“Just come out, love. I’m running short of time here!” Liam yelled at her through the door of his guest bedroom.

“I… don’t know,” she called back.

He groaned. His personal shopper Rita had worked some real magic, pulling together half a rack of suitable ladies’ clothes in the time that Liam and Audrey were at dinner.

Full of sushi and sake, Liam half-dragged Audrey back to his furnished Midtown loft. She quailed at the sight of so many posh garments, but Liam forced her into the guest bedroom and demanded that she pick something to wear.

“We’re going out. You promised me, remember?” he said, drumming his fingertips on the door frame. “So come out, let’s get a move on. I’ve got places to be.”

The door knob turned, the door swung open. Audrey stepped out.

For a full three seconds, he was actually gobsmacked. She wore a tight black leather minidress, showcasing her flawless pale skin and creamy cleavage. She also wore a pair of silver high heels that made her legs look a mile long, even though she was a tiny thing.

Women’s clothes really were mystical, to Liam’s thinking.

“Is it okay?” Audrey said, her cheeks going pink.

“Errm… you’ll do,” Liam said, snapping himself out of it. “It’ll suit where we’re going, that’s for sure.”

He started to turn away, thinking he’d stop in his own bedroom and adjust himself to hide his growing erection. Before he did, though, he paused.

“You should take your hair down,” he said, eyeing her for another moment.

Audrey trailed her fingertips down her braid, then shrugged. “Okay.”

“I have to, uh… grab something. Meet you at the car in a minute,” he said.

She didn’t fight him on that, at least. When he got to his SUV she was standing next to it, her hair flowing around her shoulders like a waterfall of flame.

“Maybe I should drive,” she said.

“Bloody little chance of that,” he said. He went around and opened her door, watching her slide into the car.

What was he doing that for? He only opened car doors when he was trying to get laid. And little Audrey might be pretty, but she was not on his list.

Liam’s employee, Jack’s sister. Not to mention she seemed about as fun as a piece of wet cardboard.

That’s not what you thought a year ago, when she was on your lap, pressing those damp panties against your fingers. Grinding on your cock, he thought.

Then, no more of that, you prick.

“Where are we going?” she asked as he jumped in and navigated toward the east side of town.

“Good question,” he said. “Got my mobile?”

She pulled it out of the tiny purse she held and handed it over. Liam searched for what he wanted, then set the GPS.

“Why are we going to Avondale?” she asked, taking his phone when he handed it back. “What’s in that neighborhood that could possibly interest you?”

Liam smirked. “Wait and see.”

She sat back in her seat and stared out the window, her expression unreadable.

“So… here’s my question,” Liam said, drawing her attention once more.

“Mm?” she asked.

“For someone who clearly always plays by the rules, I’m a little surprised at how we met,” he said, enjoying her instant look of embarrassment.

“I was drunk,” she said, lifting a shoulder.

“You were fucking wild, is what you were,” Liam said. “Don’t get me wrong, I quite enjoyed it. I just find that wild girl hard to reconcile with… you.”

For the barest second, he thought he saw a flash of hurt on Audrey’s face.

“It was a mistake, obviously,” she tossed back at him. “One that does not bear repeating.”

Liam let it go at that, figuring he’d have plenty chance to aggravate the piss out of her later in the evening. If only she didn’t make it quite so fun…

When he pulled up out front of Mama’s Primetime, a big windowless warehouse, Audrey gave him a skeptical look. “A club, this early? It’s only nine thirty, Liam.”

“We’re here to see someone,” he said. “And it’s Friday. There will be people here already, believe you me.”

He threw his keys to the valet and ushered Audrey to the front doors, a hand at her lower back. She stiffened at his initial touch, but didn’t protest.

There was a suit-and-sunglasses-wearing bouncer at the door. The guy barely even glanced at Liam, but he put a hand out to stop Audrey.

“Yeah, I’m gonna need to see some ID, honey.”

