Chapter1
Brooke
Ihave a stalker.
I should be scared. I should probably tell someone. But I’m not going to. It would be different if I thought he wanted to hurt me. But I’m pretty sure he doesn’t. As a matter of fact, I think he wants me.
I’m trying not to be obvious, but it’s impossible. I’m searching for him and won’t be satisfied until I get to see him. It’s like I feel agitated and on edge and I don’t know why. He’s a stranger. Well, mostly. This is the third Saturday in a row that I’ve come to Blaze. It’s a night club, and night clubs are not my thing.
I’m an attorney; actually, I just recently graduated law school and have just started at Simon, Schwartz, and Teller. I have my first big case coming up in a few months, and I should be home preparing, but instead I’m here with two women from the office. They are attorneys but have more experience than me. The first time they asked me to come with them, I agreed because I knew I needed to play nice with my coworkers. But now, I’m coming for a completely different reason.
Lane Davis. He’s a bouncer. Head security for Blaze. I noticed him the first time I came here, and he watched me every second. Every move I made, his eyes were on me.
“That one’s cute,” Brenda says, interrupting my thoughts when she points at a man standing a few feet away. “And there’s three of them,” she says happily.
I barely resist rolling my eyes. Brenda and Cassie are both tall and thin. If they ever decide to quit their day job, they could quite literally make a living as models. And then there’s me. I’m short and curvy and their exact opposite. She always finds three guys for us to dance with, and I hate seeing the disappointed look on the third one’s face when he discovers that he didn’t get Brenda or Cassie. No, he got me. The short, frumpy one.
“Yeah, cute,” I remark, just so they don’t notice that I could care less about the three clean-cut guys they’re looking at. I’m in search of my tall, dark, tattooed stalker.
Lane’s never said a word to me. He still hasn’t. But he’s so far under my skin it doesn’t even matter. After the first time I saw him, the next day I noticed him at the grocery store. Since then, I’ve seen him outside my office, my apartment building, and the gym. He never says a word. Just watches me.
I freaked out a little bit at first and can admit I was scared. I know he could have been a psycho or something, but my gut was telling me different. I called Blaze, and with the description I gave them, they were able to give me his name. He’s head of security, and I have no doubt it would get back to him that I was asking about him, but I didn’t care. I had to know.
Next, I called my sister-in-law. She’s a police officer, and I knew she would help me. I didn’t tell her why but asked her to look into him. She asked me what all I needed to know, and I told her anything she could find. Well, she didn’t disappoint. She came back to me in less than an hour. Lane Davis, thirty-two years old, no criminal record. He received a parking ticket three years ago but looks like it was paid the same day it was issued. He’s divorced. Finalized two years ago. Records indicate infidelity.
I texted her back, holding my breath. “He cheated?”
And her response was immediate. “No. She cheated.”
From that moment on, I decided to go with my gut. Lane is nothing like the men I’ve dated in the past. He’s not clean-cut. He’s not goofy or vain or way too into himself. No, it seems he’s way into me. And that’s why I’m here at Blaze again. I’m going to get him to talk to me one way or another.
I look at the door that leads to the back, and suddenly he appears. He doesn’t look around like he usually does; his gaze goes straight to me, and I melt in my seat. I swear when he looks at me it’s like he’s burning a hole in me. Instead of blushing and looking away like I normally do, I look at him as if I’m challenging him. How can I convey in a look that I want him to talk to me? Heck, I will take anything with him.
He crosses his arms over his chest and stares right back.
I feel a nudge in my side and a whispered yell in my ear. “They’re coming over.”
Reluctantly, I drag my gaze from Lane and look at the three preppy guys in the button-down shirts as they walk toward the table.
All three of them are looking between Brenda and Cassie, which is fine because I want to look at Lane. I’m about to excuse myself and walk over when Lane touches his ear, like he’s listening to something from the earpiece, and turns quickly on his feet. He walks three feet in the opposite direction before turning to look at me. Even from across the room with a fleeting look, he commands all my attention. I know that look. It’s almost like I can feel him saying it in my ear.Don’t move.
Too bad I’m not a girl that listens because it hits me then… I know how I’m going to get him to talk to me. Every time someone has asked me to dance, I’ve said no. Well, not today. No, today I’m going to the dance floor. If he doesn’t like it, he’ll have to come and get me. And damn do I want him to come and get me.
“All right – so who wants to dance?” I ask.
Brenda and Cassie are immediately out of their seats and grabbing on to the guys that are closest to them. The man in the middle at least has the decency to hide his disappointment as he waits for me to come around the table.
He puts his hand at the small of my back, and I pick up speed. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. Him dancing with me is one thing. Him touching me is another.
The music is loud and bumping, and I can’t keep from moving if I try. I look over my dance partner’s shoulder and all around for a glance of Lane. Then I look up on the balcony, but he’s nowhere to be seen. Determined and knowing he can be looking at me from anywhere in the club, watching me right now, I dance. I dip my hips, shake my butt, and let the music move me. I’m all but lost in the song when I feel hands on my hips. My whole body freezes. My dance partner has moved up on me and is grinding against me. I pull away, and knowing he can’t hear me, I shake my head side to side, letting him know that I don’t want him to touch me.
I continue to dance, but with less butt shaking. When the man reaches for me again, this time I stop and make sure he can hear me. “I’m not interested.”
I look at Brenda and Cassie, and they’re dancing with their partners, so I walk off. I’m going to go to the ladies’ room and then to get another drink. I’m almost to the bathroom when I’m pulled in the opposite direction and backed into a wall.
It takes me a second to catch my breath, but when I do, I’m pushing against the asshole’s chest. “I told you I’m not interested.”
But he’s not letting me loose. He uses his body to hold me against the wall, and I can feel his hard manhood pressed into my belly. I feel sick and try to push him off me. People are walking by, but to them it probably looks like we’re making out. He’s so much bigger than me, I can’t do anything but relax my body and give him the idea that I’m into it. Only then does he loosen his hold enough to lean back so he can look into my face. As soon as he lets his guard down, I give him a shove and then punch him in the face.