“I’ll do it.” Luc’s offer was more like a demand. “Stay here and call Remy.”
“They’re my guests!”
“They ate my food. I’m not playing at semantics when your safety is on the line.” Then he turned to Tyler and threw a mean glare the bouncer’s way. “Keep her here and guard her. I swear to God if you ruffle a hair on her head, I will split your skull in two and flambé your brain while your heart is still beating.”
Tyler grunted. “Notice how none of this shit happened to Alyssa until you showed up? Everything was fairly peaceful before you leapt into her life and fucked it all up.”
“You get too jealous? Can’t stand to see me with her?” Luc challenged.
Oh, dear God. “Can you two refrain from beating the crap out of each other for the next ten minutes? Let’s get the doors closed and locked. When the parking lot is empty, you can go out there and have your pissing match.”
Luc’s gaze touched her; then he glared darkly at Tyler. “I’ll be back.”
When he’d gone, Tyler’s disapproval reverberated through the resulting tense silence. “I don’t get it. If you push him out of the fucking door, the threats go away.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
He shook his head. “Probably. But you let him stay. In your house. In your fucking bed! I’ve only worked for you a few months, but it’s not like you to start a fling or wear your heart on your sleeve. Do you . . . love him?”
The question blindsided her. When had Tyler ever really talked about feelings? Almost never, at least before Luc came to town. Was he actually jealous?
Alyssa hesitated. She thought of lying. But if he wanted to hurt her, punish her, why hadn’t he done it already?
Finally, she forced herself to look him right in the eye and whisper, “Yes.”
LUC plastered on his most winning smile as he helped the last of Bonheur’s patrons out the door. He nodded, smiled, signed autographs, inching them ever closer to the exit. Finally, at just past eleven, he shut them out and locked up, then palmed his phone.
Without hesitating, he dialed his cousin’s number. Deke picked up on the first ring.
“What’s wrong?”
“How do you know something is?”
Deke snorted. “You’d never call this late if everything was great.”
Good point. Nothing was great right now.
Luc sighed. “Whoever broke into Alyssa’s club has threatened her—more than once. Tonight, he broke into Bonheur and threatened her again. The locals seem either incapable or unwilling to get to the bottom of this. I need your help.”
“I’m leaving on an assignment day after tomorrow. I’ll stop in tomorrow with Jack, since I have to confer with him now that he’s back. I’ll see if I can bring Kimber’s brother with me.”
“Which one?” Luc swore under his breath. Neither had approved of his brief relationship with their sister and his cousin—and made no effort to hide it.
“Hunter.”
Luc swore again. Logan, the younger, was a mean bastard with a temper a mile wide, but he could be reasoned with . . . eventually. Hunter was cold, calculating. Crafty. And as communicative as a brick wall. There would be no talking him out of his dislike.
“Jack and I are trying to convince Hunter to leave the navy. We could use someone like him on our team.”
“What can he do here? I need someone able to investigate who’s behind these threats.”
“Hunter is one of the best. Trust me. You don’t have to like each other, just know he’s going to solve the issue.”
From everything he’d heard, when Hunter was on a mission, he was relentless and cagey. “Whatever keeps Alyssa safe.”
“We’ll be there before noon so you can brief us.”
Luc disconnected the call. Alyssa would not like this; Deke, Jack, and Hunter would insist on controlling her surroundings and restricting her movements, but Luc wanted her safe. Period.
When he returned to the little office, Tyler was reaming Remy a new asshole on the phone. Luc almost liked him for it.
Alyssa looked up at his return. “Make him release me.”
She held up a wrist shackled to a desk drawer by handcuffs.
Luc turned to Tyler. “You carry those on you?”
The bouncer smiled. “She was going to ditch out and say good night to her guests, then head to Sexy Sirens.”
“Like hell!” Luc exploded. Did she have no concept of the fact that if this sick bastard got his hands on her, he’d likely rape her at best, or perhaps torture and kill her?
“I was going to take Tyler, at least until he turned traitor on me. But I have to get to the club. Sadie called and one of the girls showed up stoned. No one can fire her but me. Besides, it’s Saturday night, our busiest night of the week. The girls can handle things for one night, but not two in a row.”
Luc saw her point, but her business wasn’t as urgent as her safety. “The only place we know this freak hasn’t invaded is your house. You need to be there. Call the girl who’s using and fire her over the phone. Tyler can head over there, be your eyes and ears, but you’re not putting yourself in danger.”
“It’s my club. I can’t afford to shirk my responsibility because you don’t like it.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re not going.”
If Alyssa had had both hands free, Luc had no doubt she’d tear his head off. “You’re not my husband or boyfriend. You said yourself that we’re just fucking, so you’re not going to stop me.”
“I’m not arguing this. What did Remy say?”
Tyler filled him in on a conversation that was a whole bunch of blah, blah, blah as far as Luc was concerned. Bottom line: Legally speaking, other than some vandalism and a little B & E, the culprit hadn’t done anything arrest-worthy.
Luc couldn’t contain his curse. He’d deal with the lazy sheriff later. For now, he had about twelve hours to keep Alyssa safe. Then Deke, Jack, and Hunter would show up and nail this psycho, and he could concentrate on proving to Alyssa they were more than fucking . . . even if he didn’t yet know what.
“Typical Remy.” Alyssa shrugged. “Since you pea-brained men are going to sideline me from running my business tonight, will you at least let me hit the bathroom before we leave? I need to change out of my dress.”
Luc looked at Tyler, who looked back at him. The silent communication on both parts seemed to ask where she could possibly go without a car. Certainly, she wasn’t dumb enough to walk the six blocks to Sexy Sirens near midnight with a stalker chasing her.
