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I fought the urge to roll my eyes.“Yes.At least, I thought I did.I always do that first thing when I arrive.It’s not there, and I’ve looked all over the dressing room.I can’t find it, and—” I stopped and inhaled deeply because I was on the verge of stupid tears again.“I just want to go home.”And curl up with Gypsi on our small sofa, share a bowl of popcorn, and watch an episode ofThe Office.
“Come with me.”Garrett’s words weren’t a request, but I doubted the man ever did anything but order people around.
“Why?”I asked him.I didn’t like being told what to do.
He leveled those gray eyes on me.“Do you want to find your purse, Fawn?”he asked.
“Yes.I think I mentioned that several times.”
He held out his hand toward me.“Then, come with me.”
I looked down at his hand and then back to his face.“Fine,” I replied, walking to the door and ignoring his hand.
I was not touching that man.For several reasons, but the main one was, I feared my body’s response.His eyes alone made me feel weird things I’d never experienced before.I wasn’t about to let him touch my body.
I swung open the door to the dressing room and stepped out into the hallway, then waited for him to follow.Garrett had an amused smirk on his face as he came to stand in front of me.
“This way,” he said, then walked farther down the hallway to an area I’d not been before.
I tried not to stare at the way his butt looked in the slacks he was wearing.This man could make anything look good.Businessman attire, cowboy attire—I didn’t need to think about him without anything on at all.I was sure that was a spectacular sight.One I would not be seeing.
He stopped at an elevator and pulled out a card from his pocket and swiped it, causing the door to slide open.He waved his hand for me to enter.The inside was by far the fanciest elevator I had ever seen.Complete with a black marble floor and small, fancy chandelier.
I stood as far away from Garrett as possible and tried not to look at him.
“Leo has worked here for four years.Felix almost five years.They’re good employees.They’re paid exceptionally well,” Garrett said.
I glanced at him and saw he wasn’t looking my way as he spoke.He could have been having a boring conversation that he wasn’t interested in from the way he stood.
“Yet both of them told me that they would quit if I didn’t come after you.They were fiercely protective of you.”He turned his gaze to me then.“Which makes me wonder if it is your exquisite face, centerfold body, or your charm.Perhaps all three.I’ll admit, for a moment, I considered you’d done what I warned you not to do, but there had been a purity to their defense of you.One that doesn’t come from merely sex.”
I tensed, unsure of what he meant by that.Yes, I was a woman, and hearing a man like Garrett Hughes call me exquisite and suggest my body was worthy of a centerfold made my heart speed up.I hated that because although he wasn’t accusing me of having sex with Leo and Felix, he’d still admitted it had crossed his mind.
Why did he think I was some club slut because I’d dated Micah?It seemed to be an unfair assumption.
“Felix and Leo are my friends.Nothing more,” I replied tightly.
“That might be so for you, but men are easily swayed by beauty like yours.”
The doors to the elevator opened, and he stepped back for me to exit first.The smell of cigar smoke and spice wafted by me as I passed too close to him.I wanted to turn around and bury my nose in his shirt and inhale some more.Why couldn’t the man smell bad at least?
“This way,” he said as he walked by me.
This floor was less elaborate and appeared more like an office building should.We passed a few closed doors until we reached one, and he stopped, used that card again, and then opened the door.
He walked into the room before me this time, and I followed slowly.I paused as I stopped inside the large square area.The entire back wall was a television screen with small boxes from floor to ceiling of different parts of the club.A man stood up in a black suit with a shaved head and scar on his nose that looked like he’d been sliced once.His brown eyes swung to me, then went back to Garrett.
“Boss,” he said simply.
“I need footage of the dressing room from four o’clock.I would also like you to pull up the Winchester Parlor from forty minutes ago,” Garrett said to the man as he looked at the large screen.
“Yes, sir,” the man replied and picked up a remote, causing the left side of the room to light up as a screen came to life.
I stood, watching as the dressing room came into view.Did they see us naked?I felt my face warm.Silas had said to always dress by the clothing in the right corner.Was this why?Oh God, I hoped so.I tried to think if I’d walked around in my panties and bra at any time.
“Stop,” Garrett ordered.
The screen showed Eliana and Blake laughing as Eliana bent down and pressed numbers into my cabinet’s keypad.The door opened, and Eliana took out my purse.
