Lisa stared at the bank statement as though the numbers would change. Maybe if she willed it so, the decimal would move to the right and add some zeroes while it was at it. A lot of zeroes. She needed them since she’d been out of a job for over six months now. Stupid Jimmy and his stupid criminal activities.

She was supposed to be self-sufficient. She was twenty-nine years old and borrowing money from her siblings to pay for her apartment. They didn’t know it, but she’d already turned in her car. The apartment was a deal breaker though. Moving wasn’t an option. The notion of downgrading had been met with the idea of moving her in with Lila. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her sister, but Lila had a boyfriend who creeped her out, a boyfriend who looked at her like he wouldn’t mind playing around on the side.

She’d mentioned it to her sister, who told her she was as paranoid as Bridget.

What the hell was she going to do?

You know there’s a job waiting two stops over just for you. You can take the train. There’s a nightly buffet so you don’t have to pay for dinner and you’ll get at least one meal every day you work. The solution is there. You’re too proud to take it.

You’re too ashamed to take it.

This was not where she thought she’d be after working her ass off to put herself through college. She was supposed to be the girl who picked herself up by her bootstraps, who got through everything with a smile on her face, who didn’t need any help.

She thought she’d be married by now, happy in her career, maybe a baby on the way. She was supposed to have found her dream Dom at Sanctum and settled into pure bliss.

Life hadn’t worked out the way she’d thought it would.

Sometimes she wondered if her mother had ever stood in this place and decided what the fuck. Life sucks. Let’s do some drugs.

Wondered? Hell, she knew that was what her mother had done. Her mother had made that choice on a daily basis.

Would she? Would she finally find that place where there was nowhere left to go?

Or she could stop feeling sorry for herself, tell the world to fuck off, and go take the job where she would make a bunch of cash.

It wasn’t like she would be stripping. She would simply be making drinks for men who were watching other women strip. That was all. Well, it would likely go hand in hand with fending the boss off on a nightly basis.

Jai, too cool to have a last name, had offered her the job two weeks ago. He lived in the building and they’d gotten to talking one day in the laundry room. Well, she’d been doing laundry. He’d been smoking outside.

Maybe he hadn’t even been serious. Maybe she would walk into the subtly-named Cherry Pies and Jai would laugh and say she obviously didn’t belong. He would tell her she was far too smart to end up in a strip club and hey, go find yourself another accounting job.

Nope. She had to think positive. This was going to work. She would bartend at night and look for a company that didn’t mind hiring a known whistle-blower during the day. She would get back on her feet.

Lisa straightened the pretty Chanel blouse Bridget had given to her after she’d declared she would never fit into it again. The truth was Bridget was wildly successful and enjoyed changing out her wardrobe on a regular basis. Luckily she was just the tiniest bit smaller than her sister-in-law when it came to clothes, and they were a perfect fit on shoes, so Lisa had a steady diet of gorgeous designer clothes she could never, ever afford.

Okay. She could do this. Professional makeup. Check. Résumé in Kate Spade bag. Check. Shoes that were supposed to make her feel strong and powerful. Check. Pepper spray within reach and at full strength. Check and check.

I am a strong, independent woman. Nothing can bring me down except me.

And maybe an asswipe criminal who liked to clean other people’s money. She nodded to the woman in the mirror and turned to her door. She was doing this. No more being afraid. No more pretending something better was coming around tomorrow. She made her destiny. She asked for what she wanted.

Her bag securely on her shoulder, she stepped outside. Maybe she should change her shoes. The five-inch Louboutins looked sexy as hell, but she had to walk quite a distance. Maybe she could feel powerful and invincible in sneakers. She was just about to change her mind when she walked right into a hard-muscled back.

She practically jumped away as she collided with the man carrying one half of a leather sofa. Somehow she managed to stay on her feet. “I’m so sorry.”

