She turned around and draped her arms around his neck. “I bet we can come up with something to do.” She shimmied her hips. His half-hard cock went instantly rigid.
“I bet you’re right.” He pushed her robe off her shoulder and kissed the skin he exposed.
“You’re definitely right.”
Chapter Ten
They sat on the balcony, a feast spread out between them, the champagne bottle nestled in a container of ice and parked on the floor because there wasn’t enough room for it on the table.
They chatted about the weather and what they planned to do during the rest of their stay. Leo told her about the phone call, about how his brother was apparently now marrying the woman Leo had left at the altar.
Shannon tried not to dawdle too long on that particular subject, not because she wasn’t dying of curiosity, but because it hit a little too close to home.
If Hayk Grigoryan hadn’t bought off her father and stolen her away, that would have been her fate as well. Hell, that essentially would have happened if Hayk hadn’t died so unexpectedly.
To be honest, that would have been better than what she’d gone through, except that if she’d been pushed into an arranged marriage, she likely would still be in that relationship. Unless her chosen husband abused her, she wouldn’t have reached the edge of desperation like she had after Hayk and then Davit.
Even cheating wouldn’t have been enough; she would have simply fucked her husband’s arch enemy or maybe his best friend, and they would have been even.
What a screwed up life. God, she was so glad she was rid of it. And yes, she’d traded a life of having sex with someone she didn’t want to be with for another life with multiple someones she didn’t want to be with, but at least her current lifestyle was on her own terms. Plus, it was temporary. Only a few more years and she’d buy out someone like Maureen, start over—again, only this time it would be for good.
She couldn’t wait.
“Whatcha thinking about?” Leo asked.
She glanced over to see him watching her steadily, a champagne glass dangling from his hand. How long had she been lost in her thoughts?
“Those pesky dreams of mine.”
He chuckled. “Nothing wrong with that. Thinking about them keeps them alive.” He refilled both flutes, draining the champagne bottle and adding a splash of orange juice. He lifted his in toast.
“To us.”
She drank, watching him as she did so.
He lowered his glass and said, “How do you feel about carrying on this affair after we leave here? Do you think we could make a go of it once we’re outside this little bubble we’ve created for ourselves?” He waved at the rain steadily dripping from the eaves.
Whoa, she had not expected the conversation to go there. Although, honestly, she shouldn’t be surprised. Leo was not calculated, was not spending time with her for any other reason beyond his own attraction to her. He wasn’t like the men she’d associated with for her entire adult life.
He was one of the good ones.
Which was a problem, because he would definitely not approve of her current career choice. He’d mentioned his ex-fiancée cheating on him too many times for him to be okay with Shannon sleeping with other men while they were together.
And frankly, she didn’t blame him.
She’d never expected to be in this situation, at least not while she was still an escort. Maybe after she settled down and was running her little B&B, maybe she’d meet a sweet, country boy who had no connections whatsoever to the mafia.
But not now. Not while she was still in this in-between phase.
Not to mention, while Leo did not have ties to the mafia, he was definitely connected to big business. Big, family business, the kind that had the power to push their eldest son into an arranged marriage. And if he was from Detroit, it was entirely possible that his family and her own, or Hayk’s, had rubbed elbows at some point.
Shit. It wasn’t going to work. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t. She’d vowed never to step foot in Detroit or its suburbs ever again, so she certainly could not go visit him. Look what happened to Nina Sarvilli when she decided to let nostalgia override common sense.
That meant he’d have to go to Chicago to visit her. It could work; she never took her work home, so there was no fear that a client would show up at the door. But she’d also have to ensure her calendar was cleared, and she’d have to hide all the outfits and makeup and other window dressing that went into glamming herself up for her clients. And, ultimately, she’d be lying to him. At some point he’d ask what she did for a living—he already had, and she couldn’t skirt around the issue forever.
Either she kept up a charade and came up with a cover—and felt like crap for lying to him—or she told him the truth, and then she’d never see him again.
“You’re thinking awfully hard about this. It’s making me nervous,” Leo commented.
She cleared her throat. “I just…you took me by surprise, that’s all. I haven’t thought at all about work, about leaving here since I met you. And now you’ve reminded me of all that reality that will be waiting when this vacation is over.”
He chuckled. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Let’s just have fun for now. I don’t want to think about what’s waiting for me, either.”
They both had their feet propped on the banister. Leo inched his closer to hers and tapped her foot with his own. “Wanna go inside and curl up in bed and watch a sexy movie?”
She smiled. “That sounds marvelous.”
Crisis averted. For now.
***
Monday morning arrived
