Road to Passion (2 page)

“Where the hell were the
orderlies?”

“They were busy.”

“Translation, Darien tried not to
be a bother and overdid it.”

I sighed. “Probably. I have to
say, despite the fact she’s almost ninety and her mind doesn’t work very well,
she’s frickin’ strong and fought me until she remembered who I was. Now I just
want to lie here and die.”

“
So
, no
Blush
?”

“Oh, right. I forgot,” I
admitted. I pushed myself up to a halfway seated position, pulling Barney onto
my lap and giving him a gentle squeeze. “I think if I can catch a quick nap, I
can rally.”

“You’re going to nap at six
o’clock at night?”

“I’m going to
try
and nap
at six o’clock at night.”

Millie giggled. “Okay. Well, I’ll
be at your place at seven-thirty.”

“Sounds good.”

“See you then.”

“’Bye.” I dropped my phone in my
purse and smiled down at Barney. “Potty time for you, little beast, and then
sleep.”

I took Barney out and then he
curled up beside me on my bed and we napped until Millie’s banging on the
apartment door (and Barney’s subsequent barking) woke me.

I pulled open the door to my best
friend, the incomparably gorgeous Millicent Alissa Magrew. It really wasn’t
fair that I was surrounded by women who should be on some form of a catwalk,
not working day jobs and slinging drinks to dirty old men. Millie also worked
off and on bartending, although, she was an accountant by day and only took
bartending jobs if she wanted to save for something specific.

Millie was almost six-feet tall
without heels and when she walked into a room, all eyes were on her. Her father
was white, her mother was black, and she had this dark mocha skin that made
every woman hate her and every man want her. She’d been named after her
great-grandmother and I used to joke that her parents had to give her such a
weird name; otherwise the rest of us peasants couldn’t exist with such
perfection in our world. We would all combust.

“You look gorgeous,” Millie
quipped as she gave me a quick hug and pushed into the apartment.

“Bite me,” I said, smiling as I
locked the door.

Millie slipped off her
flip-flops, and dropped her bags on the floor. “Shower.”

“No, hi, how are you? How was
your nap?” I asked.

“Hi, how are you? How was your
nap? Shower.”

I giggled and grabbed an apple
from the bowl on the table, before heading to the bathroom.

“Don’t wash your hair,” Millie
called as I closed the door.

“Gross, but okay,” I called back.

I took extra time to shave my
legs and exfoliate my skin, so by the time I slid a robe on and made my way
into the living room, Pauley was home and Kim wasn’t far behind.

“I’m going to do your makeup and
Millie’s on hair duty,” Pauley said. “But right now, you need to choose which
dress you’re going to wear.”

“I was going to wear—”

“Nope,” Pauley said, cutting me
off.

“You don’t even know what I was
going to say.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Millie said.
“We’ve got two choices for you.”

She lifted a deep blue, one
shoulder, cocktail dress that would barely cover my butt and another one
shoulder, black dress with a skirt that flared slightly at the hem. I chose the
black since it stopped just above the knee and would look great with my cherry
red, strappy four-inch heels. Plus, it covered my ample rear-end and somewhat
minimized it. Now, my boobs on the other hand were going to be a problem. “What
am I supposed to wear for support?”

“This,” Pauley said, and held out
a weird plasticky looking bra thing.

“Um... ”

Millie giggled. “It’s
self-adhesive, hon. The directions are in the box.” Which she handed to me and
I took a minute to look it over.

“Make-up, then dress, then hair,”
Pauley said, and the make-Darien-hot-plot was on.

Kim arrived ten minutes into my
makeover and I glanced at the three women helping me get ready and wondered why
they bothered. With them with me, I wouldn’t be seen anyway. Kim was tall,
almost five-foot-ten, with legs that I’d kill for... or, at the very least,
maim for. She had long dark hair and big brown eyes, and tonight she wore dark
red lipstick that drew focus to her full lips, especially since the rest of her
makeup was minimal.

“I change my mind,” I grumbled.
“I’m not going out with you three.”

“What? Why?” Kim asked.

“I think it’s pretty obvious,” I
ground out.

“You’re an idiot,” Millie said.

“No, I’m not! I’m right.”

“What am I missing?” Kim asked.

“She’s feeling self-conscious
because she thinks she’s ugly,” Pauley provided.

“You’re a fucking nut,” Kim said.

“I don’t think I’m ugly,” I
corrected. “I’m just kind of plain looking compared to you.”

