Page 65 of Lawless in Leather

Maggie shook her head. “Don’t blame me if Dan makes you do extra laps or something.”

“I’ll bribe him with cookies if he tries,” Ollie said.

“That only works for me. He likes me,” Maggie said. “You’re the problem child.”

“I’m a model citizen.”

“A model citizen who is leaving,” Maggie stressed.

Ollie snapped a salute. “Yes, ma’am, boss lady.” He nodded at Raina. “Nice to meet you. Those dancers of yours are doing a good job.” He got to his feet in a graceful sort of flow that told Raina that, yup, he was an athlete who knew what to do with his body. She made a mental note to give another speech to the Angels about the wisdom—or lack thereof—of getting tangled up with any of the players. If they were dealing with temptations like Oliver, frequent reminders couldn’t hurt.

Ollie closed the door behind him and Maggie waved at the seat in front of desk. “Sorry about Ollie, he gets bored easily. He needs a hobby.”

“Professional baseball isn’t enough?”

“He needs to use his brain. He’s gotten by on his body all his life but that can’t last forever,” Maggie said.

“You sound like you’ve known him a long time,” Raina said. Maggie offered the cookies again and she took another one. She would spend some time on her treadmill to make up for it. The curse of being short and built the way she was was that she gained weight fast. And Brady’s costumes were unforgiving. Though she could always just order him to make her new ones.

“Since I was fifteen,” Maggie said. “He was a rookie here. We kind of grew up together.” Her expression turned a little nostalgic.

“Did you two…?”

“Yeah. But we work better as friends. He drives me crazy sometimes. He needs someone who’ll—Well, I’ve never figured that part out. But someone who isn’t me.”

“I’m sure Alex is happy about that.”

“Ollie and I were over long before Alex appeared on the scene,” Maggie said. “But I didn’t ask you here to talk about Ollie. Unless you want to take a shot at him? He really is a good guy under the nonsense.”

Raina blinked. Apparently Alex really hadn’t told anyone what Mal had told him about their relationship. That was unexpected. But good. So best not to give herself away. Without ending up having to go on a blind date with Oliver Shields. That one would be hard to explain. She shook her head. “Sounds like hard work. He’s cute but no real … twinkle.”

“Twinkle?”

“You know. When you look at a guy and he’s got that look about him, that little spark in his eyes that means you know he’s got some game?”

“You don’t get twinkle from Ollie?”

“Not my type. He looks like a dancer, kind of. That long, lean thing. Been there, done that. I like my men a little more filled out. Grown up. Or something.”

“Grown up has a definite appeal,” Maggie agreed. “Okay, no Ollie. He can find his own dates without any help from us. So let’s talk business. Your Angels have been getting lots of press, yes?”

“I think they’re kind of your Angels,” Raina said.

“Nope. I couldn’t choreograph a dance routine if you paid me. And it was Alex’s idea. But you’ve turned it into something more than he could have anticipated,” Maggie said. “So all the excellent free publicity is your doing.”

“It’s not all excellent.”

“No, but we knew some of the old school weren’t going to like it. They don’t matter. Neither do the weirdos. Let’s focus on the good. Which is that people like your Angels and they’re interested in you. The media office has had some interview requests. Would that be something you’d be interested in doing?”

Interviews. Ugh. She’d done a few when Madame R had opened and of course, pieces here and there in various theater magazines and for blogs and the burlesque scene, but it wasn’t her favorite thing in the world. “What kind of interviews?”

“Some print. Some TV. Good Morning America has made some nibbles about getting the Angels to do something on their show. And maybe interview you.”

TV. Her stomach clenched. Yikes.

“We can organize some media training for you. And whichever of the girls you think would make a good impression. We don’t have to say yes to anything just yet.”

Saying no would be wimpy. And hey, free media training couldn’t be a bad thing. If nothing else, it was bound to be useful down the track. It was just another kind of performance, right? She could handle that. “Training would be great,” she said. “And there are a few of the girls who would be good at this, I think.” Marly and Leanna and maybe even Char. The three of them were bubbly and friendly and had brains to go with their dance skills. Not Ana. She was photogenic but Raina couldn’t trust her to not throw a fit in public.

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