one major argument, he added, “Except for Mama’s crying. Which we’re all used to and you can get past. You just need to figure out what you want to do, and go after it.”
Good idea. And lately, Nick had been figuring out what he wanted to do, especially since he’d been working at the club. “An old buddy of mine from the service is putting something together with a couple of the other guys. They’re talking about opening up a protection business.”
“Professional bodyguard?” Joe asked, looking surprised.
“I have the military background for it and I like what I’m doing at the club.”
Joe smiled. “Especially when the people you’re guarding are very easy on the eyes.”
“Like you’d ever look at another woman.”
The twinkle in his brother’s eyes confirmed that. “Hey, I’m not you. You’re the single one. Have you met anybody, uh...interesting?”
Nick felt heat rise up his neck. Because that was a loaded question. He had definitely felt interest in the Crimson Rose. But now that he’d had Izzie—tasted her, consumed her, made love to her—he knew he didn’t want any other woman. But he couldn’t very well explain that to Joe...without hinting about what had happened with Izzie. She’d never forgive him if that little tidbit became common knowledge. “I guess.”
“Their star performer?” Joe sipped his beer. “I hear she’s one of a kind.”
Clearing his throat, Nick sprawled back in the booth. “She is that.”
“Have there been any more problems with her?” Joe sounded only casually interested, but Nick’s guard immediately went up.
“Problems?”
“Threats, freaks trying to grab her?”
Nick sat up straight. “No. What are you talking about?”
“Didn’t Harry even tell you why he hired you?”
He had, but only in the most general terms. Nick didn’t realize Rose had actually been threatened. “What do you know?”
“Just what the guys were whispering about when we were working at the club. That there had been a few incidents that had disturbed Harry and scared the dancers. Especially the featured one.”
Harry Black had said almost nothing about any specific threats. Rose had said even less. Why would they hire him and then tie his hands by not giving him all the information he needed to do his job? He just didn’t understand it. “Maybe whoever was causing the problems got caught and the threat has been eliminated,” he murmured, speculating out loud. “Because I haven’t gotten any kind of specific heads-up.”
Joe kept his eyes on his beer, for some reason not looking Nick in the eye. Which made him wonder about his brother’s interest in the stripper.
He immediately discounted any suspicion that Joe was interested in the woman for himself. He was married to the sexiest kindergarten teacher ever born, and he adored her and their baby daughter. Besides, of all the Santoris—who’d been raised to equate cheating with a mortal sin—Joe was the very last one who’d ever stray.
“Well, if I were you, I’d stick close to the featured attraction at Leather and Lace. I think she might be more of a target than she or Harry would like to admit.” Shaking his head, Joe added, “There are some really sick guys out there who like stalking vulnerable women.”
Suddenly feeling on edge, Nick nodded, anxious to get to the club and question Harry Black. He didn’t particularly want to confront Rose—not alone, anyway—but one thing was sure. He had been hired to do a job: protect her. It was about time he stop letting his physical response to the woman interfere with doing that job.
And it was well past time for him to stop letting his feelings for Izzie Natale consume so much of his attention that he didn’t even realize a stalker might be threatening someone he’d been hired to protect.
That had to end. Starting right now.
So it looked like Izzie was finally going to get what she wanted. Him...out of her life.
* * *
“HEY, SOMEBODY SENT you flowers.”
Izzie hesitated, her hand on the doorknob of her dressing room. One of the other dancers, a young blonde with a sweet smile and a killer body, approached her. “They were waiting on the stoop at the back entrance when I got here. Had your name on the envelope. I put them in your dressing room.”
Izzie’s first reaction was a tiny little thrill as the image of Nick’s handsome face filled her mind. But it quickly dissipated. Nick had no idea she worked with him every Saturday and Sunday night.
Damn good thing. Because if he found out now, after she’d had such incredible sex