Page 12 of Hidden Obsession

“Oh, umm—” My face felt hot at the realization that even though I was covered with his suit jacket, I was hardly wearing anything underneath, and the reality of my life felt like a bucket of ice water tossed right over my head.

Hollis Porter was a respectable man.

A good man.

Everything Jade and Kitty had said about the Porter boys, well, men, was great, but Hollis had political aspirations. He was going to run for mayor of our small town, determined to make changes happen in his small corner of the world. It was why he hardly ever went to the Velvet Leopard like the other Porter brothers did.

Hollis didn’t need or want to be seen with some stripper in his car. He was just being a nice guy. A good man. He’d come to my rescue and was taking me home. That was it, and any fantasies of a man coming to rescue me were fucking ridiculous.

“Right.” I half-chuckled, trying to bat away how horrified I felt.

There I was, lusting over the man, and he was getting me clothes so I wouldn’t embarrass him. Whatever I’d thought had been happening was totally and completely off. Get a flipping grip, Maryanne! You know guys like him don’t go for girls like us!

“Umm, you wouldn’t want to be seen with someone like me.” The words spilled out as I made quick work of pulling the shirt over my head, then shimmying the pants over my legs. They were too long and fit too big around the waist, but I was sitting down, so it wasn’t like they were going to fall off my body. I would just need to roll them at the waist.

“Here you go.” I handed him his jacket, hoping I hadn’t smudged makeup on it.

But he didn’t take it.

My gaze bounced from the jacket to him and back to the jacket.

“I wasn’t wearing glitter,” I blurted out. Two little lines formed between his amber eyes.

“What?”

“Your jacket.” I pointed. “I wasn’t wearing glitter, but if you’re worried about that or makeup, I can take it to get dry cleaned.” It would be the least I could do after he defended me.

“Hold up. What?” He asked.

“Your jacket. You didn’t want to take it, so I thought⁠—“

“I’m not worried about makeup or glitter, little flower.” His hand rose, and this time, there was no hesitation as he stroked the side of my face. My eyes fluttered shut, and I couldn’t help the way I leaned into his touch. “I have a feeling if it’s from you, I’d wear ever speck of glitter proudly,” he admitted. My heart fluttered, “I didn’t take it because I was thinking about what you said.” I opened my eyes and stared back into his. “You said I wouldn’t want to be seen with you.”

“Oh, I mean⁠—“

“I wouldn’t want to kill some fucker for seeing you like that. Even though“—he jerked his head forward, but I knew he didn’t mean wearing his clothes—“you’re fucking stunning wearing that set.”

“You think so?” I asked. Did he lean in closer? Is that mint and coffee on his breath?

“You always look fucking beautiful, Maryanne.” His words felt like a whispered confession, one that rocked my world on its axis.

“Always?” I asked before thinking better of it. “You’ve seen me on stage before?” He blinked once. Twice. His gaze was intense, so much working behind his beautiful eyes.

I thought back to being on stage.

There was a huge spotlight that made it difficult to see everyone in the crowd, but I knew deep down in the marrow of my being I would have remembered him. Hollis Porter was a memorable man. I remembered seeing him that first time like a milestone. He was at the gym in the background as Jade, Kitty, and I had worked out. When I’d headed to the bathroom, he’d looked at me from where he had been standing, and something had come over me and I’d been the one to say hi to him.

But never, not once, had he been at the Velvet Leopard.

Or at least, I hadn’t seen him there.

The girls would talk in hushed whispers about him; I’d overheard them. Especially Gretchen with her group of mean girls, but I had assumed he showed up when I was home since I usually worked earlier in the daytime anyhow.

“Ready to go home?” he asked, bypassing the question completely.

I blinked and swallowed slowly. Disappointment prickled at the back of my neck as I nodded. Home. The idea of this big beautiful man driving me to my trailer, seeing where I lived after that drunk customer had humiliated me, sat heavy in my gut. I shook the thoughts away. My gaze dropped to my lap just as he pulled away, taking the heat of his body with him.

It sucked to think about, but this was reality. My reality.