Page 65 of X's and O's

“Little place in Providence called Sinners. Heard of it?”

Her mouth fell open. “I…” She dropped her voice to a hiss. “The sex club?”

I raised an eyebrow. “What kind of man do you take me for, Violet Garrisen? Sinners is a restaurant. A very elegant one.”

She breathed out a sigh fueled with relief.

“With a sex club in the back.”

“Wyatt!”

I liked the way my name sounded on her lips. And that the little back-and-forth had distracted her from her nerves for a moment.

As much as it pained me to do it, I gave her back a few inches of space. “I’m going to go back to treating this like a date in a few minutes, because there’s no way I’m taking your virginity without making you feel special first, but I need you to know a few things about how I work.”

She nodded seriously, opening her purse and pulling out a notepad and a pen and then twisting to give me her full attention.

I stared at the pen poised above the paper. “Are you taking notes?”

She lifted the pen, leaving a blue dot on the page. “Is that okay?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Are you a reporter?” It wouldn’t be the first time one of them had booked me under false pretenses, only to try to get a scoop on the unusual job I’d somehow found myself working in.

She shook her head quickly. “No.”

“Cop?”

“I’m just a cleaner. But I’ve never done anything like this before and I don’t want to do the wrong thing. I’m sorry.” She stared down at the pad of paper again. “This is so embarrassing. I shouldn’t have called you.”

I put a finger beneath her chin and raised it so she was forced to look at me. “But you did. So here are the rules. One. If writing something down makes you feel more in control of a situation for whatever reason, then write it down. There’s zero need to be embarrassed by that.”

She gave me a small half-smile. “That’s your rule number one? Is that a standard set of rules? Because it seems awfully specific to this particular situation.”

God, her skin was soft. I let my finger trail just slightly along her jawline before forcing my hand away. “No, my standard rule number one is condoms are mandatory. But considering you just tried to write notes on my rules, I suspect you’re probably a pretty responsible person, and that probably goes without saying.”

Pink tinged her cheeks. “Condoms. Sure. Do you…supply those? Or should I have brought my own?” The pink turned into a bright-red blush that spread down her neck and across the top of her tits.

“You’re okay, Violet. Take a breath.”

She blinked at me. Then inhaled deeply, like she’d only just realized her lungs weren’t working naturally.

I rushed through the other rules on her exhale, so she didn’t suffocate if she forgot to breathe again. She listened, then asked a question of her own.

“What about payment?”

Upfront. In full. That was always part of the rules. And yet I found myself saying, “Payment at the end, and only when you’re satisfied.”

Her voice lowered to something barely above a whisper. “What happens if your client isn’t satisfied? You just don’t get paid?”

I brushed a strand of hair out of her face. “It’s never happened before, sweetheart. So I wouldn’t know.”

She stared at me wistfully. “Can you teach me that?”

I squinted at her. “Can I teach you how to satisfy your clients?”

She laughed. “Oh my God, no. I don’t think my boss is going to add that to the list of services we provide at Clean Sweep. I just meant…you have confidence.”

“And you don’t,” I said gently.