act.
That’s what I told myself while I tried to make small talk and warm Rena to the idea of meeting with Travis for me. But the second the silk of her chestnut hair ran between my fingers, my act of seduction began resembling the real thing.
She smelled good. Like apples and a soft, feminine scent that could only be her skin. As I dropped her mane of hair, I brushed my fingertips along the back of her neck.
Goddamn. Was she this soft everywhere?
Blood rushed to my groin. I clamped my teeth down and forced my thoughts back to the topic at hand. I needed her to pick up cash from Travis, and I needed her not to ask too many questions. Which meant she had to trust me.
If she was as good a girl as I suspected, that would take some finesse.
She looked up at me, her cheeks pink, her eyes wide, her breasts rising and falling with each heavy breath.
I could kiss her.
I could. Mash my lips into hers and taste the candy she rolled from one side of her mouth to the other. A wave of cool peppermint hit me. My hand, clutching the bow of her apron at the back of her waist, tightened around the fabric. My eyes zoomed in on her lips.
Then I snapped myself back to reality. Reality was a storeroom at work where I was charged with picking up and dropping off Sonny’s bookie money with a certain level of professionalism—a level that did not allow for big brown eyes and pursed pink lips.
Peppermint-flavored lips.
I dropped my hand and took a deliberate step away from her. Palming my neck, I tried to look chagrined, like she’d bewitched me and I hadn’t mustered the courage to go through with the kiss. I offered a half smile. She frowned. I decided to get to the point.
“My buddy’s coming in today to see me,” I started. That was true, though “buddy” was a stretch. “He owes me money”—also true—“and I don’t want him to see me like this.”
Her brows bowed in concern as she studied my face. Perfect. Her caring about my well-being was the perfect primer for what I had to ask.
“Did you tell anyone I was at your house on Friday?” I blurted. I needed to know how loyal she’d been.
She started to shake her head, then paused, her mouth forming a little O. “Sort of.”
Shit.
“‘Sort of’?” I stood over her, trying to be intimidating. She studied me curiously instead.
“My friend Tasha.”
I smelled mint. Thought of kissing her again. Swallowed the urge.
“But I didn’t tell her that you were beat up in a bar fight.”
I narrowed my eyes. Really. Because that was the most interesting part of my being there. Unless… the subject of her story to her friend was only that I’d come over. Which was interesting in a whole other way.
“What did you tell her?”
She shifted on her feet, never taking her eyes from mine. “Th-that you showed up because you didn’t have your phone and you called your girlfriend to pick you up.”
Bemused, I sort of repeated, “My girlfriend?”
“Your… wife?” She tilted her head. “Nat is short for Natalie, I assume. That’s why you didn’t want her to see me?”
Was this general curiosity or was Rena asking if I was single? It took every ounce of willpower I possessed to keep from grinning. What was it about her that made me feel so fucking happy all the time?
If seduction worked on her, she’d do whatever I asked and protect me in the process. I closed in on her, testing that theory. Either that or the intoxicating scent of peppermint mingling with the apples drew me in.
“Nat is three hundred pounds of huffing and puffing indignity. He is married. I am as single as you are, sweetheart.” Which I didn’t know for sure, but assumed Rena wouldn’t be interested in me if she had a steady boyfriend. That wasn’t the way good girls rolled.
I lifted her hand and brushed my lips along her knuckles. Unable to resist, I touched the tender flesh between her index and middle finger with the tip of my tongue. Her pupils dilated.
I did it again… She bit her lip.
The third time I closed my lips over her skin in a wet kiss. Her hips shifted left then right in a barely noticeable squirm. That’s when I knew.
I had her.
Rena
I was ringing in an order for one of my tables when Laura, a hostess, interrupted.
“Rena, table ten is