Page 12 of The Price of Power

Here, there were no cameras. No phones. No cops. Nothing to get between a man and the “personal hostess” he’d chosen to entertain him for the evening.

That kind of practical, cash-based arrangement had always appealed to Matteo far more than me. I’d barely visited the club before he’d bought it. Now, I only dropped by to meet with him on the nights he worked.

The manager’s smile didn’t flicker as she glanced over at Liv. “Would you like us to set you up at a booth at the bar?”

“Actually, I was hoping you had a room available.”

“A room?” The sound of Liv’s surprise echoed off the stone floors and columns. Instantly after, an embarrassed blush lit up her cheeks, and she leaned in, whispering, “I’m sorry, exactly what kind of club is this?”

“The kind where your comfort and privacy are our highest priorities,” Carla answered without a hint of condescension. “And, of course, sir. We always keep a private suite open for our most valuable guests. If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you the way.”

Liv stayed glued to my side as Carla led us through the deep burgundy curtains that separated the front of La Sera from the back, her grip on me tightening the further down the hallway we went. And when a door opened and one of the “personal hostesses” stepped out in her outfit of black lingerie, Liv nearly tripped over her own feet.

Damn. She really was a sheltered little thing, wasn’t she? It was willing to guess it had been a long time since anyone so innocent had walked down the halls of La Sera.

“Here we are,” Carla said, stopping in front of a glossy black door with a gold number 1 hanging in the center. Turning the knob, she pushed it open, holding it while we stepped inside. “If you need anything, sir, please don’t hesitate to let us know.”

“Will you have the kitchen send over two plates of Carbonara and a bottle of Pinot Noir from Matteo’s private collection?”

“Of course. It would be my pleasure.” Then, smiling knowingly at Liv, Carla added, “Enjoy your evening, miss.”

The instant the door clicked closed, Liv stepped back. Even though the temperature inside the room was perfectly comfortable, she rubbed her hands up and down her bare arms as she looked around the private room. Her big green eyes flickered from the fully stocked bar to the black leather couch to the mirrored wall on the opposite side of the room.

“This is…uh,” she bit into her lower lip as she struggled to find the right words. “Well, I’m pretty sure we don’t have any place like this in Milwaukee.”

That was a safe bet.

“You’re from Wisconsin?” I asked, leaning back against the wall as she started to pace from one point to the next in the room. While I was used to making people nervous, I never found any of them half as amusing as Liv. “Interesting.”

“You would be the first person to think so,” she said.

“Why do you stay there if it’s so boring?”

Now that she was all the way across the room from me, apparently, she felt comfortable enough to lift her face and look me in the eye again. A hint of a smile lifted her lips. “What do you mean? I love boring.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You should,” she said. “Trust me, if you had to spend time with my family, you’d understand the appeal of living somewhere boring, too.”

I shook my head. “We weren’t going to talk about family tonight, remember?”

“Right. Sorry, I forgot,” she said with a grimace. “But my point still stands. Boring can be good. It’s peaceful. It’s predictable. And most importantly, it’s safe.”

Her words might have been true, but I could tell she was still lying. “If you actually valued any of those things, you wouldn’t be here in this club with me right now.”

I knew I’d hit the nail on the head when that pretty blush lit up her cheeks again. Her big green eyes broke from mine, dipping down toward the floor.

“Yeah, about that,” she hemmed. “What exactly am I doing here?”

“I would have thought you’d have figured that out by now.”

She flashed me an annoyed look.

There were those heated sparks I’d spotted back at the hotel lounge—the ones that hinted at the hidden fire burning deep inside her. The flames she desperately tried to keep under control at all times.

God, how I looked forward to stoking them until they burned us both to ash.

“Don’t act like an idiot. You know that’s not what I meant,” she said…and that’s when I knew for sure she had no idea who I really was. There wasn’t a creature alive who thought they could talk to me like that and live to tell the tale. “I know why I came here with you. I understand what I’m getting out of this deal, but why did you bring me here? Especially since I’m pretty sure this is the kind of place where you can order a woman the same way you ordered dinner.”

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