“Don’t you dare, Reba,” he growled.
Oh, I dared. I wasn’t sure why, but I was in a daring mood. I knew I was playing with fire—dangerous fire—that could burn us both very badly, but I didn’t care. I needed Wallie right now. “One kiss, Wallie. Come here and kiss me, and I’ll stop taking my clothes off.”
I unzipped my pants, and he watched as I began to peel them off my hips. Before I could slide them down my thighs, Wallie was at my side and had grabbed hold of my arms, tucking my wrists behind my back. “Don’t you dare take your clothes off.”
“Then kiss me, Wallie.”
A tortured sound tore from his throat a fraction of a second before his lips met mine. He could have kissed me gently, teasingly, but it was passionate and savage. The kiss held every ounce of desire that I knew he felt for me, and I gave it right back to him. He kept hold of my hands behind my back, and I arched my chest against his, straining to have as much contact with him as I could. It was over way too soon, and he released me as quickly as he grabbed me.
“There is your kiss, please do not do that again, Reba. That’s not fair to either one of us. You know how much I want you. Neither of us can afford to lose our jobs right now.”
Instantly, guilt washed over me. “I know, I’m sorry.” I quickly pulled my jeans back into place and grabbed my sweatshirt, tugging it back over my head. “I’m sorry, Wallie. It’s hard not to want you.”
“I know, Reba. Trust me, I think about you all the time, and now with that stupid thing hanging up, I’m going to have mistletoe fantasies about you constantly, but we have to be patient.”
“Okay, okay, I swear I won’t do that again.”
He grinned and tapped my nose. “Yes, you will, and we will have this discussion two dozen more times, but that’s okay.”
I found myself laughing, and Wallie put his arm around me and said, “Let’s go sit in front of our tree and look at the lights in the dark. I want you to tell me about your Christmases when you were growing up.”
Somehow, Wallie and I managed to keep our hands off each other that night. We snuggled on the couch, talking about different traditions that we’d had for holidays, not just Christmas, until the wee hours of the morning. When we finally did head up to bed, we held hands, and he chastely kissed my forehead outside my bedroom door.
The next few days rushed by at work, and before we knew it, it was Christmas Eve. I was in the dressing room having finished my last dance before our dinner break when Destiny flounced into the room and began complaining about how bad tips had been recently.
I didn’t say anything because I’d noticed that my tips had been a little higher than normal, almost two hundred more than normal.
“What about you, Reba,” she asked bluntly as she adjusted her sequined bra, “or is your boyfriend supplementing your tips?”
I’d been putting oil on my legs and, for a second, I froze. I rolled up slowly from my bent position and glared at her in the mirror. “First of all, I don’t have a boyfriend. Second of all, my tips are just like they always have been. Maybe your tips are going down because of your holier-than-thou attitude.”
She spun toward me, and I was on my feet, the two of us in each other’s face immediately. Wayne rushed in the door to get between us.
She yelled in my face, “Everyone knows you’re sleeping with Wallie, but no one knows why you two are so damn special that you can get away with it. What do you have over the boss that keeps you guys from getting fired?”
“We are not sleeping together, Destiny, and what we do—or do not do—is none of your damn business!” I seethed toward her as Wayne pulled Destiny away from me.
“There is no way you are not sleeping with him. Everyone knows you two have wanted to screw each other senseless for a year.”
“Yeah, well, guess what? Every single one of you is wrong. We aren’t sleeping together. He’s helping me out of a bad situation. We made a deal with Mr. Monroe, and we won’t sleep together while I’m dancing—not that it’s any of your business.”
She snorted and tossed her hair. “Yeah, like anyone believes that.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Frankly, I don’t give a shit what you believe.”
Wayne turned to me. “Ty wants to see you, Reba.”
For a second I wondered how he would know that, and then I remembered the coms they wore, and I also remembered that everyone wearing the earpieces would have just heard that discussion, including Wallie. Damn it!
