A waitress stops by and takes our drink orders. When she walks away, I lean into Kayla. I need to get this back on task. We’re here to figure out what Tom’s gotten into.
“Okay, we’re looking for someone who can’t add very well. Like really bad.”
“It seems like we’re on the same mission.” Finn drops into the seat next to me and wraps his arm around my shoulders. I tense, wondering what fresh hell they’ll create for me. “Crazy to see you here, flower.”
Kayla’s eyes widen as Dante sits on my other side and Wyatt leans against the wall in front of me. His gaze is on the center stage though.
“Finn, and you are?” Finn holds out his other hand to Kayla.
“Kayla Wagner.” Her gaze takes him all in. “Aren’t you a gorgeous piece of man candy?”
“I like her.” Finn grins. “Don’t you have other friends as well?”
“They couldn’t come.” I resist the urge to push his arm off my shoulders. While it would work on the other guys, Finn just comes back stronger with every little rejection. I turn to face him. “You knew what the logo was when I showed it to you, didn’t you?”
Finn laughs. “Do I know the best gentlemen’s club in the city? Of course, I do, flower. Don’t worry, I only come here for the articles.”
Kayla chuckles. When I arch my eyebrow, she shrugs. “What? It was funny.”
“You shouldn’t be here, pip.” Dante leans down, so he’s speaking directly into my ear. Little shivers course through my veins.
“Last time I checked, you guys don’t control my hours after work.” I straighten because this is the hill I’ll die on.
Dante’s hand slides over my knee and squeezes. I press my knees together at the ache that spirals up between my thighs. Quietly so only I can hear him, he says, “You and I had an arrangement, pip.”
I turn so that my face and his are only a hair’s breadth away from each other. My eyes search his pale blue ones. We shared a moment, but we barely touched. His exhale fans my lips and that ache increases.
“You wanted me to call if I needed anything.” I wet my lips and glance down at his hand on my knee before returning my gaze to his. “I don’t need anything, Dante.”
Heat rages in his eyes as he narrows them. His fingers clench my thigh. My breath catches wondering if he’ll do more. If he’ll finally claim my lips with his.
The server stops and sets our drinks down, breaking the tension between us. The guys’ attention shifts off me as they give her their drink orders and replace my card with Wyatt’s. I draw in a relieved breath.
I lift my gaze to Wyatt’s. His head is cocked as he studies me. His eyes remain as distant as ever, but there’s a curiosity that hasn’t been there before. Maybe he’s wondering if I’ve really moved on.
The server comes back and holds the card out to Wyatt. “Drinks are on the house. The owner would like to see all of you in his office.”
She sets down the guys’ drinks and tells Wyatt how to get to the owner’s office.
“That’s weird, right?” I ask Kayla. “Why would the owner want to talk to us?”
“Weird.” She nods but her gaze remains on the stripper on stage. She sips her drink. The brunette is tall and leggy. Her brown eyes are locked with Kayla’s as she removes her lingerie to reveal her breasts.
“Come on.” Dante stands and takes my hand but I stay seated.
“Kayla.” When I tap her arm, she turns. I gesture for her to come with us.
She nods and heads for the stage instead. I stand with Dante as the stripper leans down to listen to Kayla with a cocky grin. Kayla winks at the woman before coming back over to us.
“I have a private dance later. I’ll make sure to ask about Tom and his stripper.” Kayla bumps into me and I smirk.
“Do I get to go into the room with you?” I’m curious what that would look like. I’m not sheltered per se, but I don’t usually get to do anything like this. My high school friends wouldn’t have wanted to and the few people I know in college are acquaintances at best. I live off campus at home, so I don’t have many friends.
“No.” Dante wraps his hand around my hip and pulls me in against him. Fire lights beneath my skin as I glance up at him and swallow. He shakes his head. “No going into private rooms, pipsqueak.”
Now I really want to go into that room with her and the stripper. Unless she’s paying for extra, then maybe I shouldn’t get in the way. Kayla winks at me as she links arms with Finn.
“You know, you could join me and Amethyst in the private room.” She bats her dark eyelashes at him. “She wouldn’t mind and I’m always game.”
