Careful What You Kiss For

by Jane Lynne Daniels

It was only after Max shot her a skeptical glance that she remembered why she had ended up here in the first place. Rhonda’s broken nose. “Generally speaking, anyway,” she clarified. She could have sworn she saw the corners of his mouth begin to turn up, but he was back to cop mode before she could be sure.

  “Look, this isn’t my first vice assignment,” Max said. “Just about everybody’s got a little something going on outside of the rules, but Gary’s got more than a little something going.” He eyed her.

  “There are rules?”

  Max’s brows drew together.

  “I mean, of course. The rules.” Whatever those might be. She motioned for him to go ahead. “Sorry.”

  “Tell me I’m wrong.”

  Tensley sighed. “I don’t know what to tell you. I believe it, because the guy makes my skin crawl, but I haven’t seen anything.”

  Max looked at her long and hard. A horn honked and he had to brake fast.

  Tensley clutched her armrest. “Maybe you should let me out here.”

  He ignored the suggestion and kept driving. This time he addressed his words to the windshield. “That’s why I thought you could help. You haven’t been there long enough to get drawn into too much yet.” He paused. “Right?”

  Now she was the one to give the long, hard look. “Seriously. You need to ask me that?”

  He shrugged, but the offhand gesture wasn’t reflected in his tense expression.

  “All I do is dance.” She really, really hoped that was true. “So what is it you think Gary’s doing?”

  “For starters, I’m thinking there’s a separate menu of services.”

  “Oh.” She thought about that.

  “It’s that or drugs.” He gave her a sidelong glance. “Or both.”

  “Wouldn’t surprise me.”

  Silence for a few minutes. Tensley looked over at him, watched the hard set of his jaw. “There’s something more. What is it?”

  “I’ve seen a couple of people in the club who shouldn’t be there.”

  In Tensley’s opinion, no one should be there except maybe those with membership in the perv-of-the-month club, but she kept that thought to herself. “What kind of people?”

  “Let’s just say they’re pretty highly placed.”

  “Even highly placed people could have a thing for watching naked women.”

  “They weren’t there for long. And they didn’t pay any attention to the dancing. They disappeared into the back with Gary.”

  “Drug buy?”

  “Could be. But it isn’t adding up. There’s something I can’t put my finger on.”

  “So they’re silent partners in the club. Or running the drug operation. Or … ?” She tapped a finger on her chin.

  “Yeah. It’s that last ‘or’ I’m working on figuring out.”

  “And you’re thinking that’s where I come in.”

  “My captain’s not so sure. That’s part of what you were picking up on from him.”

  She leaned closer, making sure he turned to look at her. “Thought it was his bulletproof vest.”

  “It is. He’s been burned before.” Max refocused on the windshield, his jaw muscles working. “Not so ready to take chances anymore.”

  Tensley settled back into her seat. “You must have convinced him it was worth looking into.”

  “For now.” His chin lifted. “Let’s start with you telling me anything you already know.”

  “I don’t know anything.” Truer words could not be spoken. “At least not yet.”

  “You and Razor. Tell me about that.”

  She’d like to know about that one herself. “Not much to tell,” she said, staring straight ahead. “He thinks there’s more to it than there is.”

  “Did he get you the job?”

  How in the hell would she answer that one? “You don’t think Gary took one look at me and hired me on the spot?” Her laugh stuck in her throat.

  “Absolutely. Way back when, I took one look at you and — ” He cleared his throat. “Never mind.”

  Tensley smiled, but felt it disappear slowly, bit by bit. “I don’t know anything,” she repeated.

  He looked at her again and then back at the street. After a moment that seemed to stretch into an hour, he said, “I believe you.”

  Warmth rushed through her. For a second, she wondered if he would believe her about other things, like the fact that she was not now, nor had she ever been, a stripper. She came within a breath of spilling the whole story, stopped only by the memory of Madame Claire’s words. Events would unravel most unpredictably.

  Which meant there was a possibility things could get even worse than they already were. Hard to believe, but she couldn’t afford not to.