Audrey flushed and dug her license out, tapping her foot while the guy looked back and forth between the card and her. The idea of straight-laced Audrey using a fake ID struck Liam as hilarious.

“Don’t laugh,” she scolded him as the bouncer handed it back.

“At you? Never,” he said with a grin.

Then the bouncer pulled the door open and they stepped inside. It was dark as a cave and smoky as a peat fire. Rap music pulsed through the air, so loud that Liam could feel the vibrations through his shoes.

He gave Audrey a little shove forward to get her moving, and they headed for the bar.

Then Audrey stopped, staring around. He could see her putting it together. Mirrors everywhere, low lighting, men sitting in chairs near a long stage that came out into the middle of the room…

And the gleaming gold stripper pole, of course.

She whirled, looking furious.

“Did you bring me to a strip club?” she demanded to know, her teeth clenched.

“That I did, love,” Liam said with a wink.

“Are… are you serious right now?” she asked, horrified.

“Did I not say, quite specifically, that you would not enjoy this errand?”

“That was before you forced me to get into this… this getup,” she said, waving a hand at her dress. “Admit it, you practically dragged me here.”

Liam gave her an innocent look. If she was going to go into theatrics about it, he was just going to push her further and further. Slowly, though, like turning up the heat on a lobster in its pot. If the heat got to be too much, maybe she’d quit and then he wouldn’t feel quite as bad about the idea of seducing her.

“If you say so,” he said, patting her on the shoulder. “Look, we’re already here. Let’s have a drink, yeah?”

He let her trail after him as he strode over to the bar, raising a hand to flag down the curvy blonde working behind it.

“Hiya,” the bartender said, looking Liam up and down, her gaze nothing short of appreciative. “What can I get you and your… friend?”

Her glance at Audrey, who was standing beside him looking twenty kinds of nervous.

“I’ll have a pint of something dark, love. Guinness or whatever you got. And a Johnny Walker Blue, on the rocks.”

“And for you, miss?” the bartender asked.

Audrey flashed him a sort of helpless look.

“She’ll have a cranberry juice and vodka,” he said. “Easy on the vodka, yeah?”

“Sure thing,” the bartender purred. “I just love a man with an accent, you know?”

Liam chuckled at the look of disgust on Audrey’s face when the server moved away to make their drinks.

“She’s bold,” Audrey commented.

“It’s a topless joint, darling. They’re paid to flirt.”

Audrey pursed her lips but didn’t reply.

The bartender brought their drinks over and Liam tipped her handsomely. He leaned over the bar and beckoned to the busty blonde, holding up another $20 bill.

“I’m looking for someone,” he told her. “Goes by Chuck.”

Her eyes widened a little.

“I don’t think you want to find him, handsome,” she said, shaking her head.

He pulled out two more $20 bills and slid them all across the bar. “I assure you, darling, I do.”

She glanced around, then took the bills and stuffed them in her black apron. “He’s not here yet. I can let you know if you want, but…”

Liam held up a hand to stop her.

“Consider me well warned.” To Audrey, he whispered, “We’re going to have to entertain ourselves for a while, yet. Let’s get a seat, yeah?”

He handed over her drink and led her near the very end of the stage, right in the middle of everything. Several patrons turned to look Audrey up and down, which made her scowl.

She really was an incredible prude, Liam thought with a sigh.

“Can we sit in one of the booths or something?” she asked as he took a seat.

“Nah, we’re doing a bit of detective work, here,” he said. “Sit down and have your drink, try not to look like a narc.”

“I— I do not look like a narc!” she protested in a harsh whisper, taking the seat next to his.

Liam lifted a shoulder and sipped his whiskey.

The music got a little louder and a sexy Latina girl strutted out onto the stage, wearing a little lace top and skirt. The dancer was a definite pro, her gaze sweeping around the stage and landing right on Liam and Audrey.

Well-dressed couple, sitting together? I’m sure she sees dollar signs floating in the air, he thought. And in this case, the girl wasn’t the least bit wrong.

