Page 55 of Sexy

I hear a faint, “Come in,” and so I twist the handle and peek my head in.

“You busy?” I ask. He’s standing in front of the mirror buckling a holster onto his hip. He’s got a cowboy hat on, faded jeans, and cowboy boots.

He looks fucking hot.

As usual.

“Not any busier than normal five minutes before the show opens.” He yells over Chandler’s booming voice from the stage. “What’s up?”

“Cole is up! He’s got a girl out there. He brought a date! He’s here with a girl from the office!”

“Calm down, princess.” He gives me a little rumbling chuckle and then that grin I’ve grown to love. “How do you know it’s a date? Maybe it’s just business?”

“What kind of girl goes to see a stripper with her boss?”

“I don’t know,” he says, leaning his perfect ass against the dressing table and crossing his arms over his chest. “What kind of boss invites her employee up to her room?”

“I was going to fire you. And it’s not the same. You don’t really work for me. This girl is his”—I make air quotes—“executive assistant. How’s that for bullshit?”

Fletcher grabs my hand and pulls me towards him. All kinds of nerve endings start firing in my body from his touch. “Are you jealous?” he asks, putting his hands on my hips once I’m within a few inches of his chest.

I’m about to scream, Hell, yes! when I stop. “I don’t know if I’m jealous, exactly. But I’m pissed. This was supposed to be my big night. I had this all planned. We,” I stress, “had this all planned.”

His hands slide up my body until his fingertips are pressing on the back of my ribs and his thumbs are right underneath my breasts. I have to take a deep breath. “What are you doing, Fletcher?”

“Making you crazy.”

“Stop and help me get rid of this girl!”

He stands up straight and leans into my neck. “How should I do that?”

Fuck. Why is Fletcher so hot?

“Should I pick her out of the crowd? Make her feel special? Take her to my room?”

Sometimes I wish he’d take me to his room. I got a taste of his magic that first night and holy fuck, if Cole and Claudio weren’t there and we’d had time alone, I might’ve fucked him that night.

Focus, Tiffy.

“Um, yeah?”

“That sounds like a question. Do you want me to take this girl home tonight, Tiffy? Ruin her chances with Cole?”

“Sorta. I just want my chance, ya know? I just want my one opportunity to make him see me as a possibility. And this was gonna be it. I was going to use all those tricks and get him to notice.”

A knock at the door interrupts us. “One minute, Fletcher,” some stage guy says.

Fletcher looks down at me with a small smile. Not the grin he had on a few seconds ago. “I’ll take care of it, Tiffy. OK? And then you can have another date with him tomorrow and that one will go perfect.”

I nod, unable to take my eyes off his face. That smile isn’t happy, it’s… sad. Something is wrong. And I’m just about to open my mouth to ask why he’s sad when I hear Chandler announcing the guys on stage.

“Just go sit down and be patient. When the girl is gone, make a date for dinner with Cole. I’ll take care of her.”

And then he walks out the door to do his thing.

Chapter Twenty

Tiffy is right. That asshole brought a girl with him. And she might be his assistant, but she’s a whole lot more than that.