“Want me to walk you out?” Hawke asked, fastening his robe.
“Thanks, but I’m all right.” Lottie smiled.
“You sure?” he asked.
“Of course, I’m great; you just rocked my fucking world,” she said with a laugh.
He chuckled deeply in agreement. She’d done quite a few shows with Hawke. The club had a few regular men who participated in the shows for the members. Most worked security for Phoenix, but Lottie had been the only woman who Rhys had kept on full-time with the club. The members liked her shows.
Hawke dropped a quick kiss on her cheek and then blended in with the crowd leaving the circular room where most shows were held at Phoenix.
Lottie nearly followed, until she caught the stare that she’d fantasized had been watching her the entire time. Hunt wasn’t in the same spot when the show started, making her believe that he’d left for part of it. The sappy part of her heart wondered if it was for the same reason she had trouble watching him with others. She wanted onlyhim.The stronger part of her heart told her to not even let herself think of Hunt. Fantasizing was enough, and she was already getting in way over her head.
If anyone was off limits, it was that sexy beast of a man.
He wore the badge. She’d avoided cops at all costs.
She forced a neutral expression as she headed for the door, where he stood, leaning against the wall, arms folded, a black mask only amplifying the chiseled lines of his jawline, the sculpted perfection of his kissable lips.
“About that date of ours?” Hunt asked with a slight curve to his mouth.
“There is no date,” Lottie told him, for the millionth time, striding past him. To date Hunt would mean unraveling the truth of her family and of her past. He’d learn all her secrets. The new life—new identity—she created would be at risk. The life she lived now, the one she was proud of, would no longer be possible. She had a dream—save enough from Phoenix shows to go to veterinary school and then start an animal clinic.
“That’s still your answer, huh?” he called after her, a hint of playfulness in his voice.
She froze, looked back over her shoulder, finding the sly smile still in place. She could have sworn he read straight through her. That he knew the only person she ever thought of when she set foot in Phoenix washim.That when she slid her hand between her thighs whenever she became overwhelmed with desire alone, she imagined his hands caressing her, his voice whispering in her ear, his cock penetrating her. She opened the door before she forgot why she needed to leave him behind. “My answer will always be no.”
His low, throaty chuckle simmered across her skin. Heat melted into her core as the door began shutting behind her, and he called, “Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart.”
2
When Hunt woke the next morning, Lottie was on his mind. Her floral scent was stuck in his nostrils. Her luscious lips playing on his thoughts, tempting him. Her stunning amethyst-colored eyes that always seemed to look right through him. The curve of her spine that led to her dimples of Venus. He ached to lick them. That black rope from last night binding her arms behind her, caging her into her pleasure. Her flushed cheeks and throaty moan when she came atop another man. Hunt always wished it were him.
Sitting in a booth in Carl’s Diner, a well-known hot spot for cops and firefighters in Manhattan, a muscle twitched in his jaw. Christ, he was so tired of watching others fuck her, and not feeling her for himself. He recalled the night he’d first seen her in Phoenix. She’d come with her boyfriend at the time—some finance guy on Wall Street—and she’d taken Hunt’s breath away. She’d only watched the shows then, but eventually, she’d participated. Very few women were kept on the Phoenix roster, but Phoenix members loved Lottie in a show and requested her regularly. She was passionate and wild and free.
Frustrated, he took a long sip of his piping-hot coffee, relishing in the bitter taste before lowering the mug next to his plate of the breakfast special, his go-to meal of bacon, eggs, and hash browns.
Obviously reading his mood, Kieran, a firefighter with Firehouse, Hook and Ladder Company 8 and Hunt’s closest friend, polished off his eggs and then said, “I heard Lottie put on quite the show last night.”
They met a few times a week for breakfast before heading into work. “Doesn’t she always,” Hunt grumbled, loathing the bitterness even he heard in his voice.
Missing nothing, Kieran’s sharp green eyes narrowed, before he slowly shook his head, rustling his dirty-blond hair. “I’ll never understand why you punish yourself by watching her.”
Even Hunt didn’t understand why he couldn’t stop himself from pursuing Lottie, but there was something there. Something he hadn’t felt with anyone before. Something that had snagged him the moment he met her and hadn’t let up. Something that he kept thinking if he finally got his hands on, neither of them would ever be the same again. That life would forever change for the better.
The only problem?
Lottie kept him at a careful distance, never letting him get too close, ignoring the sizzling heat burning between them. He knew she was intrigued by him—he could read the brimming curiosity on her face every time she looked at him—but a brick wall would be easier to penetrate than her heart.
Kieran just didn’t need to know that. “I’m a glutton for punishment,” Hunt offered.
“You are.” Kieran took a bite of his toast and chewed. “If I were you, I’d move on. What about a double date with Hazel’s coworker that she was telling you about?”
Hunt’s gaze fell to Kieran’s wedding ring. Both Kieran and Hazel were on a mission to find him a wife. Hunt was happy for his friend. He had married the sweet Hazel, and they were expecting their first child anytime now, and he envied Kieran. Hunt came from a family who seemed to have found the secret recipe to love. His parents had moved to Florida after retiring, and Hunt visited them when he could for long weekend trips. He’d always seen himself with a wife and a couple of kids. Nearing thirty years old now, that dream seemed a lifetime away. It didn’t help the only woman he wanted was one he couldn’t have. “I appreciate both your and Hazel’s efforts to set me up, but my sights are still on Lottie.”
Kieran’s fork clanged against his plate as he set it down and reached for his mug. After a sip, he asked, “She’s woven a spell over you. You know that, right?”
Hunt questioned his sanity more than once when it came to Lottie. “There’s something there. Something that’s been there for a long time that I can’t shake.”
