Beyond the Cut (Sinner's Tribe Motorcycle Club #2)(31)
But she didn’t need a warning. She knew Cade was here, felt his eyes burning into her skin, had sensed him the moment he walked through the door.
“Where is he?”
“How did you…?” Arianne cut herself off with a grin. “Sort of like I did the first time Jagger came to see me.” She looked over Dawn’s shoulder. “He’s heading to the back. Section four. Not sure why because all the tables are taken.” She snorted a laugh. “And suddenly there’s a table free. Your customers from table sixteen have been relocated to section five with only minor injuries. I guess he enjoyed your sordid activities at Big Bill’s bike shop.”
“I shouldn’t have told you. And it’s not serious. It was just … sex.” Turning slowly, Dawn spotted Cade at the back of the bar, sitting in the corner in an I’m-so-dominant-I-need-the-space-of-three-men pose, his legs spread wide and his elbows resting on the arms of the chair. God, he was gorgeous.
“I’m surprised to see him.” Arianne pulled a bottle of bourbon from the shelf. “Last I heard, he and Gunner were at Peelers Strip Club with some of the brothers for a hot night watching Dancing Delilah and the other strippers. They were celebrating some secret thing that happened a few days ago that I’m not supposed to know involves fifty thousand dollars’ worth of stolen guns, five injured Jacks, and one angry Mafia boss.”
“Seriously? And now he’s here?” Dawn turned and Cade beckoned her to him with a waggle of his finger. “Oh. My. God. Does he think I’m going over there after he’s spent the evening with a woman in his lap? The strippers were the warm-up and I’m the booty call?”
“From the way he’s looking at you,” Arianne said, “that would be a yes. And I have a feeling that if you don’t go over, he’s going to pounce. But, like you said, it’s not serious, so why do you care?”
“I don’t.”
Arianne gave her sly grin. “Maybe you should kiss your cop friend. See how not-serious Cade thinks things are between you. Because I’ll tell you one thing I’ve learned during my time at the club: The Sinners are a possessive bunch. Once they claim you, there is no going back.”
After enduring all the posturing at the police station, Dawn could just imagine what would happen if she kissed Doug. But she didn’t want Doug to get the wrong idea, or for Cade to wind up in jail. “Maybe I’ll just ignore him instead. I’m not going over there to be someone’s sloppy seconds.”
Arianne poured a shot of bourbon and placed it on Dawn’s tray. “He’s watching you like a predator about to pounce. If you don’t go over there, he’s gonna hunt you down, and I don’t think he’ll care who gets in his way. Maybe you should spare Banks the bloodshed.”
Dawn unbuttoned the top two buttons on her shirt and pulled the ponytail holder from her hair. “How about this? He wants a hot night; I’ll give him a hot night. But it will be look and don’t touch.”
“I can hardly wait.” Arianne laughed. “Cade’s never been with a woman who pushed back. He’s always the one running the show.”
Dawn lifted the tray and wove her way through the tables, flirting and joking with her other customers as she steeled herself for a professional but distant conversation with the man who made her blood hot and her heart cold. By the time she reached Cade’s table his lazy smile had disappeared beneath a mask of disapproval.
“You look like you need a drink.” She handed him the last glass on her tray.
His fingers brushed over hers as he took the glass. A zing of electricity shot through her body and she stifled a gasp.
“What the f*ck was that?”
“What?”
“That.” He gestured toward the sea of tables between them and the bar. “Taking down your hair. Unbuttoning your shirt. All that laughing and smiling and touching guys. That dude on the right in the red shirt is still staring at your ass. And those two suits haven’t stopped looking at your legs.”
“That is called being friendly with the customers. Happy customers give better tips.”
“This customer isn’t happy.” He sipped the bourbon, his eyes boring into her with an intensity that took her breath away. “You’re my girl. You don’t be friendly with anyone but me.”
Dawn lifted an admonishing eyebrow. “First, I don’t recall us discussing an exclusive arrangement in which I would be your girl. And second, you get to be friendly with the dancers at Peelers? Hardly seems fair.” She tried to keep her tone light, but her words came out slightly sharp and she cringed inwardly. She didn’t do jealous. And really, she didn’t care what Cade did in his free time. So they’d shared a few kisses. And blazingly hot sex in parking lot behind a bike shop. No big deal.
Cade finished his drink and placed the glass on the table. “I had a shit week, so yeah, I went to Peelers to relax. Watched my friend Delilah on the pole, but afterward, when she wanted to dance in my lap, I turned her down. All I could think about was you.”
“Really?” Dawn raised an eyebrow. “I’ve always wanted a guy to tell me he was thinking about me while a stripper was offering to writhe naked on his lap.”
“She wasn’t completely naked.”
“Oh well then. That’s so much better.” She grabbed the empty glass and held it to her nose, inhaling the strong scent of liquor. She’d never been tempted to drink while at work, but being this close to Cade gave her a burning need to cool off.