He turned to look at me. “That was me walking away before I did something we’d both regret.”
I crinkled my forehead; he wasn’t making sense to me. “Why would we regret it?”
“Shit, Harlow, we’re completely different people from different worlds, for one. And two, if something was to happen between us, it would be a one off for me and I’m fairly certain it wouldn’t be that for you.”
How dare he presume to know what I wanted. “So you get to make these decisions based on presumptions you’ve made? Without asking me what I actually want? You really are a throwback to previous generations, aren’t you?”
Anger blazed in his eyes. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means that women have come a long bloody way in the past couple of decades, Mr. Caveman. We’re quite capable of choosing what we want these days, and in case you missed it, we also don’t mind one off sex every now and then.”
“Babe, I’ve not met a woman yet who can do one night stands. They always want more and I’ve got nothing more to give.”
“Well, maybe you should try me. I don’t want the bullshit lies and excuses that men come up with after they promise you the world and then fail to deliver. One night, with no promises sounds like my kind of night.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I’m not buying it, sweetheart. You’re too much of a nice girl.”
Bloody hell, I was sick of men dumping me in that category! I’d show him nice. I flicked my hair and plastered a sweet smile on my face. Walking towards him, I stopped when I reached him. “You ever had nice, Scott? Cause I’m betting you haven’t. And in that case, you’ve got no idea what you’re missing because nice is sweet and sweet hits the spot. Every. Fucking. Time,” I purred and then shrugged, “It’s a damn shame that you’re not into nice. But that’s okay, because I bet Nash would be.” I winked at him as I said that last bit and then walked out of the room. I had to get back to my shift but I also wanted to get as far from Scott as possible; I didn’t handle rejection very well. Especially not after I’d practically thrown myself at a man.
***
T
he rest of my shift went well. I didn’t see Scott again which was a blessing; I needed some time to get my shit together before I saw him again.
“You did good tonight, girl,” Amy smiled at me as she gave me a compliment.
“Thanks, Amy, that means a lot.”
“You coming back for some more tonight?”
“I’m not sure when Scott wants me to work again but I hope so because I need the money.”
“Well, we’re down staff so I reckon you’ll be called in for tonight.”
“Great.” I followed her and our security guy outside. There was a rule that he was to escort all the staff to their cars at the end of their shift. Amy took off to her car and I headed towards mine. I was stunned to see Scott leaning against it, arms crossed over his chest, and one foot casually crossed over the other. He nodded at the security guy who then left us alone. I just stood rooted to the spot, not sure what to do or say.
He slowly pushed off from the car and uncrossed his arms. “You’re right. I’ve never had nice,” he said gruffly.
I was still slightly annoyed at him. “Well, I can highly recommend it, and I’m sure I could suggest some places to go looking for it.”
“Don’t push me, Harlow. I’m trying to apologise here,” he warned me in that low, gravelly voice that threatened to melt my panties. Damn.
“You say that like I should be thankful for your apology; like I should worship at your feet for it.” I knew I was perhaps being a little snarky but, bloody hell, I’d had enough of men who thought I owed them something just for them being nice to me. From now on, I would be an equal in a relationship or I wouldn’t be in the relationship at all.
He grabbed my arm and roughly pulled me to him. “I don’t apologise to people. Ever.”
“Well, bully for you,” I said and pushed against his chest to try and put some space between us but he held on to me, keeping me close.
“Fuck, woman. Are you always this much work?”
I stopped trying to get away from him and glared at him. “I may have told you that I wanted one night with you but I didn’t mean I would be an easy lay. You’d have to work for it because I have high standards these days.”
“I can deal with high standards, babe, but I need some give and take. When I’m trying to fix something I’ve said or done wrong, I need you to work with me rather than stay in your pissy mood and prolong the whole fucking thing.”
“You really have a way of making something you’ve said sound wrong when actually it was the right thing to say, don’t you?”
“I just say it like it is. People can take it or leave it; I don’t give a fuck.”