“Sure.” Tyler finally got to his feet, fished the cuff key out of his pocket, and released her. “Nothing funny.”
Alyssa shook her wrist and glared at them both. “Wait here.”
FIVE silent minutes passed. Luc grew antsy, but women and changing clothes . . . He knew from experience that wasn’t always a short process. Especially someone who wore stockings and garters and those fuck-me shoes. It all took time. Besides, he and Tyler hovered near the restaurant’s front door with an eye on the bathroom hallway. Alyssa had nowhere to else to go.
But Tyler started tapping his thumb on one of the chairs, looking as jumpy as Luc felt.
“If you break her heart, I’ll fucking kill you,” Tyler proclaimed suddenly into the silence.
“What’s between Alyssa and me is none of your business.”
Tyler stood, rising to his full height, perhaps a half inch taller and thirty pounds heavier. “Yeah? What’s between Alyssa and me is none of your fucking business, either.”
Luc gritted his teeth, loath to admit that the other man was right.
“And when you’re gone,” Tyler went on, “I’ll still be here. With her. Every day. Every night. You may be the shiny new toy now, but she’ll get over you. I’ll help her.”
Though he wasn’t surprised by Tyler’s words in the least, they were like a stab in the heart. To hear his suspicions—fears—about the bouncer’s relationship with Alyssa all but spelled out hurt like hell.
He swallowed Tyler’s assertion, digested it. In another few minutes, Sunday would begin. Luc had to leave no later than Thursday morning so he could be in L.A. on Friday to conclude final negotiations for his cable cooking show. He also had a cookbook past due, and his editor was probably wondering why the hell he wasn’t answering his e-mails.
But even if he could stay, what would he say to Alyssa?
No matter what route he took to fatherhood, he couldn’t achieve it without a woman in the picture. Even if Alyssa supported his decision to adopt or undergo surgery or visit a sperm bank, she’d have to agree to go through the process with him, perhaps carry a child. And they’d have to find a way to make their passionate, difficult relationship work.
What kind of mother would she be? Certainly not like his own. And that presumed she even wanted to have children. After trying to warn him this morning that she wasn’t on birth control, Luc was fairly sure that motherhood wasn’t on her agenda anytime soon. That didn’t change the fact the felt something deep and new for her.
So fucking complicated.
Still, he couldn’t just leave her to Tyler. “I’ll be doing my best to make sure she can’t get over me.”
Tyler growled at him. “Are you that fucking selfish that you want her heart broken after you’re gone? Do you like the thought of seeing her unhappy?”
No. But Luc didn’t think Alyssa had many feelings for him that weren’t tied to orgasm. And he hated the thought that she likely had the same feelings for Tyler.
“Where the hell is she?” Luc changed the subject and paced, wishing he could hold her now. He needed her, like, five minutes ago, couldn’t wait to get her back into her big bed, slide into her body, and forget about everything that was so wrong between them.
Tyler shrugged.
Luc glanced at his watch, then the bathroom door. “Fifteen minutes to change clothes?”
The bouncer glanced at his watch, too, his anger melting into a frown. “It’s been that long?”
Yes. And he knew precisely why. “Is there a window in the bathroom?”
Tyler hesitated, body still, mind racing. “Fuck!” He broke into the bathroom with a shoulder to the door. “She bolted.”
Luc ran out Bonheur’s door. Behind him, Tyler did the same, barely taking the time to lock up.
“Goddamn her. I swear, she doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘spanking,’ but she will when I’m done with her,” her bouncer snarled.
And when Luc was done? She’d know better than to ever disobey him again when he was feeling edgy and protective.
A few minutes later, Luc stormed into the club, Tyler right behind him. Alyssa wasn’t surprised they’d found her quickly. She was surprised by how incredibly pissed Luc looked.
“You’ve got trouble,” Sadie pointed out, nodding in the men’s direction.
Though it was hard to take someone seriously wearing a thong and pasties, Alyssa couldn’t discount the dancer’s observation. Her heart raced as if she’d danced two hours straight.
“I’ll be upstairs. If either asks, direct them to my office.”
“Tyler will know better, but okay.” Mouth curling up in a playful smile, Sadie nodded. “You know they’re only going to be more angry when they find you.”
Alyssa shrugged. “It’s going to be a screaming match, no matter what. Thanks again for picking me up at Bonheur so I could let acidhead Jessica go before she made a mess of her act.”
“Causing mayhem among the male population is always my pleasure.”
Tonight, Alyssa couldn’t deny she’d done that, too. Sneaking up the stairs, she eased herself into her bedroom, changed out of her dress, into a short skirt, half shirt. She tugged into thigh-high stiletto boots in red, wondering if they’d be like waving a cape in front of a bull’s face when Luc found her, but she sensed she didn’t have time for stockings and garters, so this would have to do.
Before she could leave and make her rounds downstairs, Tyler kicked in her door. She looked behind him for Luc. But he was alone. So, Sadie had been right. Luc had believed the other dancer, while Tyler hadn’t. Trouble was coming in a one-two punch tonight.
“Goddamn you!” He stormed across the room, and she stood to meet him.
At the fury boiling in his eyes, she backed up. Whatever this expression was on his face, it was beyond normal concern and annoyance. His entire body was taut, wired to explode. A quick dip of her gaze proved he was hard everywhere.
“Tyler,” she tried to reason with him. “Stop there. You know you can’t—”
“You can’t! Don’t hire me to fucking keep you safe, then run off by yourself when there’s danger.”
“Sadie picked me up and drove me over here,” she placated.
