Page 17 of Mortal Heart

This is all a ruse, he reminded himself as he made his way toward the lounge.Mora’s hands are going nowhere near her body. Those shark eyes won’t see anything more of her than what they see right now. And if I blow this, Arkady will have put up with his groping for nothing.

Those reminders helped him focus. He took a deep breath and stepped through the curtained doorway into the VIP lounge. The lounge featured low lights, no flashing neon, quieter music, and a dozen semi-private nooks. All but one were occupied by a client and a dancer providing individual attention and bottle service in return for a steep fee and tip.

Arkady and Mora had already settled into a nook to Ronan’s right. He wasn’t at all surprised to find Arkady had chosen Bunny, the lovely red-haired hostess, for their private dance, or that Mora had ordered a bottle of the most expensive champagne on the menu. Mora might be many things, but subtle wasn’t one of them. The cold smile he gave Ronan made it clear he saw Arkady as a prize to be won and Ronan as nothing more than an obstacle.

Arkady wasn’t anyone’s prize. Ronan felt compelled to emphasize the point by feeding Mora to Alice’s garden feet-first, and very slowly.

Bunny met Ronan just inside the doorway. “Hello again, darling.” With her hand on his arm, she led him to Arkady and Mora’s nook. As he sat opposite the others, she asked, “Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?”

“I’m very comfortable just like this.” He handed her a couple of discreetly folded bills. “I’m here to watch my lady enjoy herself. Anything she wants, she can have.”

Bunny slipped his cash into her bustier and smiled playfully at him. “What a gentleman.”

“Don’t let him fool you,” Arkady said, her hand resting on Mora’s thigh. Her smile seemed brittle, at least to Ronan. Maybe she wasn’t as blasé about this ruse as she’d wanted him to believe. “He’s no gentleman. I’ve just trained him well and he knows who he belongs to.” Her voice took on a hard edge. “Don’t you?”

“That’s right.” Ronan draped his arms over the back of their plush velvet booth. With his gaze locked on Arkady’s, he added, “I know who I belong to, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.” His words weren’t part of the ruse. He meant what he said. And she knew it, because he was an honest man.

If she wanted him tonight, he’d say yes and have no second thoughts about it. For the first time since Michael dumped him in Alice’s yard, he had something he wanted that didn’t involve killing bad guys for money. That felt good.

Judging by the way Mora’s eyes narrowed, he hadn’t missed Arkady’s reaction to Ronan’s unblinking stare. Rather than making him rethink things, it seemed to double his desire.

Meanwhile, either misreading the animosity in the booth as shared sexual tension, or recognizing it for what it was and wanting to distract them, Bunny got down to business. “I like a man who knows what he likes.” She slid her hands down her sides and over the curve of her hips, her body moving in time with the music playing in the lounge. “I belong to all of you tonight,” she added with a smile. “And I wouldn’t want it any other way either.”

As Bunny danced, Mora turned to Arkady. “Take off your jacket.” His tone seemed polite enough, but his eyes had a cruel look Ronan very much did not like. “Let me see what I’m getting.”

Arkady stiffened and moved her hand from his leg. “I think you misunderstood my invitation, Oliver. You’re auditioning forus, not the other way around. It’s a buyer’s market, or hadn’t you noticed?”

Mora smiled. Ronan liked that smile even less than his previous expression. Mora tipped Arkady’s chin up with his fingertips and moved closer. “Itisa buyer’s market, and you came to me. So who’s buying, and who’sselling, my sweetness?”

At that, Arkady’s entire body went taut. Ronan was instantly on alert, though he managed to maintain his deliberately casual pose.

Mora took advantage of Arkady’s shock and brushed her lips with his own. Ronan stayed in his seat because Arkady could take care of her own business, but he entertained himself imagining new and creative ways to turn Mora into plant food.

“That’s what I thought,” Mora murmured. With a smirk, he tweaked Arkady’s chin. “I knew you’d come around. Now, let’s enjoy our private dance and drink our champagne. Then we’ll ditch your boyfriend and go somewhere else.” His eyes cut over to Ronan. “If you like an audience, I can arrange a much better one than what you’ve got.”

Arkady seemed to shake herself. Whatever Mora had said that upset her, she’d put it aside and refocused on the job at hand.

She gave Mora the same smile Ronan had seen her use on the demon servants—the one that looked like an invitation but was really a promise of suffering. “I think I’m interested in your offer,” she told Mora, and beckoned Bunny closer. “But first, you’re right…we want to enjoy our dance.” She took off her jacket, tossed it to Ronan, and raised her eyebrow. “Make yourself useful, dear, and serve the champagne.”

He met her gaze and asked with his eyes if she wanted to keep going. Her smile gave him the answer.

“Your wish is my command,” he said, and reached for the bottle of champagne in the bucket of ice beside him.

As Bunny danced on Mora’s lap, Arkady watched and toyed with the dancer’s hair. Ronan poured two glasses of champagne. He handed one to Arkady, who gave it to Mora and then accepted another for herself.

She’d told Ronan she’d dose Mora with something to make him more agreeable, but he didn’t see her slip anything into his glass. Maybe she’d banked on Bunny distracting him and then decided his attention wasn’t diverted enough to make it possible for her to drug his drink. They couldn’t afford to get caught in the act.

Mora drank his first glass of champagne quickly—much too quickly for such an expensive label. Even Ronan, who tolerated champagne more than enjoyed it, thought it was a waste. Without comment, he poured another and passed it to Arkady. And though Mora seemed focused almost entirely on Bunny, Arkady still didn’t put anything in his glass.

Ronan tried to catch her eye to figure out what she planned to do, but she’d curled up next to Mora as if Ronan wasn’t even there. On the one hand, that had been part of their plan, but he got the impression Arkady was ignoring him on purpose. Maybe she wanted to goad him into doing something. He already knew she enjoyed keeping him off-balance. Or maybe she wanted to make sure Mora didn’t lose interest in her.

Bunny, the other person in the booth besides Mora who had no idea what part she played in their plot, was certainly an excellent dancer. Already Mora’s smile seemed far more genuine and relaxed than it had been since they’d met him. His arousal was unmistakable. And if he didn’t know better, Ronan would have thought Arkady had forgotten why they were there. She seemed thoroughly focused on enjoying Bunny’s dance too. She alternated between playing with Bunny’s long hair and running her hand up and down Mora’s thigh. Ronan had to concentrate on not imagining how good those languid strokes of her fingertips would feel on his own leg.

Arkady finally seemed to notice the way he was watching her. “Why don’t you go dance for my lover boy?” she murmured to Bunny. “I think he looks a bit lonely, don’t you?”

“I think he does.” Bunny smiled at Ronan. “Would you like some company?”

He felt certain Arkady had a good reason for sending Bunny his way. “Definitely,” he said.

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