Chapter 9 - Maxim

"I didn't peg you for the romantic kind of man," Pearl says as I lead her down the winding stone path between a set of trees and just below a trellis of climbing roses.

"I'm not. I asked one of my men. He has a wife, and she likes to do things like this. I thought you might like to look at the stars too."

"Now that makes a lot more sense." Pearl winks at me before stopping to toy with one of the roses, her fingers running over the soft pedals.

I unfold the blanket from where it hangs over my arm, spreading out the smooth cream fabric, making sure there isn't a rock in the way. Pearl puts the water bottles in the middle of the blanket before laying down on one side of it, looking up at the stars above.

"You never really get to see this in New York. What's that dusty line right there?" She points out a cloudy white line darting across the sky, though it still looks more like a smattering of dust than anything else.

"That's the Milky Way."

"Hold on, you can see the galaxy from out here? I don't think I've ever seen this before, even when I traveled. We spent most of our time in cities and the light pollution left a whole lot to be desired. If I had known that there were views like this, I think I might've forced Dad to go camping with me."

"I don't know, there's something peaceful about spending time out here. When I was younger, I used to come right up to this spot and lay down on the blanket beside my mother. We talk about life together."

"Is she still alive? You talk about her like she's gone."

I reach out as I sit down and brush a strand of Pearl's chocolate hair behind her ear. Those little red strands shine again, though not as bright as before. The moonlight doesn't bring them out the way the sun does when it shines down upon her.

"She passed away a while ago. Shortly before I was thirteen from breast cancer. It was too far advanced before the doctors caught it. I haven't thought about her much in the last years, there's been too much going on."

Pearl sighs, rolling on her side and facing me for a moment. "I know what it's like to have to live without your parents. I never really knew my mom. Dad said she left when I was a baby. He said that she wasn't built for the kind of life he wanted for us and that it would be better if she went. Mom took that to heart and decided she didn't want her baby either."

"I think it might be a lot worse to lose them without knowing them than to have known them, loved them, and lost them. I at least grew up knowing my mom loved me." I stare up at the stars, thinking about all the nights I laid out here with my mother.

She rolls on her back; her gaze returns to the sky. I'm forgotten beside her as she starts tracing her finger through the air like she's trying to connect the dots.

"You know all the constellations have a story, but you can never see the same constellation on this side of the world and the other at the same time."

"I knew that. I may not know much some days, but I do know the earth isn't flat."

"Thank God, I was having a hard time trying to figure out how to bring up that conversation with you."

The unladylike snort comes from her again before she bursts into a round of laughter and giggles, shaking her head and wiping tears from her eyes as they gather. "Really? With all you've come across in your life, flat earthers might have been the deal breaker for you?"

"Would it be a deal breaker for you?"

"If I get paid enough money, I don't care." Pearl presses her lips together as if she said too much, her gaze darting away from me and focusing elsewhere on the sky.

"Have you ever thought about something other than escorting as a job? Maybe spending the rest of your life lounging on a beach in Italy. Maybe Croatia? I hear Brazil's got nice beaches too."

"I've thought about doing other things with my life, but every time I start to think, well maybe this is my chance, something happens, or I need the money. The job comes easy. I honestly don't know what I'd be doing without it."

"You could put that degree in computer science to use. You're an intelligent woman, I don't see why you think that you need men to pay your bills when you could outearn any of those idiots any day."

"How do you think so highly of me when you just met me?"

I pause, trying to consider the right answer. The one that's caught somewhere between the truth and what she wants to hear. I'm sure right now she's thinking that something romantic is going to happen. That I'm going to pour out my heart and soul to her.

But then, on the other hand, she knows who I am. At least the basics of me. She knows how men like me are.

"You're not like anyone else I've ever met, and if that means that I think highly of you because I treat you with the respect you deserve, well then, I guess I think highly of you. But that's only the start."

"And let me guess, you're not going to tell me the rest until I tell you something about myself?"

"We don't have to talk about you tonight if you don't want to. I could spend the rest of the night out here laying under the stars with you talking about the constellations."

"That would hardly feel fair with how much you told me about yourself." Pearl hums and tucks her hands behind her head, staring up at the sky.

She opens and closes her mouth a couple of times, but it seems like she can't figure out quite what to say." In another world where I wasn't an escort and I could use my degree, I think I'd go back to working with a startup."

"So that part of your story was true. You were working with a tech startup."

"Yes, for a while I worked with one. I thought it was something I wanted to do. The company never went under. I decided to leave when the boss decided to start being a scumbag."

"What lines did he cross?" I ask, my tone low and deadly. "Give me his name."

"And what are you going to do? Are you going to hunt him down? Make him pay for being an asshole all those years ago? Kill him? He's not worth it."

"How can you say all those years ago when you're barely more than twenty?"

"I'm twenty-two. Just turned twenty-two, actually. How old are you?"

"Forty-one."

Pearl's nose wrinkles. "Oh, you're old. A really old man. Honestly, I'm surprised you made it down here without the help of a walker."

"Excuse me?" I stare at her with an incredulous look, trying not to laugh when she gives me a playful little poke.

"You heard me." She sits up before getting to her feet, looking down at me with her hands planted on her hips. "I think you're an old man. Very old. Geriatric, really. Maybe we should have been touring nursing homes instead of coming out here this weekend. Are you sure you want to spend the next five days with me? I can't change diapers."

