He opened the door to the stairs and she thanked him as she walked past. But when the fire door closed, she was on him. The kiss was raw, intense, and over too fast.
After sucking down a breath, she said, “What is it about you and this stairwell?” Without waiting for a response, she headed up the stairs.
In search of food, Dakota entered the spacious kitchen on L1. The club didn’t serve breakfast, so he settled on burgers and fries.
While cooking, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Her feistiness and her aloofness intrigued him. He wanted to get to know her outside the club.
Ten minutes later, he plated the burgers on buns and pulled the fries from the hot oil. Providence entered the kitchen and their eyes met across the room. Beautiful didn’t do her justice. He loved how she wore her short hair in wavy layers that drew attention to her eyes. Most women wore their hair long and he appreciated that she had her own sense of style. She’d dressed in the skin-tight jeans and the black halter shirt from earlier that evening.
As she made her way toward him, he took all of her in. She was a breathtaking woman.
“Smells great.” She eyed the food. “You must have read my mind. I’m dying for a burger.”
They brought their food into the main room and sat beside each other at a horseshoe-shaped booth.
“This is good,” she said after a few minutes. “Thanks for making us some grub.”
“Next time, we’re going out for a real breakfast.”
“No, Dakota. No next time.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Not a good idea, plus, I’m not…” She broke eye contact. “I don’t date.”
“It’s a meal and a conversation.”
She said nothing more, so he let it go. Time to get to know the alluring Miss Rhode Island. Though Stryker had already told him, he asked, “How’d you come to work at The Dungeon?”
“I’m a marketing consultant and things have slowed down. Stryker said he could use a little help while his GM recovered from surgery.”
He’d been watching her because she was so damn pretty, but his gut told him she wasn’t telling him everything.What’s she hiding?
The more she wouldn’t reveal, the more he wanted to learn about her. “What do you do when you’re not here?” He bit into the burger.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
“What the hell?” Dakota exclaimed.
They hurried to the front door and were greeted by two police officers. The female was on the phone. “Someone’s here,” she said and hung up.
“Good morning, officers,” Dakota said. “What’s going on?”
“Can we come in?” asked the male officer.
Dakota threw open the door and stepped aside so they could enter.
“I’m Officer Cardin. This is my partner, Officer Braden. Are you Dakota Luck?”
“You got him.”
“Ma’am, what’s your name?”
“Providence Reynolds.”
“We’ve got a few questions about your employee, Matt Hastings,” said Cardin.
“Former employee. I had to let him go.” Dakota slid his gaze from one to the other. “Is this about the video?”
