Page 54 of My Temptation

“I’m a fantastic uncle.” I grinned when she laughed. “But my sister might disagree with you on my greatness regarding her.”

“Why?”

“Because I have a lot of opinions on who she dates. I also nagged her constantly until she agreed to move to New Hope.”

She seemed to consider that before finally speaking. “I’ll bet your sister appreciates all of that, but probably wants to prove to you that she can handle herself and make good choices.”

“She told me I'm too overprotective.”

Mila nodded, but her smile faded. “It may feel that way sometimes, but I’ll bet she’s never been without that protection. It’s hard to appreciate something you’ve always had.” Turning, she headed toward the bathroom. “I’m gonna need a little time to get myself ready to be nightclub April.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

She didn’t answer before closing the door, and I just shook my head. Grabbing my phone, I lay down on the bed. I was beat. I still wasn’t sleeping well, and it wasn’t long before my eyes became heavy. This might be my chance to grab an hour while I waited for Mila to get ready. That was my last thought until I heard Mila’s voice.

“Ethan.”

Opening my eyes, I blinked and saw Mila standing next to the bed. When she saw my eyes open, she smiled. “The bathroom’s all yours.”

My eyes skimmed down her face, noticing she was wearing makeup, which she hardly did, and her hair was out of the ponytail she’d had it in earlier. I blinked a few more times when I saw her dress.

Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I sat up and rubbed my hands over my face, hoping like hell that I was only dreaming she was wearing something like that. But when I looked up again, she was walking toward the dresser, and I saw I was definitely not dreaming. Her shiny black dress hugged her ass perfectly. Mila wasn’t tall, but the dress ended at the top of her thighs and made her legs look incredibly long. She had on high heels, but I had no idea how she was able to walk in them. They looked like ice picks and had to hurt like hell.

“Don’t those shoes hurt your feet?”

She glanced over her shoulder. “No, not anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“I had to dress like this when I was undercover, and at first, these shoes killed my feet and my back, but I got used to them. I had to because I also had to dance in them.”

I stood. “How did you just jump into that lifestyle? Especially one that was so extreme?”

She slid a few bracelets on her wrist and glanced over her shoulder at me. “I didn’t have a choice. It was jump in and learn to swim or get the hell out. My first few times on stage weren’t great, but I watched the other dancers and learned what to do. I also learned my tips were better if I never completely stripped. I made up dances that were more like peep shows, which was a hell of a lot more comfortable for me. The guys liked that because it was different, and just about the time they didn’t want that anymore, I started dating Nick. They respected him, so they let me do whatever I wanted. Eventually, I became as irrelevant to them as all the other dancers.”

“How long were you undercover?”

“Almost two years.” She spun to face me and leaned her ass against the dresser. “But most of that was with Nick, and that made it easier.”

“And you two never…” I wasn’t sure how to finish that without offending her, but it turned out I didn’t have to.

She grinned. “Did we sleep together?” She shook her head. “No. We weren’t attracted to each other. Everything we did was very organized and planned. It was almost like going through the motions, but with one eye on the audience, if that makes sense. We never had an opportunity to let it become more than that.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Plus, he was completely hung up on Maddie. He barely knew I was a woman. All he talked about was getting back to her.”

I started toward the bathroom but stopped in front of her. “I’m not sure I could’ve done what you and Nick had to do during that case.”

She pushed off the dresser and laid her hand on my chest. “You’d be surprised what you can do when you want something badly enough.”

That one statement hit me like a punch. I had no idea if anything would stop me if she indicated that she felt anything for me beyond a working partnership.

But I was positive there was no benefit to us finding out.

17

MILA

“This has a completely different vibe.”

I glanced up at Ethan to see he was nodding. “Yeah, I agree.”

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