Gentlemen of the emerald.., p.1
Gentlemen of the Emerald City Volume 2, page 1
Gentlemen of the Emerald City
Volume 2
L.A. Witt
Copyright Information
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Gentlemen of the Emerald City, Vol. 1
Copyright © 2021 L.A. Witt
Includes:
Marco, Andre, & Hunter, each published 2021
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Cover Art by L.A. Witt
Editor: Leta Blake
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher, and where permitted by law. Reviewers may quote brief passages in a review. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact L.A. Witt at gallagherwitt@gmail.com
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ISBN: 978-1-64230-124-3
Created with Vellum
Contents
Marco
About Marco
1. Julian
2. Marco
3. Julian
4. Marco
5. Julian
6. Marco
7. Julian
8. Marco
9. Julian
10. Marco
11. Julian
12. Marco
13. Julian
14. Marco
15. Julian
16. Marco
17. Julian
18. Marco
19. Julian
20. Marco
21. Julian
22. Marco
23. Julian
24. Marco
25. Julian
26. Marco
27. Julian
28. Marco
29. Julian
30. Marco
31. Julian
32. Marco
33. Julian
34. Marco
35. Julian
36. Marco
37. Julian
38. Marco
Andre
1. Matt
2. Andre
3. Matt
4. Andre
5. Matt
6. Andre
7. Matt
8. Andre
9. Matt
10. Andre
11. Matt
12. Andre
13. Matt
14. Andre
15. Matt
16. Andre
17. Matt
18. Andre
19. Matt
20. Andre
21. Matt
22. Andre
23. Matt
24. Andre
25. Matt
26. Andre
27. Matt
28. Andre
29. Matt
30. Andre
31. Matt
About Andre
Hunter
1. Scott
2. Hunter
3. Scott
4. Hunter
5. Scott
6. Hunter
7. Scott
8. Hunter
9. Scott
10. Hunter
11. Scott
12. Hunter
13. Scott
14. Hunter
15. Scott
16. Hunter
17. Scott
18. Hunter
19. Scott
20. Hunter
21. Scott
22. Hunter
23. Scott
24. Hunter
25. Scott
26. Hunter
27. Scott
28. Hunter
29. Scott
30. Hunter
Epilogue
About Hunter
Also by L.A. Witt
Also by L.A. Witt
About the Author
Marco
About Marco
Julian
An invite to a lavish destination wedding? Sign me up. Except the half of the couple is BFFs with my ex. My ex, who’s going to be there with his new arm candy. UGH.
Maybe he’ll realize what he gave up once he sees me with a hot new boyfriend of my own.
He just doesn’t need to know I hired that hot new boyfriend.
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Marco
Getting paid to spend two weeks in Maui and on a cruise? Twist my arm. Shame the dude who hired me is a train wreck with an ego. If he doesn’t knock it off, I might start charging him extra just to put up with him.
Except maybe he’s not so bad. In fact, if I distract him enough from his ex, he’s actually kind of fun. And hot. But there he goes again, ranting about his ex.
Bet if I clapped a hand over his mouth, he’d shut up.
Bet he’d like that.
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Gentlemen of the Emerald City
Marco is Book 4 of Gentlemen of the Emerald City, a sexy series centered around the high class, high-dollar Gentlemen of Seattle’s most exclusive escort service. Each book is full of snark, sass, and sweetness, and like any Emerald City client, you’re guaranteed a happy ending.
Chapter 1
Julian
“They actually proposed?” I grabbed Blake’s hands in both of mine on top of the table, nearly knocking the menus and a wineglass onto the café floor. “Oh my God! Congratulations!”
My best friend smiled. “Thanks! I couldn’t believe it. I mean I told you I was going to marry them someday, but then all that time they said they weren’t down with marriage, and now…” He gently freed his left hand and held it up, showing off the platinum band. “They changed their mind!”
“Oh, that’s amazing.” I touched my chest. “I’m so excited for both of you. So have you started planning the wedding? I want details, sister. Details!”
Blake laughed, though there was an uncomfortable undertone. “Yeah, we’ve… We’ve started planning.” He put his hand over mine and lowered his gaze. “That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”
Alarm tickled my senses. “Oh. Um. Okay.” Was he about to tell me I wasn’t invited? I mean, if he didn’t want me there, I’d be hurt, but it was his wedding. His decision. Maybe they wanted something small and intimate, or—
Blake cleared his throat, and he kept his hand on mine as he met my gaze again. “I want you to be my best man.”
