Page 29 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Bodyguard

Byron wouldn’t meet my eyes.

Nora grinned. “It’s the sex club.”

My mouth dropped open. “Sex club?”

She nodded. “It’s very popular. But don’t worry, they won’t ask you to dance down there, I’m sure.”

Byron glanced at me sharply. “You’re not dancing here, either.” He saw the look on my face and frowned. “Are you?”

I bit my lip and nodded. “I was going to ask about it. I’m good at dancing. I want to make my own money. And everyone agrees I’ll be safer here at night than just sitting around somewhere.”

Byron did not look happy at the thought of me dancing. And it made me a little giddy that he cared.

“Anyway, come on in. They’re waiting for y’all at the premier table.”

We walked in, and I gasped. Looking around me, I couldn’t believe that this was actually a strip club. Yes, there were stages, but everything was so beautiful, so refined. It was clean and airy inside. I wondered if the women who worked here understood how good they had it.

We walked over to the premier table even though I was still trying to stand there and gawk at everything. This didn’t even belong on the same planet with the club I’d had to dance in on the MC compound.

I was so distracted by the luxurious accoutrements, the shiny, clean stages, and the heavy wooden tables and chairs that looked like antiques, I barely noticed the people sitting around the largest of those tables.

I could see why Nora had called it the premier table. Not only was it the largest, but it had the best views in the huge room. It could see the stages easily, as well as all the other tables and the bar area. I’m sure that wasn’t by chance. Everything in this club looked as if people had thought of every single detail before they’d opened for business.

And I was about to meet those people.

I looked up, glad to still be holding Byron’s hand, and noticed he was frowning. “What’s wrong?” I whispered.

“Nothing, really. I just don’t recognize one of the men at the table.”

I glanced over and noticed one woman sitting at the table with the men. She was… stunning. And her pretty brown eyes were locked on Byron’s hand wrapped around mine. I almost wanted to let go of his hand. She didn’t look exactly angry about it, but she didn’t look happy, either. Byron didn’t seem to notice.

But I couldn’t stop noticing. The woman stood up and walked over to us. She had on a red dress I was sure had a famous designer’s name on the label, and a pair of gorgeous, red-bottomed shoes. Her long, black hair was silky and fell halfway down her back. Her smile looked genuine when it landed on Byron but grew a bit stilted when she looked at me.

“You must be Nadine’s sister. I’m Carmen. I own these clubs along with my brother Nico.” She gestured towards a table full of men, but Byron had already described Nico. I knew the tall, tattooed man was her brother. His tattoos made me shudder, though. After five years of staring at Skeeter’s, I would be fine without every seeing a tattoo again. “Come on over and meet everyone.”

I noticed that she indicated for Byron to sit next to her while I was put in a chair in between two other men.

Byron didn’t seem upset by it, though. In fact, he gave Carmen a hug and whispered something in her ear. They looked very comfortable together.

It occurred to me that I had no idea if Byron had a girlfriend. God. What if I’d had sex with him at the club while he had a girlfriend the whole time? And what if it was freaking Carmen Salazar?

The Salazar family would probably have me killed.

“There’s a long history between those two,” one of the men next to me said. He was gorgeous; they all were. I didn’t know so many good-looking people could exist in the same town. In shitty Wilkins there’d only been a handful of people with decent looks and a few standouts of actual beauty.

But here? I felt like everyone could be a model. “Oh, really?” I tried to affect an unconcerned air, but I could tell it hadn’t worked when the blond man got a slow grin on his face. “I’m Leo, by the way,” he said sticking out his hand for me to shake. He had bright blue eyes and an infectious smile that told me he was trouble. His eyes roamed over me appreciatively. “You know, I didn’t believe you could possibly look like Nadine when they said you were shorter, blonde, and had blue eyes. But sweetheart, you do! Y’all could practically be twins.” He held my hand for several beats too long, but it wasn’t creepy when he did it. “Speaking of twins,” he gestured to the man on my other side, “that’s mine right there.”

I looked at the olive-skinned, black-haired man with dark blue eyes, and felt sure he was teasing me. “Right,” I said. They didn’t even look like brothers, much less twins.

“He’s not kidding. I’m Joaquin, Leo’s fraternal twin. That means…”

“Oh, I know,” I said. “Fraternal twins come from two separate fertilized eggs while identical twins come from one fertilized egg that splits in two.”

He stared at me, then grinned. “I was going to say it means that we don’t look alike. But, yeah. What you said is correct. Nadine said you were smart.”

My face burned. “I didn’t mean to sound like a know it all,” I said, wincing.

“You didn’t.” His eyes skated over me. “I just like your brainandthe way you look.”