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“Oh.” He smoothed his hands over his trousers. “I have a reputation, you see. Not a good one. Terrible, actually.” He gave a bleak, tight-lipped smile. “People say all kinds of things about me. If you listen to everything you hear, then I’m a very bad boy.”
“Are you a bad boy?”
“Sometimes.” A shadow passed over his face. “Not all the time.”
The vodka was hitting, numbing my senses. A pleasant glow spread through my chest. Gabe Rivers was surprisingly easy to talk to. It was almost possible to forget he was famous. “You know what’s better than a bad boy?”
He raised a questioning eyebrow.
“A grown-arse man with his shit together.”
He regarded me with amusement. “Is that the kind of man you’re looking for, Violet?”
“I’m not looking for a man.”
“A woman?”
“I’m not looking for anyone.”
“Why not?”
My chest tightened. “It doesn’t matter.”
His eyes roved over me. “Because you’ve been hurt?”
“Something like that.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “I’m supposed to be at a party tonight, but I escaped. It was full of smug couples and I got stuck talking to my mother, who was on fine form as always. Then I saw my ex-girlfriend, and she looked incredible … and happy, which I find inconsiderate.” He raised a rueful eyebrow. “She could have had the decency to look miserable without me.”
His elegant tapered fingers caressed the neck of his beer bottle. Sadness lingered around his beautiful jade eyes. A pang pulled at my heart. This Gabe Rivers was so different from the man I’d met earlier. A million miles from the arrogant playboy the tabloids made him out to be. What was he doing in a strip club? He could walk into any bar and take anyone home he wanted. Was Gabe Rivers lonely?TheGabe Rivers?
“So, about this person that broke your heart. What did they do?” he asked.
My mind drifted to Jed. Some part of me had known what kind of man he was. I’d been an idiot. “I didn’t say I had a broken heart.”
“You didn’t need to. It takes one to know one.” He pointed his beer bottle at me for emphasis. “Take it as a lesson learned. Never let your guard down. That’s when you’re most vulnerable.”
Gabe frowned and peered around the dimly lit, mirrored room. Music rushed in to fill the silence between us. He twisted his gold watch. It glinted in the light from the disco ball overhead. His cool, clipped voice softened. “How did you end up here, Violet?”
I pressed my lips together. I had sense enough to know Deano wouldn’t be happy with me telling the truth. I should have been grinding in his lap by now. He studied my face and I was glad of the mask to cover my shame. He surveyed me kindly, with a bland smile, but stayed silent.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to dance?”
“No. You shouldn’t have to do something you don’t want to do. Besides, I enjoyed talking to you.” He reached inside his jacket, pulled out a huge wad of notes. “For your troubles.”
“That’s too much. I didn’t do anything.”
He pressed the money into my hands. “Nonsense. You’re better than my therapist, and he charges ten times as much.”
“Please. I can’t take it—”
“I want you to have it, but I’d get another job if I were you. Life is short. Don’t waste your time doing things you’re not passionate about.”
He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. His pretty green eyes locked with mine and he winked. Heat flooded my body.
“Goodnight, Miss Delights.”
Chapter 10