  She shot up straight, the seatbelt tightening across her chest. Telling Max was not an option. “How can I help?”

  “Get into Gary’s office if you can. Look for files, paperwork, receipts. Don’t take anything. Just let me know what’s there. If he’s stupid enough to have left his computer on, see what he’s been looking at. Also, listen to what the other women are talking about. Some of them have to know what’s going on.”

  “Okay.” Sounded easy enough. She’d watched a ton of cop shows; she knew what to do. A mental picture flashed before her eyes — Tensley flattening herself against a wall, then making stealthy moves toward Gary’s office, where she would slip the lock with her American Express card and be inside in one fluid motion. She’d never actually slipped a lock, but it couldn’t be that hard.

  As if he had read her mind, Max said, “This isn’t TV, Ten. Make sure no one has a clue what you’re doing.”

  That fast, she saw herself stumbling over a chair and hitting the floor with a crash, lights flooding the room as a furious Gary, brandishing a gun, threw open the door to see what was going on. She ducked her chin. “I know that.”

  “You can’t trust anyone.”

  “What do you think I am, an idiot?”

  He didn’t answer for a minute, which irritated her enough that she began jerking on her seatbelt and opening her mouth to demand she be let out of the truck.

  Before she could, he pulled to a stop and she realized they were in front of her apartment building. She unsnapped the belt and reached for the handle.

  “Wait.”

  She turned to him.

  “Look. What I’m trying to say is … ” Max hesitated, looking down at his jeans to wrap his finger around a stray thread. “Be careful. These people aren’t like you.”

  “You don’t know that.” The bitter words slipped out before she could stop them.

  “I know you.”

  Her bottom lip trembled, making it hard to answer. She could not let this go further. There were only two things she needed to do. Learn her lesson. And then get the hell out of here and back to her life. He had no right to interfere.

  “You only think you know me.” She kept her eyes focused on her hand, which was gripping the door handle so hard, her knuckles had turned white.

  “How did you end up in that place?”

  Oh, let’s see. Mix one well-intentioned best friend with one under-trained psychic. Fold in one massive regret … .

  And you have one Lila Delightful, baking under the spotlight at Gary’s Gorgeous Grecians. Serving up to a dozen drooling patrons.

  She turned to look at the man who was the heart and soul of her massive regret, and said, “It doesn’t really matter.” Then she pulled on the handle and pushed the truck door open.

  “Hold on,” he said, leaning across the passenger seat to catch the door before it closed. With his other hand, he pulled a card out of his pocket. “Take this.”

  When she did, their fingers touched, sending a ripple of excited awareness through every part of her body.

  “That’s how we’ll keep in touch.”

  Tensley focused on the card, which had a phone number written on it in black ink. She nodded. Then she turned and walked away as fast as she could without breaking into a fu
ll-fledged run.

  If she’d stayed in close proximity to him one second longer, the only lesson she would have learned would have been how to rip the clothes off a cop in broad daylight without getting dragged off to jail.

  Somehow, she suspected that particular lesson wouldn’t meet the Madame Claire criteria.

  • • •

  It turned out Gary wasn’t any more pleasant on the phone than he was in person. If she’d translated his obscenities accurately, he’d said he didn’t have time for Gorgeous Grecians with attitude. All because she’d said she still wanted a job, but didn’t want it to be on stage.

  Jerk. She pulled the cell away from her ear. A few seconds later, she heard a knock at the door, accompanied by a rough-edged voice. “Hey, babe. Open up.”

  Her gaze traveled from the cell phone to the door.

  Razor. Razor Burns.

  Another knock. This time it sounded as though he used both hands. “C’mon. Why you gotta lock the door?”

  Tensley stood up so fast, she knocked over the chair. It fell with a crash against the wooden floor. “You okay?” Razor asked, rattling the handle.

  “Just a — a minute,” Tensley called. She wondered if she could crawl out a window. Lock herself in the bathroom. Claim head trauma and total amnesia. Within the next sixty seconds.