God, he was exasperating and hot all at the same time. It was seriously doing my head in. “And what would you say if I said I wanted to leave it?”
“I’d tell you to stop fucking around.”
“So, in other words, you do give a fuck where I’m concerned.” I was starting to enjoy this conversation.
He scowled. “Don’t twist my words.”
I smiled innocently at him. “I’m not really twisting them, but it is fun to point out the obvious to you.”
He blew out a breath and then muttered, “Just get in the car.” He wasn’t pointing at my car though; he was pointing at the Charger parked next to mine.
“That’s not my car.”
“I know, babe. It’s mine.”
“Why would I be getting in your car?”
“Because I’m driving you home in it.” He’d unlocked and opened my door and was gesturing for me to get in.
Oh, good Lord
! “I’m quite capable of driving myself home, Scott.”
“Yeah, well I’m driving you home so just get in the damn car.” He looked shitty with me again.
My natural reaction was to continue to argue with him but I quickly assessed the situation and decided it’d just be easier if I got in the car and let him drive me home. “Fine, but what about my car? Will it be safe here?”
He nodded and put his hand out. “Give me your keys. Griff’s gonna drive your car to your house and then I’ll bring him back here.”
“You’re not kidding are you?” It seemed like a lot of effort to go to.
“I don’t kid,” he said and looked towards Griff who was walking our way.
I shook my head, reached in my bag for my keys and handed them over. Then, I got in his car and shut up. I thought it really was the only thing to do at that point.
S
cott
“I told you I don’t trust that motherfucker.”
Griff held up his hand to stop me. “All I told you was that they were Blade’s boys. We don’t know if he’s sent them or if they came on their own.”
“Don’t give me that shit, Griff. Of course he fuckin’ sent them. And now Harlow’s in the middle of all this.”
“We’ll keep her out of it.”
“Bullshit. You saw them watching her last night.”
“Maybe they were just checking her out rather than watching her for Blade.”
I scoffed. “No, they’d been sent to trail her. What I want to know is, why?”
J walked into the office and sat down, leaning back with his hands raised behind his head. “Heard that Harlow’s being targeted. That true?”
“Fuck,” Griff muttered. “We don’t know for sure yet but we’re taking precautions and looking into it.”
“Since when?” J asked.
“We noticed last night when she was working at Indigo that there were some guys watching her. Griff looked back over the surveillance and confirmed they’d been there watching all night. I drove her home and we kept watch on her house with Stoney taking over early this morning. We’re keeping someone on her until we figure out what’s going on,” I answered him.
“You want me to take over from Stoney for awhile?”
“Yeah, sounds good. I’ll leave that with you and then can you organise Nash to take over from you so we can do those interviews this afternoon?”
J nodded in agreement and then left.
“You got Harlow working at Indigo tonight?” Griff asked.
“Yeah, and I’ll be in to keep an eye out. Today you and I are going to try and find out what the fuck’s going on.”
“One step ahead of you. I’ve already put a tail on those two assholes who were at Indigo last night.”
“I’ve got half a mind just to pay Blade a visit.”
“Not yet, Scott. Let’s do a little quiet investigating first.” Griff was right but my natural instinct was to go in guns blazing so I had to restrain myself.
***
I
was in the office when Harlow arrived for her shift that night. I knew she was here because Nash informed me after tailing her to the club; not because she came and saw me. She’d been pissy that I’d insisted on driving her home last night and I hadn’t enlightened her as to the reason why I’d wanted to do it so I presumed she was still shitty over that.
A couple of hours passed by before I left the office to go in search of her. Nash had kept watch while I finished up paperwork and other admin shit that had to be done. As I walked into the club area he nodded at me and left; apparently he had a chick waiting for him somewhere. I eyed Harlow and sucked in a breath at the sight of her. Christ, she looked fucking amazing tonight. The red dress was in place, her blonde hair was out and her face was flushed with a huge smile in place. She leant across the bar so she could hear what a customer was saying to her and when she threw her head back and laughed at whatever it was that he said, a shot of jealousy ran through me.
