Page 17 of Dancing With Lies

“I’m good, Lincoln, how are you? What can I do for you?” Emily asked, obviously curious as to why he’d called her.

“I’m good, I hope you don’t mind me calling. I asked Dylan for your number because I’m hosting a boat party with a friend of mine and I was thinking of having some adult entertainment. Dylan said you might know someone that could help me out with that.”

“Oh, that sounds fun. What kind of adult entertainment are we talking here?” Emily asked with caution, and Lincoln wondered if he’d approached this the wrong way.

“Well, I’d like to have an exotic dancer on the yacht, but I want someone classy, that can really give my guests a quality show, not just the kind of thing we’d see in a seedy strip club. Does that make sense?” Lincoln wasn’t so sure it did, but Emily rushed in to assure him she’d taken his meaning.

“I know what you mean, and I do know someone that would be perfect for the job,” Emily rushed on to tell Lincoln about a friend of hers that had won competitions up and down the east coast as well as a few out west in Las Vegas. “She’s really good and I think she’ll give you exactly what you’re after.”

“She sounds perfect, really.” Lincoln smiled with relief. He was co-hosting the party with his long-time friend Kai, and it was one of the biggest events of the year. He negotiated with Emily for a while over the price and airfare for the job. Lincoln was impressed with how Emily didn’t back down for her friend and even demanded a good hotel for the woman.

By the time the negotiations were finished Emily had even managed to wrangle an invitation for herself and her husband, although he’d have invited them anyway if she hadn’t asked. Lincoln had to smile at how well this woman worked to wrap you around her finger without any effort at all. No wonder Dylan always got a smug smile on his face when he mentioned his wife, she was impressive and not just because she was beautiful.

“So, I’ve let her know what’s going on and she agrees she’ll come to New York for the job. Thanks for calling, Lincoln. I have to go but if you send me all the information and details, I’ll pass them on.”

“Thank you, Emily, you’ve saved me,” Lincoln said before he told her goodbye and sat back in his chair, ready for this party to be over with.

It was a party he gave every year for some of his wealthier friends from around the world. It brought them all together, gave them a chance to blow off steam while also showing off, and brought new business contacts. That was always a plus in Lincoln’s eyes.

He called Kai to let him know the entertainment was sorted out for the party and then went about ordering plane tickets before reserving a rental car along with the hotel the woman would need for two nights. He emailed all the information to Emily before he went home from the office that day.

As he cooked a dinner for one, Lincoln smiled a smile that might turn other people’s blood cold, but his thoughts weren’t malicious or nasty, he was just pleased with himself. His trip down to Myrtle Beach to scout for Chloe had been fruitful, at least.

The dancer he’d spotted at the Thompson’s party that night was the spitting image of the girl he’d lost so long ago. She didn’t carry around that air of innocence anymore and there was a lot of confident pride in her smile, but he could see Chloe behind those eyes. The PI Lincoln had tailing her told him where to find her once Lincoln landed in Myrtle Beach on that quick run a few nights ago and he’d watched her as she instructed a class.

Her body had always been tight and toned from the ballet she’d done, that hadn’t changed at all. Only the exercise had changed. She’d gone from graceful ballet to an art that was far more sensual, far more…adult in nature. Lincoln had wanted to walk into that glass-fronted building and drag her out the minute he saw her, but he’d held off. He had to approach Chloe, Roxie as she now called herself, at the right time.

He’d dreamed about her every night of his life, it seemed. Since he’d seen her blonde hair a sultry shade of midnight black and her eyes full of knowledge she hadn’t had in the past, the heat of those dreams had cranked up to a scale that was off the charts. He wanted her back in his life, back in his bed, and if he helped her to gain her inheritance and some semblance of peace at the same time, so be it.

He felt a twinge of guilt over not telling Dylan’s wife that he knew who Roxie was, or that he’d wanted her to come to his party for a reason. That was soon dismissed, however. He had to do this right, or she’d run again and who knew if he’d be able to find her a second time. It had taken him ten years to find her this time.

Chloe had always been smart and she’d gained some street smarts over time, it would appear. Who’d taught her that wisdom didn’t matter, it was simply good to know that she wasn’t the waif he’d lost when he went out for breakfast one morning.

It didn’t matter to him that she’d had other men in her life, they’d been apart for over ten years, he had no right to judge, or that she’d exchanged ballet for exotic dancing. All that mattered was that he knew where she was now, and he’d soon have her back in his life. If everything went well.

But even as rich and privileged as he was, he knew things could go wrong. All he had to do was look to his mother to know how a good thing could be ruined in seconds. Her first boyfriend, Lincoln’s father, had been an alcoholic who turned abusive when he was drunk. So abusive she’d left him before Lincoln was born.

His mother had then moved on to a rich man that offered the kind of protection she wanted for herself and her unborn child. Lincoln couldn’t remember the man who’d wanted to give Lincoln his last name, but his mother had refused and given her child her own last name, Young instead of Osbourne. Even though the man was madly in love with his mother, she’d left him for Dr. Bennet, a friend of her husband’s.

Dr. Bennet’s wife had succumbed to cancer and he’d then succumbed to Lincoln’s mother’s charms. The pair had carried on the affair until Osbourne found out that his wife was pregnant with another man’s child. When his mother married Dr. Bennet after an incredibly quiet divorce, he thought she’d perhaps find peace at last, settle down, and live out her own happily ever after.

That hadn’t happened.

Lincoln’s mom’s marriage to Dr. Bennet was the longest and Lincoln couldn’t help feeling disappointed when it eventually ended in divorce. Then she moved on to a very brief marriage to a Mr. Clark. He hadn’t been nearly as kind to Lincoln as Dr. Bennet had been, but Lincoln hadn’t cared. By that point, he’d realized his mother would never be happy with any man for very long and wasn’t surprised at all when she left Mr. Clark and found a new boyfriend quickly.

Lincoln didn’t want that kind of life and he didn’t want to spook Chloe the way his mother had been scared off so many times before. The first hint of a problem, or the man became too clingy, and his mother was off like a shot. Would Chloe be the same way?

She’d lived a hard life for a long time and she might have her own addictions if her boyfriend did. He’d cope with that if she did, and get her the help she needed. Whatever she needed or wanted, he’d give it to her, so long as it meant he could be a part of her life. Apart from drugs, of course. He hated drugs and what they did to people.

They made them lose control of themselves, their lives, and their emotions. Lincoln was just like his mom in many respects, he always had to be in control, of his life, of his emotions, of the people around him, to ever let drugs take that away from him. And to him, love was just as much a drug as any chemical. Lincoln didn’t really believe in everlasting love, not like the movies portrayed or women hoped for. He’d seen too many divorces and affairs to believe in things like that.

He did believe in intoxicating desire, in the elusive need to get high from being with one person until that high wasn’t enough, or began to wane over time. People would then go on to destroy that love in pursuit of a bigger high, or to capture those first moments of being high for the first time all over again. You couldn’t recapture that moment however, not really, so he’d never pursued love.

He’d pursued Chloe for a long time, but it wasn’t for love, he told himself. He didn’t know if what he’d felt for her all those years ago was love, but he knew he wanted her in his bed again. Lust he could deal with, desire was something that could be controlled, and he wanted this new Chloe underneath him very much. She’d been perfect as a sweet little virgin all those years ago, but she’d matured well, blossomed into something far more destructive, perhaps.

He was willing to get a few burns from her fire if that was the price he had to pay for another chance to have her in his bed. He’d never love her, not like a woman who looked like Natalie Dormer with her fiery, defiant eyes should be loved, but he could fuck her until he got her out of his system. Then they could both move on again. He was sure of it.

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