  From across the floor, Gemini watched her, his tail swishing, judgment in his eyes. No matter the situation, you could count on a cat to think he had a better idea. “Fine,” she shot in his direction. “You answer the door then.”

  The cat looked down and raised a paw to lick it, as though Tensley’s problems were too trivial to bother with.

  “Babe!”

  Tensley shot Gemini a “thanks-a-lot” look as she veered around him on her way to the door, without so much as a garlic clove or an onion for protection against a hello kiss. When she opened the door, Razor, who was leaning against it with both hands, nearly toppled over.

  He recovered his balance. “Whoa. That was close.” He flashed a grin and then planted a wet kiss on her lips.

  It took everything she had not to blurt “Eww!” and swipe her arm across her mouth.

  He moved around her as she stood with her hand on the handle of the open door. She popped her head into the hall. It looked like a nice enough escape route, long and narrow, with stairs at the end. No neighbors in the vicinity to act as witnesses. She’d have a head start since Razor seemed to have disappeared into the kitchen …

  A muffled “Yougomintowerktanight?” came from behind her. Tensley blinked and turned to see Razor, clutching a piece of bread folded over some kind of meat, his mouth stuffed with food.

  “Um … what?” She blinked.

  Razor made a show of swallowing, his Adam’s Apple bobbing. “You going to work tonight?” He took another bite of his sandwich.

  “I was, but — ” Hold on a minute. Razor might turn out to be useful. “I asked your father if I could do something different than be on stage and he hung up on me.”

  Razor looked genuinely puzzled. “Why don’t you want to dance?”

  He made it sound like it wasn’t any big deal, which left her struggling for words. “I … you know … .”

  He shook his head. “Nope. You’re the best one.”

  Oh. In spite of herself, she brightened. She was the best at something? Huh. Who would have thought — Now she was the one to shake her head. This was insane, having to explain to her … boyfriend … why she didn’t want to take her clothes off for strangers.

  Think fast. “I hurt myself.” She dropped a hand to her thigh. “That’s it. I pulled a muscle or something.” She grimaced. “It really — ouch.”

  Concern crossed Razor’s face. “Oh man, that’s tough. Did you tell Pop?”

  Tensley shrugged. “I tried, but, well … .” She let her voice trail off, hoping for the sympathy vote. “Maybe you could talk to him for me.”

  The stocky man looked doubtful. “I could try, but it didn’t go so well last time.”

  Last time? She took some comfort in knowing this wasn’t the first time she’d tried to get out of dancing onstage. “I can still work. He probably doesn’t know it, but I’m a hell of a bartender.” Not exactly true, but she had learned how to make two drinks from a cute bartender she’d flirted with at a friend’s wedding reception last year. She unfortunately hadn’t been paying that much attention to the instructions because she’d been caught up with how great the guy looked in his tux, but she could probably fake it. How hard could it be to tend bar?

  Razor’s features mushed together with the effort of deep thought, but then his expression suddenly cleared. “Becca,” he said, snapping his fingers.

  “Becca?”

  “I just remembered. Her grandma’s sick. She’s leavin’ today to go home and see her. I could ask Pop about letting you be the one to cover for her.”

  “Yes. You could.” Tensley grabbed his arm. “Where’s your phone? You could do that right now.”

  “You sure about this? You always said — ”

  “Whatever it was, I didn’t mean it.”

  “So the thing about not wanting to have to look people in the eye — ?”

  Tensley shuddered. God, no, she didn’t want to have to look them in the eye. Not the people who went to Gary’s. But if she had to do it to get off the stage, she would. “Don’t know what I was thinking,” she assured Razor. “Will you call him?”

  He pinched the skin between his brows. “But you said — ”

  “Please?”

  Razor hesitated, then shook his head. “Women,” he said, pulling his cell from his pocket. He took another large bite of his sandwich and wandered back toward the kitchen. Seconds later, she heard him mumble something into the phone.

  She sank into a chair, closed her eyes, and waited.

