Page 27 of Lawless in Leather

The implication being that he had all the time in the world to stand there and watch her while he grilled her about her security. But she didn’t want him watching her any longer and she really didn’t want to talk to him. When she talked to him, she apparently lost her mind the way she had earlier, in her office.

“That must be nice,” she said. “But my schedule is pretty packed today.” She made her way over to the stairs at the side of the stage and headed down. Normally she just hopped off the edge, but she didn’t want to give Mal any chance to get his hands on her again in the guise of being gentlemanly and helping her.

When she was safely down on the floor, she turned back to him. And froze. He was standing under a spotlight, outlined in light against her black velvet stage curtain. Every long, lean inch of him perfectly outlined. Like a da Vinci drawing of the ideal male specimen.

Her brain adjusted the image by removing the clothes he was wearing and she blinked and turned away, heading for the door that led to the outside, spots dancing in front of her eyes from both the spotlights and the desire dancing through her veins.

She heard Mal follow her but this time she’d learned her lesson and didn’t look back.

Chapter Six

Later that night Mal prowled through the tunnels below Deacon, trying to dislodge the image of Raina Easton as a very dark and sexy angel that was burned into his brain. He hadn’t been able to shake it despite the hours that had passed since he’d seen her.

No more than he’d been able to forget that bloody kiss.

Maybe she’d been right.

Maybe it was a very bad idea.

But now that he’d had a taste of her it was an idea that he definitely wasn’t going to be giving up on anytime soon. He came to the end of the tunnel and propelled up the set of stairs that led to the next level. He’d been pushing the pace of his inspection round, trying to wear off some of the energy pulsing through him.

Maybe he should just give up, go change into workout gear, and run a few dozen laps of the stadium itself. That might tire him out enough to actually sleep.

Not that Raina was the only thing likely to keep him up at night right now. She was definitely the most pleasant, though.

But no, as the first game approached, he found himself getting more and more tense. He’d been upgrading the security here at the stadium for months now but the thought of something going wrong still gnawed at him.

He pulled the door from the lower levels shut and made sure it had locked behind him. He’d done everything possible given his time frame and the limitations on how much work he could do to the actual stadium infrastructure.

Until he could do more, he was just going to have to rely on the staff he’d hired and the systems he’d designed and make sure everyone who passed through the stadium gate stayed safe.

When he came out of the elevator to head back to his office, he met Alex and Lucas coming the other way.

“Well, this is just sad,” he said. “Shouldn’t you two be home at this hour?”

Alex shrugged. “Lots to do.”

Lucas nodded agreement.

Mal shook his head. “It’s amazing Maggie and Sara put up with the two of you.”

“It’s not like either of them works shorter hours than we do,” Lucas said. “But you’re here, too. Shouldn’t you be out following our excellent examples and finding a woman to put up with you?”

“I don’t recall you meeting Sara by crawling through bars on a weeknight,” Mal said.

“I did kind of meet Maggie at a bar,” Alex said, looking nostalgic.

“I thought you met her at the meeting where we signed the contracts with Tom to buy this place,” Lucas said.

“Well, she was there,” Alex said. “But she didn’t do much more than look like she’d like to kill me at that meeting.” He grinned. “Not that she was much friendlier in the bar, either. But that was the tequila.”

“I don’t aspire to drive women to drink,” Mal said. Ally had liked a drink or two. They’d had quite a few wild nights in their time. But he’d been a lot younger then. And stupider. Now he preferred a clear head most of the time.

“She was drinking because of the deal, not because of me,” Alex said. “But hey, it all worked out in the end.”

“Still, you didn’t meet her in a bar.”

“Well, there are plenty of girls floating around at the moment with all those dancers,” Lucas said. “Maybe one of them will take pity on you.”

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