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“Excuse me?”
“Dunn’s girl, right?” he asked, unhooking the chain as she approached.
Disguising her surprise wasn’t easy. “He’s inside?”
“Has been a while. Hope you’re not the jealous type.”
Oh, God. What would she walk into? The guy expected her to go inside. If Jagg was there, how could she not? If he was with someone, she’d never find him. Even if she did, what was she supposed to do? Tap him on the shoulder? Stand and wait patiently until he finished?
The dark area between the entrance doors was like an airlock. The doors in front only opened after the ones behind closed. Stopped prying eyes outside seeing the truth of what went on in the exclusive space.
The lights, the action, the music, it was all just like two nights ago. Except she was alone and didn’t know where to look. Would he be where they’d been the last time? Figuring that was a good place to start, she didn’t get more than a step before he caught her eye. Sitting at the bar. The only person there not watching the action going on around them. The only one wearing a dirty scowl.
Going over there, she tightened the wrist strap of her purse and slipped in front of him, into the wide vee of his thighs, winding her arms around his neck.
“Am I in trouble?” she asked, appreciating how the stool brought him closer to her level.
Her lips were almost on his. When his hands skimmed from her waist to her ass, she closed the last of the space between them and gave into the kiss she’d craved earlier in the day.
The heat of his rock-solid body would be a comfort wherever they were. There, surrounded by all Hustle offered, it meant more than physical reassurance. The fact he’d waited for her, that he wasn’t overcome by his animal urges or pounced upon by a pack of eager women, was a miracle.
Kissing him was a treat she hadn’t expected. The power in his tongue betrayed either desire or anger. Was he mad at her for coming back? How had he known…? Or had he opened himself like she had that afternoon?
He tipped his head back, taking his mouth from hers. “You lied to me.”
“I did not,” she said, pushing deeper against him. Was he hard? She had to know. Like had to. The compulsion was crazy. It shouldn’t be important, but she wanted to know if that kiss was as good for him as it had been for her. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t come here.”
“You can’t come here, baby,” he said, stroking and squeezing her ass. “It’s dangerous and now they know you’re connected to me.”
What was he worried about? That some old enemy would use her against him? They couldn’t do that. Her editor checked in regularly. If she got in trouble, he’d notice fast. Then there was Ford. No one would want to be in her brother’s crosshairs.
“This is important.”
“Not this important,” he said. “I need you to listen to me on this. If anything happened to you and your brother found out I knew you were into this… that they’d put us together.”
“So put word out we’re over.”
“That’s worse,” he said. “At least now you have some level of protection. Take me out of your equation, it’ll be carnage.”
“I don’t understand what you want me to do,” she said, putting her hands on his shoulders to push out of his arms. “You want me to give up?”
“It’s a story. Not one worth your life.”
“It’s taken the lives of at least three women so far. They’re someone’s sister, child, friend, too. They’re people. How many more will die if someone doesn’t do something about it?”
Glancing left to right, his scrutiny was wary. “We can’t talk about this here.”
Planting her hands on the bar, she got the attention of a bartender. “No one cares what we’re talking about.”
When the bartender reached her, Jagg’s hand slid across her stomach as he stood up. “She’s good.”
Pissed, her ire flashed on him. “You dictating what I put in my body now?”
He ducked lower. “You wanna talk it out? We’ll talk it out. We can’t do it here.”
She hadn’t expected that. Was he really interested or just trying to get her out of there? Could go either way. But if he knew Snake Guy, he might be the next piece in her puzzle. That was a chance she couldn’t pass up.
Interlinking her fingers with his, she gave him the benefit of the doubt.
