One Dance (The Club, #7) (2 page)

Chloe was in the habit of running everywhere, which was why she always had scraped knees. Every week, Emma would have to make sure she stocked up on Band Aides.

“You don’t look very nice,” Chloe blurted while she looked Emma over. “That dress makes you look old.” She gazed up at Emma, her eyes wide with innocence.

Emma didn’t know how to reply to such a question. She certainly didn’t want to admit the truth. “It’s a business dinner so I thought this was appropriate.” She decided that she’d go with the truth she’d prefer to believe instead of the real reason her boss asked her out tonight. He’d been damn evasive about where he was taking her, which hadn’t helped with her unease about the whole night.

“Okay.” Chloe nodded, accepting her answer as she launched herself off the bed and ran back down the hall toward the living room. She hollered, “Emma, I forgot, Janie’s here.”

In a rush, Emma quickly tossed the rest of her clothes back into her closet. Unable to get the door to shut, she turned her back and tried to close it with her butt, and just managed it.

With a heavy sigh, she headed into the living room to make sure Chloe would behave for Janie who wasn’t exactly a spring chicken anymore. As she appeared, she burst into laughter when she saw Chloe sitting astride Janie while she applied brightly colored face paint to Janie’s face; red, yellow, blue, and, when Emma saw what had been done to Janie’s lips, she winced.

“I can see you two are going to have fun tonight. The black lipstick suits you,” she chuckled at Janie.

Janie narrowed her eyes. “I’ll get you back one of these days.”

Emma smiled knowing that Janie loved the time she spent with Chloe.

Many times, she’d noticed how lonely Janie seemed to be, and wished that she knew how to help her only friend in this town.

Everyone seemed to know everyone and they didn’t like new blood, as it had been pointed out to her on more than one occasion. The people of Karim had a habit of sticking to their own circle of friends and she wasn’t welcomed. Yes, she and Janie were close, but it was more a motherly reverence that Emma held for her.

It made her sad some days more than others because she’d never had that one friend you could talk to about anything.

She’d been a loner in school, and even though she’d tried harder to make and keep friends in high school, she’d never succeeded because she liked her own space.

Perhaps it would have made her feel better if she’d had someone to talk to about tonight. Someone who had more experience with men than she did—someone who could give her advice about how to handle any advances Dahlin made because he’d be making one.

“Hey, why are you looking so gloomy?” Janie entered the kitchen and retrieved a carton of milk from the fridge and a glass from the cupboard. “I thought you were going on a date?” Pouring the milk into the pink glass, Janie concentrated on what she was doing, which told Emma the wheels in Janie’s head were turning.

Once the milk was back in the fridge, she turned back to Emma. Janie’s gaze started at Emma’s face and then dropped to her feet before Janie looked up again—a frown marred her brow. “What’s really going on Emma? And please don’t tell me
nothing
.”

There was no way she could admit to Janie about Mr. Dahlin. She couldn’t let her know how unsettled she was, or the blackmail he was using to get her to go out with him tonight.

Going with a half-truth, Emma admitted, “I’m nervous. I mean he’s—” deep breath “—my boss.”

Janie went quiet while she let it sink in.

“It’s no wonder you’re nervous. You’ve never mentioned that you’re attracted to him. To hear you talk, I thought he was full of himself.”

Emma chuckled and turned so Janie wouldn’t see her wince at her accurate assumption. “Um, perhaps I’ve exaggerated some.”

“Hmm.”

The chime of the doorbell filled the kitchen.

Thank you!
Emma briefly prayed to the heavens at being saved by the bell. But then her heart sank when she realized who was probably ringing the bell.

Luckily for Emma, she made it to the door in time to check the security glass before Chloe could open it. Her stomach felt lined with lead when she saw Dahlin on the other side.

It’s only one night, Emma.

“Oh, God,” she mumbled, her forehead rested against the door.

The doorbell chimed again.

“Emma?” Janie questioned, a frown marred her brow.

She needed to pull herself together and stop panicking. Tonight was going to happen regardless of whether she wanted it to or not.

