Secrets to Hide 3: Just a Little More (13 page)

And when she didn’t have to work the next day. Her position in a local school helping immigrant students learn English had been the boost of confidence she’d needed during the rough days of recovery. Now she flourished instead of floundered. They both did.

Harley flipped a lock of candy-red hair behind her shoulder. “You would not believe. They’re constantly tattling on me. Constantly. As if I can’t handle anything this club throws at me.”

“Of course you can, Wonder Girl,” Damien said as he sauntered up, proving he’d heard her muttered comment. “And it makes me damn hot.” He grabbed Harley for a hard kiss, silencing any rebuttal she might’ve made. Brad didn’t think there was one. He watched, amused, as Harley melted into Damien much the same way Angel had melted into him.

A tiny sound, almost a whimper, escaped Angel’s lips. She shifted restlessly against him, and Brad couldn’t bite back his hoarse curse at the feel of her hip nudging his cock. When her gaze went from the kissing couple to Brad’s lips, he felt the look all the way to his groin, which hardened in a rush. The sudden knowing curve of Angel’s mouth said she knew exactly what she was doing to him—and liked it.

He lost track of the conversation then, the only thing he could think about being how soon he could get inside her. At this rate—and with the temptation of that miniskirt—he might just find something to bend her over. The heat between them got higher and hotter the longer they were together, until it damn near blew his mind every time he took her. The last time… He hardened even more, remembering this morning. The shower. God, he loved showering with her.

Damn it.

A throat clearing reminded him the predicament in his pants wasn’t exactly private right now. A flush heated his cheeks as he met the knowing look Alex, Damien’s best friend, was throwing his way. Alex settled on a bar stool and tucked his pregnant wife, Cailin, between his spread knees. “You know, there’s an office just down the hall you can use if you really need to.”

Angel choked at the implication, seeming only now to realize they had an avid audience.

Damien adopted a mocking frown. “At this rate I’m going to have to start charging by the hour.”

“Ahem”—Ryan slid off his bar stool—“I think I’m too young to hear this.” He glanced around, his teasing eyes sparking when he caught sight of Rachel across the room. The little Goth EMT was a regular at the club now, and Brad didn’t think it was because they never let her pay. Not if the look she threw back at Ryan as she sauntered toward the dance floor was anything to go by. The puppy-dog devotion in Ryan’s eyes said the feeling was mutual.

Brad laughed. “You might have another renter for that room soon,” he told Damien. “Might want to set a schedule so we don’t crimp each other’s style.”

“There’s always the old hang-a-tie-on-the-doorknob routine,” Alex joked.

“Absolutely not!” Harley propped her hands on her hips and frowned them all down. “There are too many people horning in on our time together as it is. I am not giving up my office for anybody’s nooky but mine.”

Conveniently, Damien had just taken a sip of the Jack and Coke in his hand. Brown spray hit the air at Harley’s words. Damien sputtered, his ears turning red enough to match Angel’s outfit.

If Harley was embarrassed by her outburst—or its results—she gave no indication of it. She hopped up to sit on the bar without blinking, grabbed a white towel, and proceeded to clean Damien’s face as if he was their daughter’s age and not a grown man. When she finished, she leaned in until she was nose to nose with her fiancé. “Of course, if my nooky gets interrupted, I guess yours does too.”

Damien’s frown was ferocious. “Oh hell no.”

Angel covered her mouth, trying to hide the laughter shaking her. Brad didn’t bother to hide it; he roared.

Harley ignored everyone’s amusement. With a husky, “That’s right,” she pulled Damien in for a blatantly sexual kiss.

“Guess if we didn’t know you were using your office for nefarious purposes before, we do now,” Cailin observed.

“Oh, we knew, all right,” Alex said over her shoulder. He reached down to smooth a hand over Cailin’s gently rounded stomach.

A sense of rightness settled in Brad’s chest as he watched the people he’d come to consider his family joke around with each other. They all had their stories. Hell, he’d been here for most of them. They all carried scars, just like him and Angel. It was what made them who they were, what had brought them to this point. He glanced down at the woman in his arms, seeing her contentment, seeing her laugh, and knew that, like the couples around them, his and Angel’s life together was far more than the scars of their past. This was only the beginning, and the people surrounding them now had helped make that possible.

A laugh from Alex pulled Brad out of his reverie. “Feels like Junior’s dancing around in there.”

Cailin nodded. “I think he likes the music as much as I do.”

Alex slid off his seat. Taking Cailin’s hand, he headed for the dance floor. “How about we join him?”

Excitement spiked in Cailin’s eyes as she waved them all a hurried good-bye. Harley didn’t even ask; she just lifted a brow at Damien, who groaned. “You’re gonna kill me, aren’t you?” he whined, but the hungry look he gave her told another story. “Come on.”

Brad watched as the couple followed Alex and Cailin down the stairs to the sunken dance area of Thrice. A wicked impulse had him lowering his mouth to the delicate shell of Angel’s ear. “You know,” he murmured, “I have a key to that office.”

Angel slanted him a sideways glance. “Is that right?”

A slight cock of his brow was his only answer. Apparently Angel got the message, because her eyes lit with that special fire he’d come to know—and need—so well. “Then what are we waiting for?”

Loose Id Titles by Ella Sheridan

The SECRETS TO HIDE Series

Dirty Little Secret

Naughty Little Christmas

Just a Little More

Ella Sheridan

Ella Sheridan grew up in the middle of nowhere, otherwise known as the Deep South. Books provided her with adventures, friends, and her first forays into romance. To this day she explores the world through the words of her favorite authors, whether that’s the worlds across space and time or the worlds of love and passion. When she’s not writing or working or reading, she is corralling her two active teenagers, snuggling on the couch with her husband, working out her stress in a martial arts class, or sleeping. But no matter what she’s doing, the voices in her head just won’t let her go.

Find out more about Ella at
http://ellasheridanauthor.com/
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