Page 16 of Glorious Sinner

“What?”

“I’ll be with you.”

“Pardon?”

“I plan on making sure you continue to feel safe, Stephanie,” he said. “And if that means I work from a table at Stilettos today and every day you work, then that’s what I’ll do.”

4

Tomas

Focusing on anything except Stephanie was impossible. I hadn’t gotten anything done since we’d arrived at Stilettos. I’d been alternating between staring at my laptop screen blankly and watching her move around the room.

She was safe. I had her covered, men posted all around the club, outside, all with a picture of Ryan. It didn’t matter, though. When it came to her, I didn’t trust anyone to keep her safe but me.

That wasn’t the only reason I couldn’t get shit done. There was also the fact that she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on. While she worked the floor, she wore an electric blue barely-there dress. The fabric looked like it was wrapped around her curvy figure, giving glimpses of her golden flesh beneath. She was also wearing sky-high heels and black stockings with a seam that traveled up the back, leading the eye right to her delectable ass.

The woman was built, lots of tits and ass, soft thighs. My gaze lifted to her hair. I fucking loved her red hair. I always had. It was wild and full and looked so damn soft.

I shifted in my seat and sat back, not even bothering to pretend I was working anymore. I watched as one of the other girls walked over to her and said something. Stephanie looked at someone across the room, and I watched her put on a smile, one that I knew was fake as hell. It was sultry and sexy, but it was fake. It was the smile she used when she worked, a smile she could hide behind.

I’d seen her dance for other men before, many times. I hated every moment of it, but I had no right to tell her not to do it. I also knew I had nothing to worry about. She wasn’t interested in any of them. Stephanie hadn’t dated, hadn’t even had a casual fuck, since she escaped Ryan.

And as I watched her dance, the way she moved, the look on her face…she was detached on a deep level. Yeah, she put on a good show, and anyone who didn’t know her wouldn’t see it, but she wasn’t there. I doubted she was even in this room.

Jesus, she was locked up tight, too damned tight, and I wanted more than anything for her to let me in.

I stayed where I was until her shift finished, and then stood and walked to the bar to meet her after she collected her bag. I didn’t miss the way her eyes flared when she saw me, the way they got brighter. She was happy to see me. There was no other way to interpret it, or the subtle curve of her lips that she tried to hide by dipping her chin.

“You didn’t have to wait,” she said when I was standing in front of her.

I held her green gaze and gently brushed her hair off her shoulder, letting my fingers graze the side of her neck softly. She sucked in a breath, her eyes getting brighter. She liked my touch. I realized it last night, and I planned on touching her whenever I could. Nothing demanding, nothing lingering, but I wanted her to get used to me, to my touching her, and this was the only way I knew how. “I wanted to.”

Color hit her cheeks.

“You ready to go?”

She nodded and I placed my hand on her lower back lightly and led her from the club. Another innocent touch. I felt her shiver under my palm and I glanced at her to make sure she was okay. Another small curl of lips told me she was, so did the high color still on her cheeks.

Fuck. My gut tightened.

How could that innocent little display be so hot?

My car was waiting outside, and one of my men climbed out and rushed around to open the door for us. Stephanie offered the guy a warm smile and slid in. I followed, keeping about a foot between us. I resisted reaching over and taking her hand, and holding it tight in mine.

“So did you get the work done you needed to?” she asked, glancing over at me, not fully meeting my eyes.

I hated that. I leaned back, doing my best to look relaxed when in reality I was close to jumping out of my skin. “Yeah.” I smiled. “Well, maybe not everything. There was this redhead walking around distracting the fuck out of me.”

Her head jerked up, her gaze slicing up to mine, and more color darkened her cheeks. She opened her mouth then closed it again.

“Hungry?” I didn’t need her to say anything. I didn’t want her to think too much about it, to analyze what was happening, to overthink what I’d said. But I wasn’t going to keep that shit to myself anymore. I wanted her to know, to prepare for what was coming, because she knew deep down what I wanted from her. I just had to wait for her to get used to it.

“Yeah, I am actually,” she said, her fingers curling and uncurling in her lap.

“Good.” I took out my phone and fired a text off to Arthur, telling him he could finish for the day and I’d heat our meals myself. “I’m in the mood for a night in. What about you?”

She glanced out the window for a second then back to me. “You’ve been so great, Tomas. Please, don’t put yourself out for me. You don’t have to entertain me if there’s something else you’d rather be doing.”