CHAPTER TWO
Mack
“MACK, WE GOT a problem,” Train said over the walkie.
Mack frowned and replied, “Can you handle it?”
“I can if you don’t care about breakin’ the rule.”
“No fuckin’ breakin’ the rule, Train.”
“Even if it’s a friend of Kim’s?”
“Shit.” Mack dragged a hand through his hair. He knew it wasn’t a good idea to let Kim bring unknowns with her. “Let ’em in, after you get scans. Put ’em upstairs and I’ll deal with it.”
“You got it.”
Half an hour later, Booker pushed into his office.
“What the hell are you doin’ here?” Mack asked. “It’s your night off.”
Booker chuckled. “Dani got wind that Kim was comin’.”
“‘Got wind’ my ass,” Mack countered. “I have a feelin’ you and I have been played.”
“I don’t doubt it.” He walked to the window overlooking the dance floor. “I take it the rule breakin’ is due to Kimmie?”
“Yeah, I’m headin’ up there to deal with it.”
Booker glanced at him over his shoulder. “Good luck with that.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “Nothin’. Since my wife wants some girl time, I’m gonna catch up on a few things. Call me if you need me.”
With a chin lift, Mack left his office and headed to the VIP section.
* * *
Darien
Kim’s best friend, Danielle, rushed into the VIP section with a squeak, hugging Kim and then each of us, even though she’d only met Pauley. “I can’t believe you got Darien past security,” she said.
“Me?” I asked. “What did I do?”
Dani grinned. “There’s one rule here at Blush and that’s that no one “innocent” is allowed in.”
“I’m not innocent!”
Pauley let out a rather rude snort.
“I’m not,” I continued. “Plus, how would they know who’s innocent and who isn’t? That’s the lamest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s an argument I’ve had with Mack more times than you can count,” Kim said.
“Austin says they just know,” Dani provided.
“Oh, so they’re all psychics,” I said. “What a load of crap.”
“Don’t feel bad,” Kim said. “Dani got rejected as well. Well, until she married Booker. Now she’s allowed in, but only when he’s here.”
Dani squeezed my hand. “You’ll meet Austin at some point tonight, but don’t let the suit fool you; he rides a Harley and thinks because he’s an officer in a motorcycle club he can boss me around. It’s kind of cute, really.”
“Is he going to kick me out?”
“No way, but we’re probably being watched.” Dani nodded to a couple of discreet cameras. “Don’t worry, Kimmie and I’ll deal with Mack.”
“Who’s Mack?”
“I’m Mack.”
My eyes flew to the man walking towards us, and I’m pretty sure my heart stopped in my chest. Literally stopped. Ohmigod, he was gorgeous. Tall with dark blond hair, he was clean shaven with a hint of stubble beginning to form, and deep-blue eyes that studied me with an odd expression. And he was built. And I mean built. Channing Tatum built, but wearing a dark gray suit that looked like it had been made for him. Like he stood in front of a three-way mirror while a tailor measured his inseam kind of made.
I stared at his full lips and couldn’t stop myself from licking mine. God, he was delicious.
“Hey, honey.” Kim distracted him by wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in for a sensual hug. Mack lifted her off her feet a little, and I found myself suddenly pissed at the gorgeous brunette. So pissed, I wanted to scratch her eyes out.
I took a deep breath and glanced at Millie who regarded me with an annoyingly knowing grin. “Bite me,” I mouthed, and tried to find something to do with my hands.
Mack lowered Kim to the floor, but kept an arm around her. “Introduce me to your friends, Kimmie, and then you and I need to have a little chat.”
Kim rolled her eyes and went through the introductions, ending with me. “And this is Darien.”
I reached my hand out and Mack took it, lifting it to his lips. “Nice to meet you, Darien.”
“Nice to meet you too,” I breathed out, then groaned internally. Good God, the man was sexy and he smelled incredible, but that meant Dork Darien wouldn’t be able to function.
He kept hold of my hand as he studied me again and then, without a word, gave it a gentle squeeze and released me, turning to pull Kim aside.
“What the hell was that?” Pauley asked, as she, Millie, and Dani moved closer to me.
“Ohmigod, I’m so lame,” I complained.
“Not you, doofus,” she said.
Dani giggled. “You, my dear, appear to be the first person to put Mack on edge.”
“I’m sorry?”
“That’s the least he’s ever said,” Pauley admitted. “Granted, I’ve only talked to him a few times, but he’s never acted like that before.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, and peeked around Pauley to find him. “He seemed perfectly at ease.”
“Well, he looks pissed now,” Dani said.
“How do you know he’s mad?” I asked.
