Page 79 of My Temptation

Smiling, I tilted my head. “Why do you think that?”

“You seem open to trying new things.” He gestured to the door behind him. “Would you be interested in joining me in the back room? I heard through the grapevine that you’re a dancer, and one of our girls didn’t show tonight. Could use a fill-in, but...”

“But what?” I asked.

“I can only invite you back. We have men who pay top dollar to watch the dancers. We don’t allow boyfriends or husbands to join. We've had bad experiences with that.”

I shrugged. “Okay. I’m sure Joe won’t mind.”

“She doesn’t dance anymore,” Ethan said.

My head snapped toward him. “It’s just for tonight.”

He slowly looked down at me. “I said no.”

I narrowed my eyes, but something in his expression told me not to argue. I wasn’t afraid of him. He would never hurt me, but I was afraid he’d blow our cover if I pushed.

Turning to face Samson again, I frowned. “Guess Joe doesn’t feel like sharing right now.”

“Too bad,” Samson replied. “We have dancers who make a thousand bucks in one night here.”

Knowing Ethan wouldn’t budge, I leaned closer to Samson and swallowed back the bile just from being this close. “Are you having a party tomorrow night? That’ll give me time to work on him.” I smiled seductively. “I can be very convincing.”

He grinned. “I’ll bet you can.” With one more glance in Ethan’s direction, he looked at his watch. “It’s already after midnight. Tomorrow is today.” He studied me closely before nodding. “Come back tonight at ten. I’ll see if we have a spot for you.”

I leaned my body against Ethan’s. “We’ll be here.” I winked at Samson. “I mean, who's gonna say no to a thousand dollars?”

His eyes darkened, and a chill engulfed me when he spoke. “No one.”

Ethan tugged on my hand, and I smiled at Samson, but it was a hell of a lot harder to fake than it had been a minute ago. “See you later.”

Without another word, we turned and headed for the steps. I knew better than to try to talk to Ethan, and by the time we hit the door, he’d dropped my hand altogether. I sighed to myself. We had a lot to go over, but that conversation couldn’t happen inside these walls, especially not as pissed as he seemed. I was worried about what he might say that others shouldn’t hear. It was at moments like these that even the best agents had the potential to slip up and say something a little loud that eventually blew their cover and all the hard work they put in, some of that work taking years.

I wasn’t going to allow that. We worked too hard to get this far, and I wasn’t going to blow it now.

I was getting behind that door.

No matter what I had to do to make that happen.

25

ETHAN

“I’m out.”

Mila followed me across the parking lot to the SUV. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Means I’m calling Brody from the fucking car and telling him to send someone else to be your partner.”

“Why?”

I hit unlock on my key fob and yanked open the door, but when she didn’t move to the other side of the vehicle, I shifted slightly to face her.

I was angry, so angry that I shouldn’t have this conversation with her, but I was past the point of caring. “You were ready to put us both in a situation that we may not have gotten out of.”

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Ethan, it’s all part of the game. You have to trust me.”

“I did,” I admitted, “until you pulled that shit.”

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