He nearly greeted the looks they sent him with an open sneer. None of them offered him any challenge. He could walk from this place with any woman there, and she’d be more than happy to be on his arm, no matter what ensued. But would that be so bad? Maybe this was what he needed. He would suffer no feelings of guilt when he broke yet another woman, when he took his anger, frustration, and sadness out on her.
Not that he allowed himself to feel guilt — not ever. How he’d chosen to survive was no one’s business.
When they stepped into a dim hallway and then out into a courtyard, Blake felt another flash of curiosity, but he kept it to himself. He was sure McKenzie was showing him so much because she was so eager to enroll him as her newest client.
Too bloody bad for her.
“Here are the sleeping quarters for our escorts. They do not leave these facilities without an approved client at their side. Once they sign on with us, we ensure that they stay ‘pure,’ in a manner of speaking, and protected from pregnancy, and that they have one priority in their lives — the men they are assigned to. They live only to serve our clients. I don’t normally let clients into this room, but I am making an exception for you, Mr. Knight.”
He wasn’t surprised that he was being given the royal treatment. Anything less and he would have walked out by now. However, he was taken aback by the rules of this place, and that did surprise him. Not much caught him off guard these days, but this place was certainly beyond his imagination. Considering that he’d been to some pretty exclusive clubs, ones that catered to all sorts of men and their needs, he’d thought he’d seen it all.
They stepped through another doorway and he found there a room full of small alcoves, with only thin curtains hiding the entrances. Some of them were closed, some open, revealing women sleeping inside. He wondered whether the agency’s escorts had different sleeping schedules, to keep an abundance of women ready for action both day and night — any time a man might wander inside in search of a companion.
In the large, dimly lit room, with shadows flickering on the walls, Blake’s eyes were drawn to the different colors of bedding in the alcoves. Was that some sort of clue to who the women were? Red bedding for a seductress, blue for someone softer, more cerebral?
As he turned the corner, a woman sat up in her pastel-blue bedding, her hair mussed from its time on the pillow. She didn’t see him as his gaze zeroed in on her, but Blake couldn’t take his eyes from the dark tresses that traveled halfway down her back, or from the low-cut silk of her pajama tank top, which showed him just a hint of her tempting cleavage.
She threw off her cashmere blankets, and his next view was of her tanned thighs, toned and tantalizing, and just the right shape for his hands to wander over. She was the first woman in the building who’d inspired even the smallest trace of lust inside him. Hell. Small? What he was feeling as he looked at her was anything but small. He hoped no one noticed.
He tuned out McKenzie Beaumont as he waited for this new woman to look up, waited to see what would happen when their eyes met. If he felt nothing, he was finished with her and with this agency. But if he felt what he thought he’d feel, he wouldn’t be leaving Relinquish Control alone.
Her eyes lifted and the room disappeared. Blake found himself taking an involuntary step backward at the power of the connection. Never in his life had he looked at a woman with such intensity. Never before had he been filled with such a flood of desire for any woman before she’d said even a single word. He would do just about anything, give anything, to possess this stranger. That thought should have stopped him cold, but he didn’t hesitate to ask his next question.
“What’s her name?”
McKenzie broke off in the middle of her sentence and looked in the direction his eyes had taken. He didn’t notice the scowl on her face when she saw how smitten he was with this trainee.
“Her name is Jewell, but she’s not ready yet. We’ve had her only a week, and we don’t know if she’ll make a good escort or not at this point. I told you that I guarantee discretion and satisfaction and I can’t do that with her. She has some very good traits, but some things about her need to be investigated further.” McKenzie turned on her heel and headed away, expecting Blake to follow.
“Jewell,” he whispered, and the woman in question flinched, though there was no way she could have heard his voice from the distance separating them. He approached her and then knelt down so he could be face-to-face with her. “Good afternoon.”
She said nothing, just gazed at him with widening eyes.
“Mr. Knight, this room isn’t where we speak to our escorts.” McKenzie had come back after him.
“Leave us.” The tone of Blake’s voice left no room for argument. He heard the sharp intake of McKenzie’s breath and knew she must be seething. Though she was anything but a submissive woman, she had to follow her own agency’s promise that its clients could have whatever they wanted, and so she did as he demanded and walked from the room.
“I said, ‘Good afternoon,’” Blake told Jewell, this time cupping her face with his hand.
Her cheeks heated, and he was aware of sparks flying between them at his touch. Yes, the innocence shining from her blue depths had to be faked, but it didn’t matter. He wanted her, and he’d made his decision. He let her go, stood up, and then he turned and walked from the room.
He’d seen all he needed to see.
Walking from the sleeping quarters, he moved down the quiet hallways, and when he entered the reception room, he found McKenzie speaking quietly to one of her employees at the bar. He had no problem with interrupting the two of them. When he approached, the conversation stopped and the women focused on him.
“Mr. Knight, this is Nikki. I think she would make an excellent fit for you,” McKenzie said as Nikki looked up and met his eyes, her expression bold.
“No. I will take Jewell. Have her ready in one hour.” Confident his wishes would be met, he turned to leave.
“But…but I told you she isn’t ready. I can’t promise that you’ll be satisfied with her.” McKenzie shifted uncomfortably, showing Blake her first sign of weakness.
“I don’t care if she’s ready or not. I have no doubt that I can train her myself — and I’ll enjoy doing so.”
“As long as you understand that I can’t offer you any guarantees,” McKenzie said, and then her eyes lit up. “And the cost for her is double, as she is new and you are her first client. I want the payment in full, up front.”