The rest of them had all come around, though, especially since they had all started bringing home more money every weekend that she performed.

“How did you get into this, Leah?” she asked.

The girl shrugged. “Typical story. My parents divorced, father split out west somewhere. Mom remarried an asshole who tried to touch me after she’d passed out on their wedding night.”

Izzie instinctively reached out and put her hand on the other woman’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, I survived. Stabbed him in the wrist with a fork and took off. Never looked back.”

“Do you…” she didn’t know how to proceed without seeming judgmental. It just seemed so sad to think of this young woman making this, dancing at Leather and Lace, her only career goal. For Izzie, it was a part-time thrill to stay in shape and save her sanity. Some of the women here, however, saw no other future for themselves.

“What?”

“Do you think you’ll do something else when you get tired of this?”

Leah nodded, her blond curls bouncing around her pretty, heart-shaped face. “I got my GED last year and I’m taking college classes. I’m planning to be a nurse.”

“Good for you.”

Hearing footsteps upstairs, Izzie glanced at her watch. It was only six-a couple of hours before her first number. Usually Nick showed up later than this. But hearing the deep, male voice from upstairs, she immediately stiffened.

“That’s our sex-on-a-stick bodyguard I hear up there.”

“Damn,” Izzie muttered, immediately whirling around. “Stall him if he comes down the stairs, okay?”

“You still playing the ‘nobody can see me’game with him?”

Izzie nodded. “I don’t want him to see me. Please help me.”

The woman offered her a big smile. “You got it…in exchange for one of those flowers your secret admirer sent you.”

“I’ll do you one better,” Izzie said as she pushed open her dressing room door. She grabbed the vase and thrust the bouquet at the young woman. “You can have all of them. Just don’t let him near my door.”

Either Leah was true to her word, or else Nick hadn’t yet ventured downstairs. Whatever the case Izzie had privacy for the next twenty minutes. Long enough to get her hair extensions clipped in place and put her mask on. Only after she’d yanked it into position did she realize she’d forgotten her false eyelashes.

“Damn Harry for not giving me a lock,” she muttered, glancing at the closed door. If she took the mask off to put her lashes on, she risked Nick walking in on her. No, he hadn’t exactly gone out of his way to be alone with her as the Crimson Rose, but she couldn’t count on her luck lasting forever.

Frowning at her reflection, she did a quick evaluation, wondering if she really needed the lashes. Her eyes had disappeared. She looked like the Marquis de Sade.

“Need the lashes,” she muttered.

She’d been putting false lashes on her eyelids for years, she could probably do it…well, not blindfolded, but masked.

“Sure,” she whispered as she bent toward the mirror. Grabbing one lash, she dabbed special glue on it, then carefully reached into the eyehole of her mask and applied it.

“One down,” she said as she blinked rapidly, pretty proud of herself.

The second one was a little trickier, mainly because it was hard to see out of the first heavily lashed eye. But she managed it. And a moment later, when she heard voices in the hall, she was very glad she hadn’t taken the chance and removed the mask.

“Hey, Nick, how’s it shakin’ baby?” a woman’s voice said. Loudly.

Bless you, Leah.

“I need to talk to Rose.” He cleared his throat. “I mean, I need to talk to all of you, and Rose.”

Huh. Still too chicken to see her alone.

She quickly squelched the thought. That man had the most incredible, powerful body she’d ever seen in her life. He was afraid of nothing.

Besides, refusing to see her alone was exactly what she needed him to do. Even if it wasn’t what she wanted him to do.

Tightening the sash on her robe, she reached for the doorknob and opened the door. Nick’s immediately looked over, stiffening when he saw her there.

He so didn’t want to be attracted to her, his expression said it all. Knowing he didn’t want anyone else made Izzie, the baker he’d made such incredible love to a few days ago, amazingly happy.

“I need to talk to you, and all the other girls, in the greenroom for a few minutes,” he said. Without waiting to see if she was coming, he spun around and walked toward it.

Shrugging, Leah followed. So did Izzie. Once they were inside, Izzie realized all the other dancers-nine or ten of them-were already present, including Delilah with her two-foot-tall pile of red hair on top of her head and three inches of makeup on her face.

In varying states of undress, all the other dancers practically licked their lips when Nick walked into the room. She couldn’t blame them. In his tough/bodyguard mode, he looked incredibly hot. Gone was any trace of the sweetheart who’d helped her deliver baked goods. Or the sensual lover who’d given her more orgasms in one lovemaking session than she’d had in entire previous relationships.

In their place was a frowning-scowling almost-man, dressed all in black, looking not only menacing but dangerous. And absolutely delicious.

“I asked you all in here to discuss your security.”

“Let’s discuss your ass,” one of the dancers cracked.

“I’d rather talk about his shoulders.”

“I vote for his co…”

“Ladies,” another voice said as Harry entered the room. Rolling his eyes, he gave Nick an apologetic look. “Please go ahead, Nick.”

Nick got right back on track, hitting them all over the head with the need for tighter security around the place. Though he was talking to everyone, he looked at Izzie so often, she knew she was the one on his mind.

There wasn’t any reason to single her out. Well, not much reason. Yes, she’d had a few persistent customers. One guy had lunged at her on the stage a few weeks back. Another had burst into her dressing room. And there’d been a few parking-lot lurkers who’d been chased away by one of the bouncers, Bernie, who’d been watching out for her since her first night. Long before Nick had come on the scene.

In this job, she’d expect nothing else. But Nick was relentless in his lecturing. He kept on about how they all needed to look out for one another, report anything suspicious. Yadda yadda. Izzie zoned out somewhere between “drive a different route home from work every night” and “have a buddy when you go to the restroom.”

That one did spark an “I’ll be your bathroom buddy, Nick,” from one of the girls, a glare from Delilah and another long-suffering sigh from Harry.

Finally, though, the meeting broke up and the other dancers raced to finish getting ready. Izzie quickly ducked out of the room, hoping Nick wouldn’t see her. She’d gotten about ten steps from her dressing room when she realized he’d followed.

“Rose, wait a minute.”

She froze, but didn’t turn around.

“I’m particularly concerned about you. The ‘who’s behind the mask’ element puts you at higher risk. Some whackjob might decide to try to find out for himself.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “Thanks for the warning.” Now go away.

Before she could look away again, she saw a dark frown pull at Nick’s handsome face. “What in the hell?” he muttered, staring at her face.

Fearing he’d recognized her, she quickly lifted her hands to ensure her mask was still in place. It felt okay-but Nick was still staring at her, blinking in confusion.

“What?” she snapped. Remembering at the last minute that she needed to lower her voice to the sultry whisper he’d grown familiar with, she rephrased. “Is something wrong?”

He reached for her. Izzie immediately lurched back, almost tripping over her own feet. If she hadn’t backed herself up against the wall, she would have.