Page 4 of Hidden Agendas (Tempting SEALs 4)

Kell shook his head. He had heard the other man arguing with her as they left, demanding her keys, threatening to call her father, cursing. But the dumb ass had parked it right in the passenger seat anyway and let Emily have her head.

They disappeared in the back door of the strip club and Kell sighed wearily. He was going to have to go in there and find out what the hell she was up to. That was something he had hoped to put off, because knowing the research habits he had uncovered so far, he had a feeling it could be control destroying. It was his luck she was researching the criminal underbelly of Atlanta, a move guaranteed to get her pretty little head shot off her shoulders.

Shaking his head, he started the Harley and pulled around to the front lot where he parked it beneath the eagle eye of Timbo’s doorman. Kell snorted at the title. Tiny was no one’s idea of a doorman. He was seven feet of hulking muscle and an expression that made a grizzly look nice. Narrow black eyes watched him silently as he swung off the Harley and powerful black arms crossed over his wide chest.

“What kind of trouble are you stirring up here, Krieger?” Tiny asked suspiciously as he neared the door.

“Nothing too messy, Tiny.” Kell grinned. “Let me in for a drink. My pigeon just walked in the back door and I need to keep an eye on her.”

Amusement flickered in Tiny’s eyes. “That little thing Cherry’s giving dancing lessons to?” If Kell wasn’t mistaken an edge of affection crept into the big man’s voice. That was scary. Predictable, but scary nonetheless. She had a way of drawing people to her, of making them care whether they wanted to or not.

He sure as hell hadn’t wanted to. But from the moment he had met her fifteen years before, only weeks after the death of his young wife and their unborn child, he had found himself looking into her too perceptive gaze and knowing that if he wasn’t careful, she would make him care.

“Yeah,” Kell drawled, narrowing his eyes. “Why?”

“She’s doing a lap dance this afternoon. For me.”

Every bone and muscle in Kell’s body tightened as rage flickered across his senses.

“She’s doing what?”

Tiny grinned down at him. “She’s been taking lessons from Cherry this week. Today’s test day. She’s doing her moves and Timbo said she could d

o them for me.”

Like hell. As Kell stared back he moved his hand to his wallet, pulled it free, and knew he was in deep shit when Tiny glanced at it with satisfaction.

“Now how did I know you wouldn’t like that?” The other man’s voice filled with smug satisfaction. “Boy, you got the look of a man getting ready to drown. Maybe I should save you from yourself.”

“How much?”

“I like you, Krieger.” He shook his head. “But she’s damned pretty.”

Kell pulled a hundred free.

“And I know what Cherry’s been teaching her.” Tiny’s grin got wider.

Kell pulled free the second hundred.

“And she’s just the prettiest little piece of candy.”

Kell pulled the knife from his boot in a move so fast Tiny barely had time to blink before the edge was pressing against his throat.

He swallowed tightly. “But she ain’t that sweet.” He reached out and took the two hundreds from Kell’s other hand with a tentative movement. “Better you than me. That woman’s trouble.”

Kell’s lips thinned as he lowered the knife and slid it back into the sheath at the side of his boot.

“Don’t let anyone else in,” he ordered.

“I wasn’t supposed to let you in,” Tiny grunted.

Kell sliced a hard, killing look back at him.

“But, hey man, I know you and that knife.” He grinned. “I’ll keep the place clear. Those were the orders anyway. Better hurry, though, show starts soon. It’s guaranteed to be a killer.”

No shit. Kell was beginning to guess that if Emily Stanton was involved, then no matter what it was, it had the potential to kill.

Her father, a former SEAL, had made a grave tactical error in giving her a taste of excitement as a child before jerking it away from her and trying to marry her off to men determined to control her.

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