Page 67 of Mace
“She already works there.”
“As a stripper?”
“As a bartender,” I correct.
Though she tried to dance for me.The memory sends ajolt to my dick. I will never be able to erase the image of her shaking those hips of hers. She had looked divine, and that is exactly why I will never allow her on that stage.
“Can she do the job?”
“Absolutely,” I say without missing a beat. Maylie is smart and kind, the girls love her, and the security staff treat her with more respect than anyone else in the building.
“Okay then.”
Relief floods me. At least this way, I know where she is and that she’s not going to leave for another job. Especially one that involves shaking her arse on stage. I don’t like the idea of anyone seeing her tits but me, and I don’t care how much of an arsehole that makes me.
I do some collections for the rest of the day, working alongside Diesel. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him speak more than two words, but today, I’m grateful for his silence. It allows me to ponder over Maylie and how I’m going to tell her that she’s been promoted.
By the time I’m ready to head over to Temptation, I’m twitchy with the need to lay my eyes on her. I wish I was able to taste her again, but I want her to come to me willingly. Maybe that will be the case once her money problems are sorted.
Ignoring the prick on the door, I head inside, and as soon as I step into the main room, my eyes gravitate towards the bar. That tightness in my chest unfurls as my gaze locks onto Maylie.
She’s standing behind the bar, running a towel over the countertop, but she seems unfocused, distant.
I make my way over to her. I don’t want things to beweird between us because I don’t plan on letting her walk away from me.
“Hey,” she says in a soft voice.
I take her in, drinking in every molecule of her. That lump of meat in my chest gives a tremulous twitch. “Hey, darlin’.” Her body seems to melt at the endearment, and I make it my mission to use it as often as possible.
Reaching across the bar, I take her wrist in my hand, turning it over to examine the damage. The bruising is still there, though more yellow than purple, but the swelling is better. “It looks better.”
“It is,” she says, her eyes locked to mine. I’d called her a doe when I first met her, and right now, that’s what she looks like—a deer caught in headlights.
“You okay to carry shit?”
She nods. “I’m good. I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”
“I need to talk to you about something. Come to the office.”
“If this is an excuse to get me alone so we can make out again?—”
I lean across the bar and grab her chin, relishing the wide-eyed wonder in her eyes. “Babe, I don’t need an excuse to do anything.”
I press my mouth to hers, taking everything I want and loving the way she melts into the moment. She might be fighting this, but it’s not because she’s not into me that way.
She can push me away as much as she wants, but it won’t work. I’m in this now.
When I pull back, the dazed look in her eyes is enough to make me smirk. “Come on.”
I walk away, knowing she’ll follow, and sure enough,when I round the desk, she steps into the room, closing the door behind her, and rounds on me, her eyes blazing.
“You can’t just kiss me like that in front of everyone.”
“Says who?”
“Me. I don’t want people to gossip, and it’ll ruin my tips if customers see me making out with someone, Mace.”
“You don’t have to worry about tips. You’re not working behind the bar anymore.”