“How ‘bout Sunday night?” I said. “Or is that a bad night since you have to work Monday?”
“No, Sunday’s good.”
“I’d say tonight, but I can’t miss a Friday night and a Saturday night at work back to back.”
She kissed my cheek just above the line of my beard, her soft lips brushing over my skin with just a touch of wetness. “Sunday’s good, Kane.”
I stood. “I’ll call you. And uh . . . if you feel like stopping in at the club tonight for a drink, you know . . . you can.”
I sounded gruff, though I didn’t mean to. It was damn hard, this dating thing. Or whatever it was called. I wasn’t a nose-rubbing, can’t wait to see you again, pookie type of guy.
“Okay,” she said as I turned for the door. “Thanks for staying last night.”
I turned back to face her. “If Grayson comes back, don’t let him in. Don’t give him money. Call me if you need help.”
“I’ll be okay. Don’t worry.”
I walked to the door and reached for the handle. “I’d kiss you, but my breath probably reeks right now.”
“It’s okay.” She grinned at me. “Mine’s probably not great, either.”
“See you later.”
“Bye, Kane.”
I left, heaving out an exhale after I’d closed the door. Normally I was out the door once the sex was over, but this thing with Viv was new territory for me. We hadn’t even slept together and I’d stayed the night. My sore as shit neck would be reminding me of it all day. And truthfully, I liked where things were with Viv. Though if she was ready for more Sunday night and her deadbeat asshole of a brother didn’t get in the way again, I aimed to please her.
I couldn’t keep my eyes off the front door of the club for more than a minute at a time. Every time I tried to focus on something else, I ended up looking up front to see if Viv had walked in. I had a good vantage point from the balcony of one of the sky suites.
A deep roar, followed by the sound of breaking glass, pulled my attention to the suite behind me.
“You fuckin’ prick!” Gary Kelso bellowed. “No one’s that lucky.”
I came in from the balcony and closed the door behind me, sealing out the sounds of thumping music from below.
Gary was pissed as fuck. A vein in his neck bulged as he pointed at the man across from him, who held his hands up in mock surrender.
This monthly high-stakes poker game was no joke. The players took it very seriously.
Two other guys held on to Gary as he threatened to cut the other player’s nuts off and shove them up his ass. The pieces of a shattered glass tumbler sat forgotten on the floor.
“You can bill me for that, Kane,” Gary said, glaring at the younger guy whose nuts were apparently in danger.
“I’m not worried about it,” I said. “I’ll send someone in to clean it up. Did you guys want to order food now or later?”
“I’m starved,” one of the players said, standing up and tossing his cards to the table. “Let’s order now.”
“Yeah, okay,” Gary said, shaking out of the hold the two men had on him.
Food never failed to break up a brawl in this group. They were all wealthy businessmen who had plenty of money to lose, but hated the ego-thumping of a loss.
I jogged down the wide marble staircase and assigned a server to get appetizers into the poker room and find someone to clean up the broken glass. I caught Rosie’s eye from across the crowded room and he gave a slight tilt of his head. I walked over and spoke in his ear over the loud music.
“What’s up?”
He turned to speak in my ear. “Your woman’s here and she’s lookin’ fine.”
“Viv?” I looked from side to side. Rosie gestured at a tall table along the wall.
Fuck me hard. Viv sat on a high-backed stool, her long, sexy legs bare beneath a short skirt. She had a dark shirt and a colorful scarf and her hair was piled on top of her head loosely, a few curls framing her face.
I walked over, the sight of Viv laughing making me look at the other side of the table. Her blond friend Cara was there, wearing a tight black dress and hooker boots.
Viv saw me approaching and our eyes met. Her smile–or maybe it was her legs–made me want to drag her back to my office and get under that skirt.
“Hey,” she said, reaching an arm up and around my neck. She moved to kiss my cheek but I turned and kissed her on the mouth, feeling her pale pink lipstick on my lips. When she moaned softly and tightened her hold around my neck, I swept my tongue across hers, wishing like hell we weren’t in the middle of the crowded club right now.
“You made it,” I said.
“Of course I did.” She nodded at her friend. “You remember Cara?”
Cara wiggled her fingers in a wave.
“Hey, Cara,” I said, sliding my hand around to Viv’s lower back.
“How’s your night going?” she asked me.
I shrugged. “Usual. You guys want to eat? I’m booked upstairs but you can eat in my office if you want.”
“We ate earlier. I just wanted to have a drink and see you. We’re going to some other club Cara wants to go to after this.”
A small stab of jealousy hit me in the gut. I didn’t like the idea of Viv at another club, where men could hit on her without me there to intervene.
“I promise not to like it,” she said in my ear, reading my expression. “I won’t cheat on Six. It’ll still be my favorite.”
She nipped at my earlobe and I slid my hand underneath her shirt at the small of her back. I traced the ridges of her spine upwards with my fingertip as I spoke in her ear.
“So we’re on for tomorrow night?”
“We’re so on. No interruptions this time.”
“You look so hot, Viv.” I put my free hand on her knee. Her smooth, warm skin made me immediately hard.
“Jesus, get a room, you two,” Cara said over the music.
Viv smiled, ignoring Cara and moving in for another kiss when my phone buzzed in my pocket with a text.
“Fuck. Sorry,” I muttered, pulling it out.
Drea: Need you in SS 3. Clients getting it on with door open. Saying they are exhibitionists and won’t let me close it.
I rolled my eyes at the phone. “I have to go. Problem in a sky suite. I’ll let my bartender know you guys are on the house.”
“You don’t need to do that,” Viv said.
“You should totally do that,” Cara said. “The drinks here are like fifteen bucks, Viv.”
“When’s the last time you bought your own drink?” Viv challenged.
Cara arched a brow and grinned. So she was one of those.
“Nobody’s buying you any drinks but me,” I said to Viv. “Not at the next club, either.”
Her lips curved up in a smile. “Got it. See you tomorrow night.”
I kissed her one more time and then made my way through the crowd to put out the fire upstairs. My appetite for Viv would have to wait one more night. That was probably best, because guilt was stabbing me in the gut right now. When she’d turned those blue eyes on me and moaned as I kissed her, I’d had a realization. She was entrusting part of herself to me. I’d already hurt her by storming out once, and she was giving me another chance.
What would I do with that chance? Would I live out the many sexual fantasies I had about her, even though she wouldn’t know who she was letting into her bed? The thought tamped the fire that raged inside me for her. I wanted her to know the truth about me, but not yet. I needed more time to grow whatever this was between us. Even then, I knew she might run when she found out what kind of man I was. I needed more time with her before I let that happen.
Viv