In Too Deep(67)

I was impressed. "Wow. Can you tell me what sort of hand cream I use, too?"

"Aveeno Oat Complex Cream," he replied with a grin. "The almost total lack of odor and no greasiness at all gives it away. It's a good choice, by the way. I like to use Nivea with CoQ10 myself in winter."

I couldn't help by laugh. He was dead on. "Wow, you're pretty observant. Just what do you do with all that observation skill?"

Mark smiled, and there was a hint of danger in his smile. More than ever, he reminded me of a predator, and I wondered for a moment if I was his prey. "I'm a freelance troubleshooter," he told me. "My clients contact me whenever there’s an issue that they can’t take care of themselves. I go out and make sure their businesses are protected, and that they aren't going to have any problems."

"Interesting," I replied, smiling. Suddenly, a thought came to my head. "Listen, would you like to dance?"

Mark chuckled and shook his head. "Not really. I came down here tonight thinking it was R&B night, not dance-house. But, I needed to blow off some steam, so I stuck around. Glad I did, really."





Chapter 3


Mark





I'd seen Sophie long before she saw me. I had come to the club about two hours earlier to meet with a business associate of mine who owned a partial stake in the club. In return for his investment, the club gave him a good place to conduct business where the police would find it hard to set up wiretaps or surveillance. After the meeting, I found three women who wanted to have some fun, typical club girls, but nothing too shabby. It actually was a pretty good club.

She carried herself like a woman who was still a bit unsure of her own attractiveness. Five-seven before her three-inch heels, with a nice figure, but she hid it with a looseness to her blouse that was supposed to be sexy, but actually disguised the curves of her body. I had almost dismissed her from my mind when I saw her peel off from her two girlfriends to come upstairs. Most of the third wheels I've seen in this club either end up getting themselves shitfaced, or just turn into some fratboy's slampig, neither of which I find sexy in the least.

This girl, though, she looked like she had her head pretty well screwed on, other than her self-image. She wasn't downing alcohol for false courage, and she wasn't clinging to anybody who'd give her attention. I decided she was worth my time, and a hell of a lot more interesting than Tammy, Sunny, and whatever the other girl's name was.

"All right you three, go have some fun or something. I've got something to do," I said, disentangling them from my arms. What's-her-name had been pressing her newly enhanced breasts into my side and gave me a pout. I rolled my eyes and looked at her. "Baby, you head downstairs and you'll have all the cock you want in about two minutes looking the way you do."

I hadn't meant it as a compliment, she was a dumb slut, but she took it that way anyway and smiled. She pulled a business card of all things out of the edge of her bra and handed it to me. "Call me some time, sugar?"

I glanced at it, and noted that her name was Rachel, and she was a legal secretary. I momentarily wondered if she was sucking her attorney boss' cock or not. Then again, maybe her boss was a woman and she could have been munching rug. Either way, she didn't look or act smart enough to be worthwhile to any business outside of a strip club. "Sure baby," I said, pretending to tuck the card into my pocket while secretly palming it. No way was I going to call her. "But go have fun for now."

Before the three could say anything, I disappeared into the crowd, working my way around in a large circle. The upper floor of the club is laid out in a large ring shape, with three staircases leading to the main floor. The VIP rooms are along the back wall, closest to my business associate's office, and I made my way past them where the five bodyguards gave me a respectful berth. I kept my eyes on the tall woman and worked around until I was ready for her to notice me. My impression of her increased when she noticed me more quickly than I’d anticipated.

After introducing myself, we fell into easy conversation. Sophie was smart and funny, although I quickly could tell that she was overly self-conscious about her appearance. Looking at the way she constantly did her best to twist her waist or hide her stomach, I assumed she was one of those girls who had lost a lot of weight, probably within the past three or four years. In any case, she was, in my opinion, sexy as hell.

"Listen, would you like to dance?" she asked me all of a sudden, biting her lip, not in that intentional I'm trying to be sexy way, but instead as an unconscious expression of her want for me, and her own self-doubt.

I hadn't come to dance, especially not to the music that was playing tonight, so I tried my best to decline politely.

"Oh," she said, only slightly dejected. She wanted to continue on with our conversation, but she didn't know what to do next. We were in a club, after all.

I decided to take her out of her misery. “I don’t particularly like this music. How about we get a VIP room, where we can control what we listen to? It'll be quieter."

Sophie gave me a sideways glance. "You must think I'm the sort of girl who does things in clubs often."

I threw back my head and laughed, honestly amused. "Sophie, that was the farthest thing from my mind. I just wanted to talk more and get to know you. Besides, like Chris Rock said, there's no sex in the champagne room."