“Tell me how you found out your brother was missing.”
She stiffens in my arms, and I hate that I took the playful look off her face. I’m even starting to hate the fact that I’m the fucker who has her brother.
“Allen always disappears. I’ve grown used to it. He fell into the wrong crowd when we were younger and despite everything I tried, I wasn’t able to pull him back. I’ve been losing my brother for years.”
“And you still are trying to find him?”
“He’s my brother. The only family I have.”
“What if he gets you hurt in the meantime?”
“I can take care of myself. Been doing it for a long time now.”
I don’t like that reply. I don’t like it at all. There’s fuck-all I can say, though.
“Where was the last place he was seen?” I ask, even as I’m kicking myself. What would she do if I took her to her brother now? He’s slowly healing. I didn’t want him looking as if he was a step away from death, in case I had to show him to Ana. I’m not desperate enough to use him to get Ana in my bed; I knew I could manage that on my own. But to keep her from getting the police into checking my club out and other things in hopes of finding him? That’s the reason—and the only reason—her brother is still drawing air.
“Your club, The Stable.” It takes all my years of playing poker and bluffing my way out of tight spots combined not to react. “It’s why I started working for you in the first place. The Stable wasn’t hiring. I had dancing experience. Dive was hiring.”
“How did you know I owned both?”
She shrugs, taking a drink of her coffee. “That was a coincidence. I had been living in Boca, a little over an hour from here. I needed a job here in Miami that would pay decent and keep me in the general area. It worked out.”
“Conveniently,” I answer, making a note to have my man track down more info about her being in Boca. I didn’t recall that in the file Joe showed me.
“I’m not going to lie, Roman. I’m glad it did, and not just because of my brother,” she whispers.
“Really?” I ask, letting myself get lost in the look in her eyes. My hand slides along the inside of her thigh, stopping just an inch from her pussy. The heat I feel from her even through her jeans is intense. The muscles in her thighs tighten under my hand.
“Really,” she whispers.
“I’ll get my people working on trying to track your brother down.” Her body goes tense in my arms.
“You mean it?”
“I don’t waste my time saying things I don’t mean, pet. You need to prepare yourself, though; if he’s as far gone as you say he is, there might not be any saving him.” Her violet eyes go sad and I find myself wishing I was a different person, a man who could slay dragons for her. Fuck. I need inside her so these damn reactions to her will stop. The best remedy I’ve found for almost anything is to fuck it out of your system. Ana is just one more in a list. Fucking her until I grow bored will be more pleasurable than anything I’ve done before.
“Roman?” she asks, that pretty little tongue of hers coming out to catch a drop of syrup on her lip.
“Yes, pet?”
“Take me home.”
Her voice is husky, and those damn eyes of hers are liquid. I know what she needs, but I want the words.
“Why, Ana?”
“I need you to fuck me,” she says bluntly, and though her voice is soft, the people around us can hear and she doesn’t seem to give a damn. I throw a hundred on the table and stand up, bringing Ana with me. Her body is close to mine, her legs wrapped around my hips, her hands hugging my neck while she buries her head in my chest. The sound of the chair I was sitting in, scraping and rocking from my quick movements are echoed, because the room goes silent. I walk her straight out to the limo, ignoring everyone but Ana.
Roman somehow manages to fit his wide frame and mine through the door of the limo. He even manages to get the car door closed. That’s good because I immediately go to my knees on the floor, undoing his tie and unbuttoning his shirt. I get the top part of his chest exposed, then stretch up to drag my tongue along the skin, licking and placing gentle kisses. I’m hoping if I distract him enough that he forgets about the fucking slip I made.
It was a damned rookie mistake. How could I have said he was the reason I started working at Dive? I hope I covered good enough, but the minute the words left my mouth, I saw questions in Roman’s face. So I did what women everywhere have been doing for years: I distracted him with sex.