Page 78 of The Sinner's Bargain

THORAN

Morning slipped into afternoon in the blink of an eye. It happened so quickly, I barely had time to register that half the day was gone and I was still staring down a mountain of paperwork. I had enough sense to text Cooke and ask him to take Blue food before I was back to listening to Vance describe every detail of Go’s opening night in three weeks.

The majority of the club’s electrical work was complete, but there was a plumbing issue stemming from the key shop next door where the owner was never there and unreachable.

“Break the wall down and get it done,” I said, done with the conversation already. My hard on was still throbbing even if it had gone down some. It was no longer scraping the teeth of my zipper. “He had his chance, and we did what we could to alert him. Call Tommy. Tell him you smell gas next door or something.”

Vance made a note. “There’s also the issue of the floor lights. There was an incident at the loading bay and three of the boxes hit the floor.”

My patience was waning at an alarming rate. Blue was upstairs waiting for me in my room, possibly on my bed, and I was talking about floor lights.

“Jesus Christ, Vance, are you fucking kidding me? Get new lights.”

Dark eyes lifted to meet mine. “These are matters you need to sign off on, Thoran. We’re nearly done.”

We were not.

We didn’t stop until supper time when both my temper and hunger threatened to upend the desk.

“We’re stopping here,” I said, already shoving to my feet. “It’s dinner time and I want to see Blue.”

Without waiting to hear just one more thing, I stalked out of the office. My feet took wide strides through the corridor and up the stairs. My heart was leaping in my chest by the time I shoved the door open and stepped into the still darkness. The kind that held secrets and monsters. The murky shimmer of things hiding in corners.

But no Blue.

I slapped the light on just to be sure. Part of me hoped she was asleep in the bed, riot of curls cascading across my pillow, but the bed was empty save for her shoes discarded on the floor.

“Blue?” I called, hoping she was just in the bathroom.

Silence echoed back.

Abandoning my room, I stalked to the room next door and knocked.

Seconds passed. I was about to knock again when the doorknob twisted and the door opened, and even fully braced, my chest tightened at the sight of her in a satin, teal dress with a deliciously plunging neckline and a hem that swirls seductively around her upper thighs. A fat bow held the strips of fabric covering her perfect chest, taunting a man to give one tug to free them into his hands.

I had to ball my fists to keep from trying.

I forced my eyes back up to her face. Her darkened eyes. Her nude, glossy lips. Her pale curls pulled back at the temples and pinned at the back of her head.

Fuck, she was killing me.

“I’m sorry,” I murmured. “It took longer than I expected.”

Blue’s chin dipped only slightly. “It’s okay.”

I didn’t miss the weight behind those two words. The softness.

Something was wrong.

I knew it straight to my core.

“You look beautiful,” I murmured, watching her eyes flit away. Her lips curled inward to get punctured by her teeth.

This wasn’t her usual shyness.

“I’m really sorry, love,” I tried again. “I’ll make it up to you. I swear.”

She shook her head. “It’s not ... I’m not upset. You were working. I understand that.”

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