He was sweet, he was hot, he was passionate—he was perfect. He was also completely attentive and had made the night completely about her.

  At one point, he had told her that he hoped that when they met once again, she would like him. And also that maybe she would begin to fall in love with him like he was beginning to fall for her.

  She wasn’t shocked by his talk of meeting again or falling in love. She was halfway in love with him already. Her mind wandered to the talks they had in between where she had bared her dreams and insecurities. She couldn’t believe she had told a stranger her innermost thoughts, some of which she hadn’t even told her friends.

  Rohit didn’t seem like a stranger to her. Not anymore. She smiled in anticipation, recalling what he had whispered into her ear after he carried her to her bedroom and placed her gently on her bed..

  “Remember your promise? I’m going to hold you to it. When we meet again, I’m going to take you on a real date.”

  He left as soon as she drifted off to sleep. She wished he had stayed longer so she could have woken up in his arms.

  She let out a deep sigh and smiled with happiness.

  She felt like she would burst with anticipation of meeting him again. She only hoped he would not make her wait for long. After so many years, she was excited at the thought of falling in love.

  She got out of the bed and prepared for the rest of the day. She was going to meet Sujata Deshmukh and the children for lunch. And in the evening, she had a dinner date with her friends.

  An hour later, she parked her car in front of a sprawling building in the outskirts of the city. She got out of the car and smiled when she heard the sounds of children shouting and laughing. Opening the backseat door, she pulled out the bag that had cupcakes and a few other treats for the children.

  Holding the bag, she headed inside.

  “Good afternoon, Anjali madam.”

  Anjali smiled at the familiar face of the guard. “Good afternoon, Satish. How are you?”

  “I’m good. Sujata madam is with Mr. Shetty in her office.”

  “Thanks, Satish.”

  Anjali continued to smile. Mr. Shetty was a kindly old man who was the primary donor for the orphanage and many other schools and hospitals in the city. He also had a sweet tooth. Ever since Sujata Deshmukh mentioned that he thoroughly enjoyed the cupcakes she had sent to the children, Anjali made sure to pack and send a separate box for him each week.

  She headed to the office area first to say hello before going to the children. Faint laughter and conversation could be heard from the office when she knocked on the door.

  “Come in!”

  Anjali pushed open the door and stepped inside.

  “Hi, Anjali. A very happy birthday to you,” Sujata Deshmukh greeted with a smile. “We were just talking about you.”

  Anjali smiled back. “Thank you. I hope you were saying only good things about me.”

  The older woman laughed. “Most certainly, dear. I only have good things to say about you.” She pointed at the empty chair. “Come join us.”

  Anjali went closer. Before sitting in the chair, she turned to greet the man next to her and almost dropped the bag in her hands. The man immediately got up from the chair and rescued the bag.

  Anjali stared at him in shock.

  The man watching her with an unreadable look and the escort who gave her the most memorable night while stealing her heart was one and the same.

  CHAPTER 5

  There was silence in the room. Vaguely Anjali heard a chair scraping back.

  “I’ll need to check on the lunch arrangements for the children. I’ll take these cupcakes for them. In the meantime, why don’t you and Rohit chat.” Sujata Deshmukh left the room and shut the door behind her.

  Anjali continued to stare at Rohit, trying to process the information.

  “Who are you?” she whispered.

  “I’m Rohit. Rohit Shetty.”

  Anjali had thought Mr. Shetty, a billionaire, was an old man. Sujata Deshmukh had spoken so much about him and his charitable ways. Even when the older woman referred to him as Rohit and called him the most eligible bachelor, Anjali still assumed Sujata Deshmukh and Rohit Shetty were of a similar age group and good friends.

  “Why?” she asked. “Why did you pretend to be… someone else?” She knew she should be outraged, but she had a cocktail of mixed feelings.

  The man she fell hard for. The man she was half in love with was only playing with her.

  She looked down to hide the tears that stung the back of her eyes and tried hard to stop their flow.

  She jumped slightly when he reached for her cold hand and held it in his warm ones. “Anjali, please look at me.”

  Slowly she looked up and saw him flinch while regret filled his eyes. Although her tears didn’t flow, she knew her hurt must be obvious.

  “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “Was it all a game to you? Were you amused that a lonely widow mistook one of the most eligible bachelors to be an escort and propositioned him?”

  “No. I wasn’t amused at all. Yes, I was intrigued at first, and then I grabbed the opportunity to know the woman who had always fascinated me.”

  She was shocked. “What? How can I fascinate you? We’ve never met before.”

  He smiled. That familiar smile made her stomach flutter.

  “Yes, we haven’t met before, Anjali. But Miss Deshmukh spoke about you so much that I felt I knew you. I even developed a bit of a crush on you, especially after tasting your desserts.”

  She felt an involuntary rush of pleasure at his compliment.

  “Miss Deshmukh sensed my fascination towards you,” he continued. “She even put in quite an effort to get me to meet you several times, but I resisted. My lifestyle doesn’t allow me to be able to have relationships or trust people easily. I’m way too busy, and a lot of women are more interested in my money than what I have to offer as a person.”

