His eyes spark with the dare, and I can feel myself getting just angry enough to prove… whatever I’m trying to prove.

  Fuck it.

  “Sit down and keep your hands to yourself,” I say before I can talk myself out of it.

  His grin is sly, and the urge to sucker-punch it off his sexy face is strong. Instead, I keep my eyes on the prize in his hand.

  The cash.

  He tosses it onto the small side table beside his untouched drink and then settles himself on the couch before looking up at me expectantly.

  As if on cue, the song coming from the speakers overhead changes to something slow and sultry.

  Before I can talk myself out of it, I shove my hands into my hair and begin to dance for him. He watches me like I’m something to eat, and despite the fact that I told myself I’d never do this, I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to let him feast on me.

  My pulse races at the thought.

  There’s a hidden door in every single section of the VIP area, including this one, but I don’t dare let myself glance at it. Something tells me he knows about it already anyway. And I refuse to cross that line too, no matter how sexy this stranger is.

  His eyes remain on me the entire time, but he follows my instructions about keeping his hands to himself. He’s not like the other men I’ve witnessed in here. He’s actually respecting my boundaries.

  Maybe that’s what makes me braver.

  As the song builds, I climb onto his lap and straddle him. My dress hikes up on my thighs as I lower myself to his hips. Grinding against him, I watch as his gaze darkens with a desire that borders on dangerous.

  Somewhere in the back of my mind, I order myself to stop this insanity, but whatever reason or common sense I’d clung to earlier is gone. Now that I’m touching him, I can’t seem to make myself stop.

  I shudder at the way he watches me with hooded eyes, and without meaning to, I dip lower. My movements feel more like foreplay than a dance. This time, when I thrust against him, I feel his erection rub my thigh.

  The feel of it startles me, but more than that, it turns me on.

  My skin heats, and my core aches for more.

  Still, he doesn’t touch me, and I have to press my lips together to keep from asking him to. Forcing myself to ease up just a little, I put some distance between me and his dick before I can do something stupid. Like try to sit on it. Without the barrier of clothing between us.

  Apparently, he’s not the only one whose blue balls I need to worry about here.

  But even with the space between us, I can feel the heat coming off of him too. I don’t need his hands on me to know he wants this. Me. Desire laces the air between us until I can barely breathe without choking on it. His. Mine. It’s all the same.

  I’ve never been this turned on in my life.

  When the song ends, a new one starts, but I go still, staring back at him with enough tension between us to cut with a knife.

  Slowly, he sits forward and reaches around me. I hold my breath, fully expecting him to finally break my rule and touch me. My skin tingles at the mere thought, and I know, if he does, I’ll give in to whatever he wants—including the back room.

  Instead, he grabs the cash off the side table and holds it out to me.

  As he leans back again, he whispers in my ear, “You're beautiful, Lexi. Absolutely stunning.”

  I blush at his words, feeling a strange connection to him. But before I can say anything, he holds up the money and adds, “Thank you for the dance.”

  The dance.

  Right.

  This is just a transaction.

  Shit.

  I scramble to my feet, nearly tripping as my shoe threatens to buckle sideways. Managing to remain upright, I shove my dress down my thighs and shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts.

  “Thanks,” I mumble, snatching the cash out of his hand and nearly sprinting away from him.

  He's just another customer, I remind myself.

  Except, I’m pretty sure I’ll never be the same again after that dance.

  2

  GREY

  I must have lost my damned mind. Asking the mark for a lap dance? That’s not part of the plan, and yet, once the idea came to me, I couldn’t resist the temptation. Sitting here now with her draped over my thighs, her hair falling around us like a curtain, is worth every rule I’ve just broken for myself. After two days of watching her from afar, I have to admit she’s even more breathtaking up close. All that long, thick hair just asking to be taken by the fistful, and those sharp green eyes practically begging me to break the only rule she gave me for this little performance.

  All I want is my hands on her.

  Lie.

  I want more than my hands on her.

  I want my cock inside her.

  Unfortunately for me, that’s nowhere near what I’ve come here tonight to do. Which means the no-touching rule is one I won’t let myself break. Not because I respect her wishes but because there’s something about her that calls to me—and I can’t afford this girl’s siren song getting into my blood.

  Already, I’ve gotten closer than I should. Maybe it’s those lonely eyes. The way they seem to ask for something without her having to say a word. Or maybe I’ve gone soft in my old age. Twenty-seven years is hardly ancient, but it feels like a century since I let a woman touch me like she’s doing. I’ve spent years honing my control, learning how to read a threat, and staying the hell away from anything that can get me killed.

  Lexi triggers all three, yet here I sit, hard as granite and wishing I didn’t have to stop at a lap dance. It’s been a long damn time since any woman stirred me this way, but none have ever made me stray from the plan like this.

  Her hips undulate as she rocks against me, and I swallow back a groan. When she grinds against my erection, I nearly lose it. Instead, I fist my hands and grind my teeth to remain still. Years of training and it’s all led me to a moment where my control is hanging by a thread.

  It would be so easy to rip her panties off and sheath myself inside her. I bet she’s wet already. The scent of her arousal is a drug threatening to suck me into its spell.

