“I’ve only been in there just that one time, on Halloween, and we didn’t stay very long. You’re talking about Camilla, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, that’s her. We talked about it, after finding out where she was, and we admitted that we all thought of her as the one who got away. We still loved her, so we decided to pay her a visit.”
“Yeah?” she asked sympathetically.
“We remembered about her ‘never mix business with pleasure’ rule and when we noticed the possessive vibes her boss and supervisor threw off, we figured it was a good thing. Protective, you know? The Pony gets damn busy on the weekends and a lot of those guys were bound to know she’d been an exotic dancer and we liked that these two guys watched out for her.”
“Oh.”
“We didn’t know they were in love with her, too, and had been for a while. When she explained that she was in love with them and that they were moving forward with their relationship…we knew we were too late. Seeing her so in love with Ben and Quinten hurt like a son of a bitch. I remember looking back that night at all the women in my past, comparing them to her, knowing that we’d lost her because we’d been too busy working and playing the field, and something broke in me.”
She laid her head on his shoulder and squeezed his neck.
“We talked about it and we decided that we wouldn’t be too late the next time.”
“How did you wind up working for her?”
“She was opening the Twisted Bull and Chantilly’s Steakhouse. It’s a large operation and she needed a good security crew, and we’re the best at what we do. She asked us for our help and we agreed.”
“Was it hard?”
Heath smiled. “At first, a little, maybe. But seeing her happy and in love with Ben and Quinten has led me to believe that things turned out the way they were supposed to. She’s a mom now, and really happy, and we enjoy working for her. She’s damn good at what she does. It wasn’t too long after all that happened that we spied a certain gorgeous belly dancer at the Pony on Halloween night.”
He smiled when he heard her soft giggle.
“I know lots of people think love at first sight is silly. You were wearing a mask so I couldn’t really see your eyes but I sure fell in love with what I could see. Yeah, there was plenty of lust mixed in with it, but there was more to it. Enough to fuel my belief that we’d meet you someday.”
“It seems like a long time ago now. But it was just last week we officially met.”
“Yeah. Cody had to stop me from running after you. I didn’t want you to drive off in your Bug without meeting you. We’d just found you, you know?”
She nodded silently against his shoulder and in a languid motion, she wrapped her legs around his waist and he grinned. Someone was feeling sexy.
“What are you doin’, baby?”
She tightened her hold around his neck. “Just want to be close to you,” she said and he could feel her lips brushing against his skin with her words. “I didn’t dream the past few days, did I? You told me you loved me last night?”
He squeezed her gently, wanting to burrow into her sweet heat. “I did. Call me crazy but yeah, I love you.”
She lifted her head and gazed at him. “And Camilla?” Her unasked question was loud and clear.
“When you meet her, and Ben and Quinten, you won’t wonder about her anymore. I’m protective and I love her as if she was my sister. She taught me to have higher standards in relationships by her example.”
“So you’re very experienced? The Twisted Bull is in Morehead like the Dollhouse. Do those women you knew come in the club expecting to hook up with you, and Cody and Spencer?”
Heath hesitated and tilted her chin so he could look into her eyes. There was no point in sugarcoating it for her. “Sometimes, yes.” He smiled and stroked her bottom lip with his when she frowned. “That’s my past, baby. I haven’t hooked up with anyone in a long time. I have an appointment to get a checkup coming up soon and I’ll have lab work done then, so that you can have peace of mind.”
“Good.” She frowned again and looked regretful. “That sounded awful of me. I asked for your history and I shouldn’t get mad when what I hear makes me unhappy. I’m just thinking of how it felt when I saw Presley Ann Woodworth pressing her big boobs all over Cody the other night.” Heath grinned because Maizy looked ready to spit nails just from thinking about it.
Heath squeezed her to him and said, “You don’t have to worry about Cody or Spencer being interested in what comes into the club. We adopted Camilla’s policy of not dating anyone we met there because we knew it would just complicate our jobs. But that doesn’t stop them from flirting.” He tilted his head down and kissed her cleavage and added, “Besides, Presley Ann’s tits are fake. We prefer soft and kissable over towering silicone any day of the week and twice on Sundays.”