I winced as I left the room, leaving Wayne to unruffle Destiny’s feathers.
Ty’s office door was open when I arrived, but when I entered, he told me to close the door and have a seat. He sank down in the chair behind his desk and rubbed his eyes, looking exhausted.
“Everything alright?” I asked.
He sighed as he leaned back in his seat and examined me. “No.”
A queasy feeling rushed through my stomach. “What’s going on, Ty?”
Before he could reply, the door opened, and Mr. Monroe strode through, looking almost as frazzled as Ty.
“Ms. St. James, I’m sorry to do this to you right now. I honestly don’t have the time to explain all of this in detail, but I need you to be patient and trust me, okay?”
I glanced at Ty, who gave me a strained smile.
“Okay, trust you with what?”
A muscle ticked in his sharp jaw three times. “Reba, I need you to go home now.”
“Excuse me?”
“I need to lay you off, Reba. I don’t have time to explain everything now, but I will explain soon.” He handed me an envelope. “Just go home, and I’ll talk to you soon.” I took the envelope from his hand as he turned to Ty. “Have Wallie take her home,” he directed Ty and then disappeared from the room.
When the door closed, I turned to Ty. “Did he just fire me?”
Ty came around the desk and squatted down in front of me. “He laid you off, but there is something else going on here, Reba. Be patient for a few days, and everything will come out. I promise.”
“But why tonight? Why in the middle of a shift?” I swiped an errant tear off my cheek.
“Because after we all heard Destiny, we knew we couldn’t let it keep going. You and Wallie might not be sleeping together, but people think you are. We can’t allow that.”
“So you’re firing me for something I didn’t even do?” my voice was rising and the door burst open.
Wallie stared at Ty and then me. “What the hell is going on?”
“I just got fired.”
“No,” Ty corrected, “she got laid off.”
“What the hell is the difference?” Wallie barked.
Ty sighed. “Wall, take her home. Relax, have freaking fantastic sex all night long and all day tomorrow. You can now. Her dance contract is null and void. Enjoy your Christmas. We will explain it all in a day or two.”
“Explain it now!” he demanded.
“I can’t,” Ty said and slumped into his chair. “You’re just going to have to wait.”
“You know what, you can’t do this to her. You can’t just fire her because of this shit. If you’re going to fire her, then I’m quitting, too.”
Ty jumped out of his chair. “Wallie, don’t do that.”
“Tell me why I can’t?”
Ty ran a hand through his dark hair. “Fine, whatever. Get the fuck out of here. I don’t care.”
I began to panic. I knew losing my job was bad, but I didn’t want Wallie to ruin this great job here because of me.
“Ty,” I called out frantically.
He lifted his tired eyes to me. “Reba, go home. It will all be okay. Just give it a couple of days, I promise you. It’s all going to be okay. Go home and enjoy your Christmas.”
I nodded at Ty as I reached for Wallie’s hand. Something in Ty’s eyes told me that he was telling me the truth. Everything was going to be okay soon, and, whatever that meant, it also meant that Wallie wasn’t going to lose his job either.
Chapter Fourteen
Wallie
I wasn’t sure how we made it through the week without getting tangled in the sheets, but we did. I was actually pretty proud of myself for not giving in to temptation, there were a few times I wasn’t sure I would have been able to hold myself back, like when she’d been standing under the mistletoe half-dressed, but I had.
That single sight had left me with nightly fantasies of all kinds of things that I wanted to do to her under that silly little decoration, and I was pretty sure that after Christmas was over, I was going to leave it hanging until she was done dancing so I could take advantage of it at the first chance I could.
I never dreamed that the chance would come on Christmas Eve. I also didn’t think that I would have had to quit my job after they let Reba go. I walked out of Ty’s office with my head spinning. I yanked the earpiece out of my ear and removed the microphone and battery pack, shoving them into Wayne’s hands when I passed him in the hallway.
