Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
“I hate games,” she confirmed. “Tell me what you want and I’ll tell you yes or no. But I don’t want you to think if I say yes, it’s because you paid for it. If you want me to dance for you, that’s fine. If you only want to spend time with me while in this room, that’s also fine. But anything more than that will have nothing to do with the cash you pulled out of your wallet.”
“Plastic.”
She blinked. “What?”
“I had to pay with a credit card to go along with the story I told Saint about me being broke.”
“Why did you have to make up a story?”
“I’m not sure how much you know.”
“Does whatever it is have to do with the same reason Finn went undercover with the Peckers?” When he didn’t answer, she asked, “Are you undercover right now?”
“Not exactly.”
How he answered sounded suspect. Even so, this was an interesting turn of events. “I know you’re a cop. I know Finn was undercover for some special assignment that had to do with the Demons. I know you and a bunch of other law enforcement, some of whom I’ve met, are part of the Blue Avengers MC. What am I missing?”
When he drew a hand along his short, dark beard, she could see his mental gears grinding. More than likely, he was trying to decide what he could and couldn’t tell her.
“Whatever it is, your secret’s safe with me. If it has to do with taking down those asshole bikers, I’m all for it. In fact, if possible, I want in.”
His chin jerked back. “You want in?”
“So, it does have to do with the Demons,” she concluded. “Are you part of some sort of sting operation?”
Finn and Mel never gave her the details on why Finn had been undercover at The Peach Pit. But one thing she picked up on without them actually confessing to it was, in the beginning, Mel and Finn were in a fake relationship. At least fake until it wasn’t.
“Sapphire…”
“If you need me to pretend I’m your girlfriend, I’m game.” Anything to take that outlaw MC to their knees after all the shit they put the girls through, especially Mel.
“That’s not why I’m in this room. Being out there,” he jabbed his finger toward the door, “had to do with my job. Being in here,” he pointed toward the floor, “does not. It has to do with my interest in you. And none of that interest is fake.”
Yes, this was definitely an unexpected turn of events.
Since it didn’t seem like he wanted any kind of lap dance or performance from her, she went over and settled on the couch, angling herself until her bare knee made contact with his jean-covered thigh. “What are you doing out there for your job? Does it have to do with the drugs they’re selling from this place? One of many reasons on why the club’s going tits up?”
He hesitated.
She could see he warred with telling her details. She also didn’t want to pressure him, so she gave him an out. “If it’s classified, I’ll understand.”
The lips she wanted to taste twitched. “It isn’t exactly top-secret CIA shit. But it’s an investigation that we don’t want blown open, if you get my meaning.”
“I do. And I’d never breathe a word of it.” She put an invisible key against her lips, turned it, then threw it over her shoulder. “I hate the fact they’re dealing drugs out of here. I hate the fact they’ve run out almost all of the good dancers. I also hate the fact they’re running this club into the ground. I used to love my job, now…”
“You hate it,” he finished for her.
“I don’t hate what I do, I only hate where I’m doing it.”
“And whom you’re doing it for,” he added.
“Yes,” she murmured. “So, if something bad happened to those fine, outstanding citizens calling themselves Demons, I wouldn’t cry about it. I don’t even think I could push out a crocodile tear.”
His stunning, onyx-colored eyes locked with hers. “We’re working on it.”
“Can you tell me who ‘we’ are? Besides Finn, of course. I don’t need to be smart to make that deduction.”
He shook his head. “Another time. I didn’t come in here to talk about my job, Phire, and time is ticking.” If they were currently somewhere other than the club, then she’d give him her real name. But she was very careful not to ever mention it while working to protect her privacy and stay safe. Of course, the payroll company had her real info but there was nothing she could do about that if she wanted to continue to get paid.
“Then what do you want? Conversation?” She lifted a finger. “Conversation that has nothing to do with our careers.”
“Honestly, I just wanted some time with you where I didn’t have to share you with a roomful of men.”