It looked like 4C was getting filled quickly. Dayna and Jim Ball had only moved out two days before, but here was another neighbor to welcome to the building. Or not welcome, since it wasn’t like it was a friendly place. She’d lived across the hall from the Balls for two years and had barely known the couple beyond their names and the fact that the wife didn’t mind leaving her delicates hanging all over the laundry room waiting for any pervert to come and steal.

Or maybe this was a worker. A mover, perhaps, since he was made of muscles. Lots of sexy, masculine muscles.

“You all right?” a deep voice asked.

A deep voice with a ridiculously sexy Cajun accent that went straight from her ear down to her traitorous pussy. She heard lots of the Doms at Sanctum joke about how dumb their dicks were, but she was fairly certain her pussy could beat them all.

And that man was going to turn around and not be Master Remy. Nope. They were in Dallas and that was close enough to Louisiana that there could be another bayou boy here. It was some other gorgeous Cajun god of a man standing in her hallway, one she hadn’t hit on and gotten rejected by, one she hadn’t made a complete fool of herself over. It was another beautiful man. She would make a joke about the collision with him and then never, ever speak with again.

She’d learned her lesson and didn’t want to take Being Humiliated by Remy Guidry 101 again. Her A had been well earned.

“I’m fine. Didn’t even fall. Welcome to the building.” It was best to retreat now. Whoever it was—not Master Remy, not Master Remy—he was obviously busy, and she had things to do, too. It was way too late to change her shoes. They were good shoes. Bridget swore by them. She had to go get her strip-club job before some other sad-sack, couldn’t-get-another-job woman took it from her.

She started to turn and then heard a heavy thud.

“Lisa? Lisa Daley?”

Run, Lisa, run. That was the smart part of her screaming in her head. Dump the shoes right here and now because they will hold you back. Dump them and run like a gazelle evading a hungry lion. The polite part of her stopped.

She slowly turned, forcing a smile on her face. “Mr. Guidry? What a surprise to see you here.”

Yep, that was Remy Guidry. He was six-foot-five-inches of pure muscle. His hair was dark and she remembered when it used to flow around his face, brushing his shoulders when he would take it down before a hot scene. She’d been like a groupie, following all of his scenes, waiting for that moment when his hair would come down and she would pretend like she was the submissive he was about to put in bondage and suspend. A few months before he’d cut it, like seriously cut it. He’d been out of town for a few weeks and when he’d come back he’d had that military look. The new buzz cut had grown out a bit, but she’d been surprised to see how cutting his hair had made him even more masculine, the stark, gorgeous lines of his face no longer softened by the hair. Now he wore a muscle shirt, jeans, and boots, and there was zero chance of missing the way those shoulders moved, how strong his arms were.

His sensual lips curled up as though he could read her mind, and every thought she sent his way made him the tiniest bit more arrogant. And he was arrogant enough before. “Yes, this certainly is a surprise. You visiting someone here?”

She should say yes and then move out tonight. Pack everything up and run. Unfortunately, that would mean moving in with her married brother or sister and disrupting their lives, or with Lila and murdering her boyfriend. If only she had a car… Homelessness had never been more appealing. “No, I live here. 4B. Home sweet home. I suppose you’re helping to move a friend in.”

Someone had to have been holding the other half of that couch. Maybe she was going to get lucky and this was just one bro helping another. No big deal. They weren’t even particularly good friends, so he wouldn’t be around much. Maybe he’d lost a bet and he didn’t even like the person who was moving here. She could live with that.

“Not at all. This is home sweet home. Temporarily,” he replied, his hands on his lean hips. “My house is being extensively renovated so I can put it on the market. It could be a few months before I can move, so here I am. It’s nice to see a friendly face.”

Wow. He had two houses. That must be nice. And it was good to know her face was friendly. She’d been afraid it was twelve kinds of horrified. She still had it, the ability to not show her emotions on her sleeve. It boded well that she would be able to get through her interview without crying. “Yeah, well, welcome to the…hi.”

Another man was standing behind him, his partner in getting that comfy leather sofa into the apartment. He was a lovely man wearing a T-shirt and jeans and sneakers, his hair neatly kept. Fit and handsome, she couldn’t help but smile his way. He was a hottie. Too bad he had horrible taste in friends.

