He smiled in victory. “I knew you were reasonable.”
Before she could give a quick comeback, Luke leaned forward and kissed her. It was quick, fierce, possessive, and over much before Evelyn wanted it to be.
He pulled away and took a step back. “I should get going. You can still hear everything I’m doing?”
Evelyn blinked a few times, trying to clear her cluttered mind. “Um, yeah. As of this morning I could. I’ll have to set up my laptop and make sure it’s still transmitting. Should only take me a few minutes. I’ll shoot you an all clear text message once I’m set up. Are you okay? Still feeling good? Secure? If you want to call this off, now is the time.”
“I’m going,” he insisted. “I’m going to get Brian plastered, he’s going to spill all his secrets, you’ll arrest him, and then I’m going to fuck you hard and you’re going to love every minute of it.”
Evelyn’s breath caught in her throat as she tried to remember how to form words. “As long as you have a plan,” she finally murmured.
He leaned in and gave her one more quick kiss. “I’ll be seeing you,” he promised before he turned and left.
Evelyn reached behind her, fumbling until she grabbed hold of the back of a chair and pulled it out for her to fall into. Good grief. Was she really going to sleep with Luke Devereaux?
Well, if he got her Brian Longineu, she was.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Follow me.” Longineu led the way deeper into the back of the gentleman’s club.
These types of clubs weren’t Luke’s favorite, but he was more than familiar with them. Something about the entire experience felt off. The women, who were half naked, flirted with him as though they actually meant it. Some of them were good enough actresses that he could almost forget that making him happy was their job.
But every once in a while, one of the girls would have the dazed, spaced-out expression only brought on by some sort of heavy drug, and he was reminded it was all an act. Some guys seemed to get off on the power rush, and some of those guys who got off on the power rush happened to have very lucrative contracts with DevX Tech, so he was more than happy to show some of the clientele the rounds if needed.
And apparently Brian was also a fan of the clubs. This one was more exclusive. Kind of like a sleazy country club. This was its opening week, but from what Luke understood, they charged a massive membership fee up front and from then on, free drinks and eye candy abounded. More services from the girls were always a bit extra...
“Here’s my booth.” Longineu ducked into a table in the back corner. They’d gone through a maze of rooms, and Luke was pretty sure he could find his way out if he needed to, but it wasn’t a straight shot to the door.
Luke slid in across from Longineu. The booth was in a scallop shape, so there was room for plenty more, but he kept his distance. Within a second of him settling in, a girl in tall, spiky heels, barely there shorts and a sparkly, bejeweled bra came over to pour some top shelf whiskey into a glass for Longineu before she glanced over to Luke. “Can I get you anything, sir?”
Luke gave her his favorite brand of Scotch, and she nodded and winked at him. “Coming right up.” She smiled before she twisted around and strutted away, probably putting more sway to her hips than was natural.
“I thought this was a new opening.” Luke motioned to Brian’s glass that had been filled without any instruction needed.
“A friend of mine is the owner. They appreciate my patronage. They should have a good selection of cigars if you want to browse.”
Luke shook his head. He needed to focus on drinking and getting Brian as comfortable as possible. “I’ve had a long week. I think just sitting back sounds perfect.”
“Trouble at DevX?” Brian took a drink.
“Not exactly.” Luke didn’t want to give Longineu any personal information, but he needed to give something to get his trust. His pride might have to take a hit to pull this off. “I’m in the middle of a dry spell and it’s not a feeling I’m used to.”
“Well, hell. We can break that streak tonight easy enough. You just say the word and we’ll make it happen.”
Luke shook his head. “Hate to be that guy, but there’s someone I already have in mind.”
“No shit? I thought you were bagging chicks left and right. You know, I hate to stereotype, but usually all I have to do is break out the Ferrari and the panties drop. Ferrari is one of my cheaper cars. They don’t care.”
Luke ran a hand through his hair and really wished he had less in common with this ass. At least he wasn’t married while he was using his cars to pick up women. “It’s a bit more messy. She works for me and doesn’t want things to get complicated.”