Free Taking the Score by Kate Meader

“I can take care of it myself.”
    “Working yourself into the ground with two jobs? You leave that club at what, two in the morning? Are you even getting any sleep?”
    Sure, a few snatched moments here and there with her demon cat for company. But despite that, despite everything crashing down around her, a shiny beacon of hope pulsed through the fog.
    He wasn’t going to fire her.
    Maybe it was guilt at what happened last night. Maybe he was a stickler for the rules and was worried she’d sue. Whatever the reason, she had more power in this situation than she’d previously thought. For a woman who had lately felt powerless, this gift was the sun beating in her chest.
    “Do you think I do a good job here? Have you ever had cause to question my abilities, dedication, or professionalism?” Okay, the last one was a stretch. Real professional, begging her boss to do her. And then letting him.
    “No. You are a paragon of professionalism, Ms. Strip -land.”
    Fire raced to her cheeks. “That’s not—”
    “Funny, Ms. Strip-land?” He shook his head. “No, you’re right, it’s not funny at all. My apologies.” But amusement warmed his voice all the same.
    Something passed between them, a moment of recognition at just how crazy-as-all-fuck this situation was.
    “So, are you firing me?” she asked, knowing that he wasn’t.
    “Of course not.”
    Mental fist bump. “And what happened last night—”
    “When I took you against the wall of a room in a strip club and fucked your gorgeous body into the middle of the next millennium?” He held up his hand in apology, his expression grave once more. Gorgeous body , he’d said. And he had fucked her into the middle of the next millennium. The one after that, actually.
    “Emma, what I did last night was completely inappropriate. You would be completely within your rights to sue me into bankruptcy for how I took advantage.”
    “I made that decision. I was right there with you.” And he was right there with her, holding her to the end of the best orgasm she’d ever experienced. With the crapfest that was her life, to have that special experience tainted by regret would crush her.
    “Yes. Yes, you were.” He scrubbed his hair, pushing that flopping overhang back off his forehead. “We didn’t use a condom. I’m clean but is there a chance—”
    “No,” she pushed out quickly. “No chance of diseases or diapers in your immediate future.”
    Those gray eyes held her prisoner, his mouth silent.
    “I need this job. I don’t want to give it up and I have no intention of suing you.” Though it would solve all of her problems. A huge payout, wiping the slate clean. Old Emma might have thought about how best to turn this to her advantage, but that bitch was in the grave back in Millet, Pennsylvania.
    “And your other job? Do you need that as well?”
    “Yes, I do. If it’s not against the rules to work there—”
    “It’s against my rules, Emma. My personal rules.” He gripped the desk, white-knuckled it, in fact. It amazed her how much passion lay beneath that cool surface.
    It amazed her how much she wanted to see him lose control.
    Last night, she had seen snatches of it, but she suspected he’d held back. To think that they had barely tapped the potential between them was mind-blowing. Blinking back the images of what she’d like to see him do to her—a Brody unleashed like a sex-crazed kraken—she called on her own self-control. She wanted to keep this job. Repeating such inappropriate behavior would not help her keep this job.
    She stood, intending the gesture as an end to the cozy chat. “I don’t have to go back to the club until tomorrow, so it’ll give me time to figure some things out.” Like how to get Katerina to teach her some moves that might make her money. Now that she’d taken the plunge, the next time wouldn’t be so hard. The lies we tell ourselves. “I’d assumed I was out on my ear, which is why I’m not dressed