“Ah, delightful,” he said with a grin. The dancer made her way over, hips swinging.

Liam glanced at Audrey, who was sitting and watching, her cheeks on fire and her mouth open slightly. Embarrassed, but also a little awed? It was almost charming how naive Audrey seemed at that moment.

The stripper paused right before them, sinking down to her knees. She pointed down at Liam and raised a brow, a smile on her face. Liam couldn’t keep the grin from his face. He pulled some 20s from his wallet with a flourish, making a show of handing them over to Audrey.

Audrey gave Liam a horrified glance and tried to shove the money away, but already the dancer was leaning closer, closer… dangling her breasts in Audrey’s face. Liam pointed at the dancer’s bikini top and mimicked putting money in it.

Audrey wrinkled her nose, but when the moment stretched too long and the dancer started to look impatient, Audrey stuck a bill in the girl’s top.

The dancer beamed and grabbed the 20, vanishing it somewhere. Then she reached behind her back and untied her top, writhing and bouncing in front of Audrey. Audrey’s eyes went big as twin full moons, and she grabbed two more bills from Liam’s hand.

Then Audrey stood up and shouted something into the dancer’s ear, then handed over the bills. The stripper winked at Liam and then sashayed away, moving across the stage to another eager customer.

“What’d you do?” Liam asked, rocking back in his seat.

“I paid her to leave me alone, obviously,” Audrey said. “And I will do it again, without hesitation.”

“Turning the tables on me, are you?” Liam said with a grin. “All right, I’d say that’s fair enough.”

Liam’s gaze drifted down to Audrey’s body, and for a moment all he could think about was the way she felt in his arms, the warm press of her body against his. The sweet taste of her tongue stroking his, the feel of her hands tugging at his shirt. If they hadn’t been interrupted by one of her friends, Liam might have had her right there in the booth that night.

She’d been just as hungry for him as he for her, that much was certain. Of course, he’d given her what she wanted. The naughty version of Audrey moaned as he stroked her clit, and came on his command, soaking his fingers.

If only that was the one before him now.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” the annoyed version of Audrey asked, waving a hand in front of his face.

“Like what?” he asked, his lips lifting at the corners. She did make it so bloody fun to tease her.

“Like you’re thinking something totally inappropriate,” she said, taking a big sip of her drink.

“Oh, that. Well, I was thinking about something totally inappropriate.”

She flushed and looked down at the table. “Well stop it.”

Liam leaned forward, trailing a fingertip down her shoulder. She shivered, but didn’t respond.

“How much would I have to pay to watch you get a private dance?” he wondered aloud.

She looked up at him, eyes stormy.

“More than you’ve got,” she said, looking cross.

“I don’t know about that, sweetheart,” Liam said, leaning back and swirling his whisky. “I’m quite rich.”

“Why would you even want that?” she asked, wrinkling her nose.

“To see a half-naked girl grind up against you, squeeze your tits, maybe even get you a little excited?” Liam asked, then laughed. “Yeah, can’t imagine why anyone would want to see that.”

“Ugh.” She rolled her eyes.

“Seriously, there are like five or six blokes in here who’ve been eye-fucking you since we walked in. I bet they’d throw down a nice chunk of change to see you get a dance, if you seemed like you were enjoying it.”

“Well, I wouldn’t be,” she snapped.

“No, I suppose you’re not the type,” he sighed. “You’re already turning out to be rather a boring assistant.”

“I’m at a strip club with you,” she pointed out, finishing the last of her drink and pushing the glass away. “If that’s boring, I’m afraid to ask what kind of assistants you’ve had so far.”

Liam pretended to think about that, letting her make up her own ideas. Audrey was quite the pessimist, it seemed.

“Doesn’t matter, does it? I’m stuck with you, it seems,” he said.

“How flattering.”

“Well, you know. Jack asked if I’d line something up for you, said you were organized. He actually spoke quite fondly of you.”

