“I made that decision. I was right there with you.” And he was right there with her, holding her to the end of the best orgasm she’d ever experienced. With the crapfest that was her life, to have that special experience tainted by regret would crush her.
“Yes. Yes, you were.” He scrubbed his hair, pushing that flopping overhang back off his forehead. “We didn’t use a condom. I’m clean but is there a chance—”
“No,” she pushed out quickly. “No chance of diseases or diapers in your immediate future.”
Those gray eyes held her prisoner, his mouth silent.
“I need this job. I don’t want to give it up and I have no intention of suing you.” Though it would solve all of her problems. A huge payout, wiping the slate clean. Old Emma might have thought about how best to turn this to her advantage, but that bitch was in the grave back in Millet, Pennsylvania.
“And your other job? Do you need that as well?”
“Yes, I do. If it’s not against the rules to work there—”
“It’s against my rules, Emma. My personal rules.” He gripped the desk, white-knuckled it, in fact. It amazed her how much passion lay beneath that cool surface.
It amazed her how much she wanted to see him lose control.
Last night, she had seen snatches of it, but she suspected he’d held back. To think that they had barely tapped the potential between them was mind-blowing. Blinking back the images of what she’d like to see him do to her—a Brody unleashed like a sex-crazed kraken—she called on her own self-control. She wanted to keep this job. Repeating such inappropriate behavior would not help her keep this job.
She stood, intending the gesture as an end to the cozy chat. “I don’t have to go back to the club until tomorrow, so it’ll give me time to figure some things out.” Like how to get Katerina to teach her some moves that might make her money. Now that she’d taken the plunge, the next time wouldn’t be so hard. The lies we tell ourselves. “I’d assumed I was out on my ear, which is why I’m not dressed appropriately.”
That drew his gaze in a heated rake over her body, and memories of last night flooded the space between them. She felt as if she’d been touched in an intimate way and enjoyed it far too much.
“Take the morning off. Come back in this afternoon.”
She was already moving toward the door. “I don’t need to do that. I can be back by the start of the workday at nine.”
“Emma, this isn’t over.”
She froze, her heart following suit. “What isn’t?”
“You know.” He gave her his back, terminating the conversation before she could dare question what exactly he meant by that.
Chapter Eight
Brody stormed into Flynn’s office and slammed the door so hard the window overlooking the Chicago River rattled. Flynn looked up from his phone, evidently recognized that Brody was more pissed than average, and said, “Gotta bounce,” to whoever was on the end of the line.
“To what do I owe the pleasure, Mr. Kane?”
“I should cut off your balls and make you a steer, Cross.”
Flynn frowned. “Now, that’s not very nice.”
“You gave me that strip club card. And every month that bullshit with the condom—”
“So you used the card, then?” He was clearly trying not to laugh. “Or maybe the condom?”
No condom necessary, not when all rational thought flees your brain and your cock is running the bases.
“How long have you known about Emma?”
Flynn’s eyebrow scooted up. “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you call her by her first name. I guess it takes seeing someone in a brand-new environment to recognize possibilities you might not have considered before.”
“How. Long.”
“A couple of weeks. I was there with the guys from the Tokyo group, and I’ll tell ya, those kickers know how to party. Now that Hunter’s an old married man and I can’t rely on you because you’ve got a telegraph pole up your ass, it was left to me to entertain the clients at Club Girl.” He shook his head. “That name is f*ck
ing perfect, isn’t it? Straight to the point with the sleaze.”
At Brody’s step forward with fists clenched, he rushed on. “So, there I was in the VIP lounge and who should I see slingin’ cocktails but our own Emma. At least she wasn’t on the pole, but hell, things must be bad if she needs to moonlight there. Isn’t the compensation package at Score Property good enough?”
“She’s paying off some debts.”
“So, you talked to her.”
Brody took a seat and propped his elbows on his knees, his face in his hands. So Emma had been telling the truth about it being her first night as a stripper. Her last night, if Brody had any say in this.
Flynn made a noise of disgust. “Shit, you didn’t fire her, did you? Because I’m pretty sure that’s not going to fly with the Human Resources department.”
Meaning their HR department of one with Emma Strickland, sole employee. They’d entrusted her with all the admin hiring because she was so damn good.