Jaggar sipped her ginger ale as she sat at the bar. She'd only ever been downstairs in Club Prestige for class. She’d never been up in one of the rooms before and it was certainly ... an experience. Everything about the club was decadent and meant to protect the anonymity of the clientele and the dancers. If she hadn’t recognized Elsa as a dancer, she never would have known where to look.

There would be no penetrating the maze of security and confidentiality that was the ultra exclusive club. Hell, she was lucky to even get a special invite today. Serena had put her on her super special VIP list.

She felt a little bad using her new friend to interview Elsa, but she had no other way to get to the girl. She'd have to wait until she was off shift, but it was far better to wait in here, than to sit outside alone in her car. Even if this was Dupont Circle, it was not exactly the brightest idea.

Jaggar had been to a strip club before, but somehow Thunder in the Down Under did not compare to this.

The women at those shows were there for the campy funny atmosphere. Most of those men couldn’t dance and there was very little er ... fan interaction.

In this room, Serena called it All Pleasures, Jaggar was certainly getting an eyeful. Everyone had paddles they handed out at the door. If you were game for special attention from one of the dancers, all you had to do was grab a round colored disk. Fuchsia if you wanted one of the female dancers, cobalt blue if you wanted a male dancer. One of the disks was purple, which meant either, or it didn't matter. That's where things got interesting.

Jaggar had declined a paddle and opted for the bar instead. It was certainly eye opening and ... arousing. Way to be reminded that she'd been wound tight for a couple of days now. All thanks to Griffin.

But now he was being nice. She didn’t understand nice. At least not from him. Competitive yes, conniving, definitely. Nice, not so much. He'd been making it a point over the last couple of days to be nice to her, consult her on a story. Nice. It was weirding her out.

She almost preferred it when they were sniping at each other ... or when he put his hands under her blouse and his mouth on her neck. Mmm. Or how he whispered her name like a ragged caress when he tore his mouth off of her. She shook her head to snap out of the mental sanity vacation. No. No thinking about Griffin and him tearing his mouth away from her lips.

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled and she looked up to find a familiar handsome face at the entrance. He was accompanied by two equally good looking guys. Suits, effortlessly styled hair, model good looks. And clearly one of them had to be a member, so definitely in the wealthy category. Nice friends, Griffin. They had their paddles for the table close to the back.

Griffin didn’t take his eyes off of her from the moment their eyes met. Jaggar bit back a smile. She’d gone for understated in red. Low cut, but not so low as to stand out too much. And while it hugged every curve, not like she could hide them if she wanted, it went to her calves. She'd left her hair tied up in a sloppy side bun. The idea was to go sexy, but she didn't want to stand out too much. After all, she wasn’t there to play.

The light flickered again, indicating that a new dancer was coming to the stage. Jaggar checked her watch again, wondering when she'd see Elsa.

The woman on stage was a stunning redhead. Long and lithe, and despite a smattering of freckles, her skin had a slight tan. She had wide, almond shaped green eyes. Her body moved like a dream as low, thrumming, R & B music started and everyone’s eyes centered on the stage.

Jaggar had always wondered what that must be like, having that kind of attention. Like her mother. Sure, men looked at her. But it wasn't quite like this. The people in the audience were in awe. No one looked at her like that.

The girl was beautiful and stunning to watch and, would you look at that? Flexible too. But there was a certain self-possessed sensuality about her that Jaggar admired. The dancer owned it.

Jaggar took a sip of her ginger ale and even though she knew better, she slid a glance over to Griffin.

Instead of watching the beauty on stage, his gaze stayed glued to her. And the hunger and longing she saw there had her pressing her thighs together, the pulsing answering a call it recognized.

The redhead apparently wasn't used to being ignored. She moved to the stage by Griffin. She was dancing for him. Get in line, Sweetheart.

"Most guys watch the dancers, he's watching you. You must have some kind of magic snatch."

Jaggar sputtered and whirled to stare at the girl who'd spoken. "Excuse me?"

The pretty blonde inclined her head. "No man watches a woman like that unless she's already conquered him. No man watches a clothed woman over a naked one unless he's dying to conquer her again."

"Elsa. That’s sage wisdom. Some kind of stripper mantra?"

"Something my Lithuanian grandmother used to say."

"Your grandmother. Wow. She must have been some woman."

Elsa’s brows drew up as she smiled. "She was. But I don’t think you're here to talk about her. Serena said you wanted to speak to me?"

"Yes, thank you. I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions about Milton Randall."

Elsa sighed and leaned against the bar. "I can’t talk to you."