That was a terrible thing to think. Just because Remy Guidry hadn’t been interested in her didn’t make him a bad man.

The man who would have been considered very big had he not been standing next to Remy moved around the sofa, holding out his hand. “Hi, we haven’t met. I’m Shane. I work with Remy at McKay-Taggart. I drew the short straw and had to help him move.”

He worked with Remy, but he wasn’t a regular at Sanctum. She’d remember seeing him there. He looked friendly and normal. Handsome, but her heart didn’t threaten to explode from looking at him. She reached out and took his hand, shaking it with a smile. “Hi, Shane. I’m Lisa.”

He gave her a smile that lit up the hallway. “It’s nice to meet you, Lisa. And might I say, you are looking lovely today.”

And he was polite. “Thank you.”

Remy stood between them, frowning down like he’d never seen two people shake hands before. “Shane, I think I heard your phone ringing. You left it in the apartment.”

Shane held her hand a moment longer before he shook his head. “Yeah, definitely. Gotta go see who that is. Catch you later, Ms. Lisa. I’m a friend of the big guy so I’m sure to be around.”

He let go of her hand and stepped back into the apartment, where absolutely no phone had gone off unless its ringer was tuned to dog hearing or something.

“He’s not a good friend, so don’t expect much. He lost a bet and had to help me move. You know how it is with guys,” Remy quipped, leaning back against the couch as though it was perfectly normal to have a conversation in the middle of the hall, a couch blocking most of the way. “I’m glad to see you here.”

“Why?” Oh, god. She’d said that out loud.

His face softened. “Because you’re a nice person to see. Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot.”

No. They’d gotten off on a foot that had been promptly shoved into Lisa’s mouth and way too far down her throat. It was a foot she’d been forced to chew on for months while she tried to get her confidence back.

She’d had a crush on the sexy Cajun ever since he’d been Laurel’s bodyguard during that time between Mitch getting her preggo and properly marrying her. For a week or so, Remy had been Laurel’s shadow, and Lisa had started dreaming about him. Then she’d gone through her training class at Sanctum and found out her dream man was also a Dom there. It had taken her months, but she’d worked up the courage to converse with him.

I’m not interested.

It was then she’d realized why human beings made shit up. I have a girlfriend. Oh, I’m so sorry, I have a cold tonight and can’t play. Aliens are coming and I need to go and find my laser gun. Hope you have fun tonight.

The truth hurt. The truth gutted and left one feeling empty and hollow for months. That tiny lie, even when blatant, was so much kinder than the brutality of truth.

“Not at all,” she assured him. “We simply don’t have friends in the same circles.”

And you weren’t interested in me.

“You haven’t been at the club much lately,” he pointed out.

She didn’t have a car anymore and there wasn’t a nice neat train station close by. She’d agreed that she wouldn’t play on nights Will and Bridget were playing or Mitch and Laurel, so she didn’t have a ride in. Will and Bridget had taken Fridays. Mitch and Laurel Saturdays, and that left Lisa with Thursdays and Sundays. One day she would work the nursery in exchange for her club access, and the other she would be allowed to play. Until she’d turned in her car. She certainly wasn’t going to force someone to pick her up and drop her off, and she’d looked at her budget and decided she didn’t have enough to Uber in and out twice a week. She’d canceled all her nursery workdays and was fairly certain that meant her membership was gone, too. She missed the club and all her friends there. One more thing Vallon had cost her. “Yes, I stopped going a while back. Guess it wasn’t for me after all. You know I tried it a time or two, but turns out I’m not as submissive as I thought.”

Oh, she was in bed. She loved it for sex, but he didn’t need to know that. He wasn’t interested in that.

His eyes searched hers and she could practically hear his “bullshit.” Not that it mattered. He could think what he liked. “I find that surprising. Wade Rycroft is a friend of mine, too, and he said you were the best trainee in your class.”

