Lies in Love (3 page)

“Whatever.
I’m taking Talia home. This is a bust and God knows she’s
not having any fun around all of these lovebirds.” Sara walked
away without another word. She was giving up on the whole mess. She
didn’t know what to do about her sister, but sending a man in
her direction wasn’t going to fix the funk she was in. She’d
just have to learn to like it. This was who her sister was now, for
better or for worse. Sara found Talia at the same table, staring at
her empty martini glass and retrieved her to take her home.

“I’ve
got it.” Camey came running in from the front of the shop after
Talia went out to get lunch. Reina and Sara were moving arrangements
to the cooler while Izzy, the animated, blonde high school intern,
ran the counter.

“What
now?” Reina was over all the hair-brained schemes Camey had
been secretly proposing all morning.

Camey
held out her cell phone. “Look.” A deliciously well-built
man named Landon Havens appeared on the screen, shirtless, his left
arm covered halfway with an ornate dead tree containing what looked
to be the edge of a lifelike treehouse. His wheat-colored hair stuck
up in all directions in that sexy way and his sapphire eyes nearly
leapt off the screen. His lips were plumped perfectly around his
beautiful white teeth and were surrounded by a sandy-blonde goatee.
The man was a near-perfect specimen.

“He’s
nice, but what’s your point?” Sara rolled her eyes in
true Talia style. Sometimes there was no denying they were sisters.

“He’s
an escort.”

“What?”
both Sara and Reina shrieked in unison.

“We
didn’t have any luck with the guy at the club, and, honestly,
it is going to take a lot of persistence for a guy to want to stick
around for more than five minutes with Talia. Surely with a little
monetary incentive, this guy will at least try to keep her interested
for, say, an hour? Surely an hour would wear her down.”

“I
don’t know about this. I mean, can’t these guys be
dangerous? They could have an STD or something,” Sara, always
the cautious one, piped in.

“Escorts
are very careful these days. They always use condoms and get tested
quite frequently.” Camey noticed the inquiring stares she
received from the girls after the information she just unloaded. “My
sister used an escort once after she and her husband got a divorce.
It got her through a tough time.”

“Mija,
this could be bad for all of us. If she finds out that we put this
together, she may never forgive us.”

“At
this point, that’s a risk I’m willing to take. She’s
miserable to be around and I can’t fathom what is going through
that head of hers. Something isn’t right up there.” Camey
swiped across her screen to display the escort’s information
and set her phone on the counter. “They don’t even have
to sleep together, but if they do, maybe this will brighten her mood
a little.” All of the girls looked at each other quizzically.
“It’s worth a shot.”

“How
is this going to work?” Sara was the first to concede.

Camey
had hope that this plan would be successful.

“I
say we all chip in and meet the guy together. If he’s a total
skeeze we leave and never speak of it again. But if we do this and he
agrees, what’s the worst that could happen?” Camey
clicked the phone number on the escort page and saved it to her
phone.

“Talia
could find out and never forgive us. That would be pretty awful,”
Reina, being the level-headed one, stated.

“She
won’t find out. We carry this to our graves. Just trust me.”
Camey heard the front door of the shop open and, peeking through the
pass-through to the front, saw Talia walking in. She whispered, “I’ll
call him tonight and set up a meeting. We can make a decision from
there.” She slipped her phone in her pocket and returned to
work.

Talia
entered the workroom and set the deli bag on the counter. “Why
aren’t these arrangements in the cooler?” She fixed her
eyes on Sara, waiting for an answer.

Sara’s
head fell, downcast. “I was just finishing up.”

“What’d
you get us?” Camey drew Talia’s attention away from the
work left to be done. She dug in the bag, removing sandwiches
carefully wrapped in parchment paper from the deli down the street.
The bottom sandwich had a name and phone number scrawled on the
wrapper. “I think the cutie at the deli likes you, Talia.”

“Don’t
be ridiculous,” Talia seethed.

Camey
removed the sandwich and held it out for Talia to see. “Jonathan?
He’s got nice handwriting.”

Talia
snatched the sandwich from Camey while rolling her eyes. She walked
to the trash receptacle at the end of the counter and, groaning,
dropped the sandwich inside. “Sara, you have twenty minutes to
eat your lunch and get those deliveries out. Move it.”

When
Talia was out of the workroom, Camey saluted and snickered.

“How
soon can we meet him?” Sara muttered as she walked by Camey,
depositing the last of the arrangements in the cooler.

Landon
backed his Harley to the curb, pulling off his half-helmet and
placing it on the back of his bike. Removing his riding gloves, he
shoved them in his back pocket, surveying the tiny coffee shop with
its worn green awning flapping in the wind. He was intrigued by
Camey’s phone call, but slightly confused. He knew she wasn’t
hiring him for herself, but the details were incredibly vague. He
hoped this trip to East Dallas wasn’t a waste of time. He could
have been spending an extra hour in the gym to make up for that large
pizza he had for dinner the previous evening. God knows he couldn’t
afford to lose his muscle definition with his line of work.

He’d
been making money off his body for six years now and he made it a
point to put in the work to make sure he continued to earn good money
until he was at least in his mid-forties. He’d seen several
guys working well into their fifties and he admired them. This job
took a lot of dedication and an ability to mentally elude emotional
attachment. That was the biggest perk for him. He never wanted to
become attached to a woman. Not the way his father did. He’d
never be ruined by a woman and his profession made sure of that.

