Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Kim

We make it to Temptation and I'm only a few minutes late, not that anyone says a word when I walk through the back with Leo.

Everyone seems to understand that Leo and I are… something. I thought they might care but everyone is super nice to me.

Maybe they think we were already seeing each other and not that I started to sleep with the boss to get special treatment?

I don't worry about it as the other dancers and I rehearse, grab a bite, and then relax before we start changing for the night.

I might have to talk to Leo about a second uniform. And I'm not taking advantage, but the full suit is really hot, even with the air vents, and I know if I say I'm uncomfortable he'll get me something different.

Leo is not my boyfriend.

I said it today and he didn't disagree. Not that I'm surprised. I knew who he was when I started this.

But he's done a better job than any other man I've ever met at taking care of me when I really needed it and I'm so grateful.

The problem for me is that I'm starting to develop real feelings.

I hit the platform, the crowd already primed and roaring as the cages start up from the floor.

I don't have to see Leo to know he's here watching.

It makes me more confident and as I start the set, I know I'm dancing for him. I'm bolder, more amped, and the club responds, the flood lights pointed at me as I dip and turn.

When the first break comes, I'm not even close to tired and I hit the platform already antsy to dance again.

I have to conserve energy, I know that.

But I also know that the tips are going to be really good tonight. It's such a nice change.

Melissa is off to one side of the platform. She's been watching me all night and I have no idea why. She doesn't seem jealous. Maybe she's just worried about the boss being with the one of the dancers? But her attention has been weird. "You've gotten called down by security. Mr. Kincaid must want to see you," she calls to me. "If you're not back in time, I'll put someone in your cage."

I shake my head, starting down the stairs in my three-inch heels. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the preferential treatment. Clearly, she's not too worried about me and Leo if she's offering to cover for me. So what's her deal?

I make it to the back hall that doesn't usually allow foot traffic, but there is a man in the hall. He's dressed in a cheap suit, his dark hair slicked back and a toothpick hanging out of his mouth. Our eyes meet and my breath stills.

If Leo doesn't frighten me no matter what he does, this man scares the shit out of me with just a glance. It's something in his eyes…

They are snakelike in their assessment, his lip curling as his gaze slides down my body. "So you're Kim?—"

But a random group of four guys enters the hall. Scary man looks back at them and then veers off to the back door of the club. Is he a Kincaid I haven't met? I'm watching him leave, not paying attention to the other men until I hear my name. "Kim?"

I turn my head then stop short.

It's my ex-boyfriend. My stomach drops out as dread fills my limbs. "Bobby?"

"Actually, I go by Robert now," he smiles at me, stopping just in front of me. He's broader than I remember but no less smarmy.

He's still handsome with classic features and a good jaw. But he's sporting a fake tan, it's too even, and frosted tips. Why didn't I see that when we dated? He's got fake written all over him.

"Well, Robert, it's good to see you but I've got to go. My boss is?—"

I try to pass him, but his hand shoots out, grabbing my arm. "Kim. Wait."

I don't like him touching me and I try to scoot away but his hand tightens. "Let me go, all right? Like I said, I'm working and?—"

"Oh, I saw you," he murmurs in this intimate way I don't like at all as he leans close. "How come you were never like that when we were dating?"

My lip curls. Who asks that? Leo's words are echoing in my head about how Bobby is just a manipulative asshole. I think Leo is right.

I try to jerk away, wanting to get to Leo's office and end this painful conversation.

Bobby's hand bites into me instead of letting me go, as he pulls me close, his lips pressing to my ear. "I always knew you were a slut underneath that cold exterior?—"

I take my heel, the three-inch spike, and lift it up, kicking out, raking it down his shin.

He loosens his grip, I hear his crying grunt of pain as I spin away, bouncing off the wall before I try to move down the hall.

But he recovers and grabs me again and this time his touch is really rough as his fingers bite into my biceps, probably leaving bruises. He yanks me and I half fall against him. "See, I knew you were hot even if you played frigid."

"Fuck you," I spit back, even as tears sting at my eyes. "If I was frigid, it's because I knew that under your nice-guy act is a complete jerk."

"You want to fuck me?" he's pulling me roughly against him, his friends forming a circle around us that blocks me from view. Now, I'm really getting scared as I try to scream.

But his hand presses hard over my lips, his eyes mean and angry. "I treated you like a girlfriend when I should have…"

But he doesn't finish as one of his friends flies across the hall, crashing into the far wall.

I stare, not sure what happened, when Leo's face appears between me and Bobby. "One more word out of your stupid fucking mouth and they are going to find your body torn apart in the desert and picked over by the buzzards," Leo snarls.

I go limp with relief as Bobby turns toward Leo. "I don't know who the fuck you think you are, buddy, but why don't you mind your own business?"

"See, that was like fifteen words," Leo says with a lethal smile that might make another person's blood run cold. I've never been so happy to see anything in my life.

And then he grabs Bobby by the neck, yanking him away from me like my ex is a rag doll and not a man who is nearly six feet tall and at least one hundred eighty pounds. Leo's got him up on his tiptoes with only one hand as he snarls in Bobby's face.

"You know who I am, sunshine?" He gives Bobby a rough shake. I swear, I hear Bobby's teeth rattle. "I'm the man who kicks your fucking ass."

"Holy shit," one of the friends points at Leo. "You're a Kincaid."

"I'm a Kincaid," he answers. He's practically spitting in Bobby's face. "I eat stupid frat boys like you for breakfast."

I'm still against the wall and I haven't said a word. I don't want to make it worse but also…my legs are jelly.

He pulls Bobby back and then pops him in the nose with a single punch. It doesn't even look that hard but it's like Leo opened a floodgate, Bobby's nose starts gushing blood as he lets out a scream.

Leo drops him then as I start sinking down the wall. He's next to me in a second, pulling my body against his, lifting me in his strong arms.

I wrap my arms about his neck, a clear view of Bobby on the ground as Leo carries me away.

A little sob escapes my lips, my body jerking with the cry. Leo only wraps me tighter in his arms. "You're safe, sweetheart. Don't worry. I'd never let a scumbag like that hurt you."

A few tears leak out of my eyes. "I thought…"

One of his hands come to the back of my neck while the other is still wrapped around my thighs as he cradles me. "Don't think. Not now. Just put your weight on me and know that you're safe, that I'm here, and that I'm not going to let anyone hurt you."

I do exactly as he commands, not even paying attention to where he's carrying me until he knocks on a door.

That's when I realize he's taken me to the locker room.

Several of the dancers are still there, all of them staring at us with big eyes as Leo goes in, grabs my bag from my locker, and leaves again, never setting me down. I don't even have time to wonder what they might think…

Because Leo carries me straight out the back door to his car.

"Leo," that finally pulls me from my stupor. "I need to dance, I…"

But he just scowls. "You need a hot bath. I'm taking you home."

And then he opens the car door and sets me down in the bucket seat. How does he carry me so easily, setting me in his low-slung car? He hunches in with me, doing up my seatbelt.

He closes my door leaving me alone for a few seconds as he comes round the car, and that's when my thoughts snap back to his words. Home? I'm not even sure I have one of those. Then again, I know wherever Leo is taking me, if he's there, it's probably going to feel a lot more like a home than any other place I've been in the last four years.