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I stared down at my hands, wrapped around my glass, and nodded. “Thanks.” I had to force the word out. My throat was too tight.
Eve’s fingers crept across the bar top and wrapped around mine, prying them from the glass until she held my hand.
I stared at her fingers between mine for the longest time, fighting back waves of emotion.
“Boston…”
I couldn’t face her. I knew if I did, I’d fall apart.
She inched closer until her bare arm pressed against mine.
I closed my eyes. Last night with her—talking dirty, getting myself off, watching her video—that had all been hot and fun. But it had been a means to an end. Talk the talk. Flirt it up. Get her off. Find a release.
None of it compared to the way she touched me now. I leaned heavily against her, needing that contact. Needing her to fill the void.
She turned her head and pressed her lips to the top of my arm.
I glanced over at her, and her dark-eyed gaze met mine. She squeezed my fingers. “I don’t like seeing you like this,” she whispered.
“I don’t like feeling like this,” I admitted, voice cracking in the middle. “Shit.” I turned away, tears pricking at the backs of my eyes. I hadn’t cried in years. I didn’t want now to be the time I started again.
The music blared on around us, other people danced and yelled and sang. And then Eve reached out, put one palm against the side of my face, and twisted it so I faced her.
It all disappeared. The noise. The other people.
I drowned in her sad gaze.
Then she drew me down and pressed her lips softly to mine.
I closed my eyes and sank into her, abandoning my glass to hold her instead. I wrapped my arms around her smaller body and held her tight, as if she were a lifeboat in a stormy sea.
In that moment, she was. She was all I had to cling to in an ocean that threatened to end me.
Her kiss was gentle and slow, her lips parting, tongue seeking. And I accepted her without hesitation. I greedily hauled her in, her knees bumping against mine beneath the bar top but neither of us really noticing, all concentration on our mouths, our tongues, and a kiss that had become a lifeline.
My heart pounded, and I snaked my hands up into her hair, holding her face and deepening the kiss until the entire fucking room spun.
Until I could breathe again.
Until a flash of light so bright went off the two of us jerked apart in surprise.
I held Eve close, not willing to let her go, even as several more flashes went off, leaving behind giant white spots to blind me. I moved between Eve and the flash, pulling her closer, cradling her face to my chest until the light stopped.
Then she pushed me away.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here? Copper getting it on with a stripper in a sex club.” Augie glanced up at me. “Your term, not mine.” He leaned against the bar, scrolling through a series of photos on his phone. “Good work, Eve. Using those feminine charms like a pro.”
Shock punched through my gut. “What?”
Augie held up his phone, an image of Eve and I wrapped around each other on the screen, our lips locked in a passionate embrace.
Heat crept up the back of my neck. Even on such a tiny screen, I could see the desperation in the clinch. My hold on her needy.
The heat turned into full-fledged embarrassment. I barely knew this woman, and yet here I was, throwing myself at her like some stupid teenager with a crush.
Augie chuckled. “Don’t worry, cop. Just a little bit of insurance. You leave us alone, and this photo never has to see the light of day. You keep harassing us and I’ll send it to every email inbox within the police department. And the local newspapers for good measure.”
Cold seeped through all other emotions. I gaped at Eve. But when she didn’t immediately respond, I turned my attention on Augie. “Are you blackmailing me?”
