“Hi, Hank,” she replies politely before tugging on my arm. “Come on. We have to go.”
“Am I in trouble?” I ask with a mischievous grin.
“So much trouble,” she whispers. As we make our way back upstairs, her eyes are traveling back and forth around the club, waiting to see someone call her out, but no one moves.
“Did you have a nice little tour of the club,” she asks in a teasing tone before we reach our room.
“I did,” I reply as I hand her the keycard.
“Good.” As she reaches for the door, I grab her hand, drawing her attention to me.
“I was thinking…about Phoenix.”
Her mouth falls open as she stares up at me. She almost looks worried. “Okay…”
“What if I help you?” I ask, and her face instantly changes from worry to confusion. Brows pinched inward and mouth closed.
“Help me?”
“Run the club.”
There’s a moment of hesitation before she continues, “You want to help me run the club?”
Her fingers are intertwined with mine, and I tug her closer so she has to stare up at me. “Yes, I do. I want to be a part of it. Help you manage everything and come up with new ideas…and test stuff.” I add in that last part with a wink, which makes her roll her eyes.
“But…if we do that, then we have to tell everyone about us.”
“I’m ready,” I reply, placing a soft kiss on her pouty lips.
She looks less than sure about that, still struggling to admit whether she wants people to know about us.
“Okay,” she mumbles against my mouth, and I pull back, staring down at her in surprise.
“Really?”
“Yeah.” She nods. “Fuck it. Let’s tell them. And then immediately move away so they can’t kill us.”
With a laugh, I wrap my arms around her waist, hoisting her off the floor. She squeals into my neck, and I feel on top of the world. Setting her back down, I drag her lips to mine, kissing her hard and tasting the moan on her lips as our bodies slam against the closed door.
“Let’s go home,” I mutter into our kiss.
“You really think I’m gonna let you come after that little escape you just pulled?”
“That’s okay. I came so hard tonight, I don’t think I need to do it again for a week.”
She laughs as she unlocks the door. We quickly gather our things and lock up as she intertwines her fingers with mine. I guess she’s not worried about being seen together anymore.
As we reach the back door of the club, I hold open the door for her, letting her walk in front of me into the dimly lit parking lot behind the building.
My eyes are on her as I let the door close behind me, so as we cross the space toward her car, I almost don’t see the man approaching. At first, I think he’s just another employee, but when I glance up and see the seething look on his face as he approaches us, the hairs on the back of my neck rise in alarm. Instinctively, I grab Maggie and place her behind me.
“What’s up, man?” I ask, figuring we’re probably about to get mugged.
Maggie gasps behind me when she notices him walking toward us.
“I know who you are,” he says in a low growl, stopping just a couple feet away.
“Oh yeah? Well, I don’t know you,” I reply.
He lets out an evil sounding snicker, coming a little closer into the light. It’s then that I place his face. This is the guy who holds the signs out front protesting and probably the same guy who painted the hell out of my car.