It was exactly what it was starting to feel like, although it was the man and not the place that made it feel like home.

I reached up on my tippy toes and gave him a kiss. A long, sultry kiss that said I want to f**k you. I sucked in his tongue and nibbled on his lip, but broke the kiss before I was unable to.

Jack leaned his forehead against mine. “Fuck Syd.” He pressed his obvious erection into me. “The librarian is going to get a spanking tonight for leaving me like this.”

I knew it wasn’t nice to do, but I loved leaving him wanting more of me. I felt em-powered by the effect I had on Jack, who seemed so unaffected by everything else in his life.

***

An hour into our performance, I spotted Lyle come into the club. He waited until the end of our first set and then huddled us together whispering as if he were about to let us in on classified government secrets.

“There have been some reports of a rat being in the club today. We are closing down two hours early for the exterminators to treat the entire floor.” I immediately started scanning the room to look for the creature and I suddenly had the urge to get back up on the raised stage. Lyle went on that the patrons would be offered free drinks to move to the lobby bar at closing, but that we were free to go early but would be paid for the full night.

Although the thought of a rat in the same room as me made my head spin, the early evening was a welcome surprise, and I had decided to take a cab over to Jack’s to surprise him. But when I went out front to hail a cab, I found Mateo waiting for me. I walked to the car and, as usual, he jumped out to open my door. “Good evening Ms. St.

Claire.”

“Hi Mateo. How did you know I was getting out early?”

Mateo seemed confused by the question. “Jack called to tell me to pick you up at 10.”

I climbed in the car and sat thinking.

How did Jack know that I was getting out early? I knew he owned the hotel, but did they really bother him with every little thing that went on in the hotel? It seemed odd for a man who owns a chain of hotels to be aware of a club closing a few hours early.

The doors opened to the penthouse and I found Jack standing in the kitchen pouring two glasses of wine. He handed me a glass in exchange for a kiss and I kicked off my shoes as I spoke. “How did Mateo know that I was getting off early tonight?” Jack looked at me with a sheepish, but devilish grin. “You left with some unfinished business.” He sipped from his glass, his eyes watching me intently as he drank.

It took me a second to connect the dots, but then I gaped at him with my mouth hanging open. “Are you saying what I think you are saying?”

“I don’t know what do you think I’m saying?” He smirked, actually smirked, at me!

“You had them close down the club just to get me home two hours early to have sex with you?”

Jack clanked his wine glass down on the counter and took mine from my hands, as I was about to take a sip. “You have no f**king idea what lengths I would go to to have sex with you.” Then he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder caveman style as he walked to the bedroom.

Chapter 18

Almost a week went by before Jack asked me if wanted to come to his other office. I was starting to think that he had forgotten, and a strange part of me almost hoped he had. I wanted to pretend that the other part of him didn’t exist. I was blissfully happy with my Jack, the hot hotelier that I had become inseparable from. The thought of seeing another side to him, one that had the potential to change who he was to me, was physically painful to me.

I was surprised when we pulled up at a nondescript building that I had passed by many times but never actually noticed.

I’m not sure what I had expected, but flashing neon signs with a large triple x, would have fit what my wild imagination had envi-sioned better.

The lobby was typical office building gray and there was a central desk with a security guard who greeted Jack by name when we entered. I still hadn’t said a word as we entered the elevator and Jack pushed the button for the third floor.

“Is just your office on the third floor or do you share space with other companies?” I was forcing myself to make small talk to keep my heart from pounding out of my chest.

“I own the building, Cole Productions occupies the entire space.” Cole Productions, it sounds so business like, definitely better than Jerkoff Jack’s I suppose. And his business occupies the entire building? If there were no other companies in the building than I would have expected there to be half naked girls making out in the hallway or something.

We approached a door and I started to panic. My heart raced and I was sure Jack could feel the sweat in my palms. Jack stopped at the door and turned to me. I must have looked as bad as I felt, because I saw the panic written on his face. “Are you okay babe?”

“Yes.” I lied.

“Are you sure you want to do this?

I’ve been sick the last week thinking of bringing you here. You are so good and sweet and everything I’m not and I don’t want to taint you with my disgusting life.” He held my face in his hands and wiped away a stray piece of hair.

I put my hands on his and didn’t expect what came out to come rolling off my tongue. “I don’t want to come, but I have to.

I need to know who you are and this is a big part of you. I can’t let myself fall in love with a man who has another side that I’ve never seen.”

“Fuck, babe. That’s what I love about you, pure and honest, no games.” He kissed my lips gently and pulled me close to whisper in my ear. “I’m falling in love with you too babe.”

Holy. Shit. We picked a fine place for a heart to heart.

The door we were

standing in front of abruptly opened and my momentary swell of love in my heart was pierced by a silver bullet as I stared into the face of the woman that Jack had brought to the conference what seemed like a long time ago.

“Jack, baby, it’s about time. We have two live shoots today, a cover to pick and the writers want approval on the final script in the Candy series.” She put her long red fingernails on his arm and I immediately wanted to scratch out her eyes.

“Jenna, this is Sydney. Give us about 15 minutes to settle in and I’ll start with the cover.”

Jenna gave me a fake smile and I gave her one back. I’d seen the woman twice and heard her speak once, and I was damn certain that she wanted Jack. Or worse, she had already had him.

Jenna walked off and Jack took my hand and squeezed it tight before leading the way to his office. The walk down the halls to his office gave the first glimpse that the office was anything more than a typical office.