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When he slowly lifted his gaze to her face again, she didn’t doubt that he liked what he saw. A chill slid down her spine at the expression on his face. Oh, it was filled with a lot of promise, but whatever he tried to convey with that look was not something she was interested in. The man in front of her was not what she wanted to mess with.
The air seemed charged around him, but not in the good way that it was around Leo. Whereas Leo’s power and presence had her aching and needy, this man left a bad taste in her mouth. She always went with her gut instincts, especially when she lived in the City of Sin. Straightening her back, she continued to smile and refused to show her distaste.
“Five.” One of them men standing beside him answered. Staring at the green-eyed man was like watching a cobra dance, a slimy, evil cobra. This intense disinterest she felt toward a virtual stranger shocked her, but obviously something inside her recognized how dangerous he was.
She nodded and turned to lead them to one of the back tables, when a strong hand latched around her forearm. She turned and looked into a set of hard, cold green eyes. For several long moments, everything faded around her as his touch seeped past the cardigan she wore. Cold settled into her bones, and all she wanted to do was rip her arm away, but fear and unease had her frozen.
Snubbing a customer would not look good, especially one who clearly had the money to blow on three-hundred-dollar bottles of champagne and thousand-dollar private lap dances.
His nostrils flared slightly as he inhaled deeply, and she was struck by an image of Leo doing something similar. She had never seen one man, let alone two, do something like that. A wicked smile curved his mouth, and she forced the lump in her throat down. A glance down at her arm showed him stroking the covered skin.
She didn’t like it, and when she pulled her arm away, she was surprised he allowed it. A part of her knew a man like this didn’t allow a lot of things to slip through his fingers. Literally and figuratively.
“We prefer a private room. We want three dancers.” His eyes dropped to her chest, and she forced herself not to cover her breasts. “All of them are to be brunettes with dark eyes.” He lifted his hand, and Tatum held her breath. His fingers touched the end of her hair. He smirked again, but before she could do or say anything, someone gripped her waist from behind and pulled her back.
In the next instant, she looked at Leo’s wide back covered in expensive material. The tension grew thick in the room, but she couldn’t deny that having Leo protect her instantly made her feel safe. Whoever that other man was, he had a bad vibe around him.
“I thought I made myself perfectly clear, Slade.” The way Leo said the green-eyed man’s name was low and rough and filled with hatred. He kept his hand wrapped possessively around her waist, and although Tatum had never been much of a woman who needed to be saved, she couldn’t deny she liked the way Leo watched over her.
His reaction proved that her instincts hadn’t been wrong. There was clearly something dangerous about the stranger.
“What kind of business are you running by discriminating against patrons?” Amusement laced Slade’s voice, which caused his men to chuckle. Tatum kept her hands on the center of Leo’s back. He was tense, and the muscles were bunched tight under her palms.
“We both know your words are bullshit and that you aren’t just any patron.”
A low growl came from Slade, and she sensed something inside Leo shifting. Looking past the thick arm Leo had pressed against her, Tatum saw the anger on Slade’s face. As if he sensed her stare, he turned his icy eyes on her. The lascivious look that crossed his face made her feel like ants crawled over her flesh.
“I see you’ve picked yourself up a little piece of ass.” Although she knew he couldn’t possibly see her body past the thick wall that was Leo, she felt dirty as he scanned his eyes up and down. He acted like he could see her, and that seemed just as bad as if he actually could.
“You’d do best to watch your fucking mouth in my house, Slade.”
The men standing beside Slade took a step forward, but their boss lifted his hand to stop their ascent.
Leo’s fingers tightened on her hip, and she looked up at him. His focus was trained on Slade, but she knew he was very aware of her presence.
“Threatening a customer, Leo?” Slade made a tsking noise then grinned. “Never thought I’d see the day when Leo Castill settled down and found himself a mate.”