He could see her icy demeanor melt a little at the mention of her brother.

“Ah, Jack,” she sighed, giving her head a little shake. “He has the best intentions, you know?”

“Always did,” Liam said. “And yet, when we got in trouble together in boarding school, it was always because of Jack. He’s not much of a planner, god bless him.”

Audrey cracked a smile. “Yeah, he doesn’t really think things through. He has the best heart, though. I wish something would break his way for once, you know? This contract…”

She paused, and Liam could tell that she was about to launch into a very serious thank you.

“Don’t think of it,” he said, cutting her off before she could begin. “Gratitude is wasted on me.”

Her mouth turned down again, and Liam almost regretted his words. Still, this wasn’t the time or the place for thank-yous, and he wasn’t the kind of man who wanted them.

“That’s not what we’re here for, is it?” he asked her.

“Can we leave, then?” she asked, crossing her arms. The movement only served to push her tits up, making her creamy cleavage even more prominent.

“I told you, we’re here for a reason,” Liam said, rolling his eyes. “Now sit back and be cool for a bit, lest we be required to repeat this experience. It’s your own bloody brother I’m here to help in the first place.”

“What?” she asked, sitting up at little straighter. “You’re here because of Jack?”

Liam eyed her for a moment.

“Look, sweetheart,” he started.

“Don’t call me that,” she growled.

Liam held up a hand. “I am probably your brother’s oldest mate, no?”

Audrey gave him a grudging nod. “Yes.”

“He’s in a real spot of trouble, now. It’s more than whether he gets this contract, it’s…” Liam paused, trying to decide how much to tell her. It was Jack’s story to tell, after all. “It doesn’t really matter, Audrey. I’m going to straighten it out tonight, if I can.”

The blonde bartender walked up behind them, setting another round of drinks on the table. She leaned down to Liam’s ear and whispered, “He’s here. He’s gone down the back hallway to the left, all the way back to the office. I think if you go right now, you might be able to catch him without his guards.”

“Thanks, love. Watch my lady friend here, for me, and there will be a big reward in it for you.”

The bartender nodded, looking nervous. Liam looked over at Audrey, who was eyeing him with all kinds of suspicion.

“Take this,” he said, giving her a few more bills. “Don’t talk to anyone, love. Keep your head down, sip your drink, tip the dancers. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Wait—”

Liam rose and left her there, striding across the club toward the back hallway. As a young lad, sneaking into pubs and punk rock clubs in the seedier parts of central London, he’d learned how to get into virtually anyplace. The secret was not to sneak at all, but to straighten your posture, smirk a little, and walk straight through like you were meant to be there.

Just as it was when he was seventeen year old with nothing to his name but a mohawk and a grimace, his confidence carried him into the staff hallway and past the dancers’ lounge without any trouble. He went straight back to the grimy gray steel door with the word OFFICE scrawled on it in permanent marker.

He didn’t pause, just took a deep breath and opened the door. A man and a woman stood behind a ratty metal desk. The brunette was just shimmying her skimpy lace dress back down her hips, adjusting her panties. The man, a fifty-something pot-bellied bloke in a wrinkled tan suit, was buckling his belt.

The man turned to glare at Liam. “Who the fuck are you? I got private business happening back here. Get lost.”

The dancer didn’t even look at Liam, like she was used to being exposed like that. It made Liam’s fists clench, knowing that her job probably regularly included these little rendezvous, but it wasn’t for him to interfere. She was just another lost soul.

“It looks like you’re done, mate,” Liam said. “I need to talk to you about Jack Cross.”

The manager’s gaze slid to the dancer. “Go on, Sandi. Leave us.”

The girl glided out of the room, eyes glazed over with total disinterest. Liam figured he’d get high too, if coming to work included fucking this slob of a manager.

“Close the door,” the guy said, waving his hand.

Liam pushed it so it was mostly closed, leaving himself a couple inches to hear what was happening in the hallway. Also, it was always a good idea to plan your escape from these types of situations, and his only way out was through that door.

