Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Kim

The rest of the night passes in a blur of loud music and hard dancing and my body is complete jelly by the time the night is over.

It's two in the morning and I just want to crawl into bed.

I make my way to the locker room and attempt to peel myself out of the suit. Samantha ends up helping me.

I was a little worried we wouldn't be cool after Leo interrupted her tour of the upper deck.

But she gives me a friendly smile as she tugs the leather encasing my arm. "So…" she says finally dislodging the upper half so I can shimmy the rest of the suit down my hips and off my legs. "You and Mr. Kincaid?"

"No," I rush to say. Then I grimace. He pulled me into his office where we stayed for a while. "I mean…maybe. I'm not sure."

Samantha gives me a wink. "I've been working here for a few months, and I've never seen him show interest in a dancer."

My shoulders unwind, softening. I really appreciate knowing that I'm not just some flavor of the week. "Thanks."

"Hey girls," Melissa calls from just to my right, her eyes lingering on me. "Pay time."

Each girl gets a check and then cash on top. Bonuses, I guess.

Samantha gets hers and I see her eyes bug out and then meet mine. There is a note that her eyes scan over. "He gave me a bonus for helping you. How cool is that?"

"That's awesome," I answer. "Is that where all the cash is from?"

She shakes her head. "There are buttons on the floor that match our cages. If people like you, they press them and give you tips."

My brows shoot up as each of the girls collect their money. I'm at the end of the line and when I finally reach Melissa, she winks. "You need to see Mr. Kincaid for your pay."

Crap.

Twisting my hands together, I start for his office. We've got to talk about how he keeps giving me special attention.

I knock on his partially open door. "Leo?"

He opens the door and sweeps his hand inside for me to enter.

I close it behind me, crossing my arms like I'm fortifying myself. "Why did I have to collect my pay here?"

His brow lifts as he raises a large stack of cash. "First, I'm keeping you off the books so that you're not paying taxes, and second," he gives the stack a little wave, "you made three times the tips of every other girl. I didn't think you'd want them to see that."

My mouth drops open as I reach for the money. "How much?" I whisper, touching the fold of bills.

"I promised you a thousand, you made another eight hundred in tips."

I blink, trying to process that one more night like this and I could almost pay for my class. Why didn't I sell my dignity sooner?

I go to pull the money out of his hand but he doesn't let it go. "Third."

"There's a third?" I say tugging a little harder until Leo surrenders the money.

"I'm driving you home."

"What?" I run my hand over the money, feeling silly tears well in my eyes again. It would take two months for me to earn this at Rebel's.

"I know you won't pay for an Uber and I'm not letting you walk with that kind of cash." It's not a request, not a question. And honestly, I don't argue. I could say I'm too tired but holding almost half of my tuition has eliminated the exhaustion that was pulling at my limbs.

"All right."

"No fight?" He steps closer, running his fingertips down my spine.

"Not tonight," I answer as I shake my head, clutching the cash in both hands against my chest. "Tonight I just want to enjoy one of my problems disappearing."

He grins at me, dropping his forehead to mine. "Come on, let's get you home."

I didn't bring my bag into his office or any of my other stuff, so I hand him back the money. "I need to get my bag." I don't want to walk past the other dancers with this.

He stuffs the cash in his front pocket, and I stop midway out the door. Two grand is still smaller than his erection in his pants.

He sees me staring, his grin turning wicked. "Come on, princess. Let's go."

I jerk my chin in agreement and rush to the locker room. It's already cleared out except for Melissa who straightens when she sees me. "Really great job tonight."

"Thank you," I answer, genuinely surprised. "And thanks for hiring me. It's really great working here."

She laughs. "I didn't hire you, to be fair. That was all Mr. Kincaid. But he clearly knew what he was doing. Always does. Since he took over the club, he's doubled our profits." She gives me a wink. "And you are obviously very special to him."

I stare at her, wondering if I should believe the words. But they also give me a little tingle of concern. Am I worried about the favoritism he's showing me? Or something else in Melissa's words?

She closes a few of the locker doors and tosses some towels in a basket in the corner. I grab my bag, say goodnight, and head back to Leo's office. He meets me in the hall, and we head out the back door where a sleek black sports car waits.

My brows raise as he clicks a button on the key fob and then opens the door for me so that I slide in.

The seats are surprisingly comfortable, not that I relax into them. For the first time in actual weeks, I feel awake.

I guess money can do that. But I'm restless and as Leo climbs in, he hands me my money before he fires up the car.

He pulls out of the club, weaving his way through the Las Vegas streets, neither of us saying much.

My body is humming from the feel of the engine, the money in my bag, and, most of all, the man next to me.

An ache is pulsing between my legs as I watch him drive. It's a standard transmission and he's working the gears back and forth, his movements as fluid and agile as the car itself.

"I have a question," the words pop out of my mouth before I can take them back. But the ache is building, energy humming through me, and I watch his hand on the stick shift, my lips so dry I have to lick them.

A wild thought is working through my brain. I'm feeling giddy again, like I did at the wedding.

And today has been so great, I don't want it to end. And honestly, I don't want to spend another night in my bed alone…thinking about him and what he might be doing in his.

"What's that?"

I run my hands over my thighs, knowing that I am about to push us even deeper into the grey space we've been in since he showed up at my apartment. And I know this is where trouble happens. "Do you think…"

"Princess," he growls, a low rumble that makes me even hotter.

"Would…umm…masturbating…together…count as sex?"

His gaze slides to mine, his eyes holding the sort of promise that makes my breath hitch. And then, he snaps the blinker and turns left, heading back toward 55. My brow crinkles in confusion. "Where are we going?"

"My place."

"But…" I turn sideways in the seat, to study his profile.

"Masturbation doesn't count," he answers. "Definitely not." And then he punches the accelerator.

"But you know that means that we're not going to have—" I'm trying to be clear because that's the thing about a man like Leo. You start a ball rolling and there's no stopping it.

"Watching you touch yourself, princess, will be hot enough for tonight."

For tonight…

Yeah, Leo isn't planning on this being a one-night or two-night thing and that makes me feel better.

Loads of people date for a month or two before they realize they're not right for each other.

I can at least pretend that's what we're doing if I can just ignore my nagging conscience.

Leo steers the car through the thicker traffic that comes with being closer to the strip before he pulls into a high-rise building.

But it's kind of weird because there are almost no cars in the parking garage.

"Mason built it," he answers before I even ask. "We've yet to sell off the units."

"So you live in this building by yourself?"

"Roman, Jake, and Luke all have apartments in here too. And we set up a gym in a fourth. But other than that…"

I look at the garage. It could hold hundreds of cars. What would it be like to have so much money, you don't bother selling a multi-million-dollar project?

I see the flash of a red light and note a security camera in one corner, then another and another. But I don't have time to really look at the pattern because Leo is out of the car and coming around to my side, snapping open the door and reaching for my hand.

His hand is at my back as we approach an elevator.

I blink in surprise as he pushes a button, not on a keypad on the wall, but on his phone, the doors of the elevator slide open.

"Private elevator," he answers as if this explains it.

It's just like the wedding. Just spending time with Leo, I could almost forget about the ridiculous amounts of money this man possesses. I get a little hectic inside… but I don't have a chance to ask many questions because the moment the doors slide closed, Leo pulls me close and then backs me against the wall, his lips finding mine.

I try to tell him that we're not supposed to be making out like this. Ok. Fine. I don't really try.

His mouth feels so good, his tongue sliding against mine, the hard press of him making that ache that's been building all night throb wildly.

I wrap my arms around his neck and twine my fingers into his hair and instead of pushing him away, I pull him closer.