I didn’t know how to respond to that so I took the wimp way out and pointed to the sink at the far end of the bathroom. Earlier, I’d called my brother Douglas and he walked me through turning off the water to stop the flooding. My friends helped me out with throwing towels everywhere to soak up the mess.
“So the water started coming out of that pipe over there. I swear every time I turned on a sink to wash my hands anywhere in this club, there was a creaking sound.” I turned to him. His gaze had never left me. There was no way it could have. He hadn’t even positioned himself in the doorway enough to look into the bathroom.
“Are you coming into the bathroom?” I asked.
“No. My men will check it out.” He shifted his attention to my lips. My heart beat faster. Heat spread across my skin. He drew in his breath as if he were inhaling my scent. “Besides, I already know what the problem is. Do you have a boyfriend?”
A nervous giggle left my mouth. “Is that what usually causes pipe problems, boyfriends?”
“Yes. It’s a small percentage of occurrences, but I like to be very thorough. Do you have a boyfriend?”
“Well, due to this question being all about plumbing,” I winked, “my answer is no. I don’t have a boyfriend and I’m also not looking for one.”
“What are you looking for?”
“Success.”
“I would say you’re already there.”
“Then you would be wrong.”
“Is success the only thing on your mind?” he asked.
“Not the only thing, but it dominates a lot of my thinking.”
“That doesn’t get lonely?” He actually looked like he cared and not like he pitied me.
“I’m never lonely. I have tons of friends.”
“Male friends?”
“Many.”
“I’m not surprised.” He took out his phone from the inside of his jacket and pressed his fingers over the screen. “But you don’t have the opportunity to spend real time with men?”
“Says who? I’m surrounded by naked men five nights out of the week. I think that’s enough time to spend with the opposite sex.”
“Apparently.” Smiling, he placed the phone back into his jacket. “I just told my team that they could come inside.”
My front door opened, letting sunlight in for a few seconds and then shutting it away. Five men of different shapes and sizes marched our way. They were all dressed in white coveralls and tops with the same blue and green Moreno and Sons logo on the center of their uniforms.
“Are you one of those women that already has everything in her life?” he asked.
“Not everything.”
“Then, what do you need?”
I stepped away from the doorway to let the guys go through. They all carried containers that clinked with tools. “All I need is help with my plumbing.”
“Well, that’s definitely a problem I could handle.” His gaze traveled down to my legs. “You have pipes right now. I’m sure of it, lots and lots of them, but they’re defective and made with weak material. The problem is they need to be replaced. You need something new, something that can maintain for a long period of time and do the job you require. I’m here to take care of that.”
Oh God. He better only be talking about the club’s plumbing.
“How much will that cost?” I asked.
“Nothing but your time.”
I quirked my eyebrows. “Are we still talking about my actual club’s piping system or something else?”
“It’s up to you. Although, I would like to replace the pipes in both cases.”
My core warmed, but it always did that when a luscious guy flirted with me.
However, this was business.
Flirting with a dancer was fine—the environment called for it and that type of job attracted guys that were skilled in sexual wordplay—but when it came to actual business outside of Sin, I liked to maintain professional boundaries. I needed a plumber more than I needed another guy with a huge ego to fill my bed. In Miami, over-confident men grew on trees, many dangling right next to the mangos.
“How about we just focus on the pipes in my club,” I said. “Do you really think they need to be replaced?”
“Yes.”
“But you didn’t even look at them.”
“I didn’t have to check the ones in the bathroom. When I pulled up to your club, I walked around the back. There are a few exposed pipes toward the bottom of the building.” He gestured behind him. “That’s not good. Brick, wood, or something should be placed over them. I could also have someone take care of that for you.”
“Thank you.”
He moved from the doorway. “In regard to your pipes, they’re polybutylene. Most builders stopped using that piping material in the early nineties. It’s prone to breakage.”
“What should I have?”
“You need something more durable like copper, brass, or galvanized steel.”
“And if I don’t?”
“You may see my company again several more times this year.”