Meredith Worthington sat in her car in the dark, looking at the line snaking around the club outside with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Music throbbed through the night, vibrating her car windows, and seeming to taunt her: coward, come in; see what you’ve been missing.

Meri knew what she’d been missing: fun. Fun seemed to be the sole domain of her brothers. Marcus, her elder by six years, was married, but it didn’t seem to stop him from playing at any opportunity. In fact his wife, the stone cold bitch, seemed to get off on playing with him. And whoever else was around. Meri wrinkled her nose. That was so not the kind of fun she was after.

Matthew, younger than her by a mere ten months, had made fun his life’s work. He’d started making headlines in the local entertainment news at seventeen, and in the intervening years his exploits had only grown more extreme. At this very moment, Matthew was in the Caribbean somewhere swimming with stingrays. And, no doubt, drinking too much rum and screwing anyone who held still long enough. Okay, that wasn’t the kind of fun Meri was after, either. But it was getting closer.

At twenty-five, Meri felt as if all she’d ever done with her life was disappoint her father, go to school, and then dedicate herself to the family business. She couldn’t help but think if she was good enough at the Worthington Group, if she made the company successful enough, maybe the Old Man would finally stop despising her so much. Maybe she could finally breathe in his presence.

All of the work and school and more work had left her no time for an actual life. When the day came when her jealousy over the disparity between her life and those of her brothers was unbearable, when she found she couldn’t utter a civil word to either of them when they came in radiating lazy satisfaction, Meredith had known it was time to do something.

Marcus, after all, had been her one comfort, her one constant until recently. Feeling such envy toward him now left her feeling sick and guilty. And adrift. And while she and Matt had never been as close--their father had seen to that by pitting them against each other at an early age--they’d always gotten along reasonably well. His breezy good nature didn’t deserve her resentment.

Yep. It was time to do something, all right. Something drastic.

Gathering all her courage, she checked her lipstick one last time before getting out of the car. She wobbled a little on her three-inch heels, and cursed to herself as the Old Man’s voice rumbled through her head. Businesswomen never wear more than a two-inch heel, Meredith. It’s cheap. Well, maybe tonight she wanted to be cheap. Maybe it was the cheap women who got to have all the fun!

The line was ridiculously long. The beautiful, the desperate, and the depraved all waited beneath the lavender glow of Velvet Ice’s neon sign. The flashy club was one of Metro Detroit’s hottest dance clubs, and if there were whispers about what happened in the upper levels of the club, the titillation only added to the mystery. If the normal wait to enter was hours, the delay only added to the mystique. If only a bare fraction of the people in this line gained entry, the exclusivity only added to the allure.

Meri settled herself at the end of the line, tugging at her silver sequined mini skirt in the brisk fall air. She knew the bouncers did walk-bys of the line every half hour or so and plucked likely clubbers out for immediate entrance. She came from a well enough known family, Marcus had subsidized enough of the club’s start-up costs, and she had every expectation of being recognized and ushered in immediately.

She hadn’t been in line long enough to begin to shiver in the cold when she felt a tingle on the back of her neck. Automatically her shoulders straightened, and she assumed her haughty “Worthington Mask,” the one that sent weak men running for cover. Or to check to see if their male parts were still intact. Taking a breath, she forcibly reminded herself that the “Worthington Mask” had no place here. She wanted men to check her out. It was the whole point of this little field trip, after all. Reaction under control, she turned to face the source of her unease.

*

Tony Renatto had been working too hard for too long. His infant construction company had won a brutal bidding war for a local mall, only to be plagued with foul weather and a client who didn’t like to pay his bills on time, leading to a tedious and exhausting year.

He had a head of steam and boiling frustration that had been building for months, and tonight he intended to blow it all. And this was just the place to do it.

He worked his way up the line, ignoring the resentful glances of the would-be dancers as he passed them by. Membership had its privileges. He hadn’t been a member long before the mall job had gone to Hell, but he still had immediate and complete access to the club and its amenities whenever he chose to make use of them.

He was still near the end of the line when a flash of silver caught his eye. Zeroing in on the bright glitter, he beheld the most gorgeous creature God ever created. She was tall, at least five-ten in her high heels, and as slender as a willow switch. A waterfall of black, silky hair fell stick-straight down her back, reflecting the neon glow of the sign. Her breasts were small, but perfectly formed, their inner curves like ivory in the low, scooped neck of her silver halter top. He imagined her shoulders and back, hidden by a black shrug, would be equally perfect.

Tony was an impulsive man. He lived firmly in the now, and believed in going for what you wanted. Suddenly, with a fury that shocked him, he wanted this silver and ivory princess.

*

Meredith turned and froze. Arrowing through the crowded line was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. And his eyes were fixed firmly on her.

