Page 69 of Arran's Obsession
Honeymoon. Like we were married.
Alisha’s focus shot to him. “We had the cops come in. A dealer on the floor. There was a fight right in the middle of Divide.”
Arran gave a short laugh, but his soft touch on me had stilled. I knew him well enough now to recognise annoyance. “A normal week. Do we have a problem?”
Alisha’s gaze flashed with some emotion I didn’t recognise. “Can we talk in private?”
Under me, his muscles tightened. “No, we can’t.”
Tension rose. Across the room, Lara sent me a wide-eyed look.
I exchanged it, then hopped up, turning back to Arran. “Actually, I wanted to talk to Lara about something. Do you mind if I step away for a minute?”
He watched me for a beat then reached up and cupped the back of my neck. And pulled me in for a very hot, and very public kiss.
My body melted for him. We weren’t meant to do this, yet he’d broken that rule twice already today. All I wanted now was to crawl back onto his lap but naked.
“Goddamn you,” I said against his lips.
“Don’t be long,” was his low reply. To Lara, he snapped a different order. “Don’t leave her alone. Manny, you’re Genevieve’s security when she’s not at my side.”
With my personal crew of two, I exited the office, exhaling in relief from being out of the loaded air.
“Holy crap, that was intense. I’ve never seen Alisha go up against the boss like that,” Lara quipped. “What do you wanna do?”
Behind her, Manny stood like a sentinel, arms folded, glaring over our heads at people further down the corridor.
I uttered a small embarrassed laugh. “It’s not a big deal, and only if you can spare the time. I realised when we arrived that I’m severely underdressed. I’ve got makeup in my bag, if you could just direct me to somewhere I could freshen myself up.”
In her revealing but cute black-and-pink uniform, Lara clasped her hands together, her grin instant and big. “I’ve been assigned to you, so of course I have the time. We have ahuge dressing room and a wardrobe of clothing. Down for a makeover?”
“Are you serious? I’d love that.”
Lara linked her arm through mine. “You bet. The things I could do to your hair. Follow me.”
Together, we traversed the corridors to the place I’d been desperate to access last weekend. This time, I had a new hidden agenda. People I wanted to talk to out of earshot of Arran.
Information to gather, and exactly the right group of women to give it to me.
Chapter 22
Genevieve
At the dressing room, Lara led me inside. Women, a few men, and a couple of perhaps gender-neutral folk, sat at stations with bright lights around mirrors, racks of clothes everywhere. Music pulsed, coming from an exit at the far end with a sign above it that readStage.
At our entrance, heads rose, smiles formed.
“Hey, Genevieve,” a couple of voices called out.
That was going to take some getting used to.
“Oh my God, girl. I can’t believe you came down here.” Clem, the older lady I’d seen at the strip club’s bar, bustled over, her hands clutched together in mild panic. “I need to apologise. I had no idea who you were when we met before. None of usdid. I would’ve been way more helpful. I should have been more helpful,” she corrected herself. “I’m so sorry for being a dick.”
I touched her shoulder, shocked. “Stop. You’ve nothing to apologise for, Clem. I didn’t tell you who I was.”
Back then, I hadn’t even been the person they thought I was now. Their boss’s woman.
Another woman crept over, her expression more sheepish. She was beautiful, obviously a dancer, made up in the style of an American country singer. “I need to fess up, too.”