They looked at each other and
then laughed.

“What?”

“It’s a good thing we made you
our project tonight then, ugly duckling.” Pauley grabbed my hand and pulled me
to my feet, turning me to face the full-length mirror.

“Holy crap.” I gasped. “What did
you do to me?” I leaned forward. “I look hot!”

Pauley giggled. “Yeah you do.”

My dark red curls fell in soft
waves around my shoulders, teased away from my face and made a little bigger...
okay, a
lot
bigger... than I had ever worn it, but it gave me a sexy
look that I was really digging. I had smoky eyes and a light lip, which drew
focus to my eyes. Even though the silicone bra felt weird, it did what it was
supposed to do (kind of) and the dress hugged every curve. Pauley loaned me the
red clutch that matched my shoes and Kim had painted my nails the same color.
To say I felt a bit like slutty Cinderella was an understatement, and I loved
it.

“Feel better?” Pauley asked.

“Hells yes. I feel great.”

“Let’s go before she changes her
mind,” Millie demanded, and we made sure Barney was locked in my room, and
headed out.

“
M
ACK, WE GOT a problem,” Train said over
the walkie.

Mack frowned and replied, “Can
you handle it?”

“I can if you don’t care about
breakin’ the rule.”

“No fuckin’ breakin’ the rule,
Train.”

“Even if it’s a friend of Kim’s?”

“Shit.” Mack dragged a hand
through his hair. He knew it wasn’t a good idea to let Kim bring unknowns with
her. “Let ’em in,
after
you get scans. Put ’em upstairs and I’ll deal
with it.”

“You got it.”

Half an hour later, Booker pushed
into his office.

“What the hell are you doin’
here?” Mack asked. “It’s your night off.”

Booker chuckled. “Dani got wind
that Kim was comin’.”

“‘Got wind’ my ass,” Mack
countered. “I have a feelin’ you and I have been played.”

“I don’t doubt it.” He walked to
the window overlooking the dance floor. “I take it the rule breakin’ is due to
Kimmie?”

“Yeah, I’m headin’ up there to
deal with it.”

Booker glanced at him over his
shoulder. “Good luck with that.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “Nothin’. Since my
wife wants some girl time, I’m gonna catch up on a few things. Call me if you
need me.”

With a chin lift, Mack left his
office and headed to the VIP section.

* * *

Kim’s best
friend, Danielle, rushed into the VIP section with a squeak, hugging Kim and
then each of us, even though she’d only met Pauley. “I can’t believe you got
Darien past security,” she said.

“Me?” I asked. “What did I do?”

Dani grinned. “There’s one rule
here at
Blush
and that’s that no one “innocent” is allowed in.”

“I’m not innocent!”

Pauley let out a rather rude
snort.

“I’m not,” I continued. “Plus,
how would they know who’s innocent and who isn’t? That’s the lamest thing I’ve
ever heard.”

“It’s an argument I’ve had with
Mack more times than you can count,” Kim said.

“Austin says they just know,”
Dani provided.

“Oh, so they’re all psychics,” I
said. “What a load of crap.”

“Don’t feel bad,” Kim said. “Dani
got rejected as well. Well, until she married Booker. Now she’s allowed in, but
only when he’s here.”

Dani squeezed my hand. “You’ll
meet Austin at some point tonight, but don’t let the suit fool you; he rides a Harley
and thinks because he’s an officer in a motorcycle club he can boss me around.
It’s kind of cute, really.”

“Is he going to kick me out?”

“No way, but we’re probably being
watched.” Dani nodded to a couple of discreet cameras. “Don’t worry, Kimmie and
I’ll deal with Mack.”

“Who’s Mack?”

“I’m Mack.”

My eyes flew to the man walking
towards us, and I’m pretty sure my heart stopped in my chest. Literally
stopped. Ohmigod, he was gorgeous. Tall with dark blond hair, he was clean
shaven with a hint of stubble beginning to form, and deep-blue eyes that
studied me with an odd expression. And he was built. And I mean
built.
Channing Tatum built, but wearing a dark gray suit that looked like it had been
made for him. Like he stood in front of a three-way mirror while a tailor
measured his inseam kind of made.

I stared at his full lips and
couldn’t stop myself from licking mine. God, he was delicious.

“Hey, honey.” Kim distracted him
by wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in for a sensual hug. Mack
lifted her off her feet a little, and I found myself suddenly pissed at the
gorgeous brunette. So pissed, I wanted to scratch her eyes out.

