For the Night: Complete Box Set (32 page)

‘You think?’ she asked as she frowned. What the
hell was it with her? She seemed to have no self-worth at all.

‘I know. Look at you. You’re a stunning
intelligent woman. You just had a twenty-one year old who couldn’t get his fill
of you, to the point he asked if he could be included on any future
appointments.’

‘He did?’ she asked, looking surprised.

‘He did,’ I nodded as I clasped her face. ‘Trust
in yourself Ava. You deserve to be the centre of your husband’s world, to be made
to feel like you’re special on a daily basis. You shouldn’t have to pay me for
that. If he can’t give you what you need, find someone else that will, someone
you crave and who craves you in return. You owe it to yourself. Life’s too
short to be unhappy.’

‘You sound like you’re speaking from experience,
Logan. Maybe if I’m going to think about being brave, you should too. You’re
skilled at what you do, but I’ll warrant that doesn’t keep you warm at night in
your own bed. What woman would want to share her man with others? Maybe you
need to find your someone, so that you can be each other’s craving too.’

‘Trust me, I don’t plan on being in this
profession forever, but time is more on my side. Don’t waste anymore of yours
on a man who’s too foolish to think that his bank balance is more important
than you,’ I sighed as I kissed her forehead.

‘Thank you,’ she whispered as her eyes filled up
with tears. ‘You have no idea what last night did for my confidence, what
you’ve done for my confidence.’

‘So, do something about it,’ I ordered, as I put a
piece of paper in her hand.

‘What’s this?’ she asked.

‘Look at it when I’m gone, but if it makes your
heart beat faster, your stomach do that thing you women all rave about and
fills your head for the rest of the day, promise me you’ll do something with
it,’ I asked as I opened the taxi door for her and helped her in. She looked up
at me confused, but nodded as I closed the door and tapped on the roof. I stood
watching as she disappeared, then let out a heavy sigh. Here was me condoning
her husband for being more invested in amassing even more money than he could
possibly spend and ignoring his personal life, when I was just as culpable of
the same crime.

I strode over to where James was patiently waiting
by the car and he opened the rear door for me.

‘Morning, Sir.’

‘Morning, James,’ I smiled as I ducked in and he
closed the door. I waited until he pulled out onto the main road before
speaking. ‘Thank you for the paper this morning.’

‘You’re welcome,’ he nodded in the mirror’s
reflection.

‘You’re not going to ask me anything?’ I enquired,
surprised. He’d not been lacking in opinions on Summer over the last few
months.

‘No need to, Sir. I’ve already been put on alert
by Mr. Smith that I’ll be collecting you on Saturday evening, doing a detour to
Miss Beresford’s address and taking you both to Leicester Square in the
limousine. The only thing I’m unclear on is when I’ve picked you up after the
premiere, where I’ll be taking you both.’

‘Hmmm. I’m still unclear on that myself,’ I
sighed. Assuming she didn’t slap me and force me out of the limo for surprising
her, after ignoring her last email.

‘I’m sure when you’ve both got over the shock of
seeing each other after so long, you’ll soon think of something. If you don’t
mind me saying so, I’m pleased that you’re seeing her again. She’s a very nice
lady and you can’t carry on with this career path forever.’

‘I don’t mind you saying so. She
is
very
nice but this is nothing to do with me. I couldn’t leave her open to the
potential of that shit corrupting her.’

‘A touch of the green eyed monster then?’

‘I’d have been fine with her going with anyone
else, not
him,
’ I retorted.

‘Whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep at
night,’ James chuckled. I shook my head. He was too observant for his own good.
I would have hated seeing her in print with anyone. I checked my phone again,
wondering if Ian had transferred over that message from Summer eight months
ago, and felt my heart skip its steady beat as I saw it in my inbox. I took a
deep breath before I opened it to read.

Dear Mr Steele. You may not remember me, but I
booked you for a “Virgin for the Night” fantasy last month.

I might not remember her? Jesus baby, if only you
knew the truth.

I wondered if you’d be able to accommodate me
again? I feel like I have so much to learn and you were so gentle, kind and
respectful that I’d like for it to be you that teaches me everything that I
need to know.

You have no idea how much I’d have loved that, I
thought with a sigh, before reading on, trying not to imagine how many hours of
practice she’d put in with someone else in the meantime.

You did so much for my confidence in just one
night. I can only imagine what a few more sessions with you will do for me. I
don’t know why, but I just trust you to take care of me. I really hope that I
wasn’t too inexperienced for you and that you’ll want to take my booking again.
I don’t have a fantasy to play out. I’d just like you to teach me more. I want
to learn everything I can so I know how to please a man. I hope to hear from
you soon. Kind regards, Summer

O trust me, I’ve imagined plenty of sessions, I
said to myself as I pinched the top of my nose. She needed her confidence
boosting and I’d fucking blocked her email and never replied. What would that
have done for her self-worth? Probably bloody shattered it, along with her
trust in me. She’d think that she was shit sexually and that was why I’d
ignored her, when the damn opposite was true.

