Одри Карлан - January (Calendar Girl #1)

“I already know who’s been cast,” he grinned.

“So what? Now everyone else will know, and everyone will talk about it for months! I’m excited, and I only know the premise of the story.”

Wes’s hand slid to my shoulder where he cupped it, easing me into his side as we watched people head up to the stage. Each took a bow when their name and assigned character were announced.

“I can’t wait to find out who’s going to be the soldier, Will, the one who sends his true love, Alison, the letters. Oh, who’s going to play Allison?” I turned to look up as he looked down.

“No one’s going to play Allison,” he responded.

“Huh? But I thought that was the love of his life?” I’m certain my expression was confused as my eyes narrowed in on Wes’s handsome face. He grinned and gestured to the stage.

“Watch.” He lifted his chin just as a beautiful raven-haired vixen approached the stage. I knew that actress! Gina DeLuca. She was tall and thin yet still had some curves that wouldn’t quit. Every man loved her, and every woman wanted to be her. What made her even better was that she had a heart of gold and represented herself to young women in a positive light.

Then I was shocked from my hardcore clapping when the emcee introduced the actress. “Gina DeLuca to play the female lead, Mia Culvers!”

My mouth dropped open. “No way!” I turned to Wes.

“Surprise!” His corresponding smile was absolutely stunning. Something I’d never forget, ever.

“You changed the main character’s name to Mia?”

“I did,” he said not adding anything else to make me understand why.

I blinked a few times, moisture filling my eyes as I looked at Wes. “Why?”

“Because you matter.”

Chapter 7

Holy fucking shit. I mattered. My heart filled with happiness as I thought back to a few nights ago when Wes admitted that he named the main character of his movie after me. He even changed what she looked like. She was supposed to be a slight pixie of a woman named Allison, who was blonde and blue-eyed. Most certainly not a busty, raven-haired Rubinesque beauty, like Gina DeLuca…or me.

I wasn’t sure what to think or how to take that information. We agreed to not getting attached. Although if I was honest, I couldn’t say I wasn’t attached to Wes. I definitely was. Did I love him? I didn’t think so. This whole time I’d been so focused on not falling in love that the option of opening my heart to him never presented itself.

The buzz of my phone broke me out of the constant loop of “what ifs” I’d been contemplating about Wes and me becoming a real couple. When it came right down to it that was not an option. He knew it, and so did I. That needed to be enough.

“Hello,” I answered noting my Aunt Millie’s name on the screen.

“Hi doll-face. How’s life dipped in gold treating you?” My Aunt Millie’s voice was filled with humor but only reminded me of my true station in life. I had been hired to do a job. That job bought me a life of luxury…for a one-month stay. It was not my own, nor would it ever be. I sighed loudly into the phone. “That good, huh?”

“No, it’s fine. What’s up?” I pulled a lock of hair and inspected the ends looking for splits. Time for a cut.

“I’m calling to tell you about your next client, dear.” I could hear paper shuffling and the clacking of nails on a keyboard as she clucked her tongue.

“You will be heading to Seattle!” Never been there, could be fun, I thought, while she continued on. “This one is going to be interesting. “Alec Dubois is the client. Thirty-five, tall, dark, and handsome, fits the bill, but he’s odd.”

I refrained from commenting. I thought the whole process was strange until I met Wes. Then I realized it was possible for good, kind, normal men to need a companion for one reason or another, and in this particular circumstance, I was glad. Without it, I’d never have met Wes, and he was definitely someone I’d consider significant. He mattered to me too, though I hadn’t mentioned it to him yet.

“…picked you off the website the day after I sent you to Mr. Channing. Made me promise he’d get the next month with you.”

Cringing, I turned and grabbed a blanket off the chair and wrapped myself in it. “Is he a creeper?”

Millie laughed so loudly into the receiver, I had to pull it away from my ear. “No, baby girl, he’s an artist! You’re going to be his muse. One look at you and he said he must have you for his new series “Love on Canvas.” I could hear her clicking, and then my phone beeped that I had a message.

I put her on speaker then looked at the email she’d sent. “Holy, Mother of God.” All the air left my chest.

“He is a looker. Just like Mr. Channing, in reverse? Dark hair, dark eyes, average size.” I nodded staring numbly at a picture of Mr. Alex Dubois, artist, on the screen. There was nothing average about this dude. He was a dead ringer for Ben Affleck. Only he had long hair that was pulled into a small bun at the top of his head and a mustache-beard combo. I couldn’t wait to see just how long that hair was. The man in a word? Fine !

I sucked in a sharp breath and released it slowly to relieve some of the heat that filled my body. “So, uh, what does he want me to do as his muse?”

“Not sure. I know he makes unusual art pieces. All one of a kind. They go for hundreds of thousands a piece. However, if you take your clothes off, he’s paying more. Period. If you have sex with him—and by God, what woman wouldn’t want to—“ She laughed. “—he is supposed to give you the additional twenty grand separately.”

“Can he demand that I take my clothes off?” I asked, suddenly feeling dirty. Immediately, I racked my brain trying to remember what I signed off on in the contract.

“No, no, no, that is most certainly not part of it. However, he did mention it when he booked you. I explained that it would cost him another twenty-five percent on top of his fee, and that was only if you agreed to it, and technically, he’s not to touch you sexually.”

Twenty-five percent was twenty-five thousand dollars. “Seriously? I’ll get another twenty-five thousand dollars if I let him paint nudes of me?”

“No doll-face, you’ll get twenty thousand. Exquisite Escorts gets twenty percent on top of your fee. That means five thousand goes to us and twenty to you.” I shrugged not really caring. I planned on taking my clothes off. That extra twenty thousand would help get me closer to my ultimate goal. At the very least, it would pay Maddy’s unpaid school loans for her first year in school.

“Sign me up! As long as I don’t have to sleep with him, I’ll pose nude.” Even saying it out loud lacked sincerity. Boy, was I in trouble. I hadn’t even left Wes yet, and I was already drooling over the next guy in line. I’m a whore.

“You got it. Your flight will leave promptly on the first. Make sure you’re on that plane. Your last day officially with Mr. Channing should be January twenty-sixth. That will give you a few days to get yourself to the beautician, get your hair done, your body parts waxed, and all your unmentionables seen to.” That time I laughed out loud. “If that’s it, I’ll let you go…”

“Um, Aunt Millie?”

“Ms. Milan, remember?” she warned.

“Sorry. You realize I’m never going to call you that unless we’re in front of clients, right?” I said dead serious.

“What is it, Mia?” her tone lacked the love of a doting family member that time.

“Is it possible for one of the escorts to see their clients again? Personally?”

“Oh please, no. Please don’t tell me you’ve fallen for Mr. Channing?”