Hot Match by Tierney O’Malley Page B

their boot or mosquitoes they swatted with newspapers. What? Do they really think I chose my profession because I enjoy rubbing my pussy on a pole, spreading my legs for the drooling customer to stare at my clitoris or getting smacked on the rear and groped? Dickheads!
    Squaring her shoulders, she took a deep breath, inhaling the air free of cigarette smoke, alcohol, body odor, and semen. The soft breeze touched her clammy skin. She rubbed her arms. The thought of never going back inside the club actually made her feel good. She was free.
    The dark sky contrasted with the bright stars. How beautiful, she thought. Maybe what happened was meant to be. Her stars were finally aligning. One could only hope.
    She was removing her good shoe when she heard the club’s door open again. Jade turned around. Brad strode toward her. The subdued light coming from the street lamppost reflected in his black eyes. He had the look of a pissed, angry man. Crud.
    “You owe me money, bitch.”
    “Ha! I don’t owe you shit. What, you want me to pay for those bottles? It’s you who should pay me . I broke my shoe because you, tightwad, refused to fix that crack in the floor. Duct tape, for your information, doesn’t hold cement together.”
    “I knew you were trouble even before I hired you.”
    “Got that right. And this trouble,” she said, poking herself in the chest, “will bring you bigger trouble by contacting the authorities for your illegal porn shows.”
    Brad paled.
    “Not so tough now, are you?”
    “Bitch. Try it and you’ll lose more than a shoe. Give me back the check I gave you and we’ll call it even.”
    “No. I worked hard for this money.”
    “You will pay me here or I’ll break your other heel. Your neck even.”
    “I’m not afraid of you, Brad.” She frantically reached in her purse for the pepper spray. Where was that damn thing?
    “And it’ll be my pleasure breaking your Goddamn nose.” Brad took a step forward. He cracked his knuckles.
    Oh God.
    Jade took a step back. Brad came closer and closer. She watched as he raised his fist and let go. Jade closed her eyes, but the punch never came. She heard a grunt and opened her eyes.
    Wide shoulders and rippling large triangular muscles extending over the back of the neck and shoulders through a white shirt blocked her view. Who the heck…
    “Are you okay, Jade?” the man asked without turning.
    “Yes.” Oh dear. A previous customer?
    “What do you want me to do with him?”
    “What?”
    “Do you want me to kill him?”
    Jade stepped to the side to see what was happening. “Oh, no!” The man’s fingers—whoever he was—were wrapped around Brad’s throat. “Let him go, please. I don’t want you to kill him.”
    “It’ll be my pleasure breaking his neck.”
    “Me, too. But it’s not worth going to jail for killing a swamp rat. Let him go.”
    The man shoved Brad so hard, he slammed against the bar door as if he weighed nothing. He picked up her shoe. “Do you need the other one? I’ll go inside to get it.”
    Jade looked at Brad wheezing and holding his throat. The fire in his eyes doubled. He struggled to his feet and then went back inside the club. He would most likely call his burly friends as soon as he found the strength to get up. She faced her protector. “No, thanks. It’s broken anyway. Thank you for…”
    Whatever she had to say was lost when she met the man’s eyes. Jade bit her lower lip. Not in her twenty-one years had she seen a man so beautiful. She wanted to whimper just from looking at him. Lord, where in the world did this man come from? Wait, maybe he isn’t a man but a God from some faraway land. No man is this attractive.
    She stared and stared some more. He possessed dark green eyes with thick long lashes. His nose was straight, mouth wide and full. Up close, she could see the green highlight on his blond hair. This guy was over six feet tall and on the athletic side. He also reminded her of a Japanese cartoon