Brandon grinned. “I guess you can. But I’ll deal with Cheri.”

“She didn’t do anything, really. Don’t worry about it.”

But he just winked and walked away. Whatever. Cheri was his problem to deal with, not hers. She had her own agenda.

“Are you all right?”

A hand on her shoulder, and a familiar voice. Not the one she wanted for comfort, but it played right into her agenda. She turned and smiled at Jerry DeLaud.

“I’m fine. Just a tiff between me and another dancer.”

He arched a brow. “Is she jealous?”

Shadoe laughed. “I think she might be.”

He held out his arm and she linked hers through it.

“She should be. You’re one of the best dancers up there.”

“And flattery will get you . . .”

He looked at her expectantly.

“Well, we’ll see where it gets you.”

He laughed and led her to a table in one of the private corners. “I thought we could talk without being interrupted, unless you need to go back to work.”

She took one of the padded seats. “I think I’ve worked enough tonight. I need to kick back and relax for a while.”

He sat next to her. “Good. I’d like to get to know you better.”

A waitress stopped by and he started to order drinks.

“I’ll have water, please.”

When he looked at her in question, she said, “Dancing dehydrates me. I need to drink a lot of water.”

He nodded and put in his drink order. “You’re not a lush. I like that about you.”

“I’m glad. I need all the friends I can get, since I seem to have made a few enemies today.”

“That woman and your ex-boyfriend.”

“Yes.” She looked down at her lap and tried to look sad.

He tipped her chin up to face him. “I’d like to be your friend.”

What a creep. “That’s really nice. I could use some new friends. But I don’t really know you.”

He held out his hand. “Jerry.”

She shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, Jerry. Do you live here in New Orleans?”

He shook his head. “No, but I come here on business periodically.”

“Great place to travel to. What do you do?”

“I’m in the import business.”

I’ll just bet you are. “That sounds exciting.”

“It can be.”

“So where are you from?”

“Los Angeles.”

Liar. “Ohh, how wonderful! I’d love to go to L.A. sometime.”

“I’d love to have you come out and visit me sometime. Where are you headlining next?”

“I have a gig in Shreveport, then Dallas, then Houston. After that I’ll have to check my schedule.”

“You like to travel?”

She grinned. “I love to.”

“And where are you from, Desi?”

“Tulsa, originally, but I’ve lived all over the place. I left home when I was sixteen and traveled with some friends, got a job at eighteen in a strip club and never looked back.”

“You enjoy this life.”

“Yes, I do.” It was amazing the bullshit she could make up on the fly. She was getting good at this.

“I like a woman who knows what she wants.”

“I love entertaining.”

“Ever do private parties?”

She lowered her lashes. “I did a little of that. I hooked up with one of those companies that offered strippers for bachelor parties.”

“Lucrative.”

She shrugged. “It depends on the company. The one I worked for was shady. I got screwed on wages.”

“You should be able to call your own shots, set your own price.”

“That would be nice. At some point I hope to have a good manager, set up my own company, and hire on others to work for me.”

He reached out and smoothed his hand over her hair. “Beautiful and a head for business, too.”

“Well, thanks. I’d like to think so.”

“Ever do drugs?”

Interesting question. She wondered where he was going with it? “Is that an offer or just a background question? Hey, you’re not a cop, are you?”

He tilted his head back and laughed. “Sorry. No, I’m not a cop. You just seem so clean-cut.”

“I am, but I wasn’t, once. I did the whole drug thing when I was younger. It messed with my head so I don’t do them now.”

“Hate them, huh?”

She shrugged. “They’re fine for whoever wants them and can handle them. I just prefer to keep a clear head.”

“So you don’t judge others who use?”

“As long as they don’t mess with me while they’re loaded, or steal from me to buy their shit, I couldn’t care less what anyone else does. It doesn’t affect me.”

He nodded. “Good attitude.”

“I’m not judgmental, Jerry. I was judged way too often in my past. I think people should be allowed to do whatever makes them happy.”

She hoped she was giving him all the right answers.

“Would you like to go grab something to eat?”

She supposed she’d passed the test. “Sure. I can’t stay out too long. I need my beauty sleep.”

“I understand. I’d just like to get away from this noisy place.”

“You and me both.”

She knew Spence or AJ and Pax would follow, so she felt safe. She was wired, too, with the transmitter in her belly button, and she and Spence had tested it earlier in the day. They knew tonight might provide an opportunity to use it, so Spence would be listening in. Plus she had her piece in her purse, which she grabbed after she changed into jeans and a tank top. She met Jerry through the side door and slid into his car, a sporty model that smelled new. Rental, probably. Harder to trace to him that way.

“Nice wheels.”

“Thanks.”

He drove her out of the French Quarter and into the city. They stopped at an all-night breakfast place, ate, and had coffee.

“How long will you be in town on this trip, Jerry?” Shadoe pushed her plate away and poured more coffee from the refill pot the waitress had left on their table.

“About five days. I have some meetings and a key deal going down in the next day or so.”

Her brows lifted. “Really? Something good for business?”

He placed both palms around his coffee. “Something very good for business.”

“You must do very well at it.”

“Why do you say that?”

She nodded toward him. “You dress well. You wear expensive shoes. You drive a hot car that’s worth some money.”

He cracked a wry smile. “You taking inventory?”

“No, but it’s my job to be observant.” That much was true. It was her job. Her real job.

“You observe very well.”

“It keeps my customers happy if I notice things. It can’t always be about me flashing my boobs.”

“Well, those are very nice.”

