Free Careful What You Kiss For by Jane Lynne Daniels

“Tell Rhonda the Ska — ”
    She knew that look on Max’s face. It meant “play along.” He’d signaled her with it many times in high school.
    “Ska — git Valley Homecoming Queen,” she managed to finish, “to call me.” As if Rhonda could have ever gotten off her knees long enough to walk across a stage. She tried a smile, but it disappeared before it even got started.
    “I’ll do that,” Max said.
    “Homecoming queen, huh?” Razor gave a hoarse way-to-go chuckle. “Yeah, I nailed the homecoming queen at my high school, too. She kept her crown on the whole time. Damn thing almost poked my eyes out.” He shook his head, then brightened. “Huge tits, though.”
    Again. Seriously?
    Max gave an easy answering chuckle.
    She might have to kill both of them. From the deadly lotus position.
    “They were nothing like yours, though, babe.” Razor snaked a possessive arm around her waist and nuzzled her neck, causing every one of her nerve endings to shout its protest. He dropped his voice. “Don’t worry. I don’t even remember her name. And you don’t wear a crown so your Razor-man is safe to keep on going a-l-l night long.”
    Give her a minute and she’d get a crown. A huge one that would stab her Razor-man in all kinds of sensitive places.
    Max lifted his hand. “So Rhonda will be in touch. Good seeing you, Tensley. Nice meeting you, Razor.” He strode to the door.
    Tensley would have run after him, but Razor Burns held on to her as what felt like every hope she’d had of regaining her normal life disappeared with Max Hunter. She hadn’t always had the greatest life, but it was hers and from this vantage point, it looked pretty damned near perfect. She wanted it back.
    The door shut, leaving Tensley standing with a man named after a facial injury.
    He landed a drive-by kiss on her cheek and took off toward the kitchen. “What’s to eat? I’m starved.”
    She put a hand to her cheek, where his rough whiskers and wet lips had brushed her skin, and scrubbed at it with her fingers. As he walked away, he flexed his arms and pulled his hands into fists, swinging them from side to side like a boxer. Wine glasses hanging from an iron rack near the kitchen clinked together in alarm.
    His walk reminded her of someone, but she couldn’t think who. She couldn’t think much of anything.
    “Babe?” Razor called from the kitchen. “Some of the guys are gettin’ a game going over at Rod’s house. You care if I go, after the gym?”
    She was one-hundred-percent sure she did not care what Razor did. Now or ever.
    He appeared again, a stalk of broccoli in one hand, a bottle of vitamin water in the other, and an expectant look on his face. He tipped his head. “You okay? You look kinda funny.” He took a big bite of broccoli, watching her as he crunched. Bits of green clung to the corners of his mouth.
    “Uh, no. No, I’m not.” She shook her head, hugging her waist. “I don’t feel well.” True enough.
    “Oh, man. Really?” Another bite. More crunching. More pieces of broccoli refusing to enter his mouth. “Can I get you anything?”
    “Nothing. Except … ” She gestured toward the broccoli. “I don’t think I can watch you eat.”
    “Sorry.” Another large bite and a swig of water and he was done. He disappeared into the kitchen. When he returned a minute later, he was drawing one large hand across his mouth. “You gonna be able to work?”
    If he meant work at Gary’s, she was never setting foot in that strip club again. Not if they dragged her by her tiny thong. She shook her head. And then shook it even harder.
    “Pops told me you were acting weird last night. Bet it was because you were feeling sick, huh?”
    Pops. As in … father. That walk. She knew she’d seen it before.
    “You don’t have to keep telling him you’re quitting, you know. You can just ignore him if he’s making you mad. Hell, that’s what I do.”
    Gary. The owner of the strip club. Was this man’s