I took a deep breath and glanced
at Millie who regarded me with an annoyingly knowing grin. “Bite me,” I
mouthed, and tried to find something to do with my hands.

Mack lowered Kim to the floor,
but kept an arm around her. “Introduce me to your friends, Kimmie, and then you
and I need to have a little chat.”

Kim rolled her eyes and went
through the introductions, ending with me. “And this is Darien.”

I reached my hand out and Mack
took it, lifting it to his lips. “Nice to meet you, Darien.”

“Nice to meet you too,” I
breathed out, then groaned internally. Good God, the man was sexy and he
smelled incredible, but that meant Dork Darien wouldn’t be able to function.

He kept hold of my hand as he
studied me again and then, without a word, gave it a gentle squeeze and
released me, turning to pull Kim aside.

“What the hell was that?” Pauley
asked, as she, Millie, and Dani moved closer to me.

“Ohmigod, I’m so lame,” I
complained.

“Not you, doofus,” she said.

Dani giggled. “You, my dear,
appear to be the first person to put Mack on edge.”

“I’m sorry?”

“That’s the least he’s ever
said,” Pauley admitted. “Granted, I’ve only talked to him a few times, but he’s
never acted like that before.”

“What are you talking about?” I
asked, and peeked around Pauley to find him. “He seemed perfectly at ease.”

“Well, he looks pissed now,” Dani
said.

“How do you know he’s mad?” I
asked.

“I just do.” Dani smiled. “But
don’t worry about it. He and Kim have a weird brother-sister thing goin’ on,
and they fight like that weekly. Nothin’ to worry about.”

I frowned as I watched Mack and
Kim as they spoke in the corner. How Dani could possibly know he was angry was
a mystery to me. His back was to us, his jacket stretched across his wide back
as he crossed his arms. Kim waved her hands in animation while scowling and
shaking her head, but he didn’t move a muscle. Just stood there, his arms
crossed, saying nothing that I could make out. She was animated, though, so I
figured she didn’t really like what he was saying.

“Is she in trouble because she
brought me?”

Dani shook her head. “No, pretty
sure that’s not why she’s in trouble.”

I watched as Kim gave Mack a very
calculated smile and then threw herself against him, hugging him tightly. He
gave her a quick squeeze and then his eyes met mine. I gasped, but couldn’t
look away. He studied me for a few seconds and then headed down the stairs.

* * *

Damn it!
Mack
walked back to his office deep in thought and royally pissed off. Stepping
inside and closing the door, he dragged his hands through his hair and headed
to the window, staring up at the VIP section. The woman with the pixie face had
just set his world on end and he could not have that. “Fuck!”

He picked up his desk phone and
dialed the office.

“Hey, Mack,” Eliza said.

“Hey, babe. You got the scans
from tonight?”

“A few of ’em, yeah.”

“Send me the ones for Darien
Aherne and Millicent whatever her last name is.”

“You got it, boss.”

Mack hung up and sat behind his
desk. He found his eyes drawn back to the VIP section and narrowed in on
Darien. “Shit,” he whispered.

Booker pushed into Mack’s office.
“You met Kim’s friends, I take it.”

Mack turned to scowl at his closest
friend who stood in his doorway with a shit-eating grin. “Did you need
something, Book?”

“No, just wanted to see how you
handled the introductions,” he observed.

“Fine. Why?” Mack challenged, not
liking his friend’s ability to read him.

“Nothin’.” Booker laughed as he folded
himself into the chair facing Mack. “
But
, I do see you got a couple of
problems.”

“Yeah?”

Booker nodded. “One, you’re gonna
get razzed for breaking the rule, especially considering you let Kimmie pull
one over on you.”

“Fuck you, Booker.”

“Two...” Booker trailed off.
“Nah.”

“Two?” Mack prodded, but Booker
just shrugged. Mack narrowed his eyes. “What’s two?”

“Nothin’,” Booker said, and rose
to his feet. “That one I’m gonna let play out.”

Mack flipped him off.

Booker laughed. “I’m gonna enjoy
this. I’m gonna go talk to your woman, comin’?”

“She’s not my woman.”

“Sure ’bout that?” Booker
retorted, and walked out the door before Mack had a chance to respond.

The ping of Mack’s email gave him
something else to focus on, which meant a full background check on his pixie.
He’d given his bouncers a heads up to scan the IDs of Kim’s friends. He didn’t
do it for everyone, but he was glad he did tonight.

