Beautiful Scars Read Online Free

supposed to be at the office at seven.
    Under his breath, he muttered, “Any reason why you couldn’t have this idea, oh, say, four hours ago?”
    There was no answer. Just the endless, empty silence of his house.
     
     
    Chaili smacked at Shera’s hands as she went to adjust the halter-styled bodice of the white cocktail dress Chaili had ended up picking from her miniscule selection. The bra she had to wear with it was irritating the hell out of her, but if she didn’t wear it, it wouldn’t fit right.
    That, on top of Shera’s fussing, was just edging on her last nerve.
    “Would you leave me alone ?” Chaili snapped. Damn it, Shera was fussing over her like a mother hen. You’d think it was her first date or something. It’s not a real date, she reminded herself. He’d paid for it. And he didn’t know she was the one going out with him. Taking a deep breath, she went back to staring at her reflection. Oh, hell. She wasn’t really doing this, was she?
    “Stop being a bitch,” Shera said. “And breathe, damn it.”
    “Stop being an old mother hen!” Nudging her away, Chaili went back to staring at her reflection. The woman in the mirror was somebody she barely recognized. She hadn’t seen much of this woman in the past few years. Back when she’d been married, she’d had to do the cocktail party round often. Tim had been big into socializing and she hadn’t much cared…at first.
    The woman in front of her didn’t exactly look the same. And she wasn’t. She was leaner. Harder. Stronger.
    And scarred.
    Not that the scars were easily seen, but still…
    She adjusted the dress, smoothing it a little and twisting to make sure it laid the right way. “It looks pretty good, don’t you think?”
    “Yep. That’s a great style on you, sweetie. And you practically glow. I’d kill to tan like that.” Shera smiled and rested her cheek on Chaili’s arm.
    “Sunless tanner works just fine, ya know. Not all of them turn you that carroty orange.” She reached up and brushed her fingers through her hair. The choppy, asymmetrical cut fell right back into place, framing her face. She’d let Shera do her makeup and she had to admit, the woman knew her stuff. The bronze and blue eyeshadow wasn’t anything Chaili normally would have done on her own but it worked, accentuating her blue eyes, which were admittedly her best feature.
    That and her mouth. She had a decent mouth, wide and soft, and right now it was tinted a deep, lush wine color. Again, not anything she would have chosen herself, but Shera knew her stuff. It was a henna-based dye that would supposedly last all night. Not that Chaili expected to do anything to challenge the dye’s staying power. Slicking her tongue over her lips, she took a deep breath and sighed. “Here goes nothing, I guess.”
    She squared her shoulders and met Shera’s gaze in the reflection. “He’s not going to freak out when he sees me, is he?”
    “A little late to worry about that now, isn’t it?” Shera flashed her a grin. Then she shrugged. “Relax. You two are friends. It will throw him for a minute, I bet, but he needed a date. I didn’t really have anybody available that wouldn’t end up in a disaster, so this is it. Relax. We’re good.”
    We’re good . Chaili squared her shoulders. They were good.
    But the butterflies dancing in her belly weren’t exactly comforted. She placed a hand over her abdomen to calm them and turned away from her reflection. No matter how long she stared, she wasn’t going to change the woman she saw staring back at her anyway, right?
     
     
    The office was tucked away not far from his home in Lake Forest. Marc knew most of the people in the area had an idea just what Escortè did, and he suspected a few of them also thought there was more to the companionship service that his sister offered. He also knew she had her hands full chasing away the idiots who weren’t convinced by the office policy. He’d seen their mother dealing