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, fizzed in his lungs and drilled holes in his senses.
“I, ah.”
She lifted a hand in an answer me gesture like he was wasting her time.
He shook his head, closed his eyes momentarily to collect himself before he looked at her again. “Yes or no?”
“Thank you for the flowers. They’re lovely. But by sending them here, you caused me a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
She took a breath that swelled her sweet breasts and made a sound of exasperation when she let it go. “Are you going to ask me my shoe size as well?”
He shook his head.
“How about you take it on face value that your flowers caused me issues backstage.”
“You had to say I was your boyfriend.” That word boyfriend was somehow as erotically charged in his mouth as the swish of Lux’s glossy ponytailed hair against her shoulder. “You don’t want people in your business.”
She gave a sharp nod that felt like approval, like she’d thought about patting his stray puppy self on his goofy head.
“And I got the message.” She put the envelope on the table, it was unopened. She slid it toward him. “You’re welcome. Put please don’t try to make something out of this. I did what anyone would do.”
“No, that’s not true. You’re the only one who checked to see if I was breathing.”
“I kicked you. I didn’t go Nurse Jackie on you.”
“You got me home and you cleaned me up and you had no reason to do any of that after I was so insufferable.”
“You’re not drunk tonight.” Her eyes went to the untouched bourbon and the half-filled Coke glass.
“No, I’m done with that.” She smiled but angled her face away. She didn’t believe it and he had nothing to support proof of concept. “And I do need to make something out of this.” He tapped the envelope. Inside was an invitation for a meal out and his cell number. “I want to thank you face to face. I want to invite you to dinner to show you my appreciation.”
“I’ve got half of what you gave Violet as a token of your appreciation, plus a dressing room full of flowers. I think that’s enough.”
Oh no, she wasn’t dismissing him like that. “Let me take you out to eat. Yes or no, Lux? Anytime, anywhere you want to go.”
She put her hand on her bare hip and his eyes went to the line of muscle there. All the spit in his mouth dried up. “You think this is a game, Reid? That you can play with me? That because I’m an exotic dancer you can dangle money in front of me and that’s all it takes to have me. You want to give me money, do it like everyone else does, sit at the stage and I’ll dance for you. Otherwise you’re just like the asshole in the alley, only better dressed.”
He snapped his eyes to hers. “I’m nothing like that guy. I didn’t mean you to think I was buying you. I’m not. This is not what I wanted. I want to make it up to you.”
She sighed. “You don’t understand how it works here, and I don’t date customers.”
“It wouldn’t be a date.”
“What would it be?”
“It would be me taking you out to eat to say thank you for saving me.”
“I didn’t save you.”
But she could. He shook his head. He didn’t know where that thought came from. “Please let me take you out for a meal. You name the time and the restaurant.”
“I’m a dancer, not a prostitute. “
“You’re an athlete and now you’re insulting me. I said a meal and I meant it.”
She looked at her shoes, so Reid did too, his eyes running over the swell of muscle in her thigh, the even circle of her kneecap, the bunch of her calve and the slim turn of her ankle strapped in shoes that must’ve taken lessons to walk in.