Her fingers twitched with the desire to comb through his hair, which looked to be nearly as black as hers. It was left carelessly long, falling in curls over his collar almost to his shoulders. And those shoulders! Broad and strong, they dwarfed the men around him.

Helplessly, she let her eyes take in the rest of the package. And, oh God, what a package it was! White, button down shirt half opened over a bronze chest liberally dusted with black hair. Snug black leather caressed every muscle and bulge of hard, thick thighs. Especially the bulge between his legs, which seemed to grow beneath her fascinated gaze.

Holy Hannah! The man was gorgeous. A great dark knight in black leather. Walking sex on a stick. And he was walking toward her. She didn’t know if she should be elated or terrified.

He didn’t stop until he was close enough for her to feel his heat along the front of her body. It was delicious, and she had to force herself not to lean into him.

“Are you here alone?” His voice was a low rumble vibrating things inside she’d never even guessed were there.

She tried to answer, but her voice seemed trapped somewhere beyond her pounding heart, so she just nodded.

“You aren’t any more.”

He took her hand and, drawing her out of line, led her to the private entrance of the club.

*

Tony didn’t even pause as he showed the bouncer at the door his gold membership coin and towed his little princess directly to the second-level dance floor. While the first floor of the club was open to the general public, only members and their invited guests had access to the upper levels. This dance floor was kept dim, flashing with colored lights creating a multitude of shadowed corners. The music pounded, and the dancers responded, crashing into each other in a rage of energy and passion. And, in some dark corners, of sex.

He glanced down at his little princess, and smiled at her wide eyes. She was trying to be discreet, but her eyes darted from spot to spot, and every glance added to her dumbfounded expression. From her reaction, he’d bet she’d never been to a club at all, let alone a club like this one. There was something in her eyes, something that called to him. Certainly there was innocence. It seemed to waft off her like perfume. But there was more. Underneath her innocence he detected a strength he found oddly compelling.

He bent so his mouth brushed the tender shell of her ear.

“Have you been here before?”

Her eyes snapped up to meet his, and for a second he forgot what he’d meant to ask as he melted into the silvery depths. He blinked a couple of times when she leaned up on tiptoe to answer.

“No, this is my first time.” She cast those ethereal eyes around the room again and sent him a fey little smile. “And it’s exactly how I pictured it.”

Her lips brushed the skin of his neck, just under his ear, with every word, and his cock swelled in response, begging to be brushed and stroked in just that way. Tony shook his head, amused at his reaction. He had every intention of getting lucky tonight, but he needed to take it slow, or he’d scare his little princess away. That was unacceptable.

*

Meredith felt almost giddy with excitement as her dark knight led her to the bar. She didn’t know his name, or who he worked for, or who his family was, and it was exactly how she wanted it. Every man she’d ever dated had been chosen and vetted by her father. You might as well be good for something besides spending my money, girl. Make a good marriage and you won’t be an entire waste of my DNA.

Unlike the men chosen by her father, this one seemed rough and uncontrollable. And the way he looked at her made her hot and squirmy in places a lady didn’t acknowledge. God, she wanted to dance with him. For starters.

He ordered drinks without asking her preference, and his arrogance, which should have royally pissed her off, just turned her on more. When he’d handed her the Cosmopolitan he’d ordered for her, he leaned down to place his lips at her ear again.

“What’s your name, Princess?”

She suppressed a shiver at the sensation of his warm breath on her skin.

It wouldn’t do to actually tell him her name, she realized. But her mind was suddenly blank. Buffy? Gak. Tiffany? Double Gak. He’d called her princess... Hmmmm...

“I’m Ariel,” she answered, just loud enough to be heard over the music. Oh, good Lord, she thought. I’ve made myself into the Little Mermaid! “And you are?”

“Anthony.” She thought the name fit. A little formal, which went well with her image of a dark knight, and a little ethnic, which went just as well with his dark curly hair and warm chocolate eyes.

“So, Anthony,” Meredith did her best impression of Karen, Marc’s bitch goddess wife. The woman might be pure poison to other females, but men stood in line to fall at her feet. “Are you just going to ply me with liquor,” she tossed off her drink, relieved when she didn’t choke or gasp at the potent alcohol. “Or are you going to ask me to dance?” She thought an eyelash flutter might be a bit much at this point, so she settled for drawing her eyes slowly over his lips to meet his.

Oh, man. She saw some naughty things in his eyes.

“I don’t ask, much,” he replied, relieving her of her empty glass and sitting his own nearly untouched beer beside it on the bar. “I tend to just take what I want.” The words, and the way he took her arm and tugged her to the dance floor sent a thrill of sensation through her, and she felt a never-before-experienced flush of moisture in her panties. Oh, damn. And he’d only touched her arm.

