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Alyssa sent him a bitter laugh. “Dancing around a pole isn’t a career; it’s a way to make ends meet. And no. She didn’t know. I appreciate you listening, but there’s nothing you can do to change the fact we’ll never have the chance to speak again.”

“Is your mom one of the reasons you help the other dancers improve their lives?”

“No. I improved myself for me and me alone. I don’t give a shit what other people think. But if these girls have the drive, I want them to better their own situations because they want more for themselves. They’ll need the fortitude to manage a grueling schedule.”

Luc nodded. “Sounds like eighteen-hour days.”

“Often.”

He sent her a measuring stare. “But you did it—more than once.”

“As I said, I’m a business owner. And I have ambitions.”

Alyssa saw the moment he understood.

“That’s what Bonheur is about. You want . . . what? Normalcy? Respect?”

Luc was getting uncomfortably close to the truth, and it would probably make him laugh. Likely he thought her chances for respectability had died when Clinton was still president.

“It’s just a restaurant,” she protested weakly.

“No. Bonheur is
your
happiness.”

She swallowed. He’d guessed that quickly, but she was afraid to admit he was right aloud. Would he laugh? What if the restaurant failed and she had to continue dancing? What happened when she got too old for even that?

“I’m not ashamed of myself,” she snapped.

He understood her, but not completely—and she couldn’t allow him to. She wanted to feel his body against hers, his heart beating with hers. She wanted his love, and yes, his respect. He could be as sexually demanding as he wanted, but he had no right to expect her to just hand him her soul on a silver platter. He was probing into a past she
never
discussed. With anyone. Blabbing about it wasn’t going to change a damn thing. And who needed the pain of dredging it up when it did no good?

Luc turned to her, his expression startlingly solemn. “I’m sorry for your loss. I hope you find the happiness you deserve.”

WHEN they reached the house, Alyssa hopped from the car before he could get her door or say a word. She was hiding something. Luc was beginning to understand her . . . yet there was a whole chunk of her he didn’t grasp at all. It shouldn’t matter. He wasn’t staying, and he couldn’t again be her lover—even temporarily.

Then why did he feel a driving urge to figure her out?

The pain. That note in her voice, the tightening of her sultry features. The past, her mother—something beyond normal grief—hurt her. Pride hit a note in there, too. Despite her pole-dancing ways, she’d taken the time to thoroughly educate herself. She helped others with the drive to do the same.

What the fuck did it say about him that, in this moment, he wanted to slay her proverbial dragons for her?

Luc stormed in the house, just a few steps behind her. The conversation should be done . . . but he wasn’t ready to end it yet. He had more to decipher.

But the phone in his pocket vibrated, and he pulled it out with a curse. Deke.

He pressed the talk button. “Talk to me.”

“It ain’t good, man. Sophisticated shit. Someone who knew a thing or ten about security systems tampered with the sensors in her upstairs windows, then rigged the control panel to automatically bypass that zone.”

So the culprit wasn’t a drunk frat boy or a prankster. “Shit.”

“I’ve fixed it again and put a trigger on it. If anyone so much as breathes on the device, it will sound an alarm. When Jack gets back, I’ll have him look at it, too, see if there’s anything else we can do to keep this place tight.”

“Thanks.”

“Keep a close eye on Alyssa. Someone wanted to get to her badly enough to screw with a top-notch security system. That’s expertise or a shitload of money to buy the expertise. Makes me wonder just how hard this prick is for her.”

Luc wondered the same thing and cursed.

“I’ll stay close to her, especially until Jack returns.” Wouldn’t that do wonders for his restraint? But he couldn’t worry about that now when Alyssa’s safety might be in jeopardy.

“Need some hardware?”

Guns weren’t his favorite, but Deke had made sure he was efficient and accurate. Luc wasn’t registered to carry in Louisiana, but the situation was too serious to worry about technicalities.

“That’s probably a wise idea.”

“Give me a day or so. I’ll be back with everything you need.”

“I appreciate it.”

Deke hesitated. “I’d do anything for you, man.”

Except allow him to play daddy to this coming baby. Not that Luc should expect it. Or deserved it after the way he’d manipulated Kimber and his cousin.

“Same here,” he said finally.

“You okay with the baby and everything?”

No. The news of Deke’s pending fatherhood had nearly staggered him to his knees, left him unable to breathe. Deke now had everything Luc had ever wanted. Kimber and his cousin had barely tried to conceive and . . . Luc sighed. He was thrilled for them. For himself, he despaired.

And he didn’t want to talk about it again. Think about it, even. His own failure as a man was sharp enough without the rehash.

This week he couldn’t do a damn thing to move closer to his dream. Until he returned home, he had to focus on his promise to Alyssa and now on keeping her safe.

At the top of his list had to be figuring out who her stalker was. His best suspects were Primpton, a nut job if he’d ever seen one. Or Peter, the frat boy who had money and apparently hadn’t learned the meaning of the word “no.”

But what about Tyler? Would the bouncer manufacture terror so that Alyssa felt it necessary to be closer to him? He was shifty enough, but after tonight’s display at the club, Luc couldn’t see why he’d have to. Tyler could touch her any way, anytime, he wanted.

Finally, Luc answered Deke the only way he could. “You deserve to be happy. I’m thrilled for you both.”

“Maybe you should . . . get tested again. It’s been a while, right?”

Years, but nothing would change the fact he had a ridiculously low sperm count. Enduring the humiliation of jacking off into a plastic tube again made no sense. “There are other ways. I’ve read recently about a surgery that extracts sperm. I’m also looking into adoption. Or maybe I’ll find someone with small kids or . . . There are options.”

“Absolutely. All great ones.”

“I’ll work it out. In the meantime, take care of your sweet wife and give her my regards.”