She laughed. “Thanks, but I’ve found men like talking about themselves, too. Not just how nice my br**sts are.”

“Do you dabble in psychology, too?”

“One of my favorite courses in college.”

He tilted his head to the side. “You’ve been to college?”

She already had an answer for him. “I told you, I don’t intend to just strip, though I do love it. If I want to run my own business someday, I knew I’d need to go to college to figure out how. That’s why I’m as old as I am and just now making it as a headliner.”

“Got it all planned, do you?”

“It’s important to have goals.”

His wide smile and nod said she’d charmed him. She hoped so. “I like you, Desi.”

“I like you, too, Jerry. You made a miserable evening turn out really nice. I appreciate that.”

“The evening doesn’t have to end.”

Oh, hell yes, it does. She reached out and slid her hand across his cheek. “Your offer is tempting. I’d like nothing more than to lose myself in your bed tonight. But I need to check out of my boyfriend’s room and get one of my own. And then I need some sleep.”

“I understand.” He paid the check and took her to the hotel, opened her door, and turned to her.

“Thank you, Jerry. Will I see you again tonight?”

“I wouldn’t miss it.” Before she could move away, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, sliding his tongue inside her mouth. She couldn’t very well fight him off, so she leaned into him, laid her hands on his shoulders, and kissed him back, even when he reached down to knead her buttocks with his hand and pull her against his erection.

He released her mouth. “I really want to f**k you.”

She pretended to pant. “You’ll give me something to think about all night.” She pressed a quick kiss to his lips, smiled, and walked away.

She got another room at the front desk, pocketed the key. Once inside the elevator, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, reached into her bag, and grabbed a breath mint.

“Grab-ass bastard,” she muttered. She fished out the key to Spence’s room and hit the button for his floor. When she got into the room, he wasn’t there. She sighed, feeling lonely without him there. She packed up all her things and moved them down one floor to her new room.

She’d no more finished unpacking than her phone rang.

“What’s your room number?”

It was Spence’s gruff, no-nonsense voice. She gave him her room number and he hung up immediately.

She knew why. She paced in front of the door, waiting.

It didn’t take long. Within a minute there was a knock on the door. She pulled the door open and just seeing him made her breath catch. She’d missed him, had had a miserable time with Jerry, loathed having his hands and mouth on her even though she’d only been doing her job.

Spence walked in and shut the door.

“I watched him touch you, heard everything he said to you. He kissed you,” Spence said, his voice tight with strain, his body tense. “I didn’t like it.”

“I hated it.” She moved closer and tilted her head back to gaze into Spence’s gorgeous blue eyes, opening herself up to him. “Erase his touch.”

Spence wrapped his arm around her and jerked her against him. His mouth came down on hers hard, his tongue entering her mouth in the same way Jerry’s had. Only this was so different. She welcomed Spence’s kiss, craved his mouth on hers, his tongue licking against hers, the hungry way his hands traveled over her body, pulling her clothes off everywhere he touched. He backed her over to the bed.

She reached for his shirt, pulled it out of his pants, and slid her hands underneath to touch his skin.

It was hot, smooth, the muscles of his stomach rippling under her touch. Spence let out a light groan and the sound of it made her wet.

Oh, hell. She’d been wet from the moment he’d opened the door.

“Put your mouth on me. Touch me.” She was breathless and she wasn’t fully undressed yet. Just touching him did that to her.

Her jeans were unsnapped, unzipped, partially down and open for his hand to slide down and cup her sex. She cried out, arched against his touch. He slid a finger inside her and slid the heel of his hand back and forth over her clit, his movements relentless as he looked down on her with a fierceness that made her quiver inside.

She wanted him na**d, inside her. She wanted to be free to touch him, to let her hands roam over his magnificent body. But she was frozen to the mattress, her entire body focused on the movements of his hand as he brought her to a quick, blinding orgasm that had her lifting up her butt and grasping his wrist to shove his finger deeper inside her.

“Yeah,” he murmured, before he took her mouth again and dipped his tongue inside, driving her to the brink yet again with the smooth movements of his hand and fingers.

But then he stopped, withdrew, and she didn’t know whether to be relieved or frustrated.

He crawled off the bed to undress, and she rolled over to her side and propped her head on her elbow to watch the unveiling. Tanned, smooth skin rippling with muscle, flat abs, broad shoulders—she’d never tire of looking at his body. Scars and all, he was perfection to her. He gave her butterflies in her stomach and made her toes curl, and as he turned around, she realized he had a mighty fine ass, too. She got on her knees and pressed herself against his back, kissing the tattoo on his shoulder blade.

“That feels nice,” he said, tossing her a look that made her melt inside.

“The kiss?”

“Your tits against my back.”

She laughed and rubbed back and forth, her ni**les tingling as they slid against the smooth skin of his back.

He turned around and pushed her onto the mattress, grabbed her wrists, and lifted them above her head. He swept the palm of his hand over her distended, sensitive nipples. Her lips parted and she let out a gasp at the contact, the sensation shooting between her legs and ratcheting up her need to feel him inside her.

He rolled her nipple between his fingers, plucked the bud until she arched up.

“More.”

That seemed to be her favorite word whenever Spence made love to her. Whatever he gave her, she wanted more of it. She was drawn to him in a way she’d never been with any other man. His touch set her on fire and she craved more of it every time.

He bent down and took her nipple in his mouth, using his hand to cup her flesh and hold it while he licked and sucked the bud, rolling his tongue over it, nibbling at it, every single lash of his tongue and teeth sending shooting sparks to the nerve endings in her clit.