Wade Rycroft was the Dom in Residence at Sanctum, when he wasn’t off working as a bodyguard for McKay-Taggart. He’d led her training class and she’d found him to be a genuinely kind man. She’d always wished there had been something past friendship between them, but again, her pussy was a dumb creature.

“I’m an excellent student, Mr. Guidry. I like to do well, and sometimes that means compromising on what I want to get that A. It’s something about me.”

“It’s Remy, Lisa.” His words were low and deep, honey dripping from that sensual as sin mouth of his. “We’re not in the club. You don’t have to show me respect.”

“But isn’t it nice to simply respect everyone?” she replied. “Even people we don’t particularly have much in common with. It makes life much more pleasant.”

“Respect is something that should be earned,” Remy said, but kind of waved the point away. “And you went to the club far more than a few times. You were a regular for over a year. You played every Thursday night. Was that because your brother didn’t want you playing at the same time as him and his wife? Because Thursday isn’t as fun as Saturday. I like to call it suspension Saturday. Now, I will suspend a sub on another night, but doesn’t Saturday feel like the right time to get trussed up and suspended in a pretty cage of rope?”

Yep. It sounded awesome. But again, he wasn’t interested. “I was never into suspension.”

“That’s funny, because I remember distinctly that you used to be in the crowd whenever Kai suspended Kori,” Remy remarked.

She felt herself flush and hoped he didn’t notice. It hadn’t only been Kai and Kori’s scenes she’d watched, but luckily he didn’t seem to have noticed her watching all of his scenes. “I was curious at the time.”

“But you aren’t now?”

“No. I am not. You know, that’s why we call it exploring. We try new things and realize they’re not for us.” Abruptly she remembered his reputation as a ladies’ man. More like unrepentant manwhore. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment. Like I said before, welcome to the building. Please remember we have a policy of quiet time after eleven at night. You might remind all your…dates. See you around.”

She could have sworn his eyes had been narrowing as she’d turned, but she didn’t look back. Nope. No way. No how. She walked on, her shoulders squared.

You have to be better than this trailer park if you’re ever going to get anywhere.

From out of nowhere, the memory rose. She was eight and sitting on her bed, Lila brushing out her hair for school because their momma was in jail again and Will was left holding everything together.

But why? Standing up straight hurts after a while. Young Lisa hadn’t understood.

It had been Lila’s job to train her. Proper posture is ladylike and proves you’ve been raised well. Then the social workers don’t look at us so much. Then they buy the story that Aunt Elaine is here and just went off to the grocery store. If the trailer is neat and clean and we’re all polite and proper, no one believes we’re on our own. We have to be perfect or they’ll come and take us apart, Lis. So be still and let me brush your hair.

She’d washed it even after the water heater had gone out. For months they’d all taken cold showers and saved coins to use at the laundromat, all so no one would suspect they were four kids on their own.

She’d learned to pretend to be something she wasn’t a long time before. And god, she’d learned not to ever fuck up. A smile on the face. That was how to get through life. The one time she’d failed… Well, she preferred not to think about that at all. Stupid Vallon had made her think about it and she wasn’t going to let it ruin her again.

She never let life see her down because life had no problem showing her exactly how much further she had to fall.

She strode out into the late afternoon light and walked toward the train station, trying not to think about the gorgeous man she’d left behind. And wishing she’d changed her shoes.

 

* * * *

 

“You want to tell me what the hell that was about?” Remy felt weird as he picked up the end of the couch and barely managed to fit it through the door to his new home. Temporary home. He wasn’t staying here for long.

It was awfully nice though. Probably the nicest place he’d ever lived, but then that wasn’t so surprising since this was where the Daleys stashed their youngest sibling. Lisa was the only one of the Daleys who wasn’t attached, and apparently she was very independent. The building had good security, a whole round of amenities like a dog park and jogging trails. Hell, anywhere he’d lived before Dallas, if he wanted to jog, he did it while trying not to be eaten by gators.

He couldn’t stay for long because the paperwork was already in the works. He had done all the paperwork for the loan and in a few short weeks the marina and everything in it would be back where it belonged. In his hands.