“I just do.” Dani smiled. “But don’t worry about it. He and Kim have a weird brother-sister thing goin’ on, and they fight like that weekly. Nothin’ to worry about.”
I frowned as I watched Mack and Kim as they spoke in the corner. How Dani could possibly know he was angry was a mystery to me. His back was to us, his jacket stretched across his wide back as he crossed his arms. Kim waved her hands in animation while scowling and shaking her head, but he didn’t move a muscle. Just stood there, his arms crossed, saying nothing that I could make out. She was animated, though, so I figured she didn’t really like what he was saying.
“Is she in trouble because she brought me?”
Dani shook her head. “No, pretty sure that’s not why she’s in trouble.”
I watched as Kim gave Mack a very calculated smile and then threw herself against him, hugging him tightly. He gave her a quick squeeze and then his eyes met mine. I gasped, but couldn’t look away. He studied me for a few seconds and then headed down the stairs.
* * *
Mack
Damn it!
Mack walked back to his office deep in thought and royally pissed off. Stepping inside and closing the door, he dragged his hands through his hair and headed to the window, staring up at the VIP section. The woman with the pixie face had just set his world on end and he could not have that. “Fuck!”
He picked up his desk phone and dialed the office.
“Hey, Mack,” Eliza said.
“Hey, babe. You got the scans from tonight?”
“A few of ’em, yeah.”
“Send me the ones for Darien Aherne and Millicent whatever her last name is.”
“You got it, boss.”
Mack hung up and sat behind his desk. He found his eyes drawn back to the VIP section and narrowed in on Darien. “Shit,” he whispered.
Booker pushed into Mack’s office. “You met Kim’s friends, I take it.”
Mack turned to scowl at his closest friend who stood in his doorway with a shit-eating grin. “Did you need something, Book?”
“No, just wanted to see how you handled the introductions,” he observed.
“Fine. Why?” Mack challenged, not liking his friend’s ability to read him.
“Nothin’.” Booker laughed as he folded himself into the chair facing Mack. “But, I do see you got a couple of problems.”
“Yeah?”
Booker nodded. “One, you’re gonna get razzed for breaking the rule, especially considering you let Kimmie pull one over on you.”
“Fuck you, Booker.”
“Two...” Booker trailed off. “Nah.”
“Two?” Mack prodded, but Booker just shrugged. Mack narrowed his eyes. “What’s two?”
“Nothin’,” Booker said, and rose to his feet. “That one I’m gonna let play out.”
Mack flipped him off.
Booker laughed. “I’m gonna enjoy this. I’m gonna go talk to your woman, comin’?”
“She’s not my woman.”
“Sure ’bout that?” Booker retorted, and walked out the door before Mack had a chance to respond.
The ping of Mack’s email gave him something else to focus on, which meant a full background check on his pixie. He’d given his bouncers a heads up to scan the IDs of Kim’s friends. He didn’t do it for everyone, but he was glad he did tonight.
* * *
Darien
I stood by the railing sipping my margarita, which was amazing, and very, very strong, when a tall, dark-headed man crested the stairs and made his way directly to Dani. I assumed it must be Booker.
She was facing me, laughing at something Kim was saying when he wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her neck.
“Ohmigod, Mack, not here!” she retorted.
I felt my stomach roil. She was obviously giving her husband a hard time, but it did something to me that I didn’t like. Stupid, considering I’d only met Mack tonight, but there was something about him.
Booker smacked her butt and frowned. “Not funny, Dani.”
“It’s a little funny.” She slid her hand to his neck. “Will you behave so I can introduce you to Darien and Millie?”
“Maybe.”
Dani giggled and waved me and Millie closer. “This is my husband, Austin.”
I smiled and shook his hand. He shook Millie’s as well with a nod. “Booker.”
Dani rolled her eyes. “Okay, to me he’s Austin, to the rest of the world, he’s Booker.”
“I’m gonna steal my woman for a minute,” he said.
“We’re going to dance,” Kim declared.
“I’ll be there in a bit,” Dani promised, and Kim gathered the rest of us up and led us downstairs.
I followed the ladies onto the dance floor and lost myself in the music. I loved to dance and I’d had just enough alcohol to let myself go. I felt strong hands on my hips and startled, craning my head to find a gorgeous man with longish blond hair smiling at me. He moved his hips against my rear and I went with it. He wasn’t there for long and I turned to see him being escorted from the dance floor by one of the bouncers who let us in. I glanced at Millie who shrugged, so I did as well and moved closer to her again.
Admittedly, I was a little bummed. He was cute. This thought brought to mind Mack and I realized pretty quickly I wished he was here grinding his body against mine. I shook off the thought and tried to focus on the music again.
