Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 117201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
“What happened?”
“Can you come get me? I’ll explain when you—”
“Address.”
“It’s a club called Down.”
“I’ll find it. Are you okay, Tallulah?”
“Yes.”
Something about her tone must have inspired doubt, because a drawn-out pause ensued. “Share your location with me, all right? I’m already in the elevator.”
Chapter Nine
Burgess left a quick note for Lissa explaining he’d be back soon, just in case she woke up while he was gone, then asked the doorman to make doubly sure no nonresidents entered the building in his absence. Then he sped toward the harbor like a Formula One racer at Monaco, arriving ready to leap out of the car and kick in the front door of the club. He slumped backward in the driver’s seat, however, when Tallulah emerged onto the sidewalk and ended his crusade before it started. She was fine. Alive, well, and unharmed, at least to the naked eye. Had she just lost her wallet or something? A total possibility, because, yeah . . .
His au pair was toasted, teetering toward him on her heels. Not sloppy or fall-down drunk, just bright-eyed with her makeup smudged drunk. And still mind-blowingly beautiful.
Burgess checked for oncoming traffic in his rearview before getting out to open her door for her. When he gripped the handle before she had the chance, her lips parted on a breath and she looked up at him, blinking. Then?
She checked him out. Blatantly and openly. Right there on the side of the street.
With her tiny purse clutched between her tits, her brown gaze carved a path from his chest to his biceps, down to his thighs and yeah, right at his crotch. She didn’t even seem to realize she was doing it, either, and Burgess decided he liked drunk Tallulah very much.
“Hi. Thanks for coming. Hi,” she said, all husky and warm, making his abdomen tighten up. She stepped into his space, close enough for her knee to bump the top of his shin, her head angling back so they could keep eye contact. And damn, his hands wanted to reach out and grip her hips or shoulders to keep her steady, but he was painfully aware that it would overstep their boundaries of her employment, especially considering the trauma she’d confided in him. “Isn’t it funny that I’m glad to see you?”
He turned that statement over in his head around nine times. “Why is that funny?”
“A few days ago, you made me nervous.”
“I don’t anymore?” he asked, holding his breath.
Nose wrinkled, she examined his chin, his throat. “Not in a bad way.”
“There’s a good way to make someone nervous?”
She scoffed, fell silent, before visibly shaking herself. “I can climb into this vehicle without assistance, I promise. I’m not intoxicated.”
Burgess hid his skepticism. “Okay, Tallulah. I’ll stand here just in case.”
She held up her thumb and forefinger, pinching them together. “That’s a little patronizing, don’t you think?”
He battled a smile. “Some might call it chivalrous.”
“Chivalrous.” She tested out the word, like she’d never heard it before. “You are kind of old-fashioned, aren’t you? Opening the door for me, installing locks, standing there just in case my delicate lady legs can’t handle the climb . . .”
“You could say I’m old-fashioned, sure.”
“It’s very mean Daddy of you,” she whispered.
Burgess’s eyebrows shot to his hairline. “It’s what?”
“Ooh.” She winced. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Now that you have, though, you need to explain.”
She shook her head.
He nodded.
One of her shoulders drooped. “Well. Chloe and I were talking about you and . . . it was sort of decided that you were hot in a mean Daddy kind of way.”
“Mean Daddy.”
“Don’t be offended—it’s a good thing. For you, not me. I don’t have a horse in this race, you know?” She squeezed her eyes closed. “I’m going to regret every second of this conversation in the morning.”
“I have news for you, it’s already morning.”
“You know what I mean, the morning that comes with sunlight attached.”
Burgess hummed, trying to memorize her softened features up close, the dusting of sparkles on her cheekbones, the black smudge in the outer corner of her right eye. She was going to say something else, but seemed to remember a more pressing issue all at once, her attention darting back toward the front of the club.
“Anyway, we should go.”
He followed her line of sight, his senses going on high alert. “All right,” he said slowly. “Where is Chloe? Does she need a ride?”
“No, Sig picked her up.”
“Sig was here? And he left you behind?” He felt a shout coming on and couldn’t quite control it. “Why the hell didn’t he drive you home, too?”
“I told him I’d get a cab on my own—look, it’s complicated. Sort of like Chloe and Sig’s relationship? What is even happening with them?” She waved her hands around. “Come on, I’ll explain on the way.”
Burgess ground his back teeth together, moving in close behind Tallulah out of caution as she stepped onto the running board of the SUV and boosted herself up. He was momentarily hypnotized by the little flip of her skirt and flash of thigh, but thankfully not so much that he wasn’t prepared to catch her if she lost her balance—which, of course, she did. The heel of her shoe didn’t quite fit on the running board and it slipped. She almost corrected herself by grabbing for the seat belt dispenser, but by then, it was too late.