Page 25 of Dancing With Temptation

They got in Lincoln’s car and he drove while she stared at her phone.

Wendy, sweet, innocent Wendy, wasn’t as sweet as her parents thought she was. Nor as innocent as she appeared to be either. She knew people from her parents’ sphere, both in their community life and from the dry-cleaning shop, that weren’t exactly on the up and up. One of those people had helped Roxie get the government-issued identification with fake paperwork that had her real fingerprints and other biometric data on it. It had cost a fortune and Roxie could only hope it worked. Otherwise, this little foray into a foreign country might cost her everything. Fuck, this was too deep.

“Are you sure that passport won’t get me arrested?” She asked once Wendy responded, saying she’d bring it over to Lincoln’s house.

“They’re good. A friend went down to Argentina last year for a cousin’s wedding and had no problems at all. You’ll be fine, I promise.” Wendy replied quickly.

“I hope so. I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Roxie typed, side-eyeing Lincoln to make sure he couldn’t see what she’d written.

“I can’t either, but maybe it’ll be good for you. Get you out of here for a while.”

“I thought about that, too,” Roxie replied, staring through the windshield.

Then she asked Lincoln; “What’s it like in Cambodia? All I know about it is some of the history of the place and something about the Vietnam War, and not much else.” Roxie felt stupid asking but it wasn’t a place that had been on her radar. The trip there would take a long time, she was certain.

“It’s a nice place to visit, if you’re a tourist. It’s pretty hard to get by if you live there, though.” Lincoln changed lanes to turn in the direction of his house. “We’ll fly out to California, take another flight from there to Singapore. Once we’re in Singapore, I’ll have to charter a private jet to get us to Cambodia.”

“Sounds exhausting.” She answered, thinking about all those trips up and down in different planes. It wasn’t one of her favorite ideas, flying. Still, she’d get to go somewhere completely different and that was exciting.

“It can be, yes. Even flying first class can leave you exhausted after so many planes.” He stopped when he pulled into his driveway and put the car in park while the security gate closed behind them. “Did you send Wendy the gate code?”

“Yeah, she’ll be here in a half-hour or so.” Roxie nodded and walked behind him as they headed into the house. The scent of vanilla and oranges hit her gently, but she liked it.

“I’m going to order some food for dinner. Anything you want? Anything special for Wendy?”

They settled on what food to order while Roxie sat down on the couch in the living room she’d decorated. She wore a slip-dress with sandals today, nothing fancy, just easy to get out of. She wanted to lean back and panic about going on a trip with Lincoln, about getting arrested if they figured out her passport was fake, about why she’d agreed to all of this when that could very well happen. Instead, she made her mind go blank and forced herself to relax. It was something she’d learned long ago when she was nervous for a ballet recital. She perfected it when she’d taken on her first client at Elmo’s. The guy had been gorgeous, gentle, and kind, but still, she’d been nervous.

Not unlike Lincoln in some ways. Lincoln was normally assertive, in control, and demanding, but he wasn’t unkind. Since she’d taken him on as a student, he’d been nervous, tentative, hesitant even, but that had changed since she’d taken him to that sex club. He was learning to be more confident, more in control, and since he’d explained about Naomi things had changed.

She’d wanted to show him who was boss when she took him to that sex club, but he’d shown her instead, and that had surprised her. Oh, it had pleased her too, but it was a surprise that he’d caught on at last. Roxie wasn’t the kind to give in easily and with Lincoln, everything had become more difficult. His taking charge had made that a lot easier, even if he was still tentative about some things. Like this crazy trip he’d proposed to her.

Holy fucking moly, what had she got herself into, she silently screamed in her head while pulling her hair back from her face. This was the very definition of insanity, doing something this stupid. And not just because she might end up in jail. She’d be very alone, very dependent on Lincoln and that was even crazier than going to jail as far she was concerned. Being dependent on any man was not something she was comfortable with.

“Stop freaking out, girl.” Wendy’s voice broke through Roxie’s little crisis moment.

“You’re here. Cool. We ordered enough food for you if you want to stay for dinner.”

“Awesome, you know I’d never turn down food. I do have somewhere to be later, but it’s not for a few hours.” Wendy waved her hand around as if to brush aside any questions. “What did you order for me?”

“Well, it’s from that Mexican cantina, what do you think I ordered you?” Roxie smiled, knowing just about every food that was Wendy’s favorite dish from each culture.

“Oh my, did you order extra salsa and guacamole? You know I love that place. Their burritos are the bomb. Literally.” Wendy snickered at her own joke, meaning the food caused her a lot of gas later, but it was worth it.

“Yes, we ordered extra everything. Come on, let’s have the passport.” Roxie held out her hand for the ID and stared at it with intensity once Wendy gave it to her. “I can’t tell the difference between mine and yours, other than the identifying information.”

“They look the same when they’re scanned too. The guy has an inside connection where they print these off. I don’t know.” She paused to shrug before she went on, her face graced with a wry smile. “I guess being a government employee doesn’t pay enough. Like I said, I don’t know, I just know they’re the best you can get.”

“The best what?” Lincoln came in with several bags in his hands.

Roxie hadn’t even heard the delivery car pull in, but she wouldn’t complain about the food arriving. “Nothing, just talking about stuff from her work.”

Wendy looked at Roxie in question but kept her mouth shut. Roxie didn’t want Lincoln to know her passport was fake. Sure, he knew her identity as Roxie was fake, but he didn’t have to know her passport wasn’t real either.

“Let’s eat. Oh, got our tickets organized, and Tanya’s working on the rest of it for us. We leave around lunchtime tomorrow.” Lincoln left the room to head for the dining room.

“Let’s get plates and stuff,” Roxie said, sliding the passport into her handbag before she left the room. “I might have a heart attack before the morning comes, worrying about this, so I might as well enjoy some Mexican food before I die.”

“Not a bad decision. Are there any margaritas by any chance?” Wendy asked, following behind Roxie.