Page 28 of Chasing Danger

Should I tell him that I already knew about his night job when I came here?

In fact, his presence was the very reason for my visit?

No.

There was no way to explain how I knew without revealing the background search I’d done on him. Such things were standard in the world I lived in, but to an ordinary civilian, it would seem invasive and suspicious.

Waving him over, I invited him to join me. He sat delicately on the arm of the chair, still obviously nervous about my reaction.

“Mad?” My hand settled on his bare leg. “Why would I be mad? You’re a joy to watch. I’m not going to complain about such an opportunity.”

I trailed my hand up his leg, enjoying the feel of his smooth skin, until my fingers were high enough to tug at a strap of his costume.

Oliver didn’t even seem to notice my touch, too distracted by his own fretting. “You really don’t mind? Ashes is the only one who knows about this job. I haven’t even told my family. They’d be horrified. I’d understand if you’re disgusted with me.”

I snapped the strap of his costume to get his attention.

He yelped at the unexpected sting against his skin, but obviously wasn’t hurt as he pouted at me.

“I am certain,” I said as I soothed the skin on his hip. “I think I already know the answer... but, are these “private dances” something you do regularly?”

“What? No.” He shook his head so hard he nearly fell off the arm of the chair, giving me a perfect excuse to wrap both hands around his hips. “I’ve never taken a private client. The money was tempting, but I could never bring myself to...” He trailed off, looking around the intimate atmosphere of the private room like he was seeing it for the first time. “Wait a minute. How are we here?”

“I brought us here.”

“No, I mean...” His startled expression turned back to me. “You have to pay to even access these rooms. You can’t just walk in.”

“Yeah.” I waggled my phone in front of his face, showing the club’s app open on the screen. “The app definitely makes it easy. More clubs should use this system.”

He snatched the phone out of my hands and stared at the screen with his mouth hanging open. “This says... Do you really pay this much?”

“Not enough?” Taking my phone back, I stored it in the pocket of my jacket. “There wasn’t a required amount, so I just paid what seemed like a good number.”

He fisted his hands in the lapel of my jacket and pulled me closer like he was on the verge of both strangling me and kissing me. “That’s twice as much as I’ve ever been offered.”

If he expected me to be shocked, he was about to be let down. I merely laughed and tugged him closer so he was sitting properly in my lap. “Only twice? I’m not as impressive as I thought. Maybe I should add more.”

In this position, my hands were free to wander over the rest of his body. So much skin lay vulnerable to my touch, but I started by removing his mask to expose his whole face.

“That’s better. Much better than your “Phantom” persona. Although the stage name was a good choice.” As I tossed the mask aside, I was reminded of another question I’d had earlier. “Hey. Feel free not to answer, but the other day you mentioned that the scar on your face wasn’t the only one. Yet, this outfit shows off pretty much everything and...”

I let the rest of the question go unsaid. There was no good word choice available. If I said the rest of his skin looked flawless, that would imply I considered his scars to be a flaw.

He hesitated, chewing at his bottom lip as he no doubt chewed over his options. The sight was too tempting, and I pulled him forward into a kiss and ran my tongue over that tortured lip. With a gasp, he clung to me and eagerly returned the kiss with equal force. Several minutes passed before we parted, and he was left just as flushed and panting as he’d been after his performance earlier.

“I suppose I should show you,” he said, though he couldn’t meet my eye. “You’ll see it eventually.”

In one swift move, he tore off his left glove, revealing his bare arm. Just as I’d suspected, scar tissue intertwined with healthy pale skin, making the top half of his arm look like it was made of patchwork. These scars weren’t as intense as the one on his face. The skin wasn’t as distorted, but the burns covered a large area and had still probably been difficult to heal.

Without hesitation, I stroked my hand along his arm and mapped out the different textures of his skin. “Is it just these?”

He shook his head but didn’t say a word. Instead, he dragged my hand over to his chest so my palm rested against his left pectoral.

I couldn’t tell what I was feeling. The skin here looked fine, but it felt different. Smoother, and cooler than the skin in other areas.

“The gloves and the mask are easy to work into my costume,” he said when I gave him a confused look. “But there’s no good way to cover my chest. The whole point of this job is showing off as much skin as possible. So, instead, I use a silicone patch here. It looks just like skin, and it holds up to vigorous movement. I’ll show you if you really want, but it’s glued down and it’s hard to get off. So...”

I patted his chest, right over his heart. “Leave it for now. As you said, I’ll see it eventually.” Looking him over again, I added all his scars together. “Everything is on one side. Let me guess. You were carrying your brother in your right arm and used your left to shield against the fire.”

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