  When he had mentioned that his lifestyle didn’t allow him to have relationships, she had assumed it because he was an escort.

  She shook her head in confusion. “Why did you come to my bakery yesterday?” she asked.

  He smiled. “Because of Miss Deshmukh. I grew up in this orphanage until I was eighteen. Miss Deshmukh knows me quite well and knows what would make me finally meet you.”

  “What?”

  He let out a short laugh. “She told me that you were putting pressure on her to invest all of her savings into your bakery expansion. I’ve always advised her to increase her salary, but she kept it the same for the past fifteen years. So I knew she had limited savings. And the way she said it, as though even she thought it was a great idea to invest her savings in your bakery. I was outraged. I felt cheated since I kept you on such a pedestal and had a crush on you that it felt like a betrayal for me. So I wanted to confront you and tell you not to fleece an old woman.”

  She was stunned. “I never asked her to invest.”

  He smiled. “I know. I found that out pretty quickly when I spoke to you.”

  She recalled the strange conversation when he had asked her about whether she was looking for investors to expand her bakery.

  “Why didn’t you tell me who you were?”

  “I wanted to. But I saw how reserved you were, and I didn’t think you would have welcomed me had I revealed my true identity. Not like the way you did when you thought I was an escort. You would have given me the polite brush off had I introduced myself as Rohit Shetty.”

  She blushed because it was the truth. “I didn’t invite you as an escort either. You invited yourself,” she said in a stern tone.

  He laughed. “I know. I might have come off a bit too strong. But I finally met the woman whom I had a crush on. All I intended was a dinner and a conversation where I got to know you better.”

  She closed her eyes in embarrassment. “Oh God. And then I propositioned you and asked you to spend the night with me.”

  She felt him gently squeeze her hand in reassurance. “Your boldness combined with your shyness made me even more fascinated. And by then, I was terribly attracted to you and half in love with you. All I wanted to do during our dinner was kiss you. So when the opportunity rose, I took it.”

  Mixed emotions continued to swirl inside her. She didn’t know what to think or how to separate the man who stole her heart the previous day from the confident businessman sitting next to her.

  “I’m the same guy, Anjali,” he said, reading her face which was probably reflecting what was going on in her mind. “Go out with me on a date and give me a chance to prove that.”

  She remained silent.

  “You promised,” he reminded with a smile.

  It wasn’t the same when she had made that promise to him the previous night. She was sure he knew that too.

  Taking a deep breath, she replied. “I’ll go out with you as promised.”

  His smile widened, making her heart and stomach leap with excitement.

  EPILOGUE

  Five years later…

  “Happy birthday, Anjali!”

  Anjali smiled, feeling grateful for celebrating her birthday with people who meant a lot to her. At first, she wasn’t too sure about having a big celebration. But seeing the excited faces of dozens of children who were enjoying the party, she knew Rohit was right to insist.

  “What was your most favorite birthday gift, Anjali?” a little girl dressed as a princess asked.

  Anjali blushed when she heard her friends laughing good-naturedly. Sujata Deshmukh also had a knowing and indulgent look on her face. They were all thinking of the time when she had thought she received an escort as her birthday gift. As it turned out, her friends had only been joking and hadn’t really hired one. In fact, they were shocked when she jokingly introduced Rohit as the escort they had hired for her birthday.

  Anjali smiled at the little girl. “My favorite birthday gift was from five years ago. It was someone who made my every wish and dream come true.”

  The girl looked very excited. “Wow! That sounds like a magical genie!” She ran towards the other kids to tell them the fascinating fact.

  There was a deep, masculine chuckle. “Magical genie. I like that.”

  Anjali raised her eyes to the man standing next to her and smiling in amusement. The man who was now her husband.

  Although she fell in love with Rohit within hours of meeting him, she had still decided to wait to commit to marriage with him. Rohit had proposed to her each month they had known each other, but he hadn’t demanded or pressured her in any way. She loved him even more for that. He had waited patiently for three years before she finally agreed to marry him.

  He kissed her on top of her head before whispering into her ear. “I’ll be anything for you sweetheart. I’ll never leave your side. Remember, I’m all yours. Forever.”

  He was indeed her magical genie. The man who had first come into her life pretending to be an escort, granting her a beautiful night to remember, and then continuing to fulfill her dreams and desires as her lover and husband.

  He would forever remain her perfect birthday gift.

  The end.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Thank you for reading The Escort. Hope you enjoyed reading this short, sweet and passionate love story as much as I enjoyed writing it!

  (This story is part of the PenToPublish2019 contest in the short form category with a strict word limit of 10,000 words. I’m hoping to have a slightly longer version available after the contest.)

  DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction that is meant for entertainment purposes only. The author is not endorsing any escort services! :)

  Thank You

  MV Kasi

  Email: manyavkasi@gmail.com

  Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/mvkasi

  Twitter: author_mvkasi

  NEW RELEASE!!

