Ivory thanked the porter before settling herself into the waiting taxi. Having given the cab driver her address, Ivory huddled back in the seat lost in thought.
Granted, she hadn't handled the situation with the greatest of diplomacy and tact, but she had managed to get away. For a while there, lost in Risk's passionate eyes, she hadn't thought she would be able to leave. Who could leave behind such bliss?
Ivory felt the strongest temptation to slide her hand in between her thighs and test the dampness that was still evident. To let her mind wonder back over the ground that she had traveled with Risk.
Ivory's hand slowly trailed down to the hem of her skirt before reality struck. Hardly the time or the place, and more importantly, best not to start anything that couldn't be finished.
Ivory sighed and settled further into the seat sightlessly watching the scenery pass by.
**************************************************
"I don't care what it costs; I want it first thing tomorrow," Risk growled before shutting off the phone in his hand. His P.I. was working on compiling a file of the history of Ivory Skye. He could easily access her address and phone number from the contracts his lawyer was drawing up, but he wanted to know what made Ivory tick from the top of her head to the soles of her feet before he engaged her in battle again.
He had underestimated her twice now. He didn't think she had it in her to bring her own self pleasure while he watched, and he hadn't thought she would actually leave.
Risk ran a hand through his hair upsetting the elegant style that it naturally fell into. He would have her back no matter what it took..
**************************************************
The following evening, Ivory stared back at her reflection as she put in her long silver earrings. Another day, another assignment.
Ivory flipped her hair just so over her left eye and began the tedious process of teasing it to look as though she had just rolled out of bed and wouldn't mind getting back in. Escorts were paid to carry off a look and, more often than not, perpetrate a façade.
Ivory was just applying lipstick to her bottom lip when the phone rang. Ivory lifted the receiver with a ready greeting and a false smile in her voice, as had become her custom since the past evening. "Hello," she greeted.
"Hello," said the deep sexy voice on the other end of the line.
Ivory's breath stilled in her throat. It couldn't be.
"I'm sorry, who is this? I don't believe I recognize the voice," Ivory returned, trying to sound coolly polite and wholly uninterested.
Risk chuckled down the line, causing unknown chills to race up Ivory's spine. "I'm disappointed. After last night I had begun to think I was unforgettable."
Ivory breathed a sigh of mild relief. At least he had made no mention to her tying him up. That would be too embarrassing in the cold light of day, or night as it were.
"Ah, yes. Now I think I remember," Ivory answered, trying for calm.
"I want to see you tonight. What time can I come get you," Risk impatiently asked, anxious to see her again, anxious to have her body at his mercy again.
"I can't," Ivory mumbled, not having the backbone to outright tell him "no."
"I think you can," Risk negated, knowing that Ivory wouldn't be holding her job as an escort for much longer. Not if he had anything to say about it, and as far as Risk was concerned, he had everything to say about it.
"I work tonight," Ivory said by way of excuse. Then, realizing she probably sounded weak and but for her job she would see him whenever he wanted. Putting more steel into her voice, Ivory tried again. "As it happens, I work every night, and even if I didn't, I would hardly want to spend any more time with you. Being a sex toy was fun for one night, but I could hardly carry on that way as a lifestyle," Ivory finished, mentally patting herself on the back for being assertive and firm.
"I bought your house," Risk briskly bit out, not liking Ivory's self righteous tone one bit. That ought to give her something to think about.
"What," Ivory asked, thinking she must have misheard Risk. It has almost sounded like he said he bought her house, but that couldn't be right. She hadn't stayed the night, in fact she had run out on him. He most certainly couldn't have said that.
"And I had it transferred over into your mother's name," Risk continued as though Ivory hadn't spoken.
"You had no right," Ivory angrily informed Risk.
"I also paid off your father's debt, and I had every right. If I'm not mistaken, that was a right you gave me last night when you left the casino with me. The understanding being that if you pleased me then I might decide to pay the debt in full," Risk threw in Ivory's face with relish, knowing that she wouldn't welcome a reminder of how they had originally met up. He knew she also wouldn't be pleased to remember that theirs was not a normal relationship founded on a mutual and undeniable attraction. If it had been, then her no would have been good enough, but as it stood . . .
Risk silently waited for the moment when Ivory would get her wits back and retaliate with scathing reply. He was somewhat disappointed when Ivory rejoined with a very morose and withdrawn, "Yes, but I wouldn't call walking out in the middle of the night very pleasing".
"You seemed rather pleased to me. Shaking with pleasure if I recall the situation correctly," Risk tacked on, bating Ivory with every word.
"I'll repay you the money," Ivory vowed.