  Finally, the song ends, which is both a relief and a disappointment. She goes still, sitting on my lap and staring at me with an open invitation in her gorgeous green eyes.

  She wants me to keep going.

  If she were anyone else, I’d do it too.

  But she’s not anyone else, and very soon, she’s going to hate me. In this moment, I’m the only one of us who knows it, just like I know she’ll hate herself along with me if I don’t stop now. So, instead of peeling this excuse of a dress off her thighs and burying myself inside her right here, I reach around and grab the cash I promised her. The cash I knew would be too tempting to resist.

  I’m an asshole, but I’ve made my peace with it.

  Mostly.

  “You’re beautiful, Lexi,” I tell her before offering her the money. “Absolutely stunning.”

  She looks like she might just close the deal herself, so I remind her what this is. What it has to be. “Thank you for the dance.”

  Her expression shutters, and she scrambles off me, turning away but not before I see her cheeks flush in embarrassment. She’s ashamed of herself for thinking this was more than a business exchange. And I’m ashamed of myself for letting her think it isn’t.

  Dammit.

  “Thank you,” she mumbles, snatching the money from my hand and then practically running out of the room.

  When she’s gone, I let my head fall back on the couch and close my eyes, breathing through the ache in my balls. My erection pulses against my pants, and my wolf snarls at me for letting her go.

  It’s his involvement that made me do it, though, so he can suck it.

  Lexi Giovanni is, for all intents and purposes, my greatest enemy, but apparently, no one told that to the beast that lives inside me—or my hard-as-steel cock. And both of them have no problem letting me know I’m outnumbered.

  Straightening, I reach for the drink and gulp it down. The alcohol burns just enough to clear my head and calm my twitching dick.

  When I’m pretty sure I can walk without a limp, I shove to my feet and let myself out through the back door so I can get my shit together before the next phase begins. Unfortunately for Lexi, I’m nowhere near done with her yet, and I have a feeling she’s not going to find this next part nearly as thrilling as she did the first. I tell myself I won’t like it either, but my wolf’s anticipation is unmistakable.

  Get your shit together, man.

  She’s just a mark.

  One last debt to pay. All I have to do is deliver her straight to hell and trade her freedom for my own.

  3

  LEXI

  By the time I collect myself and re-emerge from the staff bathroom, the stranger is gone. His disappearance leaves me feeling strangely abandoned. It’s stupid. I mean, what did I want? For him to fall under the spell of my gyrating hips and profess his undying obsession with my body? Ugh. Sure, a girl has needs, but never seeing him again is safer. Because if he ever comes back, looking for an encore, I’m not sure I’ll have it in me to refuse him the full service.

  Three hours later, I’m sticky and smelly and trying like hell not to overthink the boundary I’ve crossed with myself tonight. Evan follows the last customer to the door then manhandles him through it since the guy doesn’t want to leave without “his queen by his side.”

  As the other girls gather over drinks at the bar, Violet high-fives me, which I know is her attempt at lightening my mood, but all it does is make the other girls ask what happened. The moment they hear I gave a private dance, their glances become knowing.

  “It’s only a matter of time now,” Cleopatra says with a smirk. “Once you start making that kind of cash, it’s impossible to go back.”

  I don’t answer her, but I catch Angel watching me, and the hard look she wears makes me shudder. Before she can say anything, I duck my head and go back to wiping tables with renewed enthusiasm.

  One by one, the dancers disappear into the back room to change and then head out for the night. Violet offers to hang, but I turn her down again. My exhaustion is even more pronounced after my crazy-ass evening.

  Violet promises drinks tomorrow instead and then leaves. Reva, the bartender, follows suit. Shady is hunkered down in his office, counting the night’s cash, leaving only Evan and me to finish up out front.

  A few minutes later, Evan waves at me as he heads out.

  “You want me to stay and walk you?” he asks.

  “Nah, I’ll be fine.”

  “You sure?”

  “I’m sure. Shady’s still here,” I tell him, waving him on.

  Besides, I could use some quiet after the chaos of the past few hours.

  He leaves, and I hurry to finish my work. When the last table has been cleaned and all of the chairs have been stacked, I turn in my apron and head for the staff exit in back.

  At the door, I hesitate, wondering if I should ask Shady to escort me out. It’s a rule for the dancers that they can’t leave alone—for safety. But I’m not a dancer, and I’ve never heard of an obsessed customer stalking the waitress. Besides, Shady is on my list of people to avoid, especially since he would have heard about my VIP show by now and undoubtedly plans to use it as an excuse to offer me a promotion.

  Again.

  With that in mind, I slip outside and head for my car. The two-door beater was a gift from the shelter for my volunteer work. It’s lasted three years so far, which, according to Violet, is three years past its expiration date. Now, the heap of metal is probably one pothole away from disintegrating, but I try not to think too hard about future problems considering my current ones are bad enough. Living in it will suck, but I try not to think about that either. Maybe this time, I’ll leave the tiny town of Lakeland, North Carolina behind, start over somewhere new.