  Razor’s voice rose, fell, and then went silent. He appeared in the doorway, sandwich-less. “Okay,” he said. “You’re in.”

  “I’m in?”

  “You’re fillin’ in for Becca at the bar. Pop wasn’t happy, but he finally said okay.”

  “He said okay.”

  Razor looked confused. “That’s what I said.”

  She could help Max while keeping her clothes on. Tensley shot out of her chair toward Razor and threw her arms around him. “Thank you.” He was round and solid, like a teddy bear with muscles, and smelled of soap.

  “Sure, babe.” His big arms swallowed her. “You know I’d do anything for you.”

  He was sort of sweet in a lumbering kind of way. Must be why she was with him.

  “Wouldn’t want you to be hurtin’ yourself.” Razor released her and took a step back, looking down. “Hold on. Did your leg get better?”

  Uh-oh. Tensley bit down on her lip, staring at him. “No. I just — wanted to hug you, so I, you know, pushed through the pain.” She put a hand to her leg. “Big mistake, though. It hurts even worse now.” She was such a bad liar.

  Razor apparently couldn’t tell. His face relaxed. “Aw, you can’t be doing that to yourself, just so you can hug your Razorman.”

  “I … uh … .” Could think of no response to that.

  “Come on now. You can have a hug any time you want.” The big man smiled, pulling her back to him. “Wanna show your Razor some lovin’ before you go?”

  Oh My God. No. She did not. “I can’t be late!” She pushed away and began speed-limping in the direction of her bedroom before realizing she was favoring the wrong leg. She came to an abrupt stop and turned to blow him a kiss. “I’m out of here in a few minutes, so see you later. You’ll let yourself out?”

  Without waiting for an answer, she took off toward her bedroom again, this time remembering to limp with the correct leg.

  “Oh-kay,” she heard him say, his voice uncertain, before she shut the bedroom door behind her. And locked it, for good measure. Then she pressed her back up against it, eyes locking on the annoyed cat sprawled across her bed.

  Her apartment d
oor opened and closed. Razor probably wasn’t sure what had just happened. Thankfully, he didn’t seem like the type to pursue finding out.

  Gemini voiced his displeasure at the interruption.

  “Really?” Tensley asked. “What else was I going to do?”

  The cat blinked.

  “That’s what I thought.” She left the door and went to her closet to push through hangers of clothing in search of something to wear. Didn’t take her long to settle on dark skinny jeans, super-cute stilettos and a black tank top. She needed to blend in, especially if she was hanging out anywhere near Gary’s office.

  Speaking of blending … .

  “It can’t be that hard to make drinks, right?” she asked Gemini, who turned away to lick a paw, apparently hoping she’d take her questions elsewhere.

  A lot of help he was.

  “People don’t go to strip clubs for the drinks,” she announced as she began changing clothes. “So no one’s even going to notice what I give them. They’ll probably all want beer, anyway.”

  Once ready, she ran a brush through her hair and stopped for a quick look in the mirror. She’d never looked so good in a pair of jeans. It was maybe the one perk of her new life.

  She grabbed her purse and keys. “Wish me luck,” she said to Gemini. “Drinks to pour; bad guys to catch; lessons to learn.” A premise for a TV show, if she’d ever heard one.

  Gemini responded by burying his face in the covers.

  Damn cat.

  He was right.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Twenty minutes into her shift, Tensley realized how wrong she’d been about bartending being an easy job. At first, she’d thought a smile and a clean counter could carry her through anything. Then a topless woman walked up and fired off drink orders so fast, all Tensley could do was look at her open-mouthed. “I, uh, what was that again?”

  The woman focused in on her for the first time and the exasperated sound she made was loud enough to be heard over the pounding music. “Why are you here? Where’s Becca?”

  “Family emergency.” Tensley tried out her bartender smile, which she’d decided should be a mix of hell-yes confidence and don’t-come-near-me-cheerfulness.

  The woman’s layers of dark eye makeup made it hard to tell for sure, but it looked as though her eyes narrowed. “Maybe you could think about writing this down.”