“Who’d you say you were?” the manager asked, lighting a cigarette and plopping into his squeaky office chair.

“I didn’t.”

“Huh. You look real familiar to me, son.”

“I’m a friend of Jack’s, let’s say. Nothing more to know.”

“Too bad for you. This isn’t a good time to be friends with Jackie Boy. Especially not if he’s been yakking about my business all over town, you get my drift?”

“How much does he owe you?” Liam asked, cutting to the chase.

The guy raised a brow.

“More than you can pay,” he said, looking Liam up and down.

“Just give me a fucking number,” Liam said, feeling heated anger bubbling up from within.

“There is no fooking noomber,” the manager said, doing a piss-poor imitation of Liam’s accent. “It’s a debt of honor now, you understand? He’s made a lot of promises, and now he’s going to work off what he owes me.”

“Work off how?” Liam asked.

“Don’t worry about it. That’s private, between me and Jack. For what he owes me, just be glad I haven’t broken his fucking legs yet.”

“I’ll pay it,” Liam said, trying one last time. “Whatever it is.”

The manager looked Liam up and down. “You ever done any cage fighting?”

Liam stilled. “That’s how Jack’s going to pay you back? Fighting?”

Stubbing out his cigarette in an overflowing ashtray, the guy blew out a huge cloud of smoke. “You’re boring me. Get out of my club, and don’t come back unless you want to do some business. Big guy like you, with an accent… you’d be real popular. In the ring, or backstage here at the club. We get all kinds of customers in here, they like a little variety.”

“Yeah, I’ll be sure to let you know,” Liam said, barely containing his fury.

“You do that,” the guy grunted as Liam headed out of the office.

Outside, there were two enormous bodyguards waiting, and they both glared at Liam as he made his way out of the back hallway. Once he was back on the club floor, the first thing he realized was Audrey’s glaring absence.

“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath.

He looked around and didn’t see her near the table or the stage. His new friend the bartender sauntered up and winked at him.

“Your lady is over there in the cleanest leather booth,” she said, pointing. “She’s getting makeup tips from one of the girls.”

“She’s what?” Liam asked, taken aback.

“She liked Tammy’s glitter eyeshadow or something, I don’t fucking know,” the bartender said with a shrug. “I kept her safe, like you said.”

“Right,” Liam said. He pulled out his wallet and gave her a few hundreds, then walked over to the booth.

Audrey was sitting there, talking animatedly with a girl in a silver g-string bikini. The girl was smoothing some dark red lip gloss over Audrey’s lips, and Audrey seemed to be trying not to laugh.

“Hey!” she said, pulling back from the dancer when Liam walked up. “This is Tammy. She’s showing me the best shade for my skin tone.”

Seeing the blood red color of her lips set against her pale skin and flame-red hair, Liam couldn’t disagree with Tammy’s taste. Still, he couldn’t believe that Audrey was sitting there letting a dancer use her own products on Audrey’s skin.

“Let’s go,” he said, throwing a bill at Tammy. He grabbed Audrey’s wrist and tugged her out of the booth.

“But—” she started.

“You want to stay here, in the strip club?” Liam growled.

“Well…” she glanced at Tammy for a second, then shook her head. “No.”

“Right, then.” Liam wrapped an arm around her waist and half-dragged her out of the club, not slowing until they stepped out into the cooling night air. As cool as it got in Atlanta in the spring, anyway.

It struck him, suddenly, how very far he was from London. This was a dangerous game he was playing, trying to fix things for Jack when Liam’s own life across the pond was so bloody fucked up.

“Bring my car, will you?” he snapped at the valet, who sprinted off to get his car.

“You’re awfully cranky now,” Audrey said, pulling out of his grasp.

“Yeah, well. I got some shit news about your brother, and then I walk out and see you letting some stripper rub her fucking lipstick on your mouth,” he said.