  Lost in worry, I don’t register just how quiet it is in the gravel lot until I’m halfway across it and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Suddenly, all I notice is the silence.

  A sense of being watched has me glancing back. There’s no one there.

  I force myself to breathe and keep walking.

  The wind lifts my hair, sending the ends of it dancing in a breeze that might have felt refreshing—if it didn’t also bring a sense of foreboding.

  The club is on the edge of town, which means no traffic comes through unless they’re headed straight here. The isolation has never bothered me before, but suddenly, it leaves me feeling exposed. Vulnerable.

  Two things I hate feeling.

  The sensation of being watched grows stronger.

  I glance around again, peering into the thick trees that border the employee parking lot, but there’s nothing visible in the darkness that wraps the night. The only car left in the lot besides mine is Shady’s lifted truck.

  No one else is here, I tell myself.

  If there was another car, even out on the street, I’d see it from here.

  From behind Shady’s truck, a noise sounds, and I freeze.

  In the stillness, a creature steps into sight.

  I stare in shock as a wolf, larger than anything I’ve ever seen, stares back at me. Its fur is dark, but its eyes glow bright yellow—and they’re narrowed on me.

  I force myself to take a shallow breath and whisper, “Easy, boy.”

  Wolves aren’t unheard of in the hills surrounding our tiny rural town, but they don’t come this close or show aggression toward humans for no reason.

  At my words, the wolf bares its teeth and emits a low growl.

  It takes a step toward me, and panic erases all thoughts in my mind. Before I can decide if it’s smart, I turn and run. My bag falls out of my hand, but I don’t bother going back for it. The gravel is uneven, and my feet wobble beneath me as I aim for the club door. Somehow, the wolf manages to cut me off, blurring past me and planting itself between me and the staff entrance.

  I pull up short.

  The wolf looks back at me with an awareness that feels impossible. But I can’t deny it just anticipated my route and blocked it rather than coming straight at me.

  What the actual fuck?

  Why would it do that?

  How is it even possible?

  Not waiting to find out, I spin around and sprint for the woods. The moment I reach the tree line, I know I’m fucked. The wolf is too fast, already on my heels as I zig-zag through the maze of trees. Low branches smack me in the face and scrape along my bare arms, but I ignore them, focusing only on finding a tree with a branch low enough for me to grab. I took rock-wall climbing at the rec center during a free summer camp for foster kids once, and now it’s the only hope I have of escape.

  I refuse to be one of those bimbo bitches who trips while running from the monster and gets killed before the opening credits are done.

  But that’s fiction, and this is real life.

  And in real life, wolves are fast as shit.

  He’s on me in no time.

  I don’t fall, but I recognize my mistake way too late. Just ahead, a large rock formation rises in front of me like a wall. I try to veer left but the wolf nips at my heels, sending me straight ahead. I do the same move to the right and get a scrape of teeth along my calf for my trouble.

  Shit.

  I hit the wall with both palms, nearly slamming my face into it, thanks to my momentum. Then I whirl, my back pressed to the wall, and try to prepare myself to be eaten alive.

  But the wolf only stands several yards away, watching me with those orb eyes that hold more awareness than they should.

  “Just get it over with already,” I snap.

  Apparently, near-death experiences make me cranky.

  Instead, the wolf shudders, and I hear a pop as its bones begin to crack.

  What the fuck.

  Right before my eyes, the wolf transforms.

  One second, it’s a creature with four legs and fur. The next, it’s a man.

  A very naked man.

  “What…?”

  I can’t help but scan his bared body. Broad shoulders, a muscular chest decorated with a swirling black tattoo, ripped abs that make it, frankly, unfair for the rest of the male population. And that perfectly shaped V pointing like an arrow straight to the largest dick I’ve ever seen.

  The fact that it isn’t even at full mast is honestly impressive—even in my current state of questioning everything I think I know about the world.

  But it’s his face that sends me reeling more than anything else.

  I know that face.

  I just saw it close-up earlier tonight.

  The handsome stranger I lap-danced for mere hours ago stands before me now on full display—and he’s somehow capable of becoming a giant wolf.

  Shock and panic overwhelm me, and I can feel my head spinning as everything I thought was true about being human is shattered.

  “You are… that was… how is this possible?”

  “How is what possible?” he demands.

  “You were… a wolf.”

  His eyes narrow. “Don’t play stupid; it’s annoying.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “And don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

  “Make what harder? Letting you kill me?”

  “You’re coming with me,” he says in a voice that sounds nothing like the teasing, sexy version of him I met earlier.

  Now, there is only danger, and it’s not the kind that turns me on, either.

  “Coming with you where?” I ask, trying to understand what he wants from me.

  “Your time in hiding is up. Don’t make me take you by force.”

  The stranger takes a step toward me, and the sight of him approaching sends me over the edge. The world tilts then spins, and my knees buckle. My eyes flutter, and I gasp for air, trying like hell to keep my wits about me. But the sight of him approaching, and the grim look he gives me, tells me this isn’t going to end well at all. As he reaches out for me, black spots creep into my vision. Then, all at once, darkness swallows me whole.