  UNTIL YOU: A Passionate Romance

  Can she stand up to the handsome, arrogant prince who behaves more like a beast with her?

  Dhanush Mahasena is rich, handsome and a prince. Work, parties and dating beautiful women dominated his life. Women wanted him and men wanted to be like him.

  But that was all in the past. An accident from two years before left Dhanush a shadow of his former self. Shrouded in darkness within his mansion walls, he now leads a quiet life, resigned to a future that holds no interest to him. Until her…

  Tina Kumar is an exotic dancer whose dream is to finish medical college and become a doctor. She lives in the poorest and shadiest parts of the city along with her father who constantly gets into trouble and expects her to save him.

  With all of her savings gone one day, and being wrongfully suspended from her college, Tina boarded a train to nowhere. And when the train stopped, she found herself promptly shuffled to an awe-inspiring mansion where she met a handsome prince who behaves more like a beast…

  UNTIL YOU is a full-length standalone hot contemporary romance with a happy ending.

  BOOK EXCERT

  By the time Tina reached the top floor and strode purposefully towards the west wing, she was shaking in anger and frustration at the arrogant beast. She wanted to bang on the door, but the door was open a few inches, so she pushed it open as she called out.

  “Mr. Mahase—” She broke off when she saw him.

  Dhanush Mahasena was seated wearing only his shorts, and an old man was applying oil to heavily scarred areas of the skin. Both the men looked up when they heard her gasp.

  A thundering scowl covered the arrogant beast’s face. “Get out,” he ordered.

  Tina was shocked and embarrassed, but she didn’t move.

  “I ordered you to get out,” he snapped.

  She shook her head no, which only made his scowl grow, making him appear dangerous.

  “I have something to say. The plants I had planted over the last ten days… you ordered the gardeners to remove them. I want you to tell them to keep them and not destroy them.”

  The beast looked unmoved as he spoke in a low, scary tone. “Who the hell do you think you are to tell me what I should and should not be doing in my garden?”

  “I… I… I’m a guest here and your… your… prospective bride.” She didn’t know what else to say.

  The old man looked shocked. And look of angry disbelief passed on the beast’s face before it went back to the scary, dangerous look.

  “Hariram. Leave us.”

  At the order, the old man immediately began to walk away. As he passed by, he gave her a pitiful look. Even though the door remained open after the old man left, Tina felt her stomach tremble slightly being the sole focus of an angry beast of a man who looked quite threatening even though he was seated.

  “So, you think you have the right to dictate what I should be doing because you are my ‘prospective bride’?”

  “Yes. And it’s basic kindness not to butcher the plants just because you don’t like me. You can have them replanted elsewhere later on in a careful way.”

  Her stomach continued to flutter in nervousness as he watched her in silence. She jumped when he spoke. “Just because I’m tolerating your presence here, don’t think you can do whatever the hell you want in my home.”

  “I’m not sure why you would be tolerating my presence since you were the one to invite me here.”

  There was another loaded silence. She knew she should shut up and not challenge him. But his constant arrogance, making her feel stupid and behaving as though he were doing her a favor, got on her nerves.

  “Come here,” he said softly.

  “What?”

  “I asked you to come closer,” he said in the same eerie soft tone.

  “Why?” she asked, rooted on the spot and not wanting to move. Warning bells rang inside her head.

  “If you don’t do as I say, you may pack up and leave right now.”

  Frustrated and worried, she slowly did as he ordered. She went closer.

  He continued to watch her in eerie silence until she stood a couple of feet away in front of him.

  “Take that oil and continue doing what Hariram was doing.”

  She was stunned. “What!”

  “Massage my scars.”

  She hesitated, not knowing what to do while he watched her in silence. She had massaged a few patients at their home when she worked as a caretaker on a part-time basis. But that was a couple of years ago, before realizing she couldn’t earn much money as a caretaker, and instead she chose exotic dancing.

  “What are you waiting for?” he snapped.

  She bit her lip. What was his agenda? Would he talk to her while she massaged him? He was devoid of any expression to be able to read him.

  Taking a deep breath, she poured the oil on her palm. Most of his left side was heavily scarred due to the fire accident. She didn’t want to touch his face, so she decided to tackle his torso first. As soon as she touched the skin on his shoulder, she felt a hard jolt. Her hands trembled as she tried to move them over the hard muscles of his chest.

  Massaging patients who were mostly frail and sick was vastly different from massaging a healthy, muscular man who was watching her with an intense look.

  She stepped away and shook her head. “I can’t,” she whispered.

  “Can’t? Or won’t?”

  “Both. It’s… it’s not proper. We are not… married yet.”

  He raised a scarred brow, and his snarl rose higher. “Proper? You are unmarried, and yet you’ve been living in my mansion for almost ten days.”

  She bit her lip. “My family is not old-fashioned. They believe the times have changed, and we should too. It’s important to know the life-partner well before accepting the proposal. And… and… I know I’m not the only prospective bride who has come here. There have been other women from royal backgrounds who visited you without their families.”

 

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