Yours for the Night Read Online Free PDF Page B

hair caressed her bared back, setting the dress off to perfection. They were opposites, Jewel’s dark hair to Marianna’s blond, her olive skin to Marianna’s peaches-and-cream, her voluptuous curves to Marianna’s slender figure. Marianna eyed her critically a moment. “Are you wearing panties?” Not a single line marred Jewel’s sleek gown.
    Jewel merely batted her lashes. “If you’re not wearing them, you don’t need the time to get them off.”
    The tips of Marianna’s fingers went slightly numb. For a moment, they’d been two friends dressing up for a night on the town. Now they were . . . “I’m wearing mine,” she said, “and I don’t care what you say.”
    Jewel tipped her head one way, then the other, her glittering ruby-colored earrings swaying in her hair. “You don’t have to sleep with him. You meet him, you decide. If you change your mind, he’ll take it like the gentleman he is.”
    Marianna sat heavily on the end of the bed. “Did you ever do that, tell someone no?”
    “I’ve turned down two men after I met them.” Jewel stepped back into the bathroom and raised her voice slightly to carry through the doorway.
    “Why?”
    “One of them had terrible breath. Call me small-minded, but I wouldn’t have sex with a man I couldn’t kiss because his breath bowled me over.”
    Marianna shook her head, allowing herself a smile. Bad hygiene wasn’t a small thing. Although some people couldn’t seem to help it. She flexed her ankles and pointed her toes, a nervous little tic because her skin felt jumpy. “And the other man?”
    Jewel gave a snort of disgust. “He was hot as hell, very doable, a little older than us, tall. He really had me going. I was wet and ready. But then he did this really asshole thing.”
    Marianna rose and leaned into the bureau mirror, checking her makeup once again. “What?”
    “We were dining at the Carnelian Room, and the waiter brought him the wrong drink. He made a scene, raised his voice, told the guy he was an idiot and threatened to have him fired. It was unnecessary, not to mention embarrassing.”
    “What did you do?”
    29

    The Girlfriend Experience
    Jewel popped around the doorjamb again, her top lids lined, the lower lids still bare. “I leaned in close, told him I didn’t fuck dickheads, then picked up my purse and walked out.”
    “You’re kidding. What did he do?”
    “I think he stayed to finish the replacement drink his waiter brought, because he sure didn’t follow me outside while I hailed a cab. The next morning”—she waggled her fingers like the Wicked Witch and smiled—“he called Courtesans and told them to fire me.” She stopped dramatically. Which of course made Marianna demand, “And?”
    “Isabel fired him, in a manner of speaking. She told me any further requests from him would be politely denied.” She spread a hand. “See why this place is so great? They take your word over a man’s.”
    Marianna wished she hadn’t gotten ready so quickly. It left her too much time to think, which is why she kept Jewel talking. Nerves. She was so damn jittery about the date, about meeting Brock Ransom, about what he’d expect, measuring up.
    She glanced at her watch. “Are you ready? The limo will be downstairs in a couple of minutes.”
    Stepping out of the bathroom, Jewel caught Marianna’s wrist. “Take that off.”
    “My watch?”
    “Clients don’t like to know you’ve got an eye on the clock.”
    Brock Ransom had hired her for the party. She could do anything she wanted. Or nothing. She could have fun or she could choose to castigate herself. She undid the band, tossed her watch on the bed, and followed Jewel out the door.
    Dammit, she was going to enjoy herself at a big gala with delicious food, the best wines, and scintillating conversation. She’d worry about what might happen later in the evening . . . later.

    CHASE TOOK KRISTA OUT TO DINNER. HE HADN’T GONE SHOPPING. Besides, he didn’t have enough cookware