Page 94 of A Dangerous Kind of Love

“Sarah.” He gives her a nod before his attention shifts.

“Hey, Boss,” Luca says.

I tip my head up at Michael. Not this shit.

“It’s Mikey tonight, Luca.”

There’s a flicker of hesitation before Luca nods. “Uh…yeah. Sure.”

“We going in?” Michael asks.

Sarah and I start toward the line, but I barely get a step before his finger tightens in my belt loop and pulls me back. I stop.

“Doll,” he says. “I don’t stand in line.”

Oh.

He walks us straight to the front, past everyone waiting. No one stops him. The security guard looks up, and the second he sees Michael, something in his expression shifts. Michael hands him our IDs.

“They’re with us too,” he says, nodding toward Sarah and Luca.

They pass theirs over, but the guard barely checks them before handing them back.

“Go on in,” he says, already opening the door.

Michael steps inside first. I follow, glancing back as we go. The guard lifts his hand to his earpiece, eyes still fixed on Michael. The second we step inside, a man in a neon orange button-up appears out of nowhere, directly in our path.

“Mr. Amato,” he says, reaching for Michael’s hand. “Kellen Ash. Manager. What brings you in tonight?”

I look up at Michael just in time to catch the ghost of a smile he’s trying to hide. He’s already irritated.

“Just here to have a good time.”

“Excellent,” Kellen says, way too eager. “I’ve set up one of our VIP rooms for you.”

I grab Michael’s arm.

“We want to be out here,” I hiss.

Kellen turns toward me, and I snap on a smile.

“We’re here to enjoy the atmosphere out here tonight,” Michael says smoothly.

“Oh.” Kellen deflates a little. “We do have some VIP seating areas right off the main dance floor.”

That’s better. We follow him through the crowd, past the bar, until he stops at one of the sections Sarah and I always obsess over when we come here, the ones we’ve definitely made up entire lives for the people sitting in.

“How’s this?” he asks.

Sarah and I don’t even answer. We look at each other and squeal before throwing ourselves onto the couch. I glance back at Michael, and he’s watching us, tongue running over his top teeth, a smirk settling in.

“It’s perfect,” he says.

Chapter 35

Michael

Idrop down next to Katie, the music slamming through the room and the lights cutting across everything in flashes. It’d normally irritate the hell out of me, but she’s beside me, turned toward me, smiling, and making the rest of it irrelevant.