Page 8 of Single Dad's Second Chance

If he was asking if I was aroused, or attracted to her, I’d have to admit I was a dead man to say no. She was gorgeous. Sultry, seductive, and so skilled at moving her body that it was impossible not to notice her and desire her.

At the same time, though, the idea of envisioning myself with a woman like this felt… wrong.

She’s not Mia, though.Lately, if I had any idea of enjoying a woman’s company in bed, it was Mia’s face I had in mind. Of hearing her laugh and seeing her smile. It didn’t seem right to so instantly desire this dancer when I was so hooked on Mia. Mia was just a dream, though, an imaginary what-if that could never happen. Having anything other than a work relationship and moderate friendship with Mia would never be a reality.

Right?

She worked for me, and that alone made her off-limits. Dunn Enterprises enforced strict ethics rules at the office.

I’d have more luck scoring with this dancer than I would with the secretary who was often the highlight of my day.

Owen laughed again, interpreting my silence as an answer. I cleared my throat, stuck on the thought that I could be dishonest to Mia, somehow, by lusting for this stranger dancing so sexily on the stage. “Yeah, that’s it. I want to ask this woman to dance at Fifty, that’s it.”

“Uh-huh.” Owen gestured at her, still at the other side of the stage. “You get talent like that at Fifty and it’ll be an overnight success.”

All through the show, I kept my eyes on her. It didn’t matter if she went from one side of the stage to the other. She stole my focus. With that mask covering her face, a sense of mystery clouded my judgment. I wanted to see her. To talk to her. To get her to consider working atmyclub, not here at Danger.

Finally, after the show, Owen and I hurried through the crowd either moving toward the exit or to the bar. I wasn’t sure where a backstage entrance might be, but we had to be getting closer. We wove through guests. We sidestepped the waitstaff cleaning up the aisle. Lights hadn’t been turned all the way back on yet, and with the dimness, it was tricky to see far ahead.

Reaching a pair of burly security guards, we settled in to ask, cajole, beg, and request for entrance to the back stage.

“Listen,no one, and I mean no one, is getting back there,” the beefier man said.

“Then can I speak to your manager?” I asked.

Owen joined in on this tactic. “Can you give our information to the dancers’ manager?” He held out a card. “We’d just like to speak with one of the dancers.”

The guard’s partner huffed a laugh. “Yeah, sure.”

The first man glanced at the business card. “Dunn?”

I pointed at myself. “I’m Henry Dunn. And we’d like to speak with that dancer or whoever represents her.”

They had to listen. They had to cooperate. Because I knew already that I wouldn’t be able to get that woman out of my mind. Owen was right. If she danced at Fifty, it’d be a bigger success.

“I can pass this info along to Gina,” the first man said, flicking Owen’s business card between his fingers. “That’s the best I can tell ya, Mr. Dunn. I’ll let her know that y’all are interested in one of her dancers.”

“Not just any of them,” I clarified. “That tall one in the magenta and?—”

“Yeah. We know. Everyone wants her.” He chortled, elbowing his coworker. “But hell, man, you ain’t the first.”

I sighed, knowing and hating that fact more than I had any right to.

I had no dibs on that woman. I didn’t evenknowher. But with a strong and inexplicable neediness, I was certain that I wanted her near me, working at Fifty, no matter what.

I wanted her nearme.

4

MIA

Icame into work the next day, wishing it was like any other ordinary day.

But it was not. It couldn’t be. Not when my stomach was full of nervous knots and my mind felt jumbled with panic. My heart raced and my thoughts were scattered. At the core of my predicament remained the shock from spotting Henry and Owen among the many guests at Danger.

Never before had my “worlds” collided like that. In one neat, tidy compartment was my life at the Dunn Enterprises office and in another, separate compartment was the role I had at Danger. Those two things weren’t supposed to mix. They weren’t intended to mesh.

“Hey, Mia,” Jen said cheerily as she passed me in the hallway.

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