I walked over and opened her door for her. She looked even more surprised.
“Uh, thank you,” she said softly.
“Not a problem,” I said as I shut it behind her.
I decided to probe a little, find out if maybe she actually would be coming back to Crave sometime.
“So, your first night at the club, right?” I asked as I slid into the driver’s seat.
“Yep,” she answered as she buckled her seatbelt.
“What brought you in tonight?”
She rolled her eyes. Not a good sign for me.
“My friend, Liza, really wanted me to go out. She used this excuse that it would be good research for this new romance book I’m writing… which was really just an excuse for us to do some drinking together. But I came out for her.”
“You’re a writer?” I asked, suddenly even more intrigued. The sexy librarian vibe hadn’t been far off the mark.
“I am, yeah.” She smiled, and her whole face seemed to light up. “It’s kind of my passion.”
“Very cool,” I said, and I truly thought it was. “So, I take it you’d never normally end up in a place like Crave?”
“No,” she snorted. “I mean, no offense or anything… I just, um…”
“Hey, no worries,” I said, grinning. I appreciated her refreshing honesty. “This type of club isn’t for everyone.”
“Yeah, it’s… a lot.” Her brows furrowed for a moment. “Definitely a little outside my comfort zone. But for what it’s worth, I got a great impression of your club tonight.”
“Yeah?” I asked, pausing for a moment as we pulled out of the parking lot. “Even after everything that happened?”
“Totally. Ryker was such a professional, which for some reason I wasn’t expecting. And you’re, um… really sweet.” She smiled again, making it hard as hell to concentrate on the road in front of us.
“Good. I’m glad we could make this night a little better for you.” I risked another quick glance over at her.
Jesus, she was beautiful.
No.
Nope.
I couldn’t let myself go there. Not right now.
Not tonight.
I needed to end this conversation for the rest of the drive. I could tell that I was dangerously attracted to this woman, and I did not want to cross any lines.
Probably better not to get any more details about her or her life. I needed to make a clean break from this one.
Chapter 5 - Harlow
I was blown away by how sweet this Axel guy was. Here I thought Ryker had been nice—and he was, though in a more professional and stoic way.
But Axel had him beat.
And I was surprised at how much more casual he was than Ryker. I assumed that all the owners kept up that uber-professional vibe that Ryker had going. That didn’t seem to be the case. Axel was definitely more easygoing, more fun. He had done just as much as Ryker to put me at ease during this whole crazy situation.
It was very yin and yang finding a genuinely nice-seeming guy somewhere like a sex club. Hey, maybe he could be inspiration for my next romance book. Although I’m not so sure being nearly drugged is ideal for a meet-cute…