“I don’t need your charity.”
The stubbornness of the man irritated Marcus to no end. “It isn’t charity. I’m helping you as a friend and as your employer. I need you to get better so you can come back to the club.” He grinned. “Think of it as me protecting my investment.”
“I bet you arranged all this at the hospital with Micah, didn’t you?”
Busted. When he didn’t reply, Tyler gave an exasperated grunt.
“Uncle Ty?”
Startled as if he’d forgotten she was in the room, Tyler glanced down at her. “What is it, honey?”
“It kinda sounds like fun.” She bit her lip and looked at him, and Marcus gave her a wink and a little nod. “I wanna go.”
“I don’t believe this.” The irritation in Tyler’s voice would have been comical if he wasn’t so angry. But Marcus didn’t care. Even he knew it would be much better for Lillie to be around other young children than hang around the apartment all day.
“Come on, Ty; you know it’ll be good for her. Micah’s kids are nice, I’m sure. And I’ll make sure she’d get picked up every day and brought home.”
“Maybe I can have a playdate sometime.” Lillie gave Tyler one of those big-eyed, hopeful looks, and Marcus knew from his own experience she’d get whatever she wanted.
Sticking him with an evil-eyed glower, Tyler kissed the top of Lillie’s head. “If that’s what you want, okay. It won’t be for too long; only until I’m on my feet again and we go home.”
Marcus slapped his thighs. “Sounds good. She can start tomorrow.” He checked his watch. “I’ve got to get to the club now.”
“You’re leaving?” Lillie frowned. “I thought you were gonna stay with us.”
“Marcus has to go to work, honey,” said Tyler gently, rubbing her shoulder. “You’ll see him tomorrow. Why don’t we watch some television?”
Luckily that settled Lillie down and soon she was happily ensconced, watching something pink on the screen. Tyler lay stretched out and relaxed next to her. Shocked at how this picture of domesticated bliss didn’t disturb him, Marcus hurried into his bedroom, took a shower, and got dressed.
“I’ll call you later to see how it’s going. Take it easy, and order whatever you want for dinner. My delivery account has the credit card hooked up.” Shoving keys and wallet into his pants, Marcus couldn’t wait to leave and get to the club, where he could ignore the uncomfortable sensation bubbling in his stomach. He caught a glimpse of Tyler’s puzzled face before he shut the door.
In the cab on the way over, Marcus stared out the window but saw nothing. Nothing in his life seemed to be going as planned. With that stupid bet over, he’d anticipated working his way through the new bartenders in the club and getting back to having a different man every night. Instead, he had a little girl in his home—to whom he’d promised to order “princess cups”—and a crazy, sexy dancer who put up more roadblocks than a construction site.
It was a short ride from his apartment to Sparks and before he noticed, they’d pulled up in front of the club. It was early evening and preparations should be underway. He hoped that without Tyler there the dancers he still had would be enough to draw in a crowd.
“Marcus, how’s Tyler?” Darius rushed over, concern etched on his face. “You never called to let me know.”
Damn.“Sorry, man. By the time we got into the ER and then all the X-rays and shit, it was like three in the morning. But he looks good, much better than I expected.”
“Oh, great.” The relief was evident in his voice. “I’ll stop by on my way home and check on him.”
“Uhh, no need to. I have everything covered.” Marcus ran a hand through his hair and, having no desire to stand there and be interrogated, began to walk as he talked. “How’d it go last night? Big crowd?”
Giving him a curious look, Darius followed him. “Yeah. It was pretty packed. People asked for Tyler, but we said he was on vacation for a few weeks.”
Marcus nodded with approval. “Good thinking.” They reached his office. “Okay, I’m going to go over some figures, then check the stock before we open.”
“See you later. Oh, I put in a few of the suggestions Sam made when we walked through the club together.”
“Sounds good.” He trusted Sam implicitly. “Whatever he suggested could only help us.”
After several hours spent running the club’s figures, Marcus was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Enter.”
At the sound of a throat clearing, Marcus glanced up to see Antonio standing before him. With his muscled chest gleaming and the club’s signature sparkling lycra shorts that left little to the imagination, Antonio was a wet dream come to life.
“Antonio, what can I help you with?” Two hours sitting in a chair made for a stiff back, and he groaned and stretched. “Damn, I’m stiff.”