"You better run." I get to my feet, kicking off my shoes. "I'm going to give you a five-second head start and if I catch you, you're mine."

"Careful not to break a hip, grandpa," she says before she races away, her hair whipping up behind her.

I take my time counting to five, waiting until she gets to the trees again before launching after her.

While I could close the gap between us fairly quickly, I let her think that she was winning, allowing her to dart through the trees, jumping over bushes and logs.

She scrambles up a tree and sits on a little branch looking down at me.

Smirking, I cross my arms over my chest. "How do you know where my favorite tree was?"

She arches an eyebrow. "Your favorite tree? That might be the oldest old person thing you ever said. Tell me, do you do bird watching too? Oh, maybe you spend your days lawn bowling."

"Do you realize how high you're sitting right now?" I step between her legs, turning my head and pressing a kiss against her bare inner thigh, just below the hem over her denim shorts.

Her legs clamp together as she glares down at me. "Don't even think about trying anything funny with me. Contract."

"I don't know, sitting out here with your legs spread like that could constitute begging for it. That is, if you lean in and kiss me first. Or shimmy out of your shorts. I'm good with whatever option you choose."

"I'm not going to pick either." She slides down from the tree slowly, holding onto the branches, she lowers her body. Her breasts press against my chest as she lets herself down, and my hands grab her waist to steady her. When she's standing on the ground, she's still glued against me, her hands on my chest.

"You're very beautiful," I say, voice soft as I look down at her.

She may be one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. Her hair hangs loose and wild around her but there are leaves trapped in the waves.

Her cheeks are flushed with the exertion of running and climbing. There's something so free about her. It draws me in, making me wish that we never had to leave this place, that we could live in this moment forever. And it is only then that I realized that I'm becoming a sap, just like the other men in my family.

Just for this one woman.

Pearl's fingers curl on my chest like she's trying to hold onto me. "What do you think you're doing?"

My gaze drops to her full lips as her tongue darts out to wet the bottom lip. "What do you think I'm doing?"

"Contract." She says the word like it will construct a brick wall between us and shove me back several feet.

"No contract. Not about this." I turn, pressing her between me and the tree behind us. "There isn't a single line in the contract about me tasting you. Memorizing the feeling of your lips on mine. Stealing your breath until you're begging me for more."

Her nipples pebble through the thin shirt she wears, pressing against my chest, and it's then that I close the distance between us.

As I trace the seam of her lips, her hands push flat against my chest, almost like an attempt to push me back. She could if she wants to. And I love that she doesn't. I want her to feel how my heart beats for her. I want her to feel what I feel.

Groaning, I press harder into her. All I can think about is what I would like to do once I get my hands on her perfect body, tracing every curve. I'd commit each touch, each glancing kiss to memory.

She sighs, her lips parting and I take the opportunity to delve into her mouth, my tongue tangling with hers as I reach for the hem of her shirt.

The shirt is nothing more than a thin slip of material that rips beneath my grasp. Her loud moan echoes off the trees around us as she presses her chest in my hands.

I slip my thigh between her legs, smirking again into the kiss when she starts rubbing against me.

My teeth graze against her skin as I kiss my way across her cheek and down the curve of her jaw. I suck her pulse as it pounds, leaving a mark for all those who see her to know that she's taken.

Until it fades, every time she looks in the mirror, she's going to have to think of me.

A soft little mewl comes from her mouth as I cup her breasts, thumbs drifting over her nipples. Her back arches into my touch, as she grinds against my thigh.

"Oh," she moans, her voice a soft sigh. I unbutton the front of her shorts and slip my fingers into her silky panties.

I brace myself with one arm above her on the trunk of the tree, leaning into her and looking down. She meets my gaze, looking at me drunkenly as I slip my fingers along her soaking wet slit.

"You're so ready for me. You want me. Same way I want you." I growl.

My Russian member strains against the front of my pants, pressing forward, trying to get to her. I'm aching to bury myself in her heat until I don't know where I start, and she ends.

"We shouldn't be doing this." Pearl mumbles, her voice soft as her hands harden against my chest. "I can't do this."

As soon as the words out of her mouth. I remove my hand from her shorts and step back. "We don't have to do this right now."

I take a step back, putting more distance between us and trying not to feel the sharp sting of dejection that slaps across my face at her words.

Before I brought her here, she said that she wasn't going to sleep with me. I knew that and I was fine with it at the time.

Now after feeling her grind against me and moan for my touch, I don't think I can forget it. I don't think I'll be able to just let this go. Respecting her is one thing, but forgetting the way she felt beneath my hands is another.

Pearl's eyes are glassy as she steps toward me, her hand outstretched before it falls to her side. "I'm sorry I—I just can't."

"You've got nothing to be sorry for. Let's go back to the house."

We walk together back to the blanket, gathering it up before heading toward the house. Not a word is said between the two of us, and for that I'm thankful.

If she ever looks at me with those tears in her eyes again, I think I would do everything to stop them from appearing. I'd hunt down anyone who'd ever hurt her and I'd cut their heads from their shoulders. They'd know what it was like to feel real pain just for making her cry.

And if I did that, I'd have to kill myself for making her cry tonight.