Candy opened her mouth to argue further, but her sense of job preservation must have won out, because she ended up just huffing out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
As soon as she was gone, Lacey’s fierce boss persona disappeared and she was once again the tired woman Suro had seen coming down the stairs.
“Seriously, what are you doing here?” she asked, as if he were no better than Candy and trying her patience.
What are you doing here?
He slammed into her, his lips taking possession of hers before her back had even hit the wall. But even with his body pressed flush against the soft lusciousness of hers, he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, trying to bring her closer.
The office, the strip club, his plans—all fell away as he lost himself in her softness, which felt even better than he remembered. It had been three long months of explicit dreams and being forced to quell his ongoing desire for her with his own hand, and now he was burning out of control.
As was she, he soon realized. She not only kissed him back with just as much fervor, rubbing her lush body against his, but her hands were everywhere, in his hair, under his shirt, even on the calf of his left leg.
But then Suro realized she couldn’t possibly kiss him like this and get her hands to his calf at the same time. Also, whatever had been patting on his calf just moments before was now full on climbing it.
He abruptly broke off the passionate kiss and looked down to find the little black baby who had been on the other side of the room just a minute ago, crawling up his leg like a koala. And suddenly it became clear why his nickname was Spidey.
WHAT WAS HAPPENING? What was happening? What was happening? Lacey barely had a chance to process that Suro was here, standing in her office in the strip club where she worked, before he was kissing her, flash-bombing all her senses and making her forget her job, her situation, and the fact that her one-night stand had not only paid her daughter’s tuition, but had also just shown up out of the blue to purchase the strip club she worked at. While he was kissing her, none of that mattered. The only things that existed were her and Suro and the fevered kiss they were sharing.
But then Spidey brought them both back down to earth as he steadily inched his way up Suro’s leg. Just when she thought this situation couldn’t get any more surreal…
“I’m sorry,” she said. “He likes to climb.”
But before she could reach down to pick up the child, Suro did, settling the little boy at his waist and handing him his smartphone to play with before turning his attention back to Lacey.
“You should be sorry, Lacey.”
Lacey didn’t need ESP to figure out that he wasn’t talking about Spidey.
“I’m sorry about that, too,” she said. “But again, what are you doing here? You bought the club? And I’m assuming you’re the one who paid off Sparkle’s tuition.”
His face remained unreadable. “You met Dexter briefly at the picnic, and you’re aware we’re business partners, yes?”
“Yeah,” she answered, wondering what that had to do with anything.
“We met in college, remained in touch, and now we run a high-end security business together. Many people assume Dexter is the muscle and I’m the brains. However, you should know something going forward.”
He took a step closer, suddenly seeming much more sinister than she remembered, despite the baby in his arms. “Dexter is a computer genius who just so happens to be built like a brick wall. He meets with clients and secures contracts and sets up teams if needed. He’s the face of our business, but I’m the enforcer. Though he handled the transaction with your former boss, I’m the one who owns the club now,” his eyes became icy slits. “And I do not take kindly to insults.”
A thread of real fear twanged in her heart. “What does that mean?” she asked.
His face relaxed and he once again became the mostly impassive man who had picked her up at the bar. “It means I’m in charge now. And I’d like my tour.”
CHAPTER 7
“I’m in charge now.” It had been two weeks since Suro had issued that ominous edict, and Lacey was still confused as all get out.
After he more or less threatened her with God knows what, she’d picked Ben up, and given Suro, Dexter, and Spidey a tour of the club, introducing them to their day shift dancers and bartenders, explaining the club’s hours, pointing them to the books, and then guiding them upstairs to the two floors of one-bedroom apartments they now also owned.
Dexter asked a few questions throughout the tour but Suro remained silent. Neither of them, she could see, were big talkers, but Suro made his partner seem like Chatty Cathy in comparison.
“Let me get this straight,” Dexter said at the end of the tour. “You manage the club from eleven in the morning to eight at night six days a week, you’re in charge of the books, you’re the superintendent of the apartment building, and you run this daycare—what did you call it?”
“The Single Mother Babysitting Co-op. And usually it’s not this bad.” She indicated Spidey, who was still in Suro’s arms, content and happy as if he hadn’t just met the man less than hour ago. “Most of the girls are very responsible and grateful for the free daycare.”
“She’s been letting this Tony take advantage of her,” Suro said to Dexter as if she hadn’t even spoken.
“Tony pays me really well for what I do,” she said. “I work a long shift because I need the hours, plus I get a free apartment for acting as superintendent, and because he okayed the babysitting co-op, we have much lower turn over than most strip clubs, which makes my job a lot easier. Tony’s one of the kindest men I’ve ever met, so don’t even try to throw dirt on him around me.”
Suro turned cool eyes toward her. “Or what?”
“Listen,” she said. “I’ve had a really long morning, and quite frankly, you’re beginning to get on my nerves. Don’t ‘or what’ me about Tony. He’s like my second father, and I don’t want you talking about him like that, okay?”
Dexter actually laughed. “Well, look at that,” he said to Suro. “She’s actually pretty loyal.”
“When she isn’t running,” Suro responded.
After that, she babysat both babies in her office while Dexter and Suro went off to talk about something in Tony’s office, which was now their office, and Dexter left the club shortly after.