Kowalski postulated that her sudden change in plans was related to the mess one of her brothers had been tied up in.

That was the real reason I was pissed off.

Three of her four brothers were clean. The fourth was a felon. A felon with a record. A felon who’d done a whopping six months, and had then been let off with a slap on the wrist after he’d turned over evidence that led to the conviction of some of his 'friends.' Even after that, coming so close to getting his ass thrown behind bars for who knew how long, he still kept fucking up. More than a few minor brushes with the law.

I didn’t want somebody with that kind of history even tangentially connected to my sister.

I wanted...

My gaze flicked back to Toni and I just about shattered the glass in my hand.

She had turned her head and was staring up at her partner. I could read her desire from where I was standing. He had one arm wrapped around her waist and his expression was just as hungry as hers. The heat between the two of them should have been enough to make the room spontaneously combust.

I wanted to tear her away from him.

I wanted to pull her up against me, and feel her body move against mine.

They left the dance floor and I blew out a breath. I needed to leave. I didn't know what I expected to find, following her like this. It wasn’t solving anything. Wasn’t providing me with any easy answers.

All it was doing was make me think even more about what it would be like to have her naked and submissive...

I couldn't resist though. I stopped and risked another look. It wasn’t hard to find her, even among the tightly packed bodies. It was like she was a beacon, and my gaze was drawn straight to her. She was at the bar with the guy she’d been dancing with, but I didn’t think they were here on a date. She’d bumped into him and he’d led her onto the dance floor. Still, that had been nearly an hour ago and she hadn’t left his side since.

Her gaze swung to mine, pinning me in place.

Shit.

Even though she was too far away for me to see her eye color, I knew that precise shade of blue so well I could still see it. She was staring straight at me and for a span of maybe five seconds, I couldn’t look away.

I knew the very moment when her speculation gave way to irritation, then anger.

Fuck.

She surged upright and started toward me.

Shit.

The crowd shifted and I shifted with it.

If I stayed, I had a feeling I’d do something I’d regret…like put my hands on her.

And then my mouth...

***

The cool elegance of Olympus wrapped around me, a startling contrast to the hot, pulsing place I’d left behind.

Part of me wished I hadn’t left.

Part of me was playing out exactly what would have happened if I’d stayed there and waited for Toni to fight her way through the bodies toward me. I was a good judge of character and I'd spent enough time observing her over the last week to have a pretty good idea of what would've happened when she'd reached me.

She would have told me off, her pale skin flushing, eyes sparking. I would have listened, and it would have amused me and pissed me off at the same time. Right up until she pushed too far, and then I would have snapped at her. Then she would have shouted back, and I would have grabbed her, wrapping my hand in that glorious hair as I finally shut her up the way I'd wanted to since almost the first moment I'd seen her.

Would she moan when I kissed her? Shiver?

Would she freak out and back away? Slap me?

I didn’t know, but I was guessing that last one was the most likely option.

The light in the club changed as I settled down at a table near the railing on the upper level and I looked down at the stage below. A show was getting ready to start.

Bored already despite the fact that I'd just arrived, I looked around.

I didn’t want to watch some Dom spank or whip his – or her – chosen pet into submission. Nor was I in the mood for a public orgy or any of the exhibitionism that I usually found entertaining.

I wasn't even sure why I'd come here, but then a familiar form caught my eye. Contessa Reyes, with her sleek cap of black hair and pale gold eyes, was one of the loveliest women I’d ever seen. She was also one of my preferred subs because she knew exactly how to behave.

She saw me and bowed her head, looking up at me from beneath her thick lashes. The perfect submissive pose. My body automatically responded.

I nodded at the empty seat in front of me and a few moments later, she sat down, crossing one leg over the other. Unlike most of the subs here, she wasn’t dressed in leather, nor was she wearing a skirt so short I didn’t have to guess if she’d gone for a Brazilian. I liked my women submissive, but there were some styles that the bdsm set went for that I didn't find particularly attractive.

To each their own though.

Contessa wore a long, sleek skirt that went all the way down to her ankles but there was a slit in it that went halfway up her left thigh. The slit allowed me to see the vicious red of her boots, a red that echoed the corset she wore. Her dynamite curves practically poured out of the device, although I knew from experience, those curves were all natural. Large breasts, round, lush hips and the kind of ass that filled a man’s hands, Contessa looked like a pin-up from the forties.

And she was the complete opposite of Toni, which was exactly what I needed to get the tiny redhead out of my mind.

“I haven’t seen you here in a while,” she said, her words tinged with her Dominican accent.

“I've been busy.”

She reached out, her eyes seeking permission before she touched me. I gave it with a single nod.

Her fingers brushed across my knee. “You look tense, Sir. May I help with that?”

Instead of answering, I stood up and held out my hand.

In less than five minutes, we were in a private room and Contessa was on her knees in front of me.

It wasn’t her I was seeing though.

It was a diminutive redhead with a mouth I was dying to taste.

Chapter 7

Toni

“So…are you really a cop?”

My dance partner’s name was Luke McCoy, and we’d left the club ten minutes ago.

Before we'd gone, I’d traded out my heels for the little fold-up shoes I kept tucked inside my palm-sized purse. Whoever thought those up needed to be nominated for sainthood. Luke had taken my shoes as I traded them out and was still carrying them for me. Not only did he dance like a dream, he had to be one of the sweetest, sexiest guys I’d come across in a long time.

If I'd been looking for a relationship, he'd be a catch. He was a catch for just one night as it was.

“Really.” His eyes gleamed in the darkness and he grinned at me, a nice, easy smile. “Want to see my badge?” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Handcuffs?”

I laughed. “No. I don’t think that’s necessary. Although, I guess I could shoot your name off to my brothers. They know half the cops in the city.”

“I imagine.” He shifted his gaze to stare straight ahead, his posture stiffening slightly. “I…ah. Well, I've had a few run-ins with your older brother, Vic.”

I tensed, waiting for what inevitably came next.

Luke glanced over at me and shrugged. “What he’s done is his business, his problem. None of yours. But I’d seen you around before, and when you told me your name, I figured out why you looked familiar.” He paused, then added, “If you’d rather me just drop you off...”

“No.” Tugging him to a halt, I smiled at him. “I’ve...well, I’ve gotten use to people making snap judgements about me based off him. It’s nice to not have to put up with it.”