“Will do.” Deke sounded reluctant, but he dropped the subject and ended the call.

As soon as Luc pocketed his phone, he swore and did his best to push aside the turmoil brewing in his gut. He had more pressing problems now.

He should have checked the house before letting Alyssa burst in. If someone had breached her car and her club, it seemed logical he might hit her house next—and perhaps make the attack more personal.

Thanking God that nothing in the house looked disturbed, Luc bounded up the stairs two at a time with a pounding heart. He reached the landing quickly. Light spilled from her bedroom door, and he eased inside.

A rumpled bed, feminine knickknacks scattered across the dresser, a book on the bedside table. Nothing out of place.

But a trail of clothing snagged his attention. Strewn across the gleaming hardwood floor, her tank top, filmy white skirt, silky hose, black garter belt, and lacy bra lay a step or two apart. Heart beating even harder, he followed the pieces to her half-open bathroom door. A barely there thong with a rhinestone-studded GODDESS hung from the knob. Luc leaned to the right and saw inside.

And lost his ability to breathe.

Alyssa had pinned her hair atop her head in a haphazard twist and filled her jetted tub with bubbles. She leaned back and sensuously soaped her gleaming skin with a pink loofah. Closing her eyes, she sighed.

Instantly, he got hard enough to pound steel.

Luc had ascertained that she was safe and no one had broken into her house. He knew needed to back the hell away now. But like last night when he’d watched her bring herself to orgasm, he couldn’t seem to make his feet move.

Suddenly, she lifted her sultry blue gaze to him. “Need something?”

A loaded question.
Yes!
In fact, he feared he’d gone beyond wanting her to
needing
her.

Luc drew in a shaky breath. No. He just needed to get laid. His sex drive had finally reasserted itself after Kimber and Deke’s decision to become a couple—and exclude him. Alyssa just happened to be the first female in a fifty-foot radius.

Except . . . if he’d met her yesterday and she looked like she’d be the sort of mother he had in mind, he would have hustled her into bed and into a relationship as fast as he possibly could. He didn’t just want her; he was beginning to
like
her. And that made her all the more dangerous.

Nor did her pretty pink nipples, hard and bobbing on the water’s surface, help clear his thoughts.

“Alyssa, don’t do this to me.” God, he barely recognized his own voice. “Please.”

She raised a brow at him, dragged the loofah across one breast, over her nipple, licked her lips, and let loose a little whimper. Luc staggered back, gripping the doorknob. The silk that had rubbed against her pussy all day filled his hand. She was everywhere, frying his brain, searing his blood. This had train wreck written all over it, and his craving for her was about to jump the tracks.

“Do what? You’re in
my
bathroom.”

He fisted his hands and counted to ten, eyes closed. “Shut the goddamn door next time.”

“I’m used to living alone. If you don’t like the view, don’t come in.”

She was being intentionally obtuse.

Swearing, he opened his eyes. “If you don’t stop teasing me, you won’t like what happens next.”

Because he felt like a pressure cooker about to explode. What he’d done to her the last time he’d spent the night with her would look like gentle hand-holding compared to the need charging through his bloodstream. If he unleashed that on her, God help them both.

Alyssa merely sent him a calm, considering glance. “Then leave.”

He exhaled roughly and stared at the ceiling. “I’m trying.”

“Let me help you,” Tyler offered, his voice mere inches behind Luc.

As Luc turned, the bouncer shouldered his way in, drifting farther into the little bathroom. He moaned appreciatively at the sight of Alyssa bathing. “Damn, you look gorgeous, baby. Where’s a camera when I need it?”

“What the fuck are you doing in here?” Luc demanded. “Get out!”

Tyler glared over his shoulder. “What are
you
doing here?”

“I’ve been staying here since Homer gave my room away.” Luc crossed his arms over his chest. “How did you get in?”

The bouncer sent him a gloating smile. “I have a house key.”

Those five words jolted Luc. Yes, he’d suspected they were lovers, but this sealed the deal.

If Alyssa was going to let Tyler barge in and stay, Luc couldn’t remain here, knowing they were fucking—or worse, hearing them. Getting out was his only option.

Yet he couldn’t make himself walk out and leave her to share her bed with Tyler.

The other man reached around him and grabbed a towel off the rack and held it up. “Out you go. I need to see you.”

Alyssa speared him with an impatient glare. “Now?”

Tyler nodded. “I tried to call and tell you I was on my way.”

“I think I left my phone in Luc’s SUV. ” She sighed. “Can’t a girl get some peace?”

Despite her protest, Alyssa stood, water cascading down her golden skin, nipples beaded and dripping. The sight charged Luc’s need for her again. Turbo-juiced and on fire, his sex drive overloaded his good sense.

“Let’s go,” Tyler demanded.

“She stays with me,” he snarled.

Shaking her head, Alyssa sent him a smile of apology. “This must be urgent. Hopefully, Tyler and I won’t be too long.”

What was urgent? Tyler’s need to fuck her? Couldn’t be more urgent than his own.

Damn, Luc couldn’t believe that Alyssa had chosen the beefy caveman over him. After she’d been relentlessly tormenting him, nearly giving him a blow job mere hours ago? After more than hinting all day that she wanted him? She was giving Tyler her attention.

Alyssa stepped out of the tub and allowed Tyler to wrap the towel around her, draw her body against his. He slurped water off of her soft shoulder and groaned.

Motherfucking son of a bitch!
Luc grabbed the door, barely resisting the urge to punch Tyler in the face.

Why hit the man because the woman they both wanted had chosen? If he should be angry with anyone, it was himself, for wanting her in the first place.

“Do whatever the fuck you want. Looks like you’re going to anyway.” Luc slammed the door and stalked out into the night.