Page 15 of Venice Heat (Urban Heat 2)

After a day of shopping and then lounging on the beach in a bikini, she started back to her room thinking she’d give her protector a call and ask him to join her out here. They could have a little fun without any obligations. As she strolled up to her place, smiling and a little excited about her decision, she paused at the shadow that had just flitted behind a building to her right. The sun dropping low in the sky didn’t provide much light, but as she stared, she didn’t catch sight of anyone. Maybe her imagination played tricks on her. She continued on only to stop once again at the foot of her stairs.

“Darryl, what are you doing here?” She eyed the man from head to toe, noting he still looked fine as hell with chiseled muscle and confidence in spades. He had folded his arms over his chest and leaned with negligence against the banister. None of his boys seemed to be around.

“I got tired of waiting for you, so I came to get you.”

“Oh, is that right?” She chuckled, somewhat annoyed and pleased too. She’d written off checking him out, but him showing up was kind of nice. She li

ked men to come chasing after her. “I’ve been busy.”

To her surprise, his expression went from bored to angry in a heartbeat. “I know, and you made the wrong choice.”

“Excuse me? Maybe you should just go. I told you I would call you if I was interested. Now I’m not. So—”

She moved to push past him, but he grabbed her arm to stop her. The bite in his hold set off her warning bells, and she drew in a deep breath, ready to put his ass on the ground. He’d grabbed the wrong woman.

“Come on, baby girl,” he whispered. “You know how bad I wanted to get to know you, and you didn’t even give a brother a chance.”

All her anger ebbed away. She stared into his face, shocked at how open he seemed, even vulnerable. Black men, from her experience, didn’t do that often, which made her curious. His thumb caressed the skin at her elbow.

“I guess I could do something tonight,” she offered. “I heard about this spot where the dancing is hot, and the drinks are stronger. Wanna check it out with me?”

He grinned and pulled her close. “I would prefer it just be me and you, naked and getting our freak on.”

She resisted rolling her eyes and pulled from his hold. “You a little fast, aren’t you? I want to dance.” She unlocked her door. “If that doesn’t work for you…”

“Fine, but you’re going to be mine in the end anyway.” He smacked her ass, which always pissed her off, but she ground her teeth and didn’t complain about it—this time.

“Pick me up at—”

“I’ll be here at nine. Be ready for me.” He stepped off the porch as he slid dark sunglasses into place on his face. She just kept herself from smacking them off and changing her mind yet again. That vulnerability bullshit was just that, and she couldn’t believe she’d fallen for it. But anyway, her protector would take a bit to get there when she called him, so she needed tonight, and going to the club alone wasn’t as much fun. Darryl would do for now. Tonight, though, she planned to knock him off his high horse and show him how she felt about men telling her how it was going to be.

That night, she wore a red halter minidress with three openings in the front leading down to her navel. The sides were square cutouts from her breasts to low on her hips, and the ruched details on her thighs and at the back showed off her curves and pronounced her ass. She slipped her feet into high-heeled slingbacks and wore three-tiered gold metal earrings.

At nine fifteen, when Darryl hadn’t shown up, she left the house intending to go out to the main street and flag down a taxi. At the corner, a sleek black convertible almost ran her down in the narrow side street, and she flipped the bird at the driver. The car rolled to a stop in front of her, and she swore. Darryl stepped out of the dark interior with music blasting.

“I said I was picking you up,” he snapped.

“Yeah, at nine. I wasn’t waiting on you.” She started to walk around the car to keep going, but once again, he grabbed her arm. She couldn’t help comparing him to Eiji. Even at his coldest, Eiji had been polite and considerate.

“Let’s go.”

She glared at Darryl. “No, I think I’m going to go alone.”

“Come on, Shae. Don’t be like that, baby girl. We’re going to have a good time. Look, I’m sorry, okay? One of my boys was acting stupid today, and I had to set him straight. He made me late. If you want, I can call him up and prove to you it wasn’t my fault.”

She sighed. It was never their fault. “Darryl—”

“Please?” He did that low-toned whispering thing he’d done earlier, and despite herself, she felt tingly over it. She must be getting weak to fall for little dumb tricks like that. Darryl touched his forehead to hers, as if he was trying to create a closeness between them, like they were already a couple and understood each other. She’d done that kind of thing a million times and recognized it.

“Last chance,” she warned him.

He saw her into the car and even held the door while she settled into the low seat. Then he shut it and jogged around to his side. Shae watched his athletic form, the easy grace he displayed as he folded into the driver side and threw the car into gear. In seconds they roared down the road, narrowly missing pedestrians and other vehicles on the street. Shae breathed a sigh of relief when they pulled up to the club and the valet took the offered keys from Darryl. Her ears needed a break from the blaring speakers in the trunk, but she knew it wouldn’t be much better where they were going. How Darryl wasn’t deaf she didn’t know.

Her date must have had pull in this city because he gave the bouncer at the door a nod, and they bypassed the line. A smile spread over Shae’s lips, and she clasped Darryl’s arm. “Okay, you’re doing better so far.”

He grinned down at her. “See? I got this, and you’re going to be all mine before the night’s over.”

She laughed, already knowing she would go home alone.

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