She whimpered in disappointment as he pulled away. Hot oil made the long, curvy slide down her other breast to jump off the end of her nipple. Thane leaned down and caught the stream before it could slide away. He lapped at her breast until she was coming again.
She arched back onto the table and he swirled the oil over her belly. His hands were hot and seductive as they moved down and back up to cup her breast. His tongue licked over her nipple and swirled around it. His fingers slipped over her nipple, pinching her hard. All the while, he held his cock stiff deep inside her pussy. Brine swirled her hand through the oil and reached around her thigh to caress Thane’s balls.
He groaned. His thighs shoved the table into the wall, sending glass shattering to the floor. Deep inside his cock kicked out hard. She rubbed and petted his balls as she bucked off and on. Thane lost control and pounded her pussy. Her breasts bounced up and down with each thrust of his cock. The table rocked hard into the wall. Thane’s hands gripped the sides of the table. Brine lost control, and her pussy shattered again.
Thane jerked out his cock. Brine grabbed his shaft and pumped him with both hands. His cock erupted, sending his hot lava over her belly. They were both breathing heavily as she held his huge, satisfied cock in her hands.
Outside, thunder rumbled in the distance. Thane leaned over the table and blew the candles out. He lifted her up to her feet and gave her a kiss on her forehead. “Come upstairs with me.”
A part of her was frightened to accept his offer of staying the night. “Okay.”
Thane went to the shower and started it. She got a nice view of his ass and his rippling muscles as he leaned forward. He stepped in and started singing Puccini. His deep baritone echoed off walls. Handsome and he could sing. He stopped singing.
“Are you coming in?” he asked.
They showered together, washing each other in a slow intimacy that came with lovers. He washed the soap over her belly and she giggled.
“You’re ticklish.”
“Stop that!”
He backed her up against the shower wall and kissed her senseless. “No way, woman.”
She laughed hard and squirmed until they fell silent kissing each other. She pulled away and looked up into his face. Part of her always wanted the fairy tale, the happily ever after, but she knew she wasn’t marriage material. What man would want to have babies with a damaged woman? Thane wasn’t the settling type either.
“Thane, what are we doing?”
He shut off the water. “We’re going to bed. It’s late. It’s been a long day.”
“I should go.” She took the towel he handed her.
He tucked a towel around his hips. “You’re staying.”
How could she refuse? Part of her didn’t want to refuse what he had to offer. Not tonight. Tonight she was tired of fighting the sexual desires she had for him. She climbed naked into bed next to him and he pulled her in close. They were out within seconds.
Brine awoke in the middle of the night and slipped out of bed. She couldn’t stay. The truth was she lost everything that mattered to her when she met Thane. It was only a matter of time before Thane found out about her losing her job. He’d know as soon as he picked up the paper. She didn’t want him to feel responsible for her mistakes.
Shadow whimpered and followed her around the dining room as she found her clothes. Well, found almost all of her clothes. She couldn’t find her panties anywhere and the electricity was still out. She dressed without her silk panties and hunkered down to pet Shadow.
“Go back to sleep, boy. It’s late.”
He followed her back to his spot in the foyer. She slipped out the front door and shut the door quietly behind. The rain had settled into a fine mist that coated the air like fog. There were so many reasons why they couldn’t be together. Brine couldn’t have sex without letting her heart get involved. Thane wasn’t offering her more and she didn’t want that. The problem was Brine didn’t know what she wanted. She had to get her life back on track with a job before she could even figure this thing out with Thane.
Chapter Twelve
Brine was craving chocolate chip cookies. Being home made temptation possible. She had her first batch in the oven when the knock sounded on her front door. She wiped her hands on the hand towel as she went to the door. She opened it to see Thane with his hands pressed against the frame. That predatory stare was locked onto her in the most possessive way. She could see that he wasn’t happy with her for leaving in the middle of the night.
“When were you going to tell me you lost your job?”
“Well hello yourself. Would you like to come in?” She couldn’t keep the sass from her voice.
Thane’s gaze dipped to her T-shirt and it was then that she remembered that she was letting her girls hang out unrestricted. Thane’s quick and subtle eye adjustment had her wondering if he was no longer interested. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
“Yes. I would,” he said.
Thane followed her through the short hall back into the kitchen. She knew by his silence that he was taking in her minimalist style of decorating. She wasn’t a girl that had the best and latest. In fact, she didn’t even have a television or watch the idiot box as her grandfather used to call it. Most of her furniture was given to her by her grandparents, too.
“How did you find out?” she asked.
“I stopped by to see you, and your friend Stephanie gave me the update. So what happened?” he asked.
Brine went back to work putting cookie dough on the pan. “Fred fired me. There wasn’t anything I could do to change his mind. I think it was coming from higher up.”
“You should’ve told me.”
She put the pan in the oven. “I didn’t want you to worry about it. I’ve got a lead on a job. I’ve got some savings. I’ll be okay.”
Thane picked up her cookie spoon and took a bite. She leaned back against the counter and crossed her arms. She didn’t want him to know that the lead was for a gentlemen’s club she used to work at when she was in college. He probably wouldn’t approve of the late nights and alcohol slinging she would be doing.
“I have a position open at our new office. It’s temporary.”
She liked how he emphasized the temporary. “No way.”
“Take the job, Brine. Just until you find something better.”
She hated how sensible he could be when he was arguing with her. Pride kept her from saying yes. She pinched her lips closed and tilted her head off to the side. She didn’t want to work for someone she was sleeping with. “Would you be my boss?”