* * *

I stood by the
railing sipping my margarita, which was amazing, and very, very strong, when a
tall, dark-headed man crested the stairs and made his way directly to Dani. I
assumed it must be Booker.

She was facing me, laughing at
something Kim was saying when he wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her
neck.

“Ohmigod, Mack, not here!” she
retorted.

I felt my stomach roil. She was
obviously giving her husband a hard time, but it did something to me that I
didn’t like. Stupid, considering I’d only met Mack tonight, but there was
something about him.

Booker smacked her butt and
frowned. “Not funny, Dani.”

“It’s a little funny.” She slid
her hand to his neck. “Will you behave so I can introduce you to Darien and
Millie?”

“Maybe.”

Dani giggled and waved me and
Millie closer. “This is my husband, Austin.”

I smiled and shook his hand. He
shook Millie’s as well with a nod. “Booker.”

Dani rolled her eyes. “Okay, to
me he’s Austin, to the rest of the world, he’s Booker.”

“I’m gonna steal my woman for a
minute,” he said.

“We’re going to dance,” Kim
declared.

“I’ll be there in a bit,” Dani
promised, and Kim gathered the rest of us up and led us downstairs.

I followed the ladies onto the
dance floor and lost myself in the music. I
loved
to dance and I’d had
just enough alcohol to let myself go. I felt strong hands on my hips and
startled, craning my head to find a gorgeous man with longish blond hair
smiling at me. He moved his hips against my rear and I went with it. He wasn’t
there for long and I turned to see him being escorted from the dance floor by
one of the bouncers who let us in. I glanced at Millie who shrugged, so I did
as well and moved closer to her again.

Admittedly, I was a little
bummed. He was cute. This thought brought to mind Mack and I realized pretty
quickly I wished he was here grinding his body against mine. I shook off the
thought and tried to focus on the music again.

As we danced our asses off, I
noticed an alarming trend. One that was starting to piss me off. I let it
happen three times before I decided I’d had enough and followed the bouncer off
the floor. He left my newest dance partner at the mouth of a hallway and walked
away. I followed him through a door and into another hallway.

“Hey!”

The man turned, appearing a
little surprised to see me, but then a slow smile crossed his face. “You need
somethin’, babe?”

“Yeah. I want to know why you’re
dragging guys off the dance floor.”

He chuckled, raising his hands as
though to ward off a fight. “Not my call.”

“Then whose call
is
it?”

He closed the distance between us
and crossed his arms over his gigantic chest. “Babe, I suggest you go back to
your friends and enjoy the rest of your night.”

I leaned back (way back, because
he was
tall
) and snorted. “Oh yeah? And why’s that?”

“’Cause there ain’t no way in
hell you’re ever comin’ back here.”

I gasped, stomping my foot in
irritation. “Excuse me?”

A low voice rumbled above the
noise of the music. “Train.”

I peeked around the giant and saw
Mack walking towards us and he looked irritated. Train raised his hands again,
gave me a slow smile, and walked away.

“You’re the manager, right?” I
asked, annoyed that my voice quivered like a love-struck teen.

Mack raised one side of his mouth
in what I think was a smile. “Sure, babe, we’ll go with that.”

“I’d like to lodge a complaint.”

The other side of his mouth
tipped up. “A complaint.”

“Yes. That man who just walked
away has been very rude.”

“How so?”

“Every time I’d start dancing
with someone, he’d yank him off the dance floor!”

“Train did that?” he inquired.

“Yes he did.” I huffed. “It’s
unacceptable and I think you should talk to him about it. I mean, this is a
dance club, right? We’re here to dance and drink and have a good time, right?
If your sole purpose is to sell booze, then you can’t have one of your
employees dragging away the customers! Those guys weren’t bugging me and they
were good dancers. Do you know how hard it is to find guys who are willing to
dance with you who can actually dance?”

“Enlighten me.”

“It’s
hard
!”

“Anything else, sweetheart?”

“Yes!” I was on a roll, so I
didn’t process the endearment right away. “He told me I should have a good time
because I was never going to be let back in! I don’t know what I could have
possibly done to be banned, but I’ll tell you something, mister, I haven’t done
anything to warrant being kicked out.” His face went from somewhat amused, to
cold and lethal so quickly I shivered. Actually shivered, raising my hands to
my arms in a protective stance. I instantly realized I may have gone too far.
“Sorry. I don’t mean to be rude. Alcohol lowers my inhibitions and my polite
meter.”