Fighting for Desire by Sarah Bale Page A

Unsurprisingly his thoughts went to
Shannon. When he woke up she had been wrapped around him. What confused him was
that he had held her as tightly as she held him.
    He lost his rhythm and the rope hit his foot. Fuck, he
couldn’t even do something as simple as jumping rope when his thoughts were on
her.
    “Problems?” Marco asked from across the room.
    He sighed. “I fucked Shannon last night.”
    “I thought as much.” Marco was silent for a moment and then
said carefully, “Look, I don’t know what you expected. You have been hung up on
this girl for a while. Did you really think you would get her out of your
system in one night?”
    Dev’s stomach clenched in anger. “I’m not hung up on her.
This is just about sex. And when the month is over I will be the one to walk
away!”
    Marco wouldn’t meet Dev’s eyes. “I hope so, man.”
    Dev tossed the jump rope to the ground and went to the
showers. Forget training. He needed to cool off before he knocked out his best
friend.
    * * * * *
    Shannon stood in front of the club. Purposely she had parked
the Land Rover down the street so no one would see what she was driving. Though
the club was closed to the public during the day, inside would be full of
employees. The Honey Jar , much like a real beehive, was always busy with
workers. She just hoped Johnny wasn’t one of them.
    A quick glance at her watch gave her hope. He usually didn’t
get up until at least noon and it was only ten. It had taken longer than she
expected at the bank to get the cashier’s check. Apparently they had doubted
the balance of her account and wanted to look into it.
    Taking a deep breath, she walked through the swinging front
door. Adam, the bouncer, sat on his barstool reading a book on the e-reader she
had bought for him.
    “Baby girl! I heard you quit!”
    “Yeah I did. Something came along that I just couldn’t pass
up.”
    Technically something had come along so this wasn’t a
lie. Dev had made her an offer she couldn’t resist, for more reasons than one.
    “The boss was not a happy man when he found out you were
gone. There are a few holes in the wall to prove it too.”
    Oh, she didn’t doubt it. Johnny had one of the worst tempers
she had ever seen in her life.
    She looked around. “He isn’t here is he?”
    Adam shook his head. “No, you know it’s too early for him to
be here.”
    She let out her breath in relief.
    “Molly is upstairs though. You should stop by and see her
before you go.”
    “I will.”
    She took the stairs two at a time and went to the basement.
Even though Johnny wasn’t around, she didn’t want to risk getting caught in his
office alone. There wasn’t enough protection in the world to keep her safe in
the basement.
    Johnny always kept his office unlocked, trusting his
high-tech security system to catch any thieves who were stupid enough to try to
rob him. She looked up at the camera hanging on the wall and held up the check
as she walked through the door.
    The scent of his cologne and cigar smoke mixed as she
stepped farther into his lair. She couldn’t remember the last time he had
redecorated his office. She walked across the faded brown carpet, stained with
god only knew what. She reached his desk and set the check on his keyboard
where he would be sure to see it.
    Turing, she all but ran out of the room and up the stairs.
Even when she was safely on the first floor her skin still felt as if it were
crawling. Rubbing her arms, she went to the second floor, the VIP level…the
level where Dev had first spotted her after all those years.
    Molly stood in front of the bar, directing a vendor on where
to place the expensive alcohol. Shannon caught her friend’s eye in the mirror
and Molly turned.
    “Shannon,” she said. “I thought you quit, you bitch.” Molly
often used bitch as a term of affection.
    “I did. I just had to drop something off for Johnny.”
    Molly grabbed Shannon’s arm and walked her several feet away
from the