Her boldness, as usual, left me kinda speechless.
“Uh… more of the second thing,” I muttered, and gestured toward the car seat. “Please, have a seat.”
But she was still staring at me.
She finally got into the car and I shut her door. As I walked around the car, I adjusted my dick, hoping she couldn’t see me in a mirror, and equally hoping Devoid wasn’t looking out a window. Because if he was, he was definitely texting her that information.
When I got in the car, she didn’t start it up. I felt her looking at me, so I looked her right in the eye and tried to relay the message that nothing was wrong here. That I was cool and in control, as always.
I wasn’t sure it worked.
“I consider it part of my job to be sexy,” she informed me. “If you hadn’t noticed.”
Yeah. I noticed.
“So. Which outfit made you want to fuck me the most?” she pressed. “That’s what I’m asking.”
I fixed my gaze somewhere out the window and muttered, “They were all pretty equal in that regard.” If I didn’t answer her honestly, I was pretty sure we’d be sitting here all day.
When she still didn’t get us moving, I glanced at her again. She was grinning. “You really didn’t have to sit through all that,” she said. “I was kinda messing with you.”
Well, fuck. That was irritating.
And maybe kinda… hot?
But that was just my dick trying to run the show.
“It’s fine,” I said neutrally, looking out the window again in hopes of getting us moving. “Just doing my job.”
“Mm-hmm. Your job.”
I could feel her eying me, still, and looked over to find her gaze drifting down my body. I wasn’t even gonna look down. Really wasn’t sure how obvious it was that I was still half-hard. Definitely hoping my jacket was covering it, but drawing attention to it wasn’t gonna help.
“And you don’t feel like your ability to do your job is at all compromised by the fact that you’re attracted to me?”
Wow. Woman was direct.
I liked it. Or I would’ve, if she wasn’t my client.
Kinda unfortunate that I’d failed to hide that attraction, but at this point, I couldn’t really be surprised.
See-through underwear, for fuck’s sake.
“My job is to keep you safe,” I told her, being as direct back as I could, “so that’s what I’m gonna do.”
“So, reading between the lines of that statement… We’re not hooking up in some heated moment in the middle of the night?”
Unfortunately.
“That would be inadvisable. And… improper,” I told her, feeling awkward and damn stiff as I searched for the right words. It wasn’t the first time a client had come on to me. But it was definitely the first time I’d liked it. “And by the way, we’re late for your meeting with Roni.”
Jude’s girlfriend, Roni, was a local event promoter; she’d booked Summer a show next month, and they were meeting up for happy hour, like ten minutes ago.
“Oh, I’m pretty sure Roni will understand,” she said, “when she gets a look at you.”
I completely ignored that. Or tried to.
Summer started the car and turned up the music, and finally, we pulled away from the curb.
As it turned out, Roni did understand.
“Jude told me he’d put a guy on you,” she told Summer as soon as they’d sat down at a table in the restaurant. I’d taken a seat at the nearby bar, where I could clearly hear them. “I’m impressed. He looks like he could choke someone out while he fucks you up against the wall.”
I almost choked on my water.
“Doesn’t he, though,” Summer said, and I could feel them both checking me out.
Clearly, the fact that I’d advised my client that it would be improper for us to cross professional boundaries… had fallen on deaf ears.
But mercifully, they got talking about business.
Happy hour turned into dinner, and since Summer had been drinking, she actually let me drive her car home afterward. She was in a great mood and didn’t even complain when I plucked the car keys from her hand in the parking lot.
The great mood didn’t last long, though.
We hadn’t even left her house to head to the Ruby nightclub for her gig when we got into a debate—over who was driving us there.
I’d told her we’d take my car.
She had a problem with that. Of course.
She was standing in the middle of her living room in one of her many silk robes, stage makeup on and hair slicked back in a tight bun, and she put her hands on her hips.
“Are you planning to drink at the club tonight?” I asked her.
“I don’t have to drink at the club,” she said vaguely. Because apparently she’d rather insist on driving and just not drink tonight than let me drive her.
It was a constant power struggle with this woman.
Plus, there was leftover tension from today. At least, there was for me… even though I’d fucked my hand in her guest bathroom about five seconds after we got home, just so I could survive this night.
Just her standing there, defying me like that, in her little robe, was making my balls throb again.
“This is a high-profile event,” I reminded her. “You’ve been on the bill for a while now. We want to keep a low profile going into the venue, and we don’t want your car visible anywhere outside. My advice is we take my car, and once we’re there, Andre and I will be as visible and as close to you as possible. We want the fact that you now have personal security to be evident.”
“Andre’s coming?”
“This is your first event since the attempted break-in. Brody and I agreed that it would be best to have an extra set of eyes on things tonight.” I didn’t say, In case Blair Sanchuk shows up.
But for sure, that’s what Brody and I were prepared for.
At that point, she said, “I’m calling Brody.”
She took her phone