The car pulled up with a squeal of tires, and he walked her around to the passenger’s side, opening the door.

“What’s wrong with trying on lipstick?” she asked.

Liam shut the door in her questioning face, then tipped the valet and got in himself. He reached over to open the glove box, pulling out a packet of tissues.

“Here,” he said. “Next time, think twice about what a lady does with her mouth before you use her cosmetics, yeah?”

It took Audrey a second to put it together, Liam could tell, but then she looked aghast.

“You don’t think….?” she asked. Then she started wiping the lipstick away, eyes wide.

“I don’t know Tammy, so I can’t say. But some girls do that at those kind of places, yeah.”

“You’re the one who brought me here!” Audrey said, flapping her hands as her voice rose. “Look, Liam. I want you to play for Atlanta Unified. I want my brother to catch his lucky break. I will do whatever I can to make that happen, but…”

She paused biting her lip.

“But?” Liam prompted.

“I don’t know or care how you treated your other assistants, or how you act toward your girlfriends. But I’m here to work, not to hang out with you in strip clubs, or wear…” Audrey waved her hand at her dress. “This is ridiculous. This is unprofessional. There has to be a separation between us. You can’t just bring up what happened between us at the nightclub and expect to have me wrapped around your finger. I don’t operate that way.”

Liam turned to glare down at her.

“You came up to me that night at the club,” he reminded her. “You ordered champagne, you got on my lap. I’m not treating you differently than anyone else in my life. You make it sound like I’m a fucking blackmailer, which I bloody well resent.”

“I am just telling you to be professional, Liam. I don’t think that’s a lot to ask.”

“I swear to fuck, Audrey, you are lucky your brother is one of my best mates.”

“Or what? You’d fire me for not kissing your ass? Is that why you’ve fired all your other assistants, Liam?”

Liam closed his eyes for a second and counted to ten. When he opened them again, he’d managed to rein in his temper.

“Professional it is, then,” he growled.

Audrey didn’t flinch, a challenge plain on her face. She was testing him, laying down her boundaries.

Fine. Two could play at being professional. Just wait until she saw just how professional he could be at work. He was a downright prick as a boss, and he wouldn’t be holding back a bit of it from her now.

He pulled out of the parking lot, steaming mad. Mad at Audrey, for having no common sense. Mad at Jack, for getting into such a bloody mess.

And mad at himself, for giving a fuck about it at all. Liam had his own problems, that was for fucking sure. He drove in silence for a few minutes, working to calm himself down. Those anger management classes had to’ve been good for something, after all.

When he turned to tell Audrey that he was taking her home, he realized that her eyes were shut. She was asleep, or feigning it.

Liam heaved a sigh and tried to be annoyed, but in truth he kept glancing over at her. She was a different kind of pretty when she slept, that challenging scowl wiped away, leaving perfectly pouty lips and delicate ginger brows. He noticed that there were a few freckles on her face, too, on her nose and cheeks.

His gaze dropped down to her chest, then he panicked and realized that he’d let the car veer into the opposite lane. He straightened, then locked his gaze onto the road.

He shouldn’t be staring at Audrey anyway. She was Jack’s little sister, and Liam’s employee. And no matter what she looked like, she was a bit of a bitch, that was for sure.

No more of that, he told himself. Stick to the type of girls you’ve always liked.

Prissy American girls like Audrey were a million miles away from Liam’s social circle. He liked his women overtly sexy, close-mouthed, and agreeable. Models, usually blondes. Women who knew exactly what their role in Liam’s life would be and stuck to that.

Not short, stuck up little redheads who only made his life more complicated.

No, there was no world where Liam Packham and Audrey Cross collided and became anything but boss and assistant.

And Liam would do his damndest to keep it that way, keep it professional.

God knows that will make straight-laced little Audrey perfectly happy, he thought.

Glaring into the night, he sped down the road, suddenly eager to have her out of his sight.

Audrey Cross was already complicating his life, and he hadn’t the faintest idea what to do about it.