Page 69 of Lawless in Leather

Alex waited for her to straighten. “Attack luggage. I get that. We could get you a team-branded case. Something less deadly. Call it a bonus. Your Angels seem to be inspiring the team to great things.”

She nodded, not wanting him to think she was mooching for free stuff. “Happy to oblige. Did you need something? I have to get back to Brooklyn for the second half of my show.”

Alex held out a hand. “I came to walk you to your truck. Let me take that case for you. We can walk and talk.”

She let go of the handle and stepped away. They headed toward the parking lot. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

“Do you ever rent out Madame R for private functions?” Alex asked.

She nodded. “Sometimes. For the right price. Not weekends preferably or it would have to be a really, really right price. Why? What were you thinking?”

“Maggie said her dad used to throw team parties sometimes. In about a month we have a good run of games here again. The Yankees on Sunday then Monday off then the Yankees again for the next two days.”

“No travel,” she said.

“No. So that’s a window to do something for the team. Let them blow off a little steam. Not too much steam but they’re professionals. They know they have to play the next day.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Raina said. “But why my club?”

“Maggie keeps talking about how much fun it was. Said your show was great. So I thought maybe you could do a shorter version of that and then we’d bring in caterers to do food and you can do the beverages. Would that work?”

She nodded. A fat fee for a private function was just another welcome addition to her nest egg. She wasn’t going to say no.

Alex smiled again. Which made him even more ridiculously handsome.

“Great. I want to do something special for Maggie. Things were crazy this year around her birthday so a bit of belated fuss can’t hurt.”

“I approve of men wanting to spoil their girlfriends.” They’d reached Rose and Alex hauled the case into the back of the truck. “Let me talk to Brady and Luis and Paolo—they manage Madame R with me. We’ll price some options for you if you send me the date you’re thinking of. The Monday?” She fished in her bag for her keys, then paused as something occurred to her. “When you say something special, you do just mean a party, don’t you? You’re not planning any grand gestures?”

“Grand gestures?”

“Putting a rock on Maggie’s finger as big as that blue iceberg Sara wears? We get people proposing every so often at the club and I have to say, if it were me, I’d rather my proposal be private. It always feels a bit … aggressive. Puts the girl on the spot. Of course, I’m not Maggie, and I’m sure she’d love a rock as big as an iceberg, so tell me to go soak my head if you want.”

“No head soaking. I agree. When I propose to Maggie, I don’t want an audience.”

The look on his face—half eager, half awed—made her smile. “Awwww, you said when.”

His expression turned startled. “What?”

“Just now. You said when you propose. Not if.” She grinned at him. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. I know you two haven’t been dating all that long. Though Lucas and Sara are engaged.”

“Lucas doesn’t mess around,” Alex said.

“And you do?”

“No, but Maggie and I are different. Maggie is invested in this place. She wants the Saints to do really well this season. Her head’s not in the right spot for anything else right now. I want her full attention when the time comes.”

She smiled at him approvingly. Definitely grown up. Which boded well for his friends being grown-ups, too. She could get used to this. The thought kept her smiling all the way back to Brooklyn.

Two weeks later Mal watched Raina turn on the charm for the way-too-polished host of a cable news morning show and tried not to get too annoyed.

It was the third TV interview she’d done but the first without any of the Angels with her. Raina had apparently had to deal with some tensions in the squad about who was getting more press exposure, so she’d decided to do this one solo. Mal had tried to dig out of her who was causing trouble—if he had to guess he’d pick Ana, who always seemed a little too fond of herself and a little too keen on talking to the players rather than her fellow Angels at club events. She was, admittedly, gorgeous, but he’d come across her type before. Not a team player. But Raina had said it was her problem to deal with and that she wasn’t going to tell him who was involved until she had to. He was respecting that.

The host was asking the same inane questions as they had at the other stations but he kept smiling at Raina a little too broadly for Mal’s liking.

Raina didn’t seem fazed by it, though, and she smiled back and gave answers that were smart and charming. He wasn’t so sure about the charming part. The host seemed to like it a little too much.

But it was all going smoothly and he made himself relax. Then the host—Blair, that was the idiot’s name—said, “So Raina, you’re a burlesque dancer. Isn’t that like being a stripper?” A picture of Raina in black leather corset and fishnets and bright-red shoes—a shot Mal recognized from the Madame R website—appeared on the screen behind the host. “I mean, that outfit is pretty risqué, isn’t it?”

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