His mouth crashed down on hers in a blistering kiss. Gasping, she flung her arms around his neck to steady herself and hungrily kissed him back. Their tongues tangled in a greedy duel, the heat of Reed’s lips and his addictive taste snaking its way into her system until he was all she could see, hear, and feel.
Every time he kissed her felt like the first time. She wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to the visceral burst of lust that erupted inside her whenever their lips met.
God, why couldn’t she have found that level of passion with AJ? She suddenly had to wonder if that kind of relationship was even possible, the kind that combined all the wonderful things she’d had with AJ with the sheer passion she felt with Reed.
Reed’s blue eyes glittered as he pulled back. “I wish you were naked right now.”
Darcy’s heart pounded as loud and fast as the dance beat blasting up at them. “Me, too.”
“You sure I can’t convince you to wait up for me tonight so I can see you after we close?” He slanted his head enticingly.
She shook hers. “There’s no way I’ll be able to stay up until three or four. It’s only eight o’clock now and I’m pretty much ready for bed. Besides, I have some errands to run tomorrow morning.”
He stuck out his chin, glum. “I hate weekends. By the time I leave this place, the whole world is asleep.”
“How about this? Come over tomorrow night,” she suggested. “I’ll drink a ton of coffee during the day. That way I’ll be wired and awake by the time you get there, and then we can sleep in because I have nothing to do on Sunday.”
She realized what she’d done the second she finished talking—she’d invited him to spend the night at her place.
From the way his entire face brightened, he knew it too.
Crap. One day into their fling and she was already breaking one of the cardinal rules.
“Okay, I should get going,” she told him. “I—” A flash of light in the corner of her eye had her turning her head, and when her brain registered what she’d glimpsed, her jaw dropped. She peered at the shadowy space dozens of feet below them, the strobe lighting making it incredibly difficult to see, but she was certain she hadn’t imagined it. “Oh my God, Reed.”
Concern creased his chiseled features. “What’s wrong?”
“I swear I just saw…” She grabbed his hand and started tugging him down the stairs. “I think I know who your dealer is.”
The music drowned out her last words, and Reed looked confused as he raised his voice and shouted, “You want me to feel who?”
“No, I know who the drug dealer is!” she shouted back.
Clearly he hadn’t heard her again, because he still looked bewildered as she dragged his six-foot frame through the sweaty crowd.
Frustration hit her left and right with each body they had to dodge. She jostled one man, who spun around in annoyance and yelled something she couldn’t make out, but his expression told her it had been nasty. With a hasty “sorry,” she kept going, yanking on Reed’s hand and hurrying all the way to the red curtain on the other side of the dance floor.
It was the same alcove where she and Reed had fooled around for the first time, but at the moment she was too tense to relive the naughty memory. She pointed at the curtain, then pinned Reed with an urgent look. “He’s in there!”
Once again, the music overpowered her words, but Reed seemed to know exactly what she’d meant. His features hardened, broad shoulders stiffer than two-by-fours.
“Wait here.” He stepped in front of her, gently moving her to the side before jerking aside the curtain and bounding into the alcove.
Darcy was too curious not to follow. She ducked in after him, blinking to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. When she spotted the two people huddled there, she gasped. She didn’t recognize the skinny blonde in the tight top, but the man behind the curtain? It wasn’t the Wizard of Oz, nor was it a little man pretending to be the Great and Powerful—it was Jeff, the bouncer she’d seen at the club dozens of times before.
“Son of a bitch.” Reed sounded livid as he laid eyes on his employee, and then, when he glimpsed the small plastic baggie in the beefy man’s hand, he cursed up a blue streak.
Jeff’s face paled. “Reed, it’s not what you—”
“Shut up,” Reed snapped. He turned to glare at the female customer. “Get out of here. Now. Before I call the cops.”
The girl scurried out of the alcove with such speed that Darcy couldn’t help but be impressed.
Once she was gone, Reed directed that icy glare at the bouncer, his tone dripping with disgust as he took a menacing step forward. “Give me the bag, Jeff.”
The other man was shorter than Reed, but had at least fifty pounds on his boss. Reed didn’t seem deterred by that fact. When Jeff didn’t hand over the drugs, Reed’s arm shot out with lightning speed to snatch the baggie.
“Seriously? It was you all along?” Reed spat out. “All this time you were pretending to help us find the dealer, and it was you? You goddamn son of a bitch. Do you realize that Sin could’ve been shut down over this?”
Jeff sputtered out a denial. “It’s not what it looks like. I wasn’t selling those, I swear. That chick is just a friend of mine and we were, uh, gonna get high together.”
Reed’s expression became incredulous. “One, that doesn’t make this any fucking better, admitting you were about to get high on the job. And two? Bull-fucking-shit.” He let out an angry curse. “I vouched for you! I asked Gage to hire you and this is how you repay me? By putting my job and everyone else’s at risk?”
Reed suddenly looked stricken, sounding so betrayed that Darcy experienced a pang of sympathy. She hadn’t realized he’d been the one to recommend Jeff for the security gig, and she couldn’t imagine how awful he must feel knowing he’d allowed someone like that to work at the club.
With a lethal scowl, Reed clicked the earpiece Darcy hadn’t even noticed he was wearing. “AJ,” he barked. “Call Vinnie. I just found our asshole. And get Gage down here. The alcove near the emergency exit. It’s one of our guys—”
Reed had barely finished his sentence when Jeff the bouncer slash drug dealer lunged at the doorway, trying to make his great escape.
He only made it two steps before Reed’s fist slammed into the side of his face. The bouncer’s head was thrown back from the impact, but rather than cower or surrender, a wild gleam entered his eyes and he went on the attack.
Darcy cried out when the man’s meaty fist flew back at Reed. A sharp thwack and a grunt of pain sliced through the air, both sounds muffled thanks to the music pouring in from the narrow doorway. The alcove was too small to accommodate a violent fistfight, but that was precisely what the confrontation turned into.
Eyes wide, Darcy pressed her back against the wall as the two men came at each other in a blur of punches and jabs and undercuts that made her gasp each time knuckles collided with flesh.
“Reed, stop!” she yelled when he tackled the bouncer and slammed him into the wall.
Her voice temporarily distracted him, and Darcy cursed herself for opening her mouth, because it cost Reed his advantage.