She drew in a deep breath...inhaling before she exhaled with a sigh, and opened the front door to her grinning boss, whose smile momentarily slipped, as he looked her up and down.

He recovered quickly when he noticed Janie and Chloe hovering in the background. “Aren’t you going to invite me in and introduce me?” he asked.

Emma frowned because there was no way he wanted to meet her family. What was he up to?

She really wanted to say no, and was very tempted to give him a shove. Perhaps that would wipe the smirk from his smug lips. He was looking at her as though he couldn’t wait to get her alone. His penetrating grey eyes stared straight through her...no, it felt like they were staring straight through her clothes and he enjoyed what he was seeing. She cursed the sexy underwear she had underneath...she was positive that he knew she was wearing them.

She felt like hurling.

“N
ice to see that you’ve dressed
up
for me,” Dahlin sneered; she refused to think of him as Jeffrey. “Never mind, you won’t be wearing that for long.”

Emma whipped her head around to look at him and watched as he settled into the backseat of the car, before he proceeded to ignore her.

Bastard!

What the hell had he meant about not wearing her clothes for long? If he thought he could get her out of them, he could think again. No way in hell.

Huddled as close as she could to the door, she watched the buildings whizz past with the speed they they were traveling. She tried to hold the panic welling in her stomach at bay.

Where the hell was he taking her? She should have asked before they left her apartment so that Janie would have known. Then again that couldn’t have guaranteed that was where he would take her.

“Emma,” he said abruptly. “We need to talk about tonight.”

“I’m not going to sleep with you.”

He threw his head back and laughed. “There will be no sleeping involved.” His eyes slid to her chest, which caused her to fidget because it felt like he was trying to see through her dress to the lace and silk concoction she was wearing beneath.

The urge to punch him in the mouth had never been as strong. Instead of sinking to his level, she smiled, although forced, and added, “I’ll be blunt then. There is no way in hell that this dress will be coming off. There is no way in hell that you are going to have
sex
with me. Is that clear?”

His jaw tightened with anger, but she held her ground and waited for his comeback because there would be one. There always was.

“Tonight,” his fist clenched on the seat beside him, “we are going to my club, and I expect no damn funny business from you. You act like a lady and as though you want to be there, otherwise, the deal is void.” His dark eyes chilled her to the bone.

He was going to be in for a shock. She might seem confident and she might be headed to heaven knew where, but she could be awkward when she wanted to be. He was going to discover that fact...and soon.

Emma’s attention was focused on Dahlin but she shifted it to outside the vehicle as it started to slow down. More than curious, she realized they where driving through the old part of Karim. The buildings had a look of New Orleans, with the balconies and trellises it resembled the French Quarter, and one hotel had two guys outside playing the blues.

The tune floated into the car as it pulled to a stop outside a beautiful building. It was the same as the others, but had no windows, giving it an air of mystery. The wrought iron lamps outside the building gave a soft glow and matched the wrought iron railing on each balcony. It was weird that the building had no windows but still had balconies. What was with that?

Trevor, Mr. Dahlin’s driver, opened her door within seconds of him pulling up at the sidewalk. He offered Emma his hand, which she ignored. He wasn’t bothered and smirked when she ignored him and climbed out with Dahlin close on her heels.

“What did I tell you?” Dahlin hissed right next to her ear as his fingers dug into the flesh of her arm. “You do as you’re told.”

For the first time, terror turned her blood to ice...she had never been scared of him before. Tonight he wasn’t himself. Oh, he’d been slimy, after all, he’d blackmailed her to be here, but this was different. She started to realize that perhaps she should have told him what to do with his job regardless of needing the money.

With a tight hold on her arm, he seemed satisfied that he’d gotten through to her and pulled Emma with him toward a black door.

There was no handle or even a lock present. It just looked like a large piece of cardboard had been used to block the entrance. That idea disappeared when she watched Dahlin as he pressed his thumb down onto a small panel she hadn’t noticed.

What was this place? She had a really bad feeling and sure as hell didn’t want to go inside with or without him.

As the door started to open, she realized it wasn’t cardboard—a stupid thought—it was steel.

