Untouchable where they roamed like fallen angels through the raving pack.
Girl sitting across from me might be an angel, but not the kind who owned these floors.
The scrape of my laugh was like razors. “Sorry, Kitten, know exactly what you’re sayin’. Think it’s safe to say you don’t quite fit the bill.”
The offense that flashed through her expression almost overrode the desperation. “And what exactly is that supposed to mean?”
Pushing to standing, I moved over to plant my hands on the table and leaned her way.
I was slammed with another shockwave of energy.
That fear and distrust.
But this time, the other piece was unmistakable—stark, terrified attraction.
My mouth moved close to her ear. “It means you’d get eaten alive.”
Most likely by me.
Shivers raced her spine.
I felt them.
Her nerves ricocheting against mine.
Had to restrain myself from leaning in and licking her jaw.
Because fuck, I wanted a taste for myself.
I edged back an inch, figuring she’d slip out in the bare space and run the hell to safety.
But no.
Not this girl.
She lifted that defiant chin again. “I’m far less fragile than you think.”
I inhaled her honeyed scent. Had to force myself to be a good little boy considering I was dying to test that theory. “Believe me, sweetheart, I’m doing you a favor. Girls like you don’t belong in a place like this. Now go home and lock your door behind you before you regret walking through my door.”
“Are you always so condescending to the women who apply here?”
Desire and disdain.
They seeped from her skin.
This time, I let my nose run the edge of her ear as I murmured, “Only the ones who look like you.”
I pushed back and started to walk, only to freeze. Struck by the bolt of lightning that speared through my body when her hand wrapped around my wrist.
She gasped like she’d felt it, too. Then she gritted, “I don’t need your protection, Mr. Lawson. What I need is this job.”
Two
Eden
Flames ignited in the spot where I’d grabbed him by the wrist. Heat blistered, searing up my arm and spreading like a flashfire through my chest. It jumpstarted my heart into mayhem. Into a confusion, chaos, and greed I couldn’t fathom this stranger could invoke.
The second I’d stepped through the doors of this club, I’d known I was treading into dangerous territory. Dancing into a devil’s den.
This guy was right.
I’d likely get eaten alive. I didn’t belong here. Didn’t fit in. Not that I wanted to or was ashamed that this place had me feeling on edge. Completely out of my element.
But I didn’t have another choice.
There were times in your life when you had to suck it up and make the sacrifice. When you’d step out of your comfort zone if it meant it might help the ones who meant the most to you.
Even if my efforts only made the smallest bit of a difference in my father’s life, it would be worth it.
I squeezed his wrist tighter while he glared at me like I was going to regret having the audacity to touch him.
No question, I would.
I swallowed my pride, the fear, the apprehension, and tried to put on a brave face. “Please.”
His darkly beautiful brow curled in cruel disbelief. “So, the dancer needs a job.”
He was mocking me. I could hear the tenor of it sliding off his tongue. Baiting me on his hook.
Why had I told him that? But that was the thing when you were desperate.
You’d say anything—do anything—to fix your situation. To help those you love.
“She does.”
“And does she have…any other talents?”
He cracked a menacing grin.
It sent another rush of chills skating my flesh. Sent my belly tipping, sloshing with a sensation I didn’t want to recognize. Like every nerve ending in my body had suddenly sparked to life.
“Like I said, I used to be a server for many years, and I’m a quick learner at what I don’t know. I’m sure you’ll teach me whatever that is.”
There was no keeping the bite out of my tone. No stopping the way my hackles rose. The way he had me feeling something I couldn’t pinpoint.
Like I was teetering a razor-sharp edge between disgust and desire.
And I’d met him not five minutes before.
It was a terrible sign, if I was being honest. A sign that warned I should just leave. But I remained rooted to the spot.
The man laughed again in this unholy way.
How he made stepping back a foot appear predatory, I didn’t know, but I felt the threat created in the movement. In the way he hovered and writhed in the small space. A gorgeous wraith who eclipsed me in shadow.
His aura was this seething electricity. A compulsion that led the weak toward destruction.
His hair was a raven shock, shaved on the sides and longer on top, and his eyes were a sooty, smoldering gray.
Lures that drew you toward temptation.
He wasn’t as thick as the bouncers. Instead, he was slender and tall, his frame rippling with fierce, sinewy muscle. Somehow, it made him appear even more intimidating.
Ink covered most of his exposed flesh. It rode out from under the sleeves of his leather jacket and onto the back of his hands and over his knuckles. More climbed from the neck of his tee and rolled up his throat where the designs disappeared behind his ears.
And there he stood, taking me in with a face that was cut into the most distinct, unforgettable lines. This daunting, terrifying beauty.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever encountered a man as electrifying.
As darkly alluring.
A jumpstart to the senses.
As hard as I tried, the only soft thing I could find about him were his plush, pouty lips—that was if you could look past the sneer they seemed to be permanently curled into.
I could feel it shivering across my skin and shouting from my soul.
This boy was bad.
Bone deep.
And there I stood, the fool begging him for a chance. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Wrong thing to say because he cracked a smirk. “Ah, I see how it is, Kitten. You like to play with fire.”
“I don’t,” I told him. Honestly. Truthfully.
I didn’t want any trouble, and he clearly had plenty of it to offer.
I just wanted a job.
No matter if he made my belly quiver and my fingers tremble. No matter if he stirred something inside me that had been dead for a long, long time.
His gaze raked me again.
Calculating.
Analyzing.
Then he jutted his chin. “Follow me.”
Spinning on his heel, he started across the bar without further warning.
This guy gave me whiplash.
I scrambled to follow. “Where are we going?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he parted the crowd as if every person there felt him coming.
I tried to keep up as we crossed the bottom floor of the bar that was completely packed.
Anticipation high. Inhibitions freed. People letting go while salivating for the band that was setting up on stage.
I peeked to the side as if I were looking for a buoy. For a raft in the middle of a stormy, toiling sea.