Jaggar put a hand on her arm. "Look, I know you must have signed some huge confidentiality contract or something, but in a couple of weeks, Randall is going to go on television to talk family values. If you know anything about the real him, talking to me is a good idea."

"And what do I get if I talk to you?"

Jaggar shook her head. "Nothing other than telling the truth."

"I like dancing here. So when Serena said you wanted to talk to me I said sure. This is the best paying gig I’ve ever had. But I can’t tell you what you want."

Damn, if she had nothing to go on, she'd gone up against Ryan for nothing. "Please. If he’s hiding something, I need to know. Can you tell me anything at all?"

Elsa slid her a glance. "No."

Jaggar sagged "Look, if you change your mind, please call me."

She slid her the card. Elsa took it, and then headed backstage.

"You struck out, huh?"

Griffin’s voice behind her made her insides go warm and melty. She turned slowly and he was standing close enough for her to smell his cologne. "She doesn’t want to talk. Said she can’t."

"Which means she has a serious NDA clause going."

She finished her drink. "You didn’t have to come tonight. Clearly I could have handled striking out on my own."

He shrugged. "Maybe I just wanted to see you."

"And now that you've seen me, now what?"

He put his hand out. "Why don’t you dance with me?"

* * *

Griffin waited for her to take his hand and he held his breath. He wasn’t used to women telling him no. He wasn't used to being patient. What Jaggar had said to him this morning, he'd really taken to heart. Had he been following Ryan's lead all this time? Sure they'd taken some swipes at each other, but he hadn’t just adopted Ryan's passive aggressive shit. Had he?

She glanced down at his open palm. "I don’t think—"

"Don’t think. No one is going to see. I just want to dance with you.” What was his problem? He should have his eyes glued on that dancer. She was sexy as hell, but his eyes were directly on Jaggar. She still had a lot more to offer than the dancer. She had a sharp wit that had gotten under his skin.

With a sigh, she placed her palm in his and he released the breath he'd been holding as she drifted into his arms. Again, holding her felt like heaven. It was easy. Too easy. It felt too good. In the dark of the club where no one else could see them, he let himself relax a little.

For once he didn’t worry about the best angle or how to get what he wanted. All he did was hold her.

Even as one song bled into another. He wanted this girl and for the first time in his life, he had zero idea how to proceed with her. Do you want to proceed? Shit yes. But she didn’t exactly fit into the plan. And her shit with Ryan … his boss had made it clear he wanted him to stay away from her, but why?

What ultimate purpose did it serve? Besides, it wasn't like he could listen to that advice anyway. It was probably far too late for that. Her breathing was steady as he held her close. Her scent swirled around him and he knew he'd smelled that perfume before. He just had no idea where. "What perfume are you wearing? It's been driving me nuts for months."

Her gaze flickered to his then away. "I don’t remember. I get so many testers."

He knew how to read a woman, and this particular one was lying to him. "Oh come on. Why don’t you want to tell me?"

She pursed her lips. "It's called J. Bianca Collins's perfume."

"Oh, I almost bought that for somebody."

"Almost?" She cocked her head, and her smile dazzled him.

"I decided it smelled wrong on her. But you, it's like it was made for you."

She bit her bottom lip. "That’s probably because it was."

Griffin frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"My mother is Bianca Collins. The actress? A few years ago, her marketing people said she needed to get into perfume endorsements. J was one of them."

He blinked. "I'm still stuck on the fact that your mother is Bianca Collins." But now that she'd said it, he understood. She looked like her. The dark hair and eyes, that beautiful bone structure and the oozing, effortless sexuality. "Fuck. How is it that I didn't know that?"

She shrugged. "Because I don’t talk about her."

"Guys go gaga I'm sure. Must make for some awkward conversations. That's cool that she had them name a perfume after you."

She shrugged. “The perfumery brought me in. I got to be part of the whole process. They even took a sample of my sweat to test the best blends."

"Wow, so it was literally created for you. That's amazing." No wonder that shit was like kryptonite to him. It was meant to entice and on her, it was a deadly combination.

"Not so much. She always said it was her least favorite scent she’d ever had done."

Griffin frowned. "Ouch."

She shook her head as if to clear it. "I need to go actually." She tried to pull out of his hold, and he loosened it but he didn’t let go. "Jaggar. I wanted to talk to you about the other night."

"Look, we both said it didn't—"

"I know what I said, but—"

She stepped back again and this time out of his hold. "Doesn’t matter. Good night Griffin." For the second time in two nights, Jaggar Jakes was walking away from him. And he didn’t like it one bit.