Paige
I remember when I was nine and my cousin Gina and I were playing near a nest of ants. I tripped and fell into the nest, and as I got bitten, what I remember with clarity about that day is feeling the fiery sting after those bites. All at once.
It was like a blast of shock come to get me, taking me whole. That is how I feel now as I look at James Marchesi.
I’m gazing into his handsome face that looks more handsome than when I last saw him. His olive skin is vibrant and those high exotic cheekbones seem sharper as he gazes back at me with the deepest shock. His turquoise eyes are brighter and those wide powerful shoulders become rigid with tension showcasing his well- muscled body.
I’m standing topless before him holding a box of condoms. I’m standing before him shaking with humiliation and the deepest embarrassment I’ve ever felt in my life, and I want to run far, far away and hide somewhere, but I can’t even move to cover my breasts.
Only God knows how difficult it was for me to walk into this room topless like the other girls, wearing nothing but this skimpy pair of panties.
Now this.
James is here. Of all the people I could have run into, my bad luck chose him.
Laughter cuts the moment of trance; it’s one of the other girls.
She laughs again, and the next thing I know, James is whipping off his jacket and throwing it over me. The blond guy next to him stares on in complete surprise as James takes hold of my arm and marches me out of the room like a child.
We stop in the corridor and he glowers at me, his stare so intense my skin burns.
“What are you doing here?” he snaps.
All I do is stare back. I’m still holding the condoms. I look at them, and he snatches them away.
It’s that, that snaps me because he’s here too, and if he’s here and he was in that room, then that means he was one of the guys who booked me for the evening.
No way would I know a man like him would be in a place like this, but then, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. I could tell there was a wild side to him. I felt it when he kissed me.
“Paige,” he prods. “What are you doing here?”
I gather my strength, regain my composure and some elements of pride. I’ll need it to answer him and then to leave.
“I’m working,” I answer, lifting my chin as I stare back at him.
Fury fills his eyes. “Working? Why are you working here?”
“That’s my business, not yours.” I wrench my arm free from his grasp.
“Paige, you can’t work here.”
“Why? Because you come here? What I do outside the classroom is none of your business, Professor Marchesi.” From day one, he insisted that his students call him by his first name because he wasn’t that much older than us. Calling him Professor Marchesi lets him know I’m being serious.
“Tonight, you are my business. I made this booking.”
I bite down hard on my back teeth just to keep my mouth from falling open. I was told the guy who made the booking for the evening was one of their VIP billionaires.
The same way I would never have pegged him for a guy who frequents a sex club, I wouldn’t have guessed James was a billionaire.
“Go home, Paige.”
“You can’t send me home.” My voice falters. I can’t mess this job up on my first night. “I’m working.”
“Go home. I’ll make sure the manager knows you did what I wanted you to do for the evening.”
Numbness fills me. I can’t believe this is happening. I gaze into his usually vibrant blue eyes and try my hardest to keep the tears that are threatening to fall at bay.
I already thought my life was shit, and this just took it one step further to confirm it. I move to go but start to take off is jacket, but he stops me.