Page 29 of Grind
I want to see him in his element. Understand what shapes this man that I am coming to care for very much. And so here I am standing outside Intrigue in the frigid cold, spending another hard-won night off that I’d be making up for with early morning shifts next week.
Not regretting it for an instant.
The line of women snaking around the velvet ropes in front of Intrigue takes my breath away. Boston’s most beautiful women, clad in the smallest dresses, waiting for the doors to open.
Huddled in my dark wool coat against the cold, I don’t fit in. How do they not feel the chill?
The girl in front of me tosses her waist-length platinum hair for the third time and dramatically proclaims, “Do they just let anyone in here?” while giving me a pointed look.
Annoyance flares, but I don’t get a chance to respond.
A familiar form moves down the line toward me, burly hulk advancing as if with intent. Sully, looking every inch a Southie fighter, gives me a big grin.
“Evening! May I escort you in?”
The emphasis he puts on escort is so dramatic I can’t help but laugh, and that earns me a wink. Ms. Platinum looks like she’s going to say something but Sully moves us toward the door fast.
“Boss is just overseeing a few things. He’ll be right down,” Sully’s clipped accent carries over the loud music that drifts out through the door as we approach. The guys working security at the front are huge, dressed in dark suits, hard to tell apart.
Every one of them looks me over curiously.
I’m shifting uncomfortably by the time they wave us in.
“Boss doesn’t have guests,” Sully offers quietly.
My face flushes, my chest pulling tight. I feel so out of place. Maybe this was a mistake?
Some part of me realizes that I’m getting in deep with Connor; but another part – the pragmatic part – tells me that there’s still more I need to understand about his life. What he does. Who he is when he’s not walking me home from school or doing those impossibly delicious things to me in his bed.
Just the thought has me growing hot with desire and I quickly look around, wondering if anyone can sense it.
My eyes find Connor in the crowd, halfway up the winding staircase on a landing. He’s talking to a cluster of people. Hands moving, he’s issuing orders confidently as his eyes sweep the dance floor. Then he locks on me, that magnetic force that pulls us together, and he’s by my side in an instant.
All eyes are on him, people already starting to move across the floor toward him. It’s easy to say he manages a club. It’s harder to really understand what that means.
Connor turns me toward him, and looks down into my eyes for a long time. There’s a slow smile, those dimples peeking out and making my heart do a little flip.
Oh, lord, my heart is getting caught up in this. Feelings that melt into something more as he wordlessly leans down, pressing his lips to mine. A fierce kiss, a claiming kiss, marking me in some way for those who are watching.
When he pulls back, he leans down and whispers in my ear, “You are absolutely stunning, sweetheart.”
He’s going to say something more. That’s when it happens. There’s a sharp noise that comes from the other side of the club, and all I can see is a sea of the security guards in dark suits moving toward someone.
It seems like there’s a commotion, and Connor’s full attention is on whatever’s happening. Sully still lingers nearby, but when he starts to move in that direction, Connor gives a commanding shake of his head.
“Ava, I need to handle this. Sully, you stay with Ava until I get back.”
Then he shoulders into the crowd, which parts to let him go and then fills in to swallow up the space he leaves in his wake.
Sully clears his throat and when I look at him, he gives me an exaggerated eyebrow waggle that makes me laugh. “Not often an old bogtrotter like me gets to buy a beautiful woman like you a drink. Ah, don’t tell the boss I said that or he’ll be rearranging my face. What can I get you, Miss Ava?”
I ask for a seltzer. He proposes whiskey straight. There’s a negotiation and he comes back with a wine spritzer. I’m a complete lightweight, and don’t like to get drunk. My eyes are riveted to the place where Connor was.
Sully’s back in an instant, the fizzy drink in his hand. “Would you like to hit the dance floor?” He sounds almost hopeful.
There’s a sound from the back of the club. Just one, you wouldn’t hear it if you weren’t listening for it. Fist driving into flesh and muscle. Fear screams through me. Connor.
Sully heard it too, because his eyes are locked on some spot in the club. I touch his arm and when he meets my eyes, I realize that he too has those vivid blue Irish eyes.
