Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 122896 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 614(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122896 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 614(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
“That sounds like a plan.” Mel wrapped her arms around herself and shivered when a cool late September breeze blew through the dark parking lot.
“You shouldn’t be out here dressed like that.” He shrugged out of his light-weight leather jacket and hung it over her shoulders, giving them a squeeze after doing so.
Tonight she wore a long, turquoise slinky dress full of sequins that sparkled when she moved, hugged every damn curve, framed her cleavage perfectly and made her ass look downright edible. Though hot as fuck, it was sleeveless and open-backed. Definitely not made to be worn outside in cooler weather.
“Thank you.”
“You ready to go back in?”
She shook her head. “No, there’s something else I need to tell you and I can’t inside… I checked the cameras earlier to see who left the van out back.”
“And?”
“And nothing. The footage was nothing but static. Either the cameras are broken or they’ve been disabled. I even went back a week to see how long it’s been disabled and it’s been about three days. But get this, the rest of the cameras around the building are working. For now, anyway. I mentioned about it being disabled to Taint. He said he’d look into it and to not ‘worry my pretty head’ about it.”
No fucking surprise. “The disabled cameras and his response pretty much confirms my suspicion about the van being used to stash their supply. Have you seen anything else tonight?”
“No, not yet,” she answered.
“Did your so-called assistant manager show up yet?”
Mel huffed out a breath. “It’s too early for her. If she comes in at all, it’s usually last minute.”
“I’ll hang out here until she does. If she doesn’t, I’ll head back out and grab you some dinner. Sapphire, too, if she wants anything.”
“She’d probably like that.”
“In the meantime, while we wait to see if Cookie shows up and since Saint’s here, I think it’s a great time to show off our new relationship.”
“Okay.”
“Can you get me around the metal detector?”
She pointed at the corner of the building. “We can walk around to the back and go in that way.”
“Sounds like a plan.” He glanced down at her heels. They had to be at least three inches high. “Can you manage it in those shoes?”
She laughed. “Have you seen the shoes strippers wear on stage? These are a cake-walk compared to six-inch platforms.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know why you women torture yourselves like that.”
“For men. Plain and simple.”
“Honestly, we’re not worthy.”
She shrugged and smiled. “But your money is.”
He liked a woman who told it how it was. No bullshit. All facts.
While the truth could be uncomfortable, lies could be downright painful.
He held out his hand and she stared at it for a second before slipping hers into his. He gave it a squeeze and guided her through the dark to the rear of the building where he had parked next to her turquoise Trailblazer. Almost the same color as her dress.
Her eyes, too.
“Did you purposely match the color of your SUV to your eyes?”
“I never really thought about it until you mentioned it. I just thought the color was pretty.”
Like you.
She released his hand when they got to the back door to punch in the code, repeating it out loud so he’d have it. He stored it away in his memory bank.
He hesitated before opening the door for her. “I’m going to hit the head and use it as an excuse to snoop around a bit.”
“Okay, I’ll go check in with Sapphire.”
“I’ll find you when I’m done.”
She paused with her hand on the door handle. “Just be careful since Saint is lurking around. He was in the office when I saw him last.”
He remembered seeing a closed door at the end of the hallway with an “office” plaque. “That’s on the right, just inside the door?”
“Yes.”
He nodded, pulled the door open for her and placed his hand on the small of her back, guiding her inside.
She shrugged out of his jacket and held it out to him. Once he took it, he stood there watching her head down the hallway, leaving him on his own. Yeah, he was right. Her ass was fucking spectacular in that dress. And the sexy, graceful line of her spine…
Fuck.
At the end of the corridor, the prospect named Popeye unclipped the red velvet rope and let her out into the main area of the club.
Finn walked past the office on his right and the dancer’s dressing room on his left. The next two rooms were the VIP rooms. They were across from each other with numbered plaques next to the doors. Even though they seemed to be unoccupied, when he tried the knobs, he found them both locked.
As he continued on, he kept an eye on Popeye’s back. With the DJ’s music filling the club, the prospect probably had no idea Finn was wandering around backstage and he’d like to keep it that way for as long as possible.