As
he entered the coffee shop’s meager half-wood, half-glass front
door, he saw a table with three attractive women seated near the back
of the shop with steaming coffee placed in front of each of them.
Being the only patrons inside, he made his way to their table.

The
place was dark and antiquated. It reminded him of the soda shops he
saw in old movies. A large bar sat to the left of the door with
various coffee and cappuccino machines stationed along the mirrored
wall behind it. A glass display held a selection of pastries and
desserts and he had to avert his gaze to ignore the temptations
inside.

Approaching
the table, he saw the girls’ faces flush. It was a response he
was used to, whether out of embarrassment for meeting an escort or
from pure adrenaline due to the excitement of something considered
forbidden. He’d never viewed himself that way, but he knew how
society saw him. They would never understand how he felt or the way
he fulfilled his needs. He was allowed sexual release without the
worry of anyone’s feelings getting hurt. He showed his hand
before the cards were even dealt. It’s how he protected himself
from the expectations of a relationship.

“Good
evening, ladies.” He knew how his raspy voice made women melt.
He loved how he could make their panties drop with a single stare. It
made his job so easy. “I’m Landon.”

“Camey.”
A fresh-faced blonde stood and extended her hand. This was the woman
he spoke to on the phone. She was practically drooling as she stared
at him, not releasing his hand.

Landon
nodded as he shook her hand, examining the other women at the table.
When Camey had released her grip, he unzipped his black leather
jacket and smoothed his gray T-shirt down to where it was tucked into
the front of his dark wash jeans. After removing his jacket, he
slipped it over the back of his chair as Camey continued.

“This
is Reina and Sara,” she motioned to each of them as she said
their names.

Reina
slouched in her chair with her arms folded over her, but Sara smiled
sweetly back at him.

“Nice
to meet you.” He nodded and took a seat in the vacant chair.
“So who is the lucky lady?” He smirked, forcing his eyes
to smolder in a way that he’d learned made heads turn.

“Actually,
she’s not here,.” Camey interjected. “She doesn’t
actually know we’re doing this.”

Landon
was intrigued. Could he be a gift to a woman? This was a first for
him, although not unheard of. “I just need the facts. Where,
when? The who doesn’t really matter.”

“Actually,
it does.” Camey began biting her lip as the other girls sat
silently. “We need you to seduce her. She’s been out of
the game for a while and is a bit stand-offish from men.”

“A
bit?” the Hispanic friend sniggered, her arms still tightly
crossed in front of her as she surveyed Landon. He tried to recall
her name, but it escaped him.

“You
must not understand. I get hired to take women out,
willingly
.
I don’t seduce women. Women pay
me
to keep them company.” Landon knew he sounded smug, but this
wasn’t how he did things. What they were asking sounded
problematic.

“We’re
willing to pay you, but…” Camey stopped talking.

Landon
waited for her to say something, but she returned to chewing her lip.
He wished she would just spit it out. What did these chicks expect
him to do? Whatever it was, it was definitely
not
in his job description. “Look, ladies, it’s been fun, but
I’ve got more pressing matters to attend to. You have a nice
day.” He stood from his chair and began to walk away when
Camey’s cute little blonde friend called after him.

“What
if we throw in an extra thousand? Would that make this worth your
while?”

Landon
stopped dead in his tracks. An extra thousand was a lot of money. He
could put that in savings and not have to worry about the next time
his dad ran into trouble. He turned around to see Camey regarding her
angrily. “An extra thousand? What are we talking here? Are you
wanting me to entertain her all night or just for a couple of hours?”
He rubbed his chin curiously. “You’re not going to rob
the girl, are you?”

“For
God’s sake, she’s my sister. We’re trying to help
her.” The blonde’s gray eyes nearly popped out of her
head.

“Okay,
okay. What do you want me to do?” Landon returned to his seat,
attentive.

“Look,
Talia and her fiancé split up about six months ago and she’s
been a hard ass since.”

Landon
tossed the name Talia around his brain. He tried to form a face for
the name, imagining a short brunette with a witch’s nose and
gangly teeth. He missed half of what Camey said as the picture formed
in his head.

“We
just need you to talk to her, make her feel special. Maybe ask her
out to the local diner, see where things lead. I think she’s
needing that from a man.” Camey’s nerves had seemingly
turned to concern for her friend.

“So
basically, you just need me to talk to her and make her feel good.
And if she turns me down I still get my money, no questions asked?”
Landon started to think this would be easy money.

“Yes.”
Camey looked at her hands that were fidgeting in her lap.

“When
do you want me to do it?” These girls looked desperate and
Landon resolved to help them out.

Camey
looked up from her hands and the attention of all three girls flew to
Landon’s face. “You’ll do it?”

“Yeah,
when?” Landon leaned against the table, waiting for the
details.

“We
go to the nightclub,
Satin
every Friday. It’s our own sort of tradition, so she’ll
be there.” Camey began digging in her purse for something and
produced a picture of a breathtaking woman with auburn hair and
sparkling hazel eyes. She looked somewhat reserved, except for the
simple diamond stud in her nose, which seemed out of place with the
rest of her appearance. “This is Talia. She’ll most
likely be sitting at a table alone. She doesn’t do much more
than lurk in the corner since she called off her engagement.”