As we danced our asses off, I noticed an alarming trend. One that was starting to piss me off. I let it happen three times before I decided I’d had enough and followed the bouncer off the floor. He left my newest dance partner at the mouth of a hallway and walked away. I followed him through a door and into another hallway.
“Hey!”
The man turned, appearing a little surprised to see me, but then a slow smile crossed his face. “You need somethin’, babe?”
“Yeah. I want to know why you’re dragging guys off the dance floor.”
He chuckled, raising his hands as though to ward off a fight. “Not my call.”
“Then whose call is it?”
He closed the distance between us and crossed his arms over his gigantic chest. “Babe, I suggest you go back to your friends and enjoy the rest of your night.”
I leaned back (way back, because he was tall) and snorted. “Oh yeah? And why’s that?”
“’Cause there ain’t no way in hell you’re ever comin’ back here.”
I gasped, stomping my foot in irritation. “Excuse me?”
A low voice rumbled above the noise of the music. “Train.”
I peeked around the giant and saw Mack walking towards us and he looked irritated. Train raised his hands again, gave me a slow smile, and walked away.
“You’re the manager, right?” I asked, annoyed that my voice quivered like a love-struck teen.
Mack raised one side of his mouth in what I think was a smile. “Sure, babe, we’ll go with that.”
“I’d like to lodge a complaint.”
The other side of his mouth tipped up. “A complaint.”
“Yes. That man who just walked away has been very rude.”
“How so?”
“Every time I’d start dancing with someone, he’d yank him off the dance floor!”
“Train did that?” he inquired.
“Yes he did.” I huffed. “It’s unacceptable and I think you should talk to him about it. I mean, this is a dance club, right? We’re here to dance and drink and have a good time, right? If your sole purpose is to sell booze, then you can’t have one of your employees dragging away the customers! Those guys weren’t bugging me and they were good dancers. Do you know how hard it is to find guys who are willing to dance with you who can actually dance?”
“Enlighten me.”
“It’s hard!”
“Anything else, sweetheart?”
“Yes!” I was on a roll, so I didn’t process the endearment right away. “He told me I should have a good time because I was never going to be let back in! I don’t know what I could have possibly done to be banned, but I’ll tell you something, mister, I haven’t done anything to warrant being kicked out.” His face went from somewhat amused, to cold and lethal so quickly I shivered. Actually shivered, raising my hands to my arms in a protective stance. I instantly realized I may have gone too far. “Sorry. I don’t mean to be rude. Alcohol lowers my inhibitions and my polite meter.”
“Fuck me,” he breathed out, but I could tell he was trying not to smile. “Polite meter?”
I bit my lip. God, I was an idiot! “I’ll just go back to my friends.”
I turned and made it about three steps before I heard, “Babe, wait.”
His voice was so low, I thought I’d misheard him, but I turned and he hadn’t moved, his expression conflicted and his eyes on my leg. “What the fuck is that?”
I followed his gaze and frowned. The bruise from my fight with my patient peeked out from the bottom of my skirt. “Um... ”
Mack closed the distance between us and raised my skirt a little. “Did that happen here?”
“No,” I answered immediately.
He glanced at me. “Did someone fuckin’ hurt you, Darien?”
He remembered my name? I couldn’t focus, considering his fingers were gently touching my leg.
“Darien?”
I licked my lips. “Huh?”
“Did someone hurt you?”
“Oh.” I shook my head. “No. It happened at work.”
He frowned. “Someone hurt you at work?”
“No!” I said a little more forcefully. “I whacked it on a piece of furniture.”
“Babe, you need to fuckin’ tell me what happened.”
Because I’m Dork Darien, and because he smelled so delicious, all I could think about was licking him (no joke), and I told him everything that happened at work.
Mack stood with his arms crossed as I filled him in, but when I was done he sighed. “Fuck me.”
“Now? ’Cause I don’t really know you,” I retorted.
He stared at me for a second or two and then laughed. The sound made me shiver... in a really good way, and I couldn’t stop a smile.
“Go back to your friends, sweetheart.”
I nodded and high-tailed it out of the hallway and back into the club. I nearly slammed into Millie who grabbed my arm with a frown. “Where did you go?”
“Nowhere, it’s fine,” I said.
“Are you okay?”
“Yep, fine. Just went through the wrong door.” She studied me, but I was glad she let it go. “Are we dancing?”
Millie shook her head. “Huh-uh, we’re back upstairs. Booker bought us drinks.”
“Okay, cool.”
I followed Millie back upstairs and tried to put my weird interaction with the sexiest man on the planet out of my head. Admittedly, I failed, but I fell back into my comfortable belief that a man like Mack would never want a woman like me. I was safe there.
* * *
If you liked this sneak peek, you can buy Road to Passion !