“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It was a long time ago.” Yvonne’s voice remained flat. “I have other family. A half-brother and a stepmother.” The way she stressed ‘half’ and ‘step’ suggested she wasn’t exactly close to them. “As for everything else, I’m thirty-four, and I grew up here in the city. I went to college here too.”

Ruby nodded. “Well, I already know what you do for work, but what about me? If people ask about my job, what should we tell them?”

“What do you want to tell them? I have no issues with being married to an escort. You don’t have to hide it if you don’t want to.”

Ruby frowned. So Yvonne had no qualms about Ruby’s occupation. And Ruby had already surmised that Yvonne wasn’t the type to let emotions or vague, old-fashioned notions of morality get in the way of something as simple and physical as sex.

So why was she so insistent that she didn’t want anything physical with Ruby?

Ruby returned to the conversation at hand. “We should come up with something else. Not everyone is as open-minded as you are about my job. Plus, my being an escort will just make people less likely to believe our marriage is real.”

“You’re right,” Yvonne said. “Do you have any suggestions?”

“I sometimes tell people I’m a waitress. I actually was a waitress for a while recently. I took a break from the escort thing after, well…” Ruby pushed down the unease suddenly bubbling up inside her. “It’s not important. Anyway, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say I was a waitress.” She gave Yvonne a cheeky smile. “Obviously, I retired once I found myself a wealthy wife.”

“All right. You’re a waitress.” Yvonne paused. “How did you end up in your line of work? Escorting, that is.”

Ruby shrugged. “I moved to Vegas after high school to take a job as a waitress. I was working at one of the restaurants on the strip and I became friends with a regular who was an escort. We’d talk about her job, and it sounded like something I could do, so I gave it a try, and here I am.”

“That’s it?”

“Do I need a better reason?” Ruby raised an eyebrow. “Or is it because you think only someone desperate or troubled could end up as an escort?”

Yvonne tensed. “That’s not what I’m saying. I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s an unusual profession, that’s all.”

“I’m just messing with you. But for the record, I don’t come from a ‘troubled’ background. My childhood was great. And my waitressing job, it was well paying with all the tips, but escorting paid even better, and it’s far less demanding. There’s no desperation involved. And it’s a fun job. I get to meet all kinds of interesting people.”

“Your clients,” Yvonne said. “Are most of them men?”

Ruby nodded. “Women who are interested in hiring female escorts are few and far between. Half of them are just bored rich ladies wanting a taste of the sapphic side. But the female clients who are actually into women have always been my favorites. They appreciate me more.”