“Get your stuff, I’ll be right back. I just need to grab some things from my locker.”
Reba nodded silently and disappeared into the dressing room, her face so pale that I hated leaving her, but I wanted to get out of there as quickly as I could. I grabbed my keys and my jacket from inside my locker and closed the door. I spun around and jumped when I found Ty behind me.
“What the fuck do you want?” I snarled at him.
“Man, calm down. This isn’t what you think. Look, Quinn has something going down right now. Give it a few days, and Reba will be back with a better job, and you guys will be out in the open. Things are going to be fine. I promise.”
“But why did you have to lay her off?”
I saw in his eyes that he wanted to say but knew he couldn’t while we were here. The walls had ears. “Never mind,” I murmured.
“Give it time. Go home and make love to that woman of yours. Have an incredible Christmas. I hope I’m still invited over.”
“Yeah, man, you are.” I clasped his hand and we pumped a shake out. “You know you’re always welcome.”
“Tell her things are going to work out, I swear things are. I got your back, and I got hers, too.”
“You always do, Tytan.”
“I know, and you have mine, too.”
“That I do,” I told him.
I didn’t waste another moment with him and rushed out the door and found Reba. She was standing in the dressing room staring at her bag.
“Hey, baby,” I whispered to her as I joined her. Pepper watched me as I wrapped my arm around her. “Come on, Reba, let’s get out of here.”
“What’s going on?” Pepper asked.
“Reba’s taking a few days off,” I answered and picked up Reba’s duffle bag, putting my arm around her shoulders, and then led her out of the room.
Wayne nodded but said nothing as we walked out of the club. Reba didn’t say anything until we were at my truck and then she turned to me quickly. “No, you need to go back in there. I can’t have you lose your job, Wallie.”
I took her face in my hands. “Reba, baby, don’t worry about it. It’s okay. I spoke to Ty for a moment before I found you. They have another job planned for you that’s better, but Quinn couldn’t get into it with you just yet. He had to let you go for some reason, but they plan on bringing you back for this new job. They want us to go home and enjoy our Christmas together.”
“So you’re not quitting?”
I laughed. “Do you really think Ty would let me quit without a fight?”
She shook her head and then fell against my chest. “I don’t understand any of this.”
“Neither do I, baby, but I guess we aren’t supposed to understand it. We’re just supposed to go with the flow right now, so let’s go home.” I glanced at my watch. “You know, it’s already Christmas morning. We could go home and open a few presents.”
She lifted her head off my chest and stared at my face. “Or we could go home and enjoy the best present.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m not a dancer anymore.”
My lips split into a huge grin as all my fantasies began to bloom in my mind. “Yeah, so what’s that supposed to mean?”
She mock-glared at me. “That means that you better kiss me right this minute, Wallie, and when we get home, you better kiss me again under that mistletoe, and then you damn well better make love to me tonight.”
I leaned down and rubbed my nose over hers. “Baby, I’m going to peel those clothes off you like I’m unwrapping the most delicate present I have ever received.”
“Yeah, well you better hurry because this present has an expiration date.”
The two of us laughed and then I hustled her into my truck and took her home to do just what I said I would do.
It was one in the afternoon on Christmas Day, and Reba and I had already made love six times. We were both pretty much sated and lounging happily on the couch for a few minutes before our company began to arrive. The majority of dinner was in the oven, and Britt was bringing over a dish, as was Ty. I couldn’t imagine what he was bringing as I’d allowed Reba to deal with the meal coordination.
Our guests were due to arrive at one-thirty, so when the doorbell rang at one, we were both a bit surprised. I was even more surprised to find both Ty and Quinn at the front door.
“Merry Christmas, Wallie. Do you mind if we come in?” Quinn asked.
“Merry Christmas, boss.” I held the door open, although I had mixed feelings about him being here. “Come on in. I wasn’t aware you were coming for dinner.”
