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Alex winced. She didn’t like most of the words associated with her profession. They all had such ugly connotations.

Such heavy judgment levied on them.

“The spa o ers a variety of services. More than most people are privy to,” she explained, still choosing her words carefully even though she’d already come out to Charlotte.

Old habits really did go down hard.

“Services to people like the Thatchers?” Charlotte absentmindedly circled Alex’s navel with the tip of her finger. Alex nodded.

“Is that why they wanted you to meet that guy at their party?”

She nodded again.

“How do you know you can trust them?” Charlotte splayed her palm on Alex’s abdomen and looked up at her

expectantly.

“I vet every prospective client vigorously. Most people don’t make the cut. There’s a lot of trust involved in this business.”

Charlotte laid back, tucking her arm behind her head. Alex resisted the urge to scan her nude body. She really didn’t have time to get derailed again.

“Who does the . . . I mean . . . Who works with the clients?” Charlotte’s face flushed with color. “I don’t want to use the wrong terms.”

Her struggle to find the right words was cute. She was really taking this in stride.

“Sex worker is acceptable,” Alex replied, although she never liked how sterile it sounded. It also left out a lot of what they did by boiling it down to physical acts. “There are six and they don’t work in the spa downstairs. There is a side entrance with direct access to a private stairwell. It’s a safety precaution.”

“Have you ever had a problem? Obsessed client? Stalker?”

Charlotte rolled out of bed and started collecting her clothes.

A good idea, one Alex copied.

“No,” she replied, heading for the bathroom on the other side of the suite. “But that’s because we take every measure possible.”

Charlotte piled her clothes on the vanity and followed Alex into the shower without comment. As if the intimate act had become old hat. Alex made room for her as she turned on the hot water.

“Do you see clients?” Charlotte asked casually, her question devoid of obvious judgment.

Alex took her time lathering herself and rinsing the vanilla scented suds o her body. “Would it bother you if I did?”

Charlotte took her place under the shower. “Well. It’s not the client part as much as the sex with other people thing that I’m not super jazzed about.”

Alex laughed as she stepped out of the shower and reached for a towel. “Is that your way of saying you’d like to be exclusive, Charlotte?”

Washing her face, Charlotte didn’t immediately respond.

The longer she took, the more Alex regretted having asked the question. It was stupid. Childish.

“Did I miss something?” Charlotte asked, rinsing o the remainder of the soap.

Alex pulled on her bra and clipped it behind her back as Charlotte shut o the water. “What do you mean?”

“Did I miss the part where we were still sleeping with other people?” Charlotte asked, her eyebrows knitting together as she dried herself.

Biting back a grin, Alex busied herself by pulling up her trousers. She shouldn’t be as pleased with the revelation of monogamy as she was, but there was no stopping the flutter in her belly.

Once dressed, Alex pulled her hair back into a bun. The makeup application would have to wait until she got back to her o ce.