Lisa Daley was nothing more than one last job. It didn’t matter that he wanted her. It didn’t matter that she was the most tempting thing he’d seen in forever. He wasn’t getting involved with another woman who would need more than he could give her. He’d married one and that had led straight to the situation he’d been in for years. He wasn’t about to lose his family and his inheritance over a spoiled rich girl again.

So why the hell was he feeling like a bear riled out of hibernation way too early? She’d looked utterly horrified at seeing him. Oh, he’d told her something different and he could see she’d been trying to appear normal and happy, but pure terror had been behind that smile. He had the feeling she’d wanted nothing more than to run as fast as she could.

And then she’d turned on that high-wattage smile when she’d caught sight of Shane. She looked at Shane like he was a cupcake and she’d been on a sugar-free diet for way too long. It bugged him.

“She’s pretty,” Shane replied, turning to head into the kitchen. He opened the fridge and pulled out two beers. “She reminds me of the lawyer’s wife. You know, Mitch’s wife. What’s her name?”

“Laurel. There’s a reason they look alike. She’s Laurel’s sister.” Apparently he should be glad Shane didn’t play at Sanctum or Lisa might not have needed a bodyguard. “And could you try to remember that I’m the one who needs to follow her? Flirting with my target isn’t going to help this mission.”

Shane popped the top off his beer after handing Remy one. “You’re following her, not dating her. Not that I want to date anyone right now, but if I was going to date someone, I could hang out with her. Have you thought about the fact that she might be easier to handle if someone’s friendly with her?”

The idea kind of threatened to fry his brainpan, and that didn’t make a lick of sense. Not a bit. He wasn’t interested in her. He’d meant that. So why was he acting like such a possessive jerk? She’d stood there with her designer clothes and a purse that likely was worth more than a week’s worth of bar receipts and his dick hadn’t cared that she was a poor rich girl whose family could afford to spend insane amounts of money so she didn’t have to have a moment’s discomfort.

And those shoes. Those fuck-me heels made her legs long and sleek and would look good wrapped around him while he thrust his cock inside her.

Friendly? There was nothing friendly about this.

“Did I mention I wasn’t looking for anything serious?” Shane asked, backing up slightly. “Or at all. I’ve decided to give abstinence a chance. You know, I think she actually reminds me of my sister.”

“You don’t have a sister,” Remy heard himself say.

“Yeah, well, if I did I would treat her with the careful sexual distance I’m now going to treat Lisa Daley with,” Shane replied, leaning against the bar. “You look crazy right now. Like a little on the psychotic side. I’m serious. Drink that beer and chill out. No one’s touching your shit, man.”

Remy sighed and dropped down to the couch. He’d known going in that this wasn’t a simple assignment. He could force himself not to think about her when she wasn’t around. Mostly. How was he going to handle watching her constantly? “She’s not mine. Not in any way. Well, except she’s my client. But she’s not. Her sister-in-law is my client. I can’t even let her know I’m guarding her.”

“That’s rough, but you might want to rethink that whole ‘she’s not mine’ thing because seriously, you almost lost your shit, and I was only talking about hypotheticals,” Shane pointed out. “You’re attracted to her.”

Like he’d never been attracted to a woman before. Hell, he’d been married and he hadn’t wanted his wife the way he wanted Lisa Daley. At first he’d told himself it was because he liked Laurel, and her family seemed warm despite their incredibly elite status. Now he wasn’t sure where the hell his head was at. “I don’t want to be.”

“Why?”

For so many reasons. “She’s not my type. Physically she’s my type, but I’m not into high-maintenance women.”

Shane chuckled. “All women are high maintenance. Relationships are high maintenance. If they aren’t, then they’re probably shallow.”

He nodded. Finally someone understood. “Yes, that’s what I want.”

Shane stared at him, the inherent “dumbass” right there in his expression. “Well, then you’re doing great, buddy. You’ve fucked just about every good-time girl in North Texas. You do know most of those good-time girls wanted a relationship with you, right? Women are funny that way.”

