Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 132657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
If he could convince her to ditch her boyfriend and come back to the club with him, they would be stuck together for a while.
He would have to mention seeing her tonight. He would tell Phil he’d had a great conversation with the new girl who came in, and he was going to see if she would like to come back for some one-on-one sessions. Lay the groundwork.
He could make this happen.
He just had to have some faith.
There was a knock on his door, and then Phil was coming in.
“Hey, we need to talk,” Phil said, a frown on his face.
Well, there was no time like the present.
* * * *
“You did not have to come with me,” Harlow said for the three hundredth time.
Niall let his hands tighten around the steering wheel. “Your guy didn’t show.”
“He got caught up at the club,” she replied. She had explained she had briefly talked to the Dom in Residence, who was an old friend of hers. They knew each other from the lifestyle, and he was worried about what was happening at Decadence. “We’re going to talk more tomorrow. I’ve already got Ruby working on a thorough report on him. It’s been a while. I want to know where he’s been and what he’s been doing.”
“But you trust him?” He wished he’d met the guy, but he’d gotten distracted once Harlow went off with Miranda. Phil had talked to him about his time in the lifestyle and what he did for a living. He’d stuck to the story Harlow gave him, but something about the man made him uneasy. And then there was the bartender, who had all kinds of questions. The man named Jack had been intensely interested in Niall’s sub and how they met, how long they’d been together.
Then the fucker completely disappeared again when he was going to introduce them so Harlow could get a read on him.
The night had been weird, and now there was a vibe coming from Harlow that made him antsy.
She told him he could go home when they left the club. Oh, she gave him the rundown of what happened with Miranda and what they would do next. She hadn’t tried to hide her emotional phone call to Miranda’s mom or the sarcastic banter with her contact at the big security firm that was going to help out. But he got the feeling she was hiding something.
Niall carefully turned his Jeep down the road that would lead to Miranda’s apartment. They had already delivered Miranda’s mother to the McKay-Taggart building, and she was meeting with the bodyguard and going over the details of where they would stay.
Now all they had to do was pick up Miranda and get her back to base. Which was a big building in the middle of downtown with a sarcastic asshole who served as the overlord. Harlow seemed to like the big bastard, though, so Niall wasn’t complaining.
He had so many other things to worry about, including the fact that the only reason he thought she hadn’t fought him too hard was she didn’t have her car. It was back at her place. He picked her up. He got the feeling if Ruby hadn’t been lost in her computer, he would have been left behind at The Hideout.
“I’m not letting you…” he began and then stopped, realizing how the rest of his statement was going to be taken.
“You want to finish that sentence?” Harlow had been on edge since she walked out of that man’s office.
He was on edge, too, since Jensen had been texting him and he hadn’t had a minute without Harlow to call the fucker back. Now he wanted to talk? Jensen ignored him all evening and now he was blowing up his phone. It was annoying.
“I don’t want you out here alone, princess,” he replied quietly as he stopped at a red light. “I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling. I didn’t like Phil, and that bartender was way too interested in you. He didn’t even meet you. He didn’t even show up until you were with Miranda, so I don’t know when he saw you. But he obviously did, and I think that one could get aggressive.”
For all his twangy cowboy charm, there had been a ruthlessness to the man he hadn’t liked. And they’d only talked for ten minutes.
“The hair does it for some guys. I wouldn’t worry about him. He was probably told by the manager to get info on the new couple.” She reached over and put a hand on his. “Niall, what you’re feeling is nerves, and it’s normal. You were in a dangerous place tonight. This is not the kind of lifestyle you’re used to. You like some peace, and I don’t give a lot of peace. It’s something to think about.”