Fuck
.
Some form of instinct took over and I stalked over to the bar. “Harlow,” I barked, and when she whipped her head around in surprise, I continued, “My office. Now.”
She raised her eyebrows but did as I said. I followed close behind, my eyes glued to her ass that was barely covered by the damn dress we made our Indigo girls wear. When we got to the office, she walked in, turned around and crossed her arms in front of her.
“What?” she snapped.
“How’s your shift going?”
“Surely you didn’t call me away from work to ask me that?”
Christ, what the hell was I doing
?
I sighed and rubbed my chin. “Can we start over here? I’ve managed to piss you off without even fuckin’ meaning to.”
It took a moment but her gaze softened. “Okay.”
“Clean slate, yeah?”
Nodding, she said, “Yes, clean slate.” The tension had seeped out of her.
“Right, let’s start with the caveman allegations. Not completely true but, I’ve got reasons for everything I do. Your mother mentioned that you’d been screwed over before, and I respect you enough to not want to fuck with you. That was the only reason why I said it’d be a bad idea for us to sleep together. Not because I was taking the decision out of your hands. Fuck, trust me babe when I say that I want a taste of your pussy, but for once in my life I’m not being a selfish prick. As for driving you home, there’s some fuckers out there at that time of night and I wanted to make sure you got home okay.” I paused for a moment and moved so I was close enough to smell her scent that drove my dick wild. My voice dropped to a low rumble. “And as for Nash wanting a piece of your nice? That motherfucker isn’t getting close enough to you ever again. You read me, babe?”
Her chest rose and fell rapidly as her breathing picked up and a smile touched her face. “I read you. On all of it. Now, do you want me to get back to work?”
“Yeah, but that dress is gonna be a problem for me.”
“Ah, I hate to break it to you big boy, but it’s the only option.” She was grinning that sexy fucking grin at me that made me want to rip that fucking dress off here and now.
“Yeah, I know. I fucking know,” I muttered.
She laughed and it was the sweetest fucking sound.
Jesus
.
Where were these thoughts coming from
? I flicked my hand towards the door. “Go. And Harlow, I’m driving you home again tonight.”
She rolled her eyes, but simply said, “Yes, Scott.” And then she was gone and I was left wondering yet again, what the fuck I was doing.
H
arlow
I sat at a table and laid my head down, closing my eyes for a minute. After only four hours sleep, I was exhausted. Working at Indigo at night and here during the day was going to kill me eventually. Mum had told me not to come in until later but I knew she had cakes to make for orders so I didn’t want to leave her on her own to do that and serve customers. Thank goodness I had tonight off work from Indigo; me and my bed were going to get very cozy together.
“Harlow, wake up.” Someone was gently shaking my shoulders. I cocked one eye open and peered out to see who it was.
“Go away, Madison,” I grumbled, not really meaning it, “Your brother has worn me out and I need sleep.”
She smirked. “I knew he had a thing for you. How long you two been going at it?”
I snapped my head up. “Oh no, you misunderstood. Crap, I guess I did put it kinda like that, didn’t I? No, nothing’s happening between us -”
She cut me off. “Slow down, honey. Deep breath.”
I did as she suggested and took a very long, deep breath. “I’ve been working at Indigo the last two nights and the café during the days so I’m pretty tired. That’s all I meant.”
She dumped her bag on the table and sat across from me. “Yeah, I heard you were working at Indigo. I feel so out of the loop with all your news; I haven’t had time to come in for my coffee the last few days. Why did you take a job there and how did you know that Scott was looking for staff? I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all because you and Scott didn’t really hit it off at the barbeque.”
“You want a coffee for this?”
“Girl, you know me too well. Of course I want a coffee.”
I smiled and then hopped up to go and get her coffee. “We need to hang out more often,” I said as I made it.
“Yes! How about next Friday night? I’ve become friends with my hairdresser and she and I are having a girl’s night out.”
“Count me in, so long as I’m not working at Indigo. I need a girl’s night out. Can I bring a friend?”