“I am very clear about what I will and won’t give to a woman.” He didn’t want to hurt anyone.

“Yeah, well, a lot of women get it in their heads that they can change a man,” Shane replied. “They figure it out in the end, or they don’t and keep right on running through guys like you until guys like you no longer look at them or want them.”

“I’m not the bad guy here and I’m especially not the bad guy when it comes to Lisa Daley.” But he was going to be. He was being paid to be. This morning it had seemed all right. Seeing her again… Well, the thought of hurting her made his stomach twist.

Of course he could potentially hurt those delicate snowflake feelings of hers or she could get shot, and that made his stomach twist even tighter.

“I heard you mention she’s a Sanctum girl,” Shane said. “Sub?”

Shane didn’t play, but that didn’t mean he was ignorant of his surroundings. “Yes, she’s definitely submissive when it comes to sex. I don’t know what that bullshit out in the hallway was. Wade said he hadn’t seen a trainee so eager to try everything. And it wasn’t like she came in a couple of times and then disappeared. She was a fixture every Thursday night, and Sundays she worked the nursery. And this was for over a year. Nah, I don’t buy the whole ‘I got bored’ thing. This is about me.”

“You?”

“She came on to me a few months ago and I didn’t handle it well.” That was putting it kindly.

“She came on to you?” Shane asked. “Like threw herself at you?”

“No. She was sweet about it. Polite.” The way she almost always was, though now she avoided him like the plague. “She asked if she could have a moment of my time and if I would consider a scene with her.”

He’d scened with almost every single sub in the place, and some of the married ones. Not that the married ones had led to sex. They’d been more about teaching the sub’s husband about suspension play. Lisa had to know how many subs he’d played with. Everyone but her.

How had that made her feel?

“And you handled it how?” Shane asked as though he already knew the answer and it wasn’t pretty.

“I told her I wasn’t interested and walked back to the locker room.” Stumbled in his haste to get away, but Shane didn’t need to know that.

Shane winced. “Yeah, that would do it. You said I’m not interested and nothing else? Like you were refusing a mint?”

“I panicked.”

“You don’t panic.”

“I do around her.” He moved to his computer. “I don’t know why but she unnerves me.”

“Because you’re attracted to her,” Shane started. “Insanely attracted to her.”

Suddenly there was movement in his doorway and Wade strode in, a box in his hand. “Are we talking about Lisa Daley? Because for some reason he doesn’t want to be attracted to that sweet thing. And he doesn’t want the rest of us to be attracted to her either. You should watch out. He kind of growls when one of us gets too close.”

“I can’t believe you got that monstrosity of a couch in,” Declan said, setting down the box he was carrying. “I was so sure that wasn’t going to happen.”

“It’s all about physics and geometry, my friend,” Shane replied. “I’ve got both brains and beauty.”

Riley groaned, entering the apartment with Remy’s microwave in his hands. “Yep, you’re a beauty queen, Landon. Remy, this place is way better than your ramshackle piece of crap. It deserves a microwave that was built in this century.”

Ah, his crew was here and they would give him plenty of shit. “Hey, it works. Not everything has to be beautiful as long as it functions. Put it over there on the bar, and my ramshackle piece of crap is going to put me over the top financially.”

Riley set the microwave, that really did seem like it had seen more of US history than a small appliance should, on the bar and held out a hand. “I’m happy to hear that, though I’m going to be sorry to see you go, brother.”

There was that tug he hadn’t expected, the one that let him know this was his home, too. He shook Riley’s hand. “You’re not done with me yet. I’ve got this one last job, and it could take a good long while. Hell, by the time I get home, my brother might have burned the place down.”

Zep wouldn’t mean to. He was just a dumbass who couldn’t seem to stay out of trouble to save his life. He was a human Mouse Trap game, specifically the little ball that through no real fault of its own caused all those traps to fall into place. More than once he’d picked his younger brother up at the jailhouse with Zep scratching his head and wondering what the hell had happened.