Out on the floor, the lights were dizzying, the crowd a seething crush. It was almost claustrophobic, and put a bit of a damper on her light-headed arousal. Arousal which came back in a rush when Anthony dragged her against his rock-hard body, guiding her arms around his neck so they were plastered together from chest to knees.

He was hard and hot, and the silky black hair peeking from his half-open shirt rasped thrillingly over the skin of her chest left bare by the low neck-line of her halter. He rested his hands low on her hips, and she shuddered in reaction when his fingers found the soft skin between her top and skirt and began to stroke.

She’d had lovers. Tame boys chosen from the ranks of the eligible and acceptable. None of them had managed, in the midst of sex, to arouse her as much as this stranger did just by looking into her eyes and stroking her back.

Oh, wow. She really had been missing out.

The more his fingers played over her bare skin, the more she melted into him. He smelled amazing, and she felt the alcohol, the lights and music, and his scent enveloping her in a haze of sensation. When he lowered his mouth to the spot where her neck and shoulder joined, she mindlessly tilted her head, giving him access.

His tongue was wet velvet. Just a little rough. Just a lot electric. She felt chill bumps rush over her at the sensation, and her nipples, already firm and stabbing into his hard chest, went painfully hard.

He kept up his torment, adding a light scrape of teeth to hot breath and tongue, and she didn’t even try to stop the moan that hummed out. His mouth lowered still more, licking over the hollow of her throat, teasing her for a moment with the possibility he might find one of her aching nipples with his diabolical tongue, before drifting up to bathe the other side of her neck.

They were still dancing, swaying slowly and out of time with the music. With each dip, Meredith pressed closer until she managed to align the notch of her thighs with the iron bar between his in a grinding pressure that enflamed more than it relieved. Frustrated, she lifted one leg, sending her silvery skirt slithering up to bare the thigh she wound around his hip.

The crowd ceased to exist. All she knew was the music, the man, and the sensations ripping through her like lightning.

He gave a little grunt as she slid her damp and burning pussy over the long bar of his cock, and reached down to wrap one huge, rough hand under her thigh. Without warning he hoisted her up, and she automatically wrapped both legs around his hips, clinging with arms and legs as he moved them into the shadows at the edge of the dance floor. When her back hit the wall, and he released one thigh, letting her slide down while still keeping one leg firmly around his hips and her pussy completely open to him, she wondered what on earth she was doing. And how soon she could do it again.

*

Tony knew he’d struck gold. His sweet little princess was a powder keg waiting to blow. He felt incredibly lucky he was the one who’d found her. He was the one she would explode all over.

He backed her into the wall, crowding her against the slick surface with his lower body, keeping her thigh anchored around his waist with one hard hand while he leaned in to rest his other forearm on the wall by her head, caging her in completely.

Lowering his head, he began to play connect the dots with the light dusting of glitter across her chest. One, two, three, he dragged his tongue from one silver flake to the next, breathing in her exotic, soft musk scent and tasting the salty-sweet tang of her skin.

She was shaking in his grasp, breath jerking and shuddering as she tightened her leg and tried to grind her hot little pussy against him. With every little wriggle, he felt his cock grow, stretch, demand more. Fuck. He hadn’t even kissed her yet, and he was about to come in his pants like a teenager.

Suddenly he needed to feel more of her. More sweat-slick skin. Moving his lips to her ear, he toyed with the lobe, tugging her earring with his teeth before rasping, “Unbutton my shirt.”

To his happy surprise, she didn’t hesitate. Her busy little fingers went right to work, and in seconds the offending shirt hung open, baring his chest to her hungry gaze.

*

He didn’t have to tell her to touch him. Her hands seemed to have a mind of their own. The skin they stroked over was silky smooth. Dark nipples poked from swirls of silky black hair as if begging for attention. Attention she was happy to give.

She dragged her nails over the hard tips and was rewarded when his hips surged against hers. Encouraged, she shifted down just enough to run her tongue over his collarbone, savoring the light taste of salt and the answering jerk of his cock against her.

This is fun, she thought, rising up a bit to nip at his earlobe. She’d never imagined that bland, boring little Meredith Worthington could make a man like this shiver in her arms.

Feeling bolder, she lifted one arm, snaking it around his head to pull him closer while giving her fingers access to those amazing curls. She combed upward, starting at the nape of his neck, and dragged her nails along his scalp to his crown. His hair was like silk, flowing through the sensitive hollows between her fingers, and when he shivered into the touch, she shivered right along with him.

His breath gusted against her neck, where he seemed happy to lick and feast all damn night, as she played with his hair. Arching into the subtle pulse of his hips, she let her other hand wander. Slowly she stroked down his chest, tiptoeing her fingers down his rippling abdomen. The way his muscles jumped under her touch was intensely gratifying. And arousing.

