Teagan felt the despair in Julie’s voice and wondered about what had brought her to stripping. She wouldn’t dare ask her—certainly not after meeting her just five minutes ago.
“Devlin’s a good man. He’s already proved that he’s willing to give you a chance. I’m sure everything will be fine.”
As if Devlin’s ears burned, he startled them with his raspy voice coming from behind Teagan, standing next to the stage, as he said, “Teagan’s right, Julie. Stop talking yourself down. You ain’t that bad, or I would have sent you packin’ after your first dance. You showed you’re willin’ to learn. That’s what matters.”
She couldn’t decipher the look in his dark brown eyes when he turned his head and asked her, “Can I get you anything?”
Teagan shook her head. His piercing gaze made her feel self-conscious. She sat up straight, glancing somewhat down at him as he stood on the floor. “No, I’m good. Do you need anything?” she asked Julie.
“I-Uh, no. Thanks.” Teagan wondered by her reaction if Devlin had ever offered to get the dancers a drink before.
“How much longer before we open?” Teagan asked Devlin, as she feared she might have taken too long chatting.
A boyish grin blasted the harshness from his features, and her breath sputtered. “We’re closed for another hour. I asked Julie to come in early to practice.”
She wondered what Coco was doing here early, since she didn’t need the practice. Right. She could put one and two together. Suddenly, she had a sour taste in her mouth.
“What’s goin’ on?” Devlin asked her while the intensity of his perusal made her skin tingle.
“Nothing,” she lied. Like she would share her thoughts about him and Coco. Yeah. Rather not.
She glanced over at Julie, who silently stood and walked over to the bar. Great. Not even ten minutes into her first day and she’d already lost the interest of probably the only dancer who’d actually wanted to work with her.
“Doesn’t matter, Devlin. You don’t need to check up on me. I’m fine.”
He seemed nearly unfazed as he let her blabbering continue.
“Anyway, I thought what happened in your office was just a one-time thing?” she blurted.
Teagan’s palms got sweaty when he flattened his palms next to her thighs on stage. She didn’t dare to look over her shoulder as he loomed over her, smelling her behind her ear. His muscles in his arms constricted as he said, “I said it was casual. I said nothing about it being a one-time thing. You said I needed to deal with what happened and that you wouldn’t bring it up again.”
“And how would you call this?” she turned, waving her hand in between them.
“This is me dealing with it.”
A smile spread over her face. “I don’t think we’re handling this thing between us very well,” she said.
He snorted. “You’d think?”