He would have to deal with that all over again. Then there was Seraphina and her wretched taste in men, and his momma’s penchant for shooting people.

Maybe he should stay here.

“I thought you were taking a vacation,” he said to Riley. “That usually means crawling into some woman’s bed, not helping a buddy move.”

“Maybe I’ve grown over the years,” Riley mused. “Sharla can wait. Or was it Charmaine? Champagne?” He waved it off. “I can have sex whenever I want. Apparently my time with you is running short. So I thought we could hang and do manly shit. Then I walk in and we’re talking about your tender feelings. Landon, you totally should have been a relationship counselor.”

Shane tossed him the bird. “Fuck you. It’s an op. He’s got to watch her but not look like he’s watching her.”

Riley nodded. “He should totally fuck her.”

Declan shrugged. “It’s the best way. Can’t lose track of her if you’re on top of her. Also, she can’t take a bullet if you’re on top of her. It really works all the way around. And she’s pretty cute. I don’t see the problem.”

Wade frowned Declan’s way. “Morals.”

Dec looked around like he didn’t understand. “Yes, the moral of the story is if you’re sleeping with her, she’ll probably do what you say in the field.”

“I meant do you have any morals, asshole. What about her feelings?” Wade asked.

“I thought she would be feeling an orgasm,” Declan replied. “I don’t see what’s wrong with that. Unless…”

Remy rolled his eyes and took a long drag off his beer. “I can give her an orgasm, dumbass. What Wade is saying is that it’s not fair to sleep with her when I don’t intend to hang around. I’m always upfront and honest. If I sleep with a woman, I tell her what I’m willing to give and what I can’t. I’m leaving soon.”

“Sometimes that’s the perfect time,” Shane pointed out. “Not that I don’t agree with Wade wholeheartedly about the morals thing, but we’ve all been put in positions where we had to do sketchy shit to protect a client.”

“Or two,” Riley said with the smooth smile of a player who knew how good he was at the game. “Or three.”

Dec snorted. “Misti, Janice, and Crystal weren’t clients. They were the client’s sisters.”

“And they needed protecting, too,” Riley replied, a wistful look on his face. “Such sweet, innocent ladies.”

He was a lost cause. “Look, even if I wanted to be honest with her now, I doubt she would talk to me. She practically ran down that hallway when I said hello to her. I’ll be lucky if she doesn’t start looking to move.” Speaking of moving. “Shane, could you pull up her GPS? Her sister said she planted the tracking device I gave her on Lisa’s handbag. I didn’t see her car in the lot. I need to tag that, too.”

Dec shook his head. “I didn’t either. You said it was a late-model Audi. I saw a couple of those, but not a gray Q5. I don’t know. All those hipster cars look the same to me.”

“I’m not sure you understand the meaning of the word hipster.” Shane fired up the laptop. “But I didn’t see it either. She must have parked outside the lot. Let’s see where she’s going.”

“So you don’t want to sleep with her?” Declan asked. He had slumped onto the sofa as though tired. “Because again, she’s pretty cute.”

Why had he invited his friends over? “If I thought I could get in and out of her bed without causing a shit ton of problems, I would do it in a heartbeat. She’s gorgeous and she’s exactly my type physically, but she needs more than I can give her. That’s why I told her I wasn’t interested the first time she asked.”

Riley stared at him. “You did what? Like you told her you had a girlfriend or something, right?”

Wade was shaking his head. “Shit. You didn’t bald-face tell her that, right?”

Even Declan seemed surprised. “Dude, I’m terrible at expressing myself and even I would have found a way to let her down easy. You’re screwed. Unless she’s got no self-esteem. Did she ask you more than once?”

“Oh, she hasn’t talked to me since,” he admitted. And now he wondered if she’d actually left Sanctum to get away from him. He didn’t like how that made him feel.

Could he be honest with her? Tell her that he was leaving soon, but he wouldn’t mind spending some time with her. Explain what had been going through his head. He wouldn’t be lying to her. He just wouldn’t be telling her the whole truth.

