She ran her fingers through her hair and bit her lip. She seemed confused with the whole thing and I didn’t blame her; I’d been giving her mixed signals for weeks now. “I’m not sure where you’re going with this so I don’t really know what to say.”

“What do you want between us, Velvet?”

“I want what we had before we slept together.”

Maybe I’d left it too long to apologise, but I figured friends was a good place to start from again. “I want that too.”

“Good.” She smiled but it was forced and I wondered what she was hiding behind it.

“Now that we’ve got that sorted, tell me what the hell is going on with your ex.”

“James is going into politics and wants to pay me to keep my mouth shut if journalists ever come digging for dirt on him. I’ll never talk to them but I don’t need to be paid to do that. He doesn’t believe me and is trying to force me into taking the money.”

“You never fail to surprise me, Velvet.”

“Why’s that?”

“There’s so much good inside you but you don’t show it often. If people took the time, they’d see it but most people don’t fuckin’ bother to take the time. They skim the surface of a person and judge the outside layer. I see it in you but every now and then you surprise me with more.”

It wasn’t often I saw Velvet speechless but she was now. I let her take that in, and then continued, “So he wants you to agree to this within the next week?”

“Yes.”

“We’ll fuckin’ see about that. Don’t contact him, okay? Leave it with me.”

“Okay, but I’m not sure what you can do about it.”

She was still uneasy about this, so to put her at ease, I tried to lighten the mood. Grinning at her, I said, “Most women think my talents lie with my mouth and hands, but I’ll share a secret with you; my mind is where it’s all at, sweet thing.” I tapped my head. “It’s a dangerous place up here, and your ex won’t know what hit him once I’ve dealt with him.”

It did the trick and she laughed at me. “I believe you when you say it’s a dangerous place up there. I’d like to know what the hell goes on in that mind of yours.”

Still grinning, I replied, “That makes two of us.”

Chapter 16

Collide ~ Kid Rock & Sheryl Crow

Velvet

After a busy night at work, I sank down into the chair next to Nash and put my feet up on the table in front of us. Smiling at him, I laid my head back, closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

“Long night?” he asked.

Cracking an eye open to look at him, I said, “You’ve no idea. Assholes were out in full force tonight. Thank God it’s Friday; I need two days off.”

He scowled. “You should have come and got me to deal with the assholes.”

“Nash, I can’t rely on you to take care of all the dickheads in my life.”

“I’d be fuckin’ happy to, babe.”

I laughed. “Oh, I’m sure you would love to get those fists out and deal with them all that way.”

He grinned. “You know me too well, sweet thing.”

“There’s a lot I don’t know about you, but I do know two things; you like to get your fists and your cock out at every chance.”

He’d just had some of his drink and he almost choked on it at my words. “Fuck, Velvet, you’ve got a dirty mouth sometimes.”

“And is that a problem for you, King of the Dirty?”

His eyes blazed with heat. “No, it’s not a fuckin’ problem, but damn woman, you have no idea what it does to a man when words like that come out of your pretty little mouth.”

My body sizzled with lust. Ever since we’d cleared the air the other day, Nash had gone back to his flirty ways, and I felt like I would explode from the desire he stirred in me. I leant closer to him, and whispered, “It probably does to you what your words do to me, Nash.”

He growled, “Christ, Velvet, don’t say shit like that unless you’re willing to go there again.”

I licked my lips. “Maybe I am. Maybe you just need to ask.”

“You two look cozy.” We were interrupted by J, and Nash shot him a foul look.

“What’s up?” Nash asked, his voice and body language clear with his desire for J to hurry up and get the hell out of here.

J raised his brows. “That’s a nice fucking way to be greeted after I’ve been away for awhile.”

“We’re kinda in the middle of something, asshole.”

J smirked. “So I see.”

I stepped in. “J, cut to the chase and tell him what you want. I need Nash to take care of something for me.”

Nash swung his head to face me. His eyes were glazed with desire, and he muttered, “Fuckin’ hell, woman. I’ll take that as a yes.”

J laughed. “I actually don’t want anything; I was just stopping by to say hi before I went home.”

Nash stood up, pulling me with him. “Good to see you, man. Say hello to Madison for me.”

J saluted him. “Will do.” Flashing me a grin, he murmured, “I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into there, babe.”

“I do this time,” I said before being pulled by Nash in his haste to leave. I stumbled a little before righting myself and hurrying to keep up with him. “Nash, where are we going?”