I had to laugh, mostly with relief because I’d been expecting the worst. “What? Of course! Good God, hon, I thought you were about to tell me you didn’t want me there.”
“Didn’t want—” He snorted. “Please. A wedding wouldn’t be a wedding without you there. And like I’d ever have anyone else as my best man.”
“Aww, you sweetheart.” But there was still something unsettling about this conversation. “So, what’s up, then? You’re not going to make me wear a 1970s throwback tux, are you?” I stuck out my tongue.
Blake laughed, shaking his head. “I mean, I’d pay to see you in one of those, but—”
“I will cut you.”
He chuckled. “No, we’re not going that route. But there are two kinda minor details that…” He hesitated, and his humor vanished. “I just need you to tell me honestly if they’re deal-breakers.”
“Deal-breakers? Honey, unless you’re hiring an Abba cover band, I’m there.”
Another laugh flickered across his lips, but it was halfhearted at best, which raised even more alarm bells. Blake loved nothing more than to bombard me with covers of Abba songs, since he knew I thought each and every one of them was sacrilege (okay, Erasure got away with a couple, but that’s it). The fact that he wasn’t laughing about it now made me really curious—and nervous—about the two details that might be deal-breakers.
Blake took a deep breath. “Okay. So. We decided to have a destination wedding. The in-laws are fucking loaded, and they thought Taylor would never get married, so they want to go all out and give us a huge wedding in Honolulu, and then take the entire wedding party on a cruise.”
“Ooh, a cruise? And Hawaii?” I arched an eyebrow. “Is that the deal-breaker? I mean, are we going to be tossing someone into a volcano or something?”
He shook his head. “No, but as my best man I might need you there a couple of days early to help get things organized. Plus the cruise is like ten days. So I didn’t know if that would be an issue with work.”
I thought about it, then waved a hand. “I’ll make it happen. Just let me know when you need me to be there, and I’ll be there.” I paused. “Hell, I’m long overdue for some vacation. I might even go over ahead of you just to fuck off on the beach for a while.”
That brought his smile back to life…sort of. “Okay. Good. I didn’t want it to be a huge imposition.”
“Oh, no,” I said with playful sarcasm. “Just…drag me away from my job to go to your wedding on a Hawaiian island. Anything but that.”
He chuckled and rolled his eyes, but then sobered again. “It’s… It’s the other thing that I’m worried might be the actual deal-breaker.”
I sobered too, and I took a sip of wine. Something told me I’d need the alcohol—Blake was a worrier by nature, so he freaked out over everything, but his anxiety over this was, well, worrying.
He took a deep swallow from his own glass, draining it compl etely, then set it on the edge of the table. Facing me, he inhaled slowly. “The issue is that Taylor is also planning to have a best man.”
“Right? And?” I inclined my head. “Why would that—” But then the piece clicked into place, and my spine went rigid. “Tony.”
Cringing, Blake nodded. “Yeah.”
I drained my own wine and gestured for the waiter. Definitely needed more alcohol for this conversation. To my friend, I said, “I mean, I don’t like being around him, but it’s been a couple of months. I’ve moved on.”
He cocked a brow. “Have you?”
I wanted to get defensive, but I paused and really thought about it before I quietly said, “Okay, it still hurts. I won’t lie. But it’s over and I’m putting it behind me. If you’d suggested this the same week Tony and I split up, then yeah, I might have had to bow out so he and I didn’t kill each other. But I’ve had some time, and I can handle him. As long as no one’s expecting us to dance or be buddy-buddy.” I grimaced and added a facetious, “Or room together on the cruise.”
That… didn’t make Blake laugh. Instead he flicked his eyes away again.
My spine straightened. “Blake. Please tell me you’re not making us room together. I can spring for my own room if—”
“No, no, it’s not that.” He shook his head. “Taylor’s family is going to pay for people’s accommodations, flights, the works—you don’t have to worry about any of that.”
Okay, that was a relief, since I wasn’t sure I could sell enough organs on the black market to pay for a trip to Honolulu or a ten-day cruise, never mind both. But something was still up, and I didn’t like the way my friend wouldn’t look at me. “What’s going on?”