According to her family, she wasn’t dating anyone and hadn’t in over a year. Apparently there had been a graduate school boyfriend who’d left her for someone he was now married to.

Maybe she was as lonely as he was and wouldn’t mind passing some time with someone who knew what the score was.

“I think she’s on the train,” Shane said. “There’s no road, but the light-rail goes through there.”

Riley moved in behind him. “I think you’re right. Otherwise she’s the Flash and she doesn’t mind running across fields. Yep. That’s the red line. There’s a stop within walking distance of this building. Where do you think she’s going?”

“Why is she taking the train?” Remy asked.

“You know some people take it to save the environment,” Dec replied with a yawn. “Yeah, I know that sounded stupid. Is her car in the shop? Do you want me to go break in to her place and see if I can find out?”

“I think we’ll keep the break-ins in our back pocket,” he replied, staring at the screen with the others. His brain was still on what they’d talked about before. Sleeping with her would be the best way to keep track of her. She didn’t have a job right now. He would have to pretend to go to work and then follow her, but she couldn’t know how much vacation time McKay-Taggart owed him.

They could have some fun and then when the case was done, he would say good-bye and she would be a nice memory. They couldn’t work out long term, but maybe she wouldn’t mind slumming for a few weeks.

“She’s off the train. Two stops,” Shane was saying. “Not the best part of town.”

Like all cities, Dallas was a hodgepodge of the wealthy, the middle class, and what could only be called the not so nice parts of town. And they weren’t all that far from each other. He could be in a super-wealthy neighborhood one block and within four have gotten to a section he needed a gun to feel safe in.

He doubted Lisa Daley carried a gun. “Where the hell is she going? That section of town is nothing but dive bars and…”

“Hey, I know that one,” Wade said, pointing at the screen. “Cherry Pies Strip Club.” He frowned suddenly, noticing that all eyes were on him. “What? It’s got a good buffet.”

Sure it did.

Holy shit. He stared at the screen, knowing exactly what building she was going into. Wade wasn’t the only one who had been to that part of town. Lisa Daley had just walked into one of the skankiest strip clubs the city of Dallas had to offer, and he doubted she was asking for directions. “Gentlemen, I think it’s time we took this party on the road.”

“Thank god,” Riley said with obvious relief. “A strip club is way better than moving the rest of Remy’s sad shit.”

“Will there be naked women I get to ogle, or is this some crazy ‘rescue the grownass woman from herself because I’m a possessive caveman asshole’ mission?” Declan asked. “Because if there’s boobs and a buffet, I’m in.”

“I don’t think anyone should eat strip-club food,” Shane said. “Is that even sanitary?”

Riley rolled his eyes. “The strippers don’t touch the food. Hey, do you think Lisa’s stripping? Because then I’m totally in.”

And then Remy would punch any dude looking at her. But no. He wasn’t a possessive caveman asshole. Even when he wanted to be. “I definitely think we should figure out what she’s doing there, and that means taking a field trip. Let’s take two cars in case I need to follow her somewhere else.”

It could be a mistake. She could have gotten off at the wrong place, or maybe she was meeting a friend. At a strip club. Sure.

Was she stripping for cash? She didn’t need cash. Her family was loaded and they didn’t hesitate to hand it over. If she was stripping, then she liked to have eyes on her, enjoyed the thrill of being the gorgeous woman every male eye watched. If she was stripping, she was doing it for thrills.

He could be thrilling. Maybe she was looking for a walk on the wild side and he’d misinterpreted their situation entirely. He’d seen a polite rich girl he couldn’t keep, but maybe she was the curious rich girl he could have for a brief time. For a mutually pleasurable time.

He locked up as he followed the others out, each laughing and joking, their camaraderie easy. So why did he feel like it was all changing on him again, like they would all be different soon? Why did he feel like Lisa was going to be the catalyst for his own change?

Any way he looked at it, he knew she would be trouble. But maybe he was ready for a little trouble in his life.