up LCR’s sting and found himself a new job. And now, he had found a woman who made him feel again. Angela was breaking through every barrier he’d built. And every damn time he patched the wall up, she found a way to crack it once more.
No. He could not do this. He’d been there, done that, and couldn’t survive the pain again.
Question was, how to fight every instinct inside him telling him to dive into the deepest end of the ocean where emotions and feelings swirled like a whirlpool, just waiting to suck him in and devour him?
He didn’t know the answer. He only knew that Angela was his Achilles heel. But unlike the Greek warrior who was eventually destroyed because of his one vulnerability, Jake was determined to hide his own until it no longer existed. He refused to believe it was too late.
Chapter Ten
Wolf whistles and catcalls heralded the closing moments of Luscious Lucy’s act. Raucous shouts of praise intermingled with loud, lewd remarks. The audience was definitely wound up tonight.
Angela stood at the entrance to the stage, just out of sight. She’d been told that two different bachelor parties were in the audience. From the sound of it, both parties had imbibed more than their share of alcohol.
This was her fifth night of dancing. Each one had gotten progressively easier. The other dancers had been enormously supportive and their advice of going to another place in her mind or dancing for one man only had helped. Now, when she strutted out on to the stage, Jake was first and foremost in her mind. She heard the music but other distractions like whistles and crude remarks were greatly diminished. The fingers and hands that tried to grope her when they slid money into her clothing were a little harder to ignore. During those times, her teeth were grinding behind her smile. No one had complained that her smile was fake—her smile wasn’t what they were looking at anyway.
She had even managed to forget she was dancing to attract a killer. He wasn’t going to come after her on stage so she was able to be herself and dance the way she wanted and for the man she wanted.
In a way, this had been her communication with Jake this week. Since that first night when she had busted his nose, he’d been professional but distant. She knew it wasn’t that he was holding a grudge. He was simply acting as her partner—which was exactly as he should act. That didn’t prevent her from wanting more.
Now, as Lucy exited on the left side of the stage and Dark Angel’s music started up, Angela focused on Jake—all the things she wanted to tell him, all the ways she wanted to love him. With him firmly in her mind, she glided on to the stage, her body swaying sensuously. She let the music take over. The size of the stage made it impossible for her to close her eyes for any length of time. The last thing she needed to do was fall into the audience. But she had learned that half-closed eyes worked just as well, allowing her to dismiss the dozens of eyes watching her and picturing only one set, hot with desire, filled with need and love as they roamed up and down her body.
Grabbing the pole, she swung effortlessly around, landed gracefully on her feet, then stepped back and looked up at it. In the place of a steel silver pole, stood a tall, sexy man with a square jaw, sensuous male lips, a noble Roman-like nose and piercing blue eyes. Yes, this was the man she wanted and loved.
Jake’s image before her, Angela began to dance in earnest.
It had been the week from hell and was only getting worse. Jake leaned against the bar, his pose relaxed and indolent. He hoped he looked like a semi-bored owner of a strip joint. What was going on inside him had nothing to do with boredom and everything to do with going quietly insane.
Every night he had watched Angela come out on stage and each time she did, he could swear the temperature in the room increased by twenty degrees. Even though he watched the audience most of the time, he felt the need to check her on stage occasionally to make sure she was okay.
Mocking laughter sounded in his mind. Checking to make sure she was okay? Yeah, right. If he wasn’t looking for a sadistic killer in