“Yeah. You got a problem with that?”
She took note of the way Thane was dressed in his uniform of work jeans and button-up dress shirt. Rugged. Controlled. She knew she could make the right moves to make him lose all control in less than a heartbeat. A shiver vibrated through her belly and fluttered over her sex at the thought of weakening him into submission. Maybe it was time she took control of their relationship. She had some thinking to do.
“Yeah, I do,” she said.
“Then we can set up some ground rules, okay?”
The cookies beeped and Brine pulled the pan from the oven. “I’m listening.”
“We’ll keep it professional on the job.”
And off?
She wondered but he didn’t go on to say. “What would I be doing?”
“It’s mostly organizing. We’re moving into our new office at the end of the month. Things are being trucked over every day. I don’t have the manpower to take someone away from their job.”
This could work, but she knew it wouldn’t. Thane would be out at the jobsites and she could put things away. She broke off a hot cookie and handed Thane half of it. “I can’t. I don’t work with men I’ve been with.”
“I won’t take no for an answer.” He raised one of his dark brows in a seductive way. He came around the island and snatched another cookie from the cooling rack.
He was pushy when he wanted something. “Sorry. Won’t work for you. Ever.”
“What if we were no longer sleeping together?”
“Still won’t take the job.”
Thane stared at her for several seconds before he changed tactics. “What’s this new job?”
She half shrugged. “A job.”
“You’re not planning on telling me, are you?”
His voice was a quiet whisper of seduction. It was as though he was testing her on this issue, but she didn’t understand why. Brine felt her heart flutter in a peculiar way and it made her jumpy. “I’ll let you know when it’s a done deal. Right now, I’m just waiting on getting the call from the owner.”
He came back to grab two more cookies. “You’re the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met.”
“I think that’s what you like about me.”
He chuckled. “I suppose you’re right. I guess fighting is our foreplay.”
He turned and headed for the door. Brine wasn’t sure what she expected. No, she knew what she expected. She had wanted a kiss or some sign of his affection, but it didn’t happen. He was at the door when she called, “I poisoned the cookies!”
“You ate one, too, Juliet! We’ll be dying together!”
The door slammed and Brine rolled her eyes. It was such a mistake to let him inside. She knew it. Her gut was telling her that this wasn’t going to end well at all. She needed a job but she couldn’t accept the one he was offering. The truth was she only had enough in savings for two more months of rent and that didn’t include utilities.
She needed this job more than Thane knew. Brine didn’t want to ask her ex-fiancé to take her back at the club where she used to bartend. Alex could be a problem. What else was she supposed to do? She had to go back to bartending even if it was only for a little while.
The phone rang and she reached for it without checking caller ID.
“Hello?”
“Hey, girl. How bad do you want the job at Tribal?” Alex asked.
Oh, she knew this was going to cost her. “I just need the job, Alex. Not a fuck buddy.”
He chuckled. “Now those were some good times. Why’d we have to mess it up with getting engaged?”
“Did you call for something?” she asked.
“I need you to start tonight.”
Tonight. She could do this. “What time should I be there?”
“Seven.” There was a beat of silence where she heard Alex say something to someone else. “One more thing, Brine.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re going to owe me one for this.”
He hung up and she cringed. Alex was like that. Nothing was free in his mind.
Chapter Thirteen
Brine’s hair was a hot mess. Humidity in the air had her hair doing wild things that it normally didn’t do, like curl the ends around her cheeks. She brushed her long wisps of hair back around her ear and tightened her ponytail. Club Tribal was hopping.
The place was a hot mess, too. Ladies’ night could do that to a place. It brought everyone out.
The gentlemen’s club was dark, the music was techno fast, and the VIP section was crowded. Between making drinks, Brine scanned the club. Nothing much had changed since she last worked there.
The foundation of Club Tribal was once the stone interior of a two-hundred-year-old Roman Catholic church that nearly burnt to the ground four times in a hundred-year period. The undercroft was rumored to be haunted. The pews were long gone and replaced by a huge dance floor. Chains hung with iron hoops from the ceilings where women danced in all forms of leather.
It was close to midnight. The low-cut shirt she wore had gotten her the extra tips she’d been working for and a lot of unwanted attention from Alex. There was a lot of body tag going on when she was reaching for bottles. Glass was shattered across the dance floor when a clubber missed the trashcan by a wide mile. Alex, shot her a look. It wouldn’t be long before someone slipped.
“I’m on it,” she said.
Brine took the small dust pan to the spot and moved the trash can off the dance floor. She managed to sweep up the mess without being danced on. She was turning when she did a double take at the VIP section. She thought she saw…but she wasn’t sure. People danced in front of her, obstructing her view. Brine slipped off the dance floor and up the walkway toward the VIP section. She froze.
Holy shit.
Brine spotted Thane on the other side of the club walkway. What the hell was he doing here? The thought of him seeing her there blew her panties off. She did not want to explain the situation with this job.
Club Tribal wasn’t his type of place anyway. The hardcore club was barely hers. Her body shivered at the possibility of him spotting her there and the confrontation that would come of it. She had to get back to the safety of behind the bar and make herself invisible for the next three hours. Brine took one last glance at the VIP section.
The VIP section was full of the sexiest women Tribal had to offer. Buxom. Erotically dangerous. They shimmied in fringe and tiny strings of clothing as they waited on tables. Rumor had it that they’d offer more in the undercroft. Those were just rumors though. She hoped.