I don’t have an answer for her. She’s right. I should be angry. He came in and did what I should have been able to do.
But whether or not that guy saw me as an authority figure, if things had gotten physical, I wouldn’t be able to stop him from hurting Natasha. Or I’d have a harder time at it. Roman, on the other hand…
“I don’t know. Maybe it hasn’t sunk in yet,” I say. “It doesn’t matter, honestly, though. I’ll be out of here in three months. As long as we keep out of each other’s way, things should be fine.”
“Right,” she says. “Let’s hear it for Superman keeping us safe and Superwoman for keeping us in the black.”
I nod with a smile. Thank goodness for that.
The restof the night went on as it usually does. I spent most of it in my office, just trying to stay out from under Roman’s watchful eye.
I’m still confused by how he makes me feel. Maybe it’s just that he’s supposed to be the bad guy. He’s the boogeyman my father tried to warn me about for years. The big bad that I was deathly afraid would take him away from me… and eventually did. It was a man like him who left me fatherless.
So. Why didn’t I mind that he stepped in and chased that guy off tonight? I will probably never say this out loud, but I feel a little safer when he’s around. And I can see the same kind of relaxed energy from all the dancers when he is here. I don’t understandit. Then again, I don’t fully understand why I slept with him, either.
Well. I do understand it on a carnal level. He’s a beautiful man and it’s been a while since I’ve been properly laid.
All these thoughts go through my mind as I make my final checks of the night. The few dancers who came in for a couple of hours close to closing have left. The bartenders have cleaned up their stations and are long gone. The DJ’s gone, the chairs are up on the tables, and I’m alone.
I glance up at the mirrored glass overlooking the club. Well… maybe not completely alone.
“Looking for me?”
I turn to see Roman walking up to me. He looks so business casual tonight in his dress shirt and slacks. His short dark hair is getting a little long on the sides. He’s due for a haircut, it looks like.
I turn away from him, focusing on getting the last chair on the table. “I was just wondering if you had left,” I say. He’s close enough now to where I pick up his scent. Sweet, musky… with a hint of his sweat.
“We made out pretty nicely tonight,” he says. “This place is going to miss you when you’re gone.”
I glance up at him and see that he’s smiling. “Yeah, well, it is what it is.”
“What are you going to do after you’re gone from here?” he asks. “You never did finish your lessons with me.”
Lessons. He makes it sound so formal. “I don’t know,” I confess. “Maybe I’ll… take a class instead.”
“There are cheaper options.”
I tilt my head. He’d still teach me? That’s… unexpected. “I’ll think about it,” I say. I step away and add, “Are you going to be here any longer? I need to lock up.”
“I’ll handle that,” he says. “Don’t worry about it. If you want, I can walk you out to your car.”
“No, thank you.” I say it quickly. Almost too quick. I think I tripped over part of my words. I clear my throat. “See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah. See you.”
I walk away and I can feel his eyes on my ass.
I step out into the cool evening air and pull the collar of my jacket up. It smells like rain again… but no rain yet. Thank goodness. My hair?—
A car pulls up in front of me and I jump back. A long, black luxury car that looks like it’s just been freshly cleaned. I go to walk around it, but the back window rolls down. A woman with short, dark red hair smiles at me.
“Ember Lorenzo?” she asks.
I freeze.Uh-oh. “Yes?”
She pulls out her badge. In this light, I can’t make out the finer details, but along the top, I see the lettersFBIin bold print.
“I need you to come with us, please.”