He moistened his lips. “It’s, um… I just figured you deserved to know that Tony will be rooming with someone else.”
It took a second for the wires to connect.
I sat back, hand still firmly on the stem on my wineglass. “He’s got a new boyfriend.”
Blake nodded slowly. “Yeah. They’ve been seeing—anyway, it doesn’t matter. We haven’t even met him yet, but apparently things are getting serious enough that he’s already told Taylor he plans to bring the new guy. So I just thought you should know.”
“Right. Thanks.” And I did appreciate the heads up. I was over my stupid ex, but knowing beforehand that he’d have a new man on his arm meant I didn’t have to find out the hard way that he’d moved on. Especially after less than three months while I was still trying to find my bearings. But I was over him. Completely. Fuck that guy. I cleared my throat, then said breezily despite feeling anything but, “Well, I guess that means I’d better find a plus one. I, um… I mean, if the invitation is for a plus—”
“Oh, of course!” Blake waved his hand. “Just get me a name at least a week or so in advance so we can put him on the reservations.”
I nodded, bringing my wine to my lips. “Sure. I can do that. How soon are we talking about?”
“June. Is that enough time?” He paused. “The engagement party will be around then too. We wanted to give some people who live out of town time to plan, so we’re just holding off until—anyway. May for the party. June for the wedding.
May and June? Okay, that gave me… about six months. I could lock someone down by then. Or at least find someone I liked enough to take a vacation together. Right?
I took a deep swallow of wine, and as I put the glass down, I met my friend’s eyes. “Six months? No problem.”
Hey, love, can I get the name of your plus one? My mother-in-law needs everything for the reservations by the end of the week.
I groaned and let my phone tumble onto the bed as I rubbed my eyes. Six months had seemed like plenty of time to find someone willing to go to fucking Hawaii and on a cruise with me. Now the wedding was six weeks away, the engagement party was next Saturday, and I still didn’t have someone who thought an all expenses paid vacation was enough motivation to stick around.
Good God. Was the prospect of dating me really that off-putting? That was a depressing thought.
To make matters worse, the ex I was completely over had apparently gotten engaged to his new man. Engaged! So while that asshole would be parading around with a shiny new fiancé on his arm, I couldn’t even find someone willing to share a cabin with me and sit together at the reception.
What did I have to do? Hire someone?
Actually…
My gaze slid toward my phone. I mean, my ego didn’t like the idea one little bit. Needing to pay someone to pretend he was with me just so my ex-douchefriend didn’t get to sneer that he was right and I’d never find someone better than him? Yuck.
The alternative, however, was letting him sneer, and I wasn’t interested in giving him that satisfaction. So the question was, how much was this going to set me back? And where would I even look?
I chewed the inside of my cheek as I stared at my dormant phone. There was already an app on there that I browsed from time to time when loneliness and horniness ganged up on me. The escorts weren’t cheap—yes, I’d looked, even if I’d never actually booked anyone—but I’d heard they were worth every penny. Hadn’t I caught a glimpse of something on the app about longer bookings? Where a guy could be hired for a few days or even a few months for whatever reason?
Considering how much one nighters cost (reason number one I’d only ever browsed), I didn’t imagine this would be cheap. Was it really worth it just to show up my ex?
I exhaled, letting my head fall back against the headboard. Tony wasn’t the only reason I wanted to have someone with me at this wedding. He was the center of it, because he was a smug fuck who’d passive aggressively remind me at every available opportunity that I was alone and he wasn’t.
But there would also be a lot of mutual friends there. And a lot of my friends. People who’d been there for the six long years I’d spent under that fucker’s thumb. I needed them to know I was okay, and I didn’t know any better way to show them than by moving on with another man. They didn’t have to know he was a paid stand-in. All they needed to see was Julian Graf, head held high with a hot new man on his elbow, because nothing said “I’m over this guy” like “I’m getting under that one.”
I picked up my phone and stared at the dark screen. Was I really going to do this?
Yeah. Yeah, I was.
I was going to shell out a metric fuckload of money just to show up my ex. That might seem like the stupidest, most reckless, and least rational thing I could possibly do in this scenario, but damn it, I was doing it. Because I would be there for my best friend’s wedding, and I didn’t think I was strong enough to be there alone.
