McCauley swept his green eyes over me. “Duke, you didn’t tell me you were dating.”
The word “dating” scraped along my skin like rough sandpaper. The last guy I dated was in LA, but we were more friends with benefits. Neither of us wanted to tie the other down, and with my ATF job, it was hard to think about a long-term relationship.
“Bartender,” Duke said. “Nothing more.”
McCauley’s big blond head bobbed. “Right. You’ll have her in your bed by tomorrow night. I know you, Hart.”
Maybe that was the reason Duke had hired me on the spot. Whatever the reason, I wasn’t complaining. I was in, and that was all that mattered at the moment. Except I wouldn’t mind interrogating McCauley about my brother. He had to know how Jason died. But in due time.
I snarled at McCauley. “You don’t know me.”
He gave me a cheeky grin. “And you don’t know Duke Hart.”
I had several comebacks for McCauley, but causing trouble wasn’t how I wanted to start my new job. Plus, I had to act like someone I wasn’t. Joy Whitlock—bartender and regular civilian. Regardless, I wouldn’t be treated like I was about to become Duke’s play toy.
Duke straightened. “My office, McCauley. Carlo, show Joy the ropes.”
“Isn’t that how you met Savannah?” McCauley laughed as he and Duke headed for the stairs. “She was a bartender at one of your clubs. Déjà vu,man.”
I dipped into my memory, recalling the names listed in Duke’s file of the people around him, but the name Savannah didn’t ring a bell. I got the feeling she was someone special to Duke.
“Shut the fuck up.” Annoyance dripped in Duke’s caustic tone.
McCauley’s laugh was loud and obnoxious. “I love rattling your cage, Hart.”
After watching the two walk into Duke’s office, which overlooked the club, I closed my eyes briefly, erased Fallyn Williams from my psyche as best as I could, turned to Carlo, and extended my hand.
“I’m Joy Whitlock. I’m excited to be working here.”
Nervous was more like it.
9
DUKE
Islammed the door to my office after McCauley and I were inside, the geometric art on the wall rattling with the force. Even the lamps on the end tables on either side of the couch shook.
“What’s eating at you?” McCauley dropped his big body onto the couch and kicked up his booted feet onto the coffee table.
I cocked an eyebrow. “Seriously? It’s been a week, and I don’t have any leads on the stolen guns. I won’t even talk about how I can’t sleep for more than an hour.”
“Nah, my friend. That pain on your face doesn’t compute with the tension about the guns. That shit is second nature to you. You deal with problems all fucking day.” He wagged a finger at me. “You want that spitfire and stunning beauty downstairs. I can see it in your eyes.” He laughed. “You like her as more than a nightly conquest. I bet your dick is hard, thinking about her. I know mine would be.”
I sat in a chair across from him. “I hate that you can read me. You’re like Vince. You two see right through me.”
I was sexually frustrated more than anything. I jerked off in the shower to mental images of Joy. I hadn’t had a woman in my bed since I’d met her either. Maybe that was my problem. Still, when she’d called to take me up on my offer, I knew I would hire her. I didn’t care if she couldn’t make a drink.
Though I’d done my due diligence yesterday and had Pitt’s tech team do a background check on her, like he did for all my employees.
“Why not act on your urges?” he asked. “No harm in tangoing with a beautiful lady.”
“Are you forgetting Savannah?”
He folded his arms behind his head. “Duke, you need to move on. You need to live a little.”
I needed a drink. Sighing, I glanced at the blank wall above the couch. “She just started. I don’t want to scare her.”
“Then find a way to break the ice.”
