away from it all, and if she’s upping her visits, something’s bothering her.’

      ‘You sound like you care.’

      ‘She’s nice, that’s all.’ He gives a shrug and his eyes drift back in her direction. I let mine do the same, watching as she walks in the direction of the ladies’ room, her hips swaying provocatively. I feel the telltale ripple of heat through my groin and clench my jaw.

      ‘You could be good for her, you know.’

      Jackson’s tone has a sincere ring to it that makes my blood run cold, as effective as a cold shower ever would be. Never would I go back to a woman like that. They have a knack for taking you to your knees and I’ve no interest in risking that again.

      ‘If you haven’t forgotten how to do it, that is?’

      ‘Shut it, Jackson, or regardless of your bouncers I’ll take you down right now.’

      I shake my head and neck the minuscule drink. He’s hit a nerve and he knows it. Hell, maybe that’s why Lady Legs is having such an undesirable effect on my libido.

       Who are you kidding? The reason you haven’t had sex in an age is because you can’t find anyone who does it for you. That is, you couldn’t until you started this job, until her…

      I look to the closed lavatory door and beat back the thought.

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