Free HeroRising by Anna Alexander Page A

lighting.
    “Yep. If you’re cool here, Ms. Ari, I’m going back to my
post. Noah will see to any of your needs.”
    “Thanks, Jax.” She settled onto a barstool and leaned over
the bar to be heard better by the bartender. “Okay, Noah, spill it. Why does
the mention of Bale’s name make y’all nervous?”
    His Adam’s apple bobbed as he shrugged and began to load the
glass washer. “Have you met the guy?”
    “Yeah, he brought me here.”
    “Really?” He looked as if she had slid ice down his back.
“Are you two like a thing?”
    “No. We’re friends. Kind of. Sort of.” She shook her head.
“Whatever.”
    “I thought he was a loner.”
    “I’m pretty sure he still is.” When no more information came
forth, she pressed on. “So what’s the deal?”
    Another shrug. “I don’t know him that well, but he has a
reputation of being something of a badass.”
    “Lucian seems to be somewhat of a badass too. So does Jax.”
She took another sip.
    “Yeah, but at least they can crack a smile, or at least, Jax
can. Lucian is a pretty somber guy, but he’s like Barney the fucking Dinosaur
compared to Bale.”
    “Why do you say that?” Damn, this was fine whisky.
    Focus, brain. Intel on Bale.
    “I’ve never seen him with any expression other than a scowl.
And I’ve only heard him talk once, and my vocal cords hurt just listening to
him.”
    Oh, but she liked his raspy voice. Especially her nipples.
They seemed to peak to attention whenever he spoke.
    “And I’ve heard,” Noah continued, “that if anyone asks him a
question he just stares at them until they walk away, and if he does answer,
it’s only with a grunt.”
    “Yeah, he does seem to enjoy the single-syllable responses.
But he’s not that scary.” Unless, of course, you were a potential
rapist, and then he was downright pants-shitting frightening. “Did anyone stop
to think that maybe he was lonely, or perhaps homesick?”
    “Homesick? Maybe. Lonely? Only by his choice. There are a
lot of ladies who’ve come through here and tried to break through his ice. I
haven’t heard of one who’s been successful.”
    Interesting. She twirled the last of the whisky in her glass
and fought back the bite of jealousy that was also stirred with the
confirmation that other women found the brooding hunk of maleness as desirable
as she did. At least he was discreet about his relationships, or at least that
was how it sounded. She didn’t believe Noah’s story that Bale never took anyone
up on their offer. Just because Noah didn’t know about it didn’t mean it never
happened.
    She tipped the last of the whisky down her throat and hopped
off the stool. “Thank you, sir.”
    “Do you want another?”
    “Not if I want to make it back to my room later. Another
time, maybe.”
    “Let me know if you need anything.”
    “Right now, I need to burn some energy.”
    Even with the hour being well past her bedtime she wasn’t
ready to return to the main house. Now that she knew Amaryllis and Lucian owned
a sex club, who knew how long those two would be at it? If she was going to
survive a night under their roof, she needed to run herself to the point of
exhaustion before attempting to venture back.
    The dance floor beckoned and the JWB helped her float on a
cloud of mellowness and heightened her excitement for this unexpected pleasure.
She loved to dance, but the only establishments back in her hometown were for
Texas two-step or line dancing. The techno clubs were in the city and she never
had the opportunity to spend the night sweating to the latest beat.
    “Well, girl, you wanted new and exciting. Here’s your
chance,” she murmured and rubbed her hands together as if she were taking a
running start off a diving board and prepared to step onto the dance floor.
    She bobbed back and forth, matching the sway of the crowd
then slipped between the backs of two dancers and then shimmed around another
pair. A few steps later she reached the middle of the