I wiped my face with a towel as I finished a
particularly vigorous workout in my gym. I felt seriously tense. It was already
Thursday, two nights until I saw her again. I’d never felt nervous about
meeting a woman,
never
, but Summer did things to me that no other woman
ever had. I pulled my phone out. I didn’t need to look at her message again,
I’d memorised it by heart, but I had to look at it to remind myself that she
had wanted to see me again. That she trusted me. I was surprised to see another
message in my inbox, from Ava. She was fairly consistent and never booked more
than one session every couple of months. It hadn’t even been a week since our
ménage. I opened it up to read it.

Dear Logan, I wanted to thank you most
sincerely for a wonderful night on Saturday. The way you and Trey looked after
me, the pleasure you brought me meant so much, as did your repeated kind words.
I wanted to let you know that I won’t be booking anymore sessions, because of
what you did for me. I’ve no idea how you found Farrokh, but you were right. I
felt as if a million butterflies had been released in my stomach when I saw his
name, address and telephone number. I kept looking at that piece of paper for
three days until I plucked up the courage to ring him. My heart felt as if it
were going to beat out of my chest as he answered. We spoke for hours, catching
up and laughing. Because of what you’ve done for me I’ve found the courage to
admit defeat with my husband and have asked for a divorce. The guilt of what
I’ve been doing hasn’t helped, though I’m aware that if he’d been a better husband,
I wouldn’t have had to resort to seeking you out to start with. I’ve decided to
go back home to my family in Iran. Farrokh is single too, though I have no idea
if we could try and make it work, even though my father would still disapprove,
I’d like to give it a try. Even if not, I hope to find a man better suited to
me than David was. A man who’ll treat me with the kindness and respect you
always have and make me feel like I’m the centre of his world. Thank you for
showing me how things could be, how they should be. I’ll always be grateful and
I’ll always remember how wonderful our times together were. You are a special
man, Logan Steele. You may argue that it’s your job, but it takes a unique man
to place the happiness of a woman above his own, to do what you did for me all
those times, and for reuniting me with the man I’ve never forgotten. I hope one
day that you find a woman who can make you such a priority in her life. One for
whom the butterflies can never be tamed. You deserve it. With warmest regards
and fondest memories, Ava.

I huffed out a surprised breath. She’d finally
done it. She’d realised that she deserved to be happy in all areas of her life
and had made a major change towards making that happen. Good on her. I really
hoped that if this Farrokh was the love of her life, that she’d be his and it
would all work out for her. She had always been one of my favourite clients,
she reminded me a lot of Summer.
Summer.
I sighed as I thought of the
brunette who’d taken such a hold of my thoughts, waking and sleeping. I opened
her email and scanned it again and just like every time I read it, my finger
hovered over the reply button, but I stopped myself. I’d be seeing her again in
two days and if she was going to be pissed off with me for tricking her after
ignoring her, better I deal with it face to face, when I had her trapped in the
confined space of the limo. I’d have to turn on my full repertoire of romance
and charm to bring her back around, which for once, I wouldn’t need to fake. I
opened her restored file and looked back at her picture and felt that weird
twisting sensation in my stomach again. I definitely had “the butterflies” for
this woman. My dreams really didn’t do her justice; she was even more
attractive than I remembered.

“Are you retiring?”
Ian had asked. As I
looked back down at Summer’s photo, the thought that she could be the one woman
to make me want to retire crossed my mind. I’d give it up in a heartbeat if
she’d have me, the real me that was, the man buried beneath “Logan Steele.” I
sighed heavily to know that she’d never see me any other way, to know that
she’d never want me that way. Not the way I wanted her. I should leave her to
go to this premiere alone. Daron Beck may have been the reason I started this
insane plan to hijack her for the night, telling myself it was to protect her,
but the fact was, I just couldn’t resist seeing her one more time.
Having
her one more time.

Actually this was me talking, who was I kidding?
I’d be having Summer Beresford more than once on Saturday night. And if she
thought she could put up any objections to that, she had a lot to learn about
me.

It had been over nine
months since I’d deflowered Summer Beresford, in her
Virgin for the Night
fantasy. Nine months where she’d plagued my thoughts, both in my personal and
professional life. I’d resolved to never take another booking from her. I’d
never got emotionally attached to a client before; it didn’t bode well for me.
Especially not when she obviously just saw me as the guy she paid to take her
virginity and nothing else. I didn’t take rejection well. When I read that her
co-star Daron Beck had set his sights on her and planned to accompany her to
their movie premiere next week, it made my blood boil. His reputation for
sleeping with his leading ladies was nearly as legendary as my reputation for
being the best in the business. He, on the other hand, wasn’t so respectful of
women. The thought of him putting his hands on her, if he hadn’t already, or
treating her badly, made my mind up. I was about to do something I’d never
done; take a former client out without her paying me, and I wasn’t going to
take no for an answer. Next week I’d be accompanying Summer to her premiere,
whether she liked it or not.