“I’m not, but I had news that I wanted to pass on to Reba, and well, you, and figured that you two would want it as soon as you could get it.”
“Well, then come on in. Reba’s in the family room.”
I took their jackets and hung them on hooks by the front door and then led them back to the family room. Ty had a plate of food in his hand, and Reba jumped up, surprised to see them.
“Ty, Mr. Monroe.” She took the plate from Ty as he leaned down and kissed her cheek.
“Merry Christmas, Reba,” Ty said.
“Merry Christmas, Ty. I didn’t expect you so early,” she set the plate of food on the counter behind her and turned to Quinn, “and I didn’t expect to see you at all.”
Quinn stepped forward and gave her a smile that I knew made most women’s panties wet. “Reba, I’m sorry about yesterday. I had quite a lot going on, but, trust me, I was not doing that to hurt you. For paperwork purposes, I needed to let you go.”
She scrutinized his features. “Why?”
He handed her a bottle of wine. “Mind if we crack that open? I’ll answer that over a glass.”
She took the bottle, handed it to me, and directed, “He can pour, you can talk. I’d like an explanation as to why you had to do that. I thought we had a deal that I was going to dance for ninety days, and that Wallie and I would not get involved during that time. Wallie and I were abiding by that deal.”
Quinn put his hand on her shoulder and turned her toward the sitting area. “I know you were, Reba, but I needed our books to say that you were let go, so I could give you a severance check.”
She stopped and turned to look at him. I was about to uncork the bottle, but his words gained my attention, as she asked, “Excuse me?”
“I knew that you would never make enough money by dancing to pay off your debt, so I wanted to give you a way to get ahead.”
“Yeah, but then you let me go, so unless that severance check is ninety grand, I’m not going to be able to get enough money together to pay the debt now.”
“You didn’t look at the check?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “No, I assumed it was the last of my tips.”
Quinn grinned at her, laughing lightly. “Reba, go get that envelope and look at it.”
Reba glanced my way, and I nodded to her. I returned my attention to the cork and had it undone and was pouring it when she returned, her eyes
wide. “This is fifty thousand dollars, Quinn.”
“Yes, it is.”
“What?” I jumped in. “You gave her fifty grand as severance?”
“Yes, I did, but it’s so much more.”
Reba came to my side, and I put my arm around her. She was shaking. She grabbed a glass of wine from in front of me and guzzled it.
Once she set the glass down, Reba nailed him with a direct look. “Okay, explain, please, and I’m sorry for calling you Quinn a moment ago. I was a little flabbergasted and not thinking.”
“That’s okay. I believe we are to the point in our relationship that you can start calling me Quinn.” He reached for a glass and suggested we all take a seat. At this point, Ty was just hanging back, but he grabbed a glass and joined us in the family room.
After we were seated, Quinn began speaking again, “You are aware that I am opening another club, right?”
“Yes, I’m aware.”
“It’s going to be called Dreaming Your Desires, and it’s a ladies’ club. It will have all the gentlemen’s club has and more for the ladies.”
“That sounds wonderful, but what does that have to do with me?”
“Well, I want you to be in charge of the food services. You would be in charge of the restaurant, the catering, and the bar. You would oversee all of that, at least to start. If it gets to be too much, we can hire an assistant for you. Eventually, you will need an assistant, and you’ll be overseeing several other managers.”
I glanced at Reba. Her jaw hung open, and I reached over and pushed it closed with my finger. It immediately dropped back open again and then she shook her head.
“But I’m not qualified. I didn’t finish my classes.”
“And that’s why I let you go and gave you severance. You now will have enough money to pay for the last of your college classes to get your degree.”
She paused to think for a moment. “That’s great, but it won’t get rid of my debt. I’m still going to have that hanging over my head.”
“Your debt has been taken care of,” he said and then sipped from his glass as if he’d said nothing more than the time of day.
Whispers of Winter: A Limited Edition Collection of Winter Romances Page 112
