were headquartered in a secret base outside of Deep Ellum, but she hadn’t been able to nail that down.
That guy was a member of the gang, judging from his jacket, and definitely military, despite his hair.
And shit. That hair. A long, silky fall of curls. It should be illegal for a dude to have hair like that.
She’d known, the minute she set eyes on him, he was the link. He had the answers. He could reveal all to her.
But then she’d pushed too hard and he’d gone all cold, clammed up and walked away.
She’d blown it.
If he slipped through her fingers, she might never get another lead like this again and her story would be blown. All her hard work for nothing. Marcus would be furious. And Annabelle?
She couldn’t even think about Annabelle.
She couldn’t think about the other reason for her disappointment either. The fact that if her subtle interrogation of him had needed to wander into seduction territory, she wouldn’t have minded.
As a reporter, she often used sex appeal as a weapon, but she balked at actual sex. In his case, she might have made an exception. Because damn, he was hot. She’d noticed him the instant he’d strolled into the bar. How could she not? He was tall and broad and had a dark, steamy vibe that made her all wobbly inside. He was exactly the kind of guy she’d sworn to avoid…and exactly the kind of guy she wanted.
Life was boring when one restricted oneself to a vanilla lifestyle. But things were too complicated for any entanglements, much less one that might make her lose focus. Especially now, with so much at stake.
But if she were being honest, the prospect of having an excuse to break her vow, to play with a guy like him, had been tempting.
Hence the disappointment.
She swallowed it, along with the bitter resentment clinging to her throat, and went about her business, flirting with the guys in the pool hall, fending off wandering hands and subtly probing for information. Not a bit of it was productive.
Each time she went to the bar for refills, her attention wandered over to his table. He sat with a group of friends, and while they were all relaxed and dressed like the other bikers in the bar, Roni couldn’t help but notice something different about these guys. An intensity that shrouded them like a blanket. An alertness the other dudes in the bar didn’t have.
She knew, deep in her gut, these were her best prospects yet. They practically smelled like special ops, despite their attempts at disguise.
It didn’t help that each time she casually glanced in their direction, her gaze met and tangled with his. Didn’t help that when they connected like that, something sizzled through her. Something dark and wet and needy.
It had been a long time since she’d indulged herself with a man she truly wanted. She had Annabelle to think about after all. Besides that, she couldn’t take the chance of Marcus finding out about her…proclivities. He would jump on the chance to use that against her—and that would mean disaster.
But here? In Deep Ellum? So far from civilization? So far from Marcus’ tentacles?
Here, no one would even notice if she went home with some random guy.
Here, no one even knew who she was.
As the evening dragged on, her regret grew. And the regret over the missed chance at a mind-blowing release far outweighed any regret she had over screwing up her re-con by rushing her fences. By the end of her shift, she was in a wad, cranky, annoyed and her feet hurt like hell.
If she ever wriggled out from under Marcus’ thumb and had a chance at another career, it would not be waitressing. It was too damn much work.
At least the tips were good, she thought as she counted out her ones. They would have been better, she’d been told by several gruff and bearded patrons, if she showed a little more of her titties.
That was not going to happen. The groping was bad enough as it was.
The activity in the bar wound down to a crawl after last call. Roni was bummed when she glanced at his table to find it empty. The regret roiled again and she told it to shut up. There would be other chances. There would.
“All set?” Daryl asked as she shoved the wad of bills into her pocket.
She nodded. “Yeah. See you tomorrow.” She grabbed her purse and fished out her keys and headed out