Page 18 of Dancing With Lies

Roxie

“What the hell have you got me into?” Roxie demanded as she walked down the dock towards a huge yacht that probably came with a price tag sporting an unimaginable number of zeroes. It was one of the largest, most luxurious yachts she’d ever seen. “Who is this guy again?”

“A friend of Dylan’s really.” Emily waved her right hand in the direction of her husband. “He’s a great guy, but he wants to remain anonymous for some reason.”

Roxie rolled her eyes just as Emily did, and snorted. “Some rich guy that doesn’t want the world to know he’s hired a stripper for the night. Lovely.”

Roxie’s voice dripped with sarcasm, but it was her own fault for not getting the guy’s name before she agreed to all of this. The payment she’d get in cash tonight would keep her going for months if she chose not to work. She only took payments in cash, as she’d always done, so she didn’t have to use her social security number or file paperwork for them. Paperwork left trails, which was one reason she’d avoided New York since she left all those years ago. This payment had been enough to entice her out of Myrtle Beach and back to New York, though. She thought she’d never set foot in the place again, but here she was, walking to a boat that was worth an indecent amount of money.

“It’s actually two men that are throwing this party,” Emily said and stopped to turn back to Roxie. “I’ve wanted to be invited for years, but, well, I never had the balls to poke my head up high enough to be noticed until Dylan came along. These aren’t the kind of parties my parents would want their only daughter attending.”

Roxie’s eyes went wide as Emily’s cheeks turned the most delightful shade of pink. “Look at you, blushing like a virgin. I didn’t know you still had it in you, girl.”

“Honey, I didn’t either.” Emily snorted as she leaned into Roxie for a moment. “Listen, this party is really important for you. I’m glad to get an invite to it, but for you, this could bring a whole new kind of clientele.”

Yeah, the kind that wanted to pay with checks or wire transfers, Roxie thought with a frown. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea, after all. She’d do the job, though. If she could get Nathan’s bail sorted out this money would see her through for a long time. She rolled her eyes at herself and turned to walk down the dock to the boat.

When she was aboard the yacht, Roxie looked around at the people dressed in luxury brands that made Chanel look like a cheap knockoff. Most of the people were Asians dripping with the kind of jewelry that could buy an apartment in New York City with a single bracelet. These people were covered in diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires set in platinum and gold.

Roxie had been to a few parties that Emily or her family had thrown, rubbing elbows with rich people wasn’t new to her, but these people? They were the elite of the elite. It made Roxie even more curious to know who had thrown this little shindig. She walked around with Emily and Dylan, wondering if she’d somehow landed in the filming of another Crazy Rich Asians film.

“Oh, there’s our host over there,” Emily said with a note of glee in her voice.

Roxie knew how excited Emily was to come to the party, but she wasn’t as overawed as Emily was. Rich or poor, people wanted to be comfortable, have sex, and have fun. She was the entertainment that might lead to sex, but she wasn’t here for the party. She was only a part of the party, unlike Emily.

Roxie schooled her features into something pleasant and let Emily lead her over to the three men standing on the first deck looking out over the water to the harbor beyond. The yacht, named the Sea Witch, as Roxie noted when she came aboard, was similar to the yacht her childhood friend June’s father had owned back when she was a child. That boat was made by Sensation Yachts and had three decks, just like this one, with one extra one below, had twelve bedrooms, a full kitchen, two living rooms, a movie room, a dining room, and more bathrooms than Roxie could count.

She had a feeling this was a remarkably similar yacht, if not the same kind. The sun was setting and it caught her attention just as she approached the three men with Emily and Dylan. She wasn’t paying any attention as Emily gave an incredibly pleased “thank you” to the man who’d invited her. The sunset was too beautiful for words, until she heard Emily say the man’s name.

Roxie’s body went stiff when she heard the name Lincoln and she told herself it couldn’t be. There was no way…but this was New York, and the boat was so familiar, and Lincoln?

She felt her blood course through her veins before the rush suddenly halted and then she forgot how to breathe. It couldn’t be her Lincoln.

“Roxie? This is Lincoln Young, our host for the evening.” Emily tugged at Roxie’s right elbow, but Roxie couldn’t, didn’t want to budge. “Roxie?”

“I think the sunset has caught the lovely lady’s attention.” A familiar voice said, and Roxie finally turned around.

It was him. But maybe he didn’t recognize her?

“It, uh, it is lovely.” Roxie let her head tilt forward until her hair fell in her face. Fucking hell, it was Lincoln. It must have been him at that party she’d danced at, Emily’s family’s charity gala, and he must have tracked her down. But why?

“Lincoln, this is Roxie Simpson, my very good friend, and the provider of tonight’s entertainment.”

“Very good,” Lincoln said without any kind of intonation, and from underneath her eyelashes, Roxie saw he barely even looked at her. “I’m not sure if you know my co-hosts, Kai Li and Trevon Smith. Kai is the CEO of ShouShou, over in China, where he’s from. It’s China’s version of Whatsapp. He also owns an extraordinarily successful restaurant, along with many other things I won’t get into. I’ve known him since we were at university together. That’s also where I met Trevon, who you might call a whale when it comes to eBay sellers. He’s a very clever guy, if not very sociable.”

Roxie noted the guy who looked way too much like Regé-Jean Page glared at Lincoln with annoyance that soon disappeared into amused submission. Roxie remembered both men vaguely, they were boys when she used to see them with Lincoln. They’d never looked twice at her, but she hadn’t had eyes for any of them back then. Hopefully, they had no clue who she was. Both had turned into very good-looking men. But not as good-looking as Lincoln.

Fuck, he still had the swimmer’s body that had brought her teenage hormones to life all those years ago. His broad shoulders filled out an expensive suit that tapered at his waist. She looked away, wanting to run, to disappear, but the boat had pulled away from the harbor for a night cruise.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! What had Emily got her into?

“Fellas, this is Dylan and Emily James, and their friend Roxie Simpson.” Lincoln interrupted her thoughts, but she didn’t say anything, because Trevon did.

“Did you invite every A-list actress in China, Kai?” He teased his friend, who laughed at the other man.

“I might have. It would have been rude not to.” Kai answered smoothly, with a calm that almost reached Roxie, who was nearly panicking.

“Look, I know what you’re doing, playing matchmaker, but I’m not interested in finding a wife, even if you’ve brought me some of the most beautiful women in the world,” Trevon answered in a deep voice that would have brought any woman to her knees if he only purred a grocery list at her.