Page 6 of Vanessa’s Bravery

“Uhm, Vanessa, may I have a word with you?” Vera nodded to the man she’d called Mr. Whitlock. “Just a moment, please.”

Vera took her arm and they walked far enough away so the stranger wouldn’t be able to overhear them.

“He’s a new client. This is his first time here. I know literally nothing about him. It’s too risky,” Vera warned.

“I want him. I need this. I’m going into heat, and I don’t know why. Even if I go to a club right now, by the time I get there and pick up a guy, I might already be too far gone. Vera, he’s human. I’m stronger than him. He’s not gonna be able to hurt me.”

Vera scrutinized her for a couple of seconds, before nodding. “Fine. If it will help.”

“It will.”

“Take room twenty-three. I’ll send him up in ten minutes.”

“Thank you, Vera, you’re the best.”

As they returned to the stranger, Vanessa noticed the worry lines on his forehead. She smiled at him. “Mr. Whitlock, I’ll be waiting in room twenty-three for you.”

While she turned toward the stairs, he called to her, “Please call me Cole.”

She cast a smile over her shoulder at him, before she ascended the stairs, feeling his eyes on her back.

“Mr. Whitlock, let’s settle the financial aspect of your booking,” Vera said.

5

Cole handed Vera his credit card, but he didn’t even listen to her telling him how much she would charge him for spending time with the most enchanting creature he’d ever laid eyes on. The moment he’d heard footsteps behind him when he’d been talking to Vera at the reception desk, he’d sensed something surging through him, something he’d never felt before. He’d been compelled to turn around, and he felt instantly drawn to the beautiful long-legged brunette who approached. The second he’d looked into her green eyes, he’d realized that she was a dream come true. Her graceful movements made him imagine how she’d writhe against him when they made love, her long legs wrapped around his hips as he thrust into her again and again.

He’d turned rock-hard in a millisecond, and every sane thought had deserted him just by gazing at her. He was surprised that he’d been able to utter a phrase at all, because the woman Vera had called Vanessa made urgent desire surge inside him, reducing him to nothing more than a beast wanting to mate. It was an odd thought, primal and raw. As if he wasn’t a sophisticated, educated man, but merely an animal dressed in fine clothes, unable to hide his base needs.

Cole waited impatiently as Vera processed the credit card transaction and explained the house rules to him, though he didn’t absorb a single word as if she spoke a foreign tongue. His brain couldn’t process the words. They didn’t matter anyway. He was familiar with house rules in establishments like this. Besides, he played by his own rules.

“You may enter now,” Vera instructed from behind him.

Cole blinked and realized that he was standing in front of room twenty-three. He had no recollection of walking up the stairs, too absorbed in the anticipation of touching a woman so beautiful, so perfect that she could only be a figment of his imagination. Fuck! He hoped this wasn’t an elaborate dream he’d concocted.

He heard Vera’s footsteps retreating, and took a deep breath. Cole felt his heart thunder in his chest so loud he was certain everybody in the building could hear it.

His hand trembling, he knocked at the door.

“Come in.”

Cole opened the door and entered the room, then pulled the door shut behind him and locked it. The only lights illuminating the comfortably furnished room with the king-size bed were small lamps on the nightstands. They threw a warm glow over the room and the woman who lay on top of the sheets, propped up with pillows against the headboard.

Vanessa had changed out of her skirt and blouse, and now wore a revealing red negligee with tiny black ribbons tied into bows to hold the garment together in the front. Her olive skin glistened, and her chest rose and fell with every breath, the almost transparent garment revealing firm breasts topped with hard nipples.

“Hi, Cole,” she murmured in a husky voice, while her eyes roamed his body.

Her sensual voice sank deep into him, stoking the flame inside him to a roaring wildfire that—if not contained—would incinerate the entire city.

“Vanessa.” He shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it on a chair, then approached the bed, stopping at its edge.

“What would you like tonight, Cole?”

He swallowed hard, wondering if she would agree to his wish. “There’s something I’d like that I know isn’t customary in establishments like this.”

She raised an inquiring eyebrow. “And what is that?”

“I want to kiss you on the lips, and I’m willing to pay ex—”