"I can spare enough to buy you one drink," I say gruffly. "One drink, Lacy. That was our agreement."

"You're kind of bossy." Her legs twitch. "It does things to me."

There's no way in hell uncovering the truth about Ellie Madden is worth this much bullshit. I need to cut this woman loose now before my buddy Crew sees me with her. I'll never live this down. This will trump the time I asked Marilyn Finnegan to prom in high school. Crew still brings that up and it's been ten years.

Dinner without me may not be what Lacy's after, but it's the only consolation prize I'm offering. I want this woman far away from me. Now.

"What's the name of your favorite restaurant in Vegas?" I shove both my hands in the front pockets of my pants. "If you could eat anything tonight, what would it be?"

Her eyes fall to my belt and then drop lower. There's no subtlety at all. "You're setting me up, aren't you? Do I have to come out and say that I want to …"

"Get your hands off of her, you jerk! Do it now!"

That voice. The voice yelling those words is the same throaty voice I heard earlier in Meadow Grill.

I turn away from Lacy as she lists the things she wants to do to me and I turn toward the voice of the woman I can't stop thinking about.

Dressed exactly as she was earlier, Ellie's long red hair is flying over her shoulder as she single-handily drops a man double her weight to the floor.

Chapter 4

Ellie

"You're going down for this, Jerry." I squat on the floor next to him; my hands wrapped tightly around his wrists. I squeeze as I press them both into the small of his back. "You crossed a line this time. I can't believe how fucked up you are."

"How fucked up I am?" He squirms beneath me, his chest pressed against the cool marble. "You're the one who tackled me. You broke my nose. I think you broke my fucking nose."

I glance down at the blood that's pooling near his face. "You make me sick. I hope the judge throws you in jail and buries the key."

"What judge?" He turns his head so he can look right at me. "I'll leave, Ellie. I'll walk out and never step foot in here again."

I arch my neck back, an exasperated sigh escaping me. "You're not getting a warning this time. This is way more serious than jerking off in the staff room."

He closes his eyes for a minute. The resistance in his body fades as I shuffle my feet.

"The police will be here soon," I say hoping that someone who works at the club will step into this fray. I don't know how long I can pin down a man Jerry's size. If he pushes back, I'm going to end up with my ass on the floor, and my lace panties on display. Damn this short dress.

I don't look up even though I know that a circle of people has gathered around us. I heard the gasps when I yelled at Jerry. I saw the movement of bodies when I jerked him to the ground as he was trying to bolt. I was so close to the club's entrance, but I couldn't just walk past Jerry when I saw what he was doing.

My duty as a security officer of this resort wouldn't allow me to and my conscience wouldn't either.

"When a woman tells you to stop touching her, you damn well stop," I spit the words out through clenched teeth. "What gives you the right to ignore that?"

"She didn't want me to stop. That 'no' meant nothing."

"What?" I twist his left wrist. "You didn't just say that."

"You didn't see the way she was grinding on me earlier, Ellie. That chick wants me." He sucks in a deep breath as a drop of blood trails out of his nostril. "She was just playing hard to get in the line."

"You had your hand up her skirt," I say, shaking with anger. "She was pushing you away. I heard her tell you to stop."

"That wasn't real." He laughs. He fucking laughs as blood flows out of his nose and onto his upper lip. "I guarantee her panties were wet. She wanted me. Her body was screaming yes. I don't give a fuck if her mouth was saying 'no.' "

I look up at the face of the woman who I saw pushing Jerry away. I heard the desperation in her voice. I saw the panic that flashed over her expression when she told him to stop. Her words may have been quiet, but the emotion behind them was loud enough to wake the dead. The tears in her eyes and the stuttering breaths that escape between her sobs, tells me everything I need to know.

"I don't think your nose is broken, Jerry." I stare down at his nausea-inducing face. He's the boy-next-door type. When he worked security with me, women would constantly stop him to ask for directions, or assistance, or his number. That ended the day I caught him in the staff room with his pants shoved to his thighs, his cock in his hand as he jerked off, oblivious to the fact that motion sensitive cameras anchored to the ceiling were capturing his every stroke.

"I fell hard," he whines, the distinct scent of beer on his breath. "I've never had a broken nose, but this feels like one."

Tags: Deborah Bladon The Men of Matiz Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net