WORKING MAN

by L.B. Alexander

Cover & Excerpt Reveal

Release Date: July 28, 2021

Cover Design: Cormar Covers

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Violet Luna is a new brand of “It Girl.”

Young.

Beautiful.

Executive Director of a viral sensation dating app.

To the outside world, her life is an unattainable fantasy of glitz and glamor. Well... the “fantasy” part is true.

Reeling from a nasty break-up with an up-and-coming movie star, Violet is painfully aware that it will tarnish her company’s reputation if she shows up to their annual retreat alone. What’s a girl to do but hire the most devastatingly sexy elite male escort she can find?

Gabriel de Graaf was meant to be nothing more than a dirty little secret as Violet dared to walk on the wild side. But when he awakens a passion within her, Violet soon realizes that one night with this handsome Dutchman won't be close to enough...

Author L.B. Alexander delivers a gender-swapped Pretty Woman romance that will leave readers swooning over each sizzling page!

Add to your TBR list!

“Well to start, you’re the youngest client I’ve ever serviced. And I’ve been in this business for more than four years now,” he replied.

“So your clientele is typically older?”

Gabriel nodded. “Starting around forty, and upwards from there.”

“And you work with women...and men?”

“Jacopo only services women. But even if we didn’t, I personally find it fitting to only work with female clients.”

“Any reason in particular?” I was trying to remain conversational, but the playful arch in his brow confirmed he knew very well that I was rudely questioning his sexuality for my own selfish purposes.

“Because the fairer sex is the exclusive source of my attraction, Violet.”

The room suddenly felt warmer, the air thicker, so I returned my attention to my dinner and started talking again.

“Do you usually do events like this, or…”

“Occasionally. But mostly weddings, or family gatherings. Charity functions, performing arts premieres. Every now and then a client prefers an extended private vacation. And sometimes, a woman will request nothing more than a quiet, relaxed dinner at a favorite restaurant. Though that’s often for single-date clients.”

“As opposed to multi-date clients?”

Gabriel laughed. “I prefer to call them…longer-term professional partners.”

I had a feeling he had a lot of those. If I were a single, middle-aged multi-millionaire, I could easily see the appeal of forgoing dating altogether, just to pay an expert on a semi-regular basis for fancy meals and lavish travels.

Particularly if my dating pool continued to remain the narcissistic men of L.A., an endless void of aspiring models-slash-actors-slash-influencers—industry types—all cursed with Peter Pan syndrome.

I didn’t know how to ask the obvious follow-up question, but I was simply too curious not to try.

“With your…umm…clients…when you have dates, do they often end like…normal dates?” I asked. I’d tried to phrase it gently, for I really didn’t want to offend him if I was completely off base.

Unfortunately, he seemed thoroughly confused.

“I’m not quite sure what you’re getting at. Can you clarify?”

Heat crept up my face and neck as the final remnants of ethanol and THC hindered my ability to form clear, polite sentences.

“Well, you know…there’s dinner, and maybe drinks, and when the date ends…there could be a kiss, or…something else…” I grew more mortified as the words tumbled out of my mouth, and I regretted asking altogether. It didn’t matter if Gabriel slept with his clients or not. I certainly wouldn’t be sleeping with him.

And I would never see him again after tonight.

I naïvely hoped that he still didn’t understand what I was saying, but when I peeked in his direction, his expression had hardened.

“I do not sell sex, Violet.”

“Of course not! I’m so so sorry…I wasn’t trying to imply—”

“But I have had the pleasure of…knowing a select few of my…special clients. Intimately,” he finished.

So he didn’t sell sex.

He apparently offered it as a form of customer appreciation for elite patrons.

“And what establishes one as a…special client?” I asked quietly. He stole another three of my fries before answering.

“The same criteria I imagine you’d use before deciding whether or not you’ll invite a man to your bed. Mutual desire. Trust. A diligent commitment to health and safety. And of course, very strong attraction.”

My burger was finished after only two more bites, which left nothing to keep my mouth busy since Gabriel had commandeered my fries.

I knew I shouldn’t have asked my next question even before I’d fully formed the thought in my head. But it was as if my sex drive was functioning independently from my mind, and I could only watch helplessly as I crashed and burned.

“So how about we…know each other…tonight?” I asked before I could stop myself. I was too afraid to look at him, so I kept my eyes fixed on my bottle of sparkling water.

“No, Violet.”

I really wasn’t surprised. I’d walked myself right into the jaws of this humiliating conversation, burger-and-fry-stuffed belly exposed.

I appreciated that he was honest, however.

“Okay.”

“You asked me to be a gentleman. Professional. A casual friend,” Gabriel added. For the first time tonight, I wished he’d stop talking.

“And if I hadn’t asked you to behave that way, would that have changed your answer?” I asked.

Shut. The hell. Up.

My drunk, wounded, unbearably horny pride just would not stop talking.

“No, it wouldn’t have. But it may have changed my delivery.”

I rolled my eyes. “Meaning what? You would have wrapped your ‘no’ in a pretty, Dutch-accented package of disingenuous flattery?” My voice was rising, and even I could detect how irrationally offended I sounded.

He was just doing what he’d been paid to do.

I really needed to calm down, for it was more than a little disconcerting just how quickly my fiery lust could turn into fiery rage, how quickly my primitive, undersexed brain could assert entitlement to his body…

After several moments of tense silence, Gabriel shook his head with a distant, rebellious smirk. “Violet, if I had the liberty to remove the pretense of acting as your casual friend, and suspend the propriety that you requested…I would have told you I’ve been wanting to fuck you since you answered the door tonight, and it was indeed my hardening cock you felt against that sweet ass of yours while you were grinding your body against me.”

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I’m an American author based in perpetually sunny Southern California. I've spent my entire life enraptured by the sheer transformative power of the written word, and in December 2018, I published my first romance novel, Swan Lake, a contemporary reimagining of the beloved ballet. In addition to writing, I am a professional marketeer, a baker, an animal-lover, a tree-hugger, a perpetual wanderluster, and a massive art history nerd. An optimist at heart, aficionada of luxury, and true believer in happily ever afters, I strive to tell memorable, passionate stories that can intrigue, challenge, arouse, and most importantly, inspire.

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