Page 14 of Lawless in Leather

“I wasn’t aware that thing was a brand,” Raina said.

“Why do you care what brand of motorcycle it is, if you’ve sworn off guys like him?” Brady asked.

“Well, if it was some urban Honda number, maybe he isn’t a bad boy. Maybe he’s just having an early midlife crisis.”

“Maybe he’s just a nice hot guy who likes motorcycles. And you, judging by the fact he came calling. He didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the other girls.”

“He’s in security, he’s nosy,” Raina said. “Probably trying to build a case against me so he can convince Alex to drop the Fallen Angels.”

“He’s not a fan of cheerleaders?” Brady said.

“No.”

“So that’s one thing you agree on him with.”

“Maybe. But I’m not telling him that. Because then we don’t get the nice fat check that comes along with the crazy cheerleader idea. And we want the nice fat check. Which is another reason to have no interest in Malachi Coulter. Bad boy or no bad boy, I definitely don’t sleep with men who are hiring me.”

Brady sighed. “And here I was hoping for some vicarious excitement.”

“Dude, you’ve only been married a few months. You don’t need vicarious excitement, you have Luis.”

“This is true. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want you to have no fun.”

“I hardly have time for fun at the moment.”

“All work and no play make Raina a dull girl.”

“All work and no play makes sure that we all have a roof over our heads and gainful employment at the moment. I can handle a little dull for a while.”

“You’ve never handled dull very well.”

“That was the old Raina. The new Raina is all about responsibility and sensible routine.”

“Most people wouldn’t call running a burlesque club all that routine, you know.”

“Well, I’m modifying the old Raina, not throwing her under a bus.” She changed positions and felt her back twinge a little. “Speaking of things that are old, my back is in need of some heat and TLC. Is Luis done yet?”

Brady sighed again. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Then why don’t you take your handsome husband home and get him to distract you?”

“All right. But don’t think you’ve heard the end of this.”

“I would never,” Raina said. “Love you, see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” Brady said and hung up, leaving Raina all alone in her apartment with renewed thoughts of Malachi Coulter to subdue.

She had to stop looking up at the damned office tower. It was getting ridiculous. For one thing, the windows were covered with that reflective stuff that meant she couldn’t see in. So even if she did know exactly which office was Mal’s, there was no way she was going to spot him.

For another thing, if she didn’t pay attention to what her feet were doing, she was likely to land flat on her ass. And that wasn’t a good look for anyone.

Raina dragged her attention back down to the girls in front of her. Who were shimmying and shaking and ball changing pretty damned well.

She smiled approval and led the way into the next combination of the routine.

It was only five days since they’d first practiced together and she was pretty happy with where they’d gotten to. She thought she had the measure of them all now.

Of course, the next step was to get them dancing in costumes. And given that Alex had insisted on wings being part of their outfits—at least for the first game they danced at—that was going to prove interesting.

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