The thick door opened and, just inside, a huge shadow of a man was stood silently in the dim light. Her first thought was secret service. But she shook that thought free. The secret service wouldn’t be at this place. Would they?

“Maverick,” Dahlin sighed, not sounding too happy to be greeted by the man.

“Jeffrey Dahlin, what a surprise,” he growled.

The man, Maverick, stepped out of the shadows and met Emma’s nervous gaze. He was over six feet tall, and had a hard, chiseled jaw that was clenched with what looked to be anger. There was a vivid scar running from beneath his right eye along his whisker-covered jaw to a stop at the corner of his mouth. Her gaze stayed fixated on his lips, and it wasn’t until they started to twitch, that she realized he’d caught her staring.

Emma’s eyes shot up to his and desire pooled in her panties when their gazes locked and held. She held her breath—she’d never experienced such a bolt of lust before, and by the shock that appeared in his eyes, he felt it too.

“She’s mine...
Maverick
,” Dahlin sneered, making a claim that wasn’t true. “You have your pick of women every night so I suggest you look elsewhere.”

If anything, Maverick’s jaw turned to steel at the words. Even though the words had been spoken, she didn’t believe them. It was obvious Mr. Dahlin and Maverick didn’t like each other so Dahlin was trying to piss Maverick off in front of Emma.

She wanted Maverick to know that she didn’t believe a word out of her boss’s mouth. She had an urge to step closer to Maverick and let his energy and strength seep into her own body because she felt so weak and defenseless.

That’s what Dahlin wanted though, wasn’t it? He wanted her vulnerable and now Dahlin had felt a threat to that with Maverick’s presence.

Maverick ignored Dahlin, his eyes sweeping over her body, but it didn’t make her feel uncomfortable. She wanted him to look. He asked, “And you are?”

Her throat had gone dry but after the third attempt, she finally managed to introduce herself, “Emma Miller.”

“Maverick.” He held his hand out to her, and as their fingers slid together and his closed around hers, she discovered that she didn’t want to let go. He made her feel safe, regardless of his size.

But of course it ended all too soon when Dahlin snatched her hand from Maverick’s grip.

“That is enough,
Maverick
,” he scoffed. “Don’t you have work to do?”

Maverick’s body language said that he wanted to flatten Dahlin with his fists, and Emma had a feeling that she’d love to watch.

Maverick punched some numbers into a keypad and another door opened. “Go through...I’ll be watching,” he warned and glared at Dahlin. Emma felt her belly gather butterflies when Maverick pointedly looked at her.

His silent promise was to protect her. He wanted her to know that he’d make sure she was okay.

S
he shouldn’t be here was Maverick’s first thought as soon as he caught sight of
Emma Miller.
Her gorgeous blue eyes had a deer in the headlights look, and now that he’d sent her through into the club with Dahlin, he couldn’t get her out of his head.

Not many women would have that look on their face when they entered The Club. They knew what they were getting into—Emma looked unsure—hell, she looked terrified. What was with the dress she’d been wearing? It was something his grandma would have worn.

He’d always trusted his gut feelings and right then and there, it was telling him to keep his eyes on Emma while she was in The Club. Dahlin couldn’t be trusted, and it wasn’t because Maverick had had an immediate dislike to the fucker. There was something about him—like he was too slick and smooth to be above board.

Maverick kept telling himself that she’d be safe, that it was all in his imagination, but he wasn’t all that sure that it was.

From the minute their eyes had met, he’d wanted her for himself. He’d wanted to rip Dahlin’s arm out of its socket when he’d touched Emma.

Maverick was in trouble because he should never react to a guest the way he had to Emma. The last thing he wanted was to piss one of the members off more than he usually did.

Jeffrey Dahlin was a
pissant
and didn’t deserve to be a member of the club. He was very close to being banned and if there was one more incident he’d be out.

Maverick wanted him out so badly that he’d hoped on Dahlin’s next visit, he would push the boundaries and be banned. Unfortunately, this was his next visit and he had Emma with him.

What the fuck was he supposed to do? Sit back and let Dahlin screw with the rules while he had Emma with him, or keep a close eye on him to make sure nothing happened to Emma that she didn’t want.