She worked her way around, sliding under his shirt and down the small of his back until she encountered his hard, round, leather-covered butt. God, with each tiny surge of his hips into hers, she could feel the flex of his ass under her palm. When she dug in and squeezed, he growled and ground against her in a rough and sudden move that had her seeing stars.

Now if she could just get him to kiss her. Anywhere.

She remembered her reaction to his fingers on her back, and began to feather her own over the deep groove down the center of his. He flexed into her caress like a gorgeous Siberian tiger, dragging his chest over her breasts and finally raising liquid brown eyes to meet hers.

“You feel like you want something,” his lips were full and sensual, and his voice grated her over-stimulated nerves. “If you want something, you must ask.” His eyes were on her lips as he spoke.

She had a light bulb moment.

“So that’s what you’ve been waiting for?” She couldn’t resist setting her teeth against his chin for a second. And then she couldn’t resist sweeping the tip of her tongue over the light stubble rasping there. He tossed his head, throwing his hair back and breaking free of her light hold, and she laughed just a little bit.

“Okay, then.” She ran her tongue over her lips and smiled as his eyes followed the movement.

“Kiss me, Anthony.” She deliberately kept her voice soft and young. Karen-voice.

“Touch my breasts.” His eyes flared and snapped to hers, and she deliberately widened them innocently.

“Suck my nipples, Anthony.” He was growling now, and she wondered where the Hell this boldness was coming from. She’d like to blame it on the drink, but she didn’t think one Cosmopolitan could account for asking a stranger to suck her nipples.

She’d known she had a tiger by the tail, so to speak, so she shouldn’t have been surprised when he pounced. Somehow she was.

*

If he’d written her a script she couldn’t have used words more perfectly designed to blow his mind. Particularly, he admitted wryly, since his mind was presently residing between his legs.

But, fuck, she felt amazing. She tasted amazing. She sounded amazing. And he needed some amazing in his life.

Releasing her leg, he rested both forearms on the wall, framing her head, and tangled his hands in the inky fall of her hair. Tugging her head back in a move that wasn’t quite gentle, he slanted his lips over hers. With a quick twist of his jaw, he opened her mouth with his own, and let his tongue go exploring.

She tasted like her drink, and like more. Something sweet and tropical. Her lips were like wet silk under his, and he couldn’t stop sipping at them, sucking first one then the other into his mouth for the drag of his teeth.

Her hands locked in his hair, anchoring him to her when he would have pulled away. She seemed just as hungry as he was, just as needy for his taste as he was for hers.

Most of the women on this level of the club were regulars. Experienced sensation seekers. Jaded. He knew he must have done something really right to have found this little princess.

*

His kiss was perfect. Just like everything else about him had been. Meri let herself dive into the experience, storing up the memory of his flavor, his texture. The feel of his breath on her cheek. The feel of his body pressed to hers.

When he broke the kiss, he didn’t pull away. Instead he rested his forehead against hers and looked so deeply into her eyes she felt like he was looking into her soul.

“Are you going to let me have you, Ariel?”

Who? Oh. Hell. That was her.

“Are you going to give me those nipples? Your pretty little pussy? Are you going to let me fill you so full of cock you won’t be able to walk tomorrow?” Okay, that last was overkill, but she had to admit it turned her on.

Some little devil answered for her.

“I thought you didn’t ask.” She rested her head back on the wall and gave a slow, full body squirm against him. “I thought you just took what you wanted.”

His eyes glittered dangerously. She felt a flicker of fear. Good God, she was about to have sex with a stranger in the corner of a club.

“You’re right.” His voice was as dangerous as his eyes, and with a few quick motions he’d removed her panties, which disappeared into his pocket, hiked up her skirt, and dragged up her top to bare her breasts to his voracious gaze.

Dipping his head to her nipples, he murmured, “Undo my pants and take out my cock. I’m busy,” and promptly sucked one beaded nipple into his mouth.

She cried out, and her hands clenched in his hair at the sensation. He moved from one nipple to the other, never giving her time to adjust to the sensation. Never giving her time to anticipate him.

After several long minutes he raised his head. She whimpered and tried to direct him back to her breasts, but he wouldn’t be dissuaded.

“Undo my pants,” he spoke very deliberately this time. “And take out my cock. Now.” He stared into her glazed eyes, waiting for her to obey.

It took a moment to make sense of his words, but when she did, she reached down and began to fumble with the buttons at his waistband. His pants were snug, and the bulge of his cock made them even snugger, but eventually she wrestled them open.

His cock, huge and hot, all but leapt into her hands. Mindlessly, completely enthralled, Meri stroked it, tracing each ridge and vein until she made a discovery. Oh. My. God. He was pierced! Just the idea of it made her pussy clench, and she found herself compulsively playing with it, tugging lightly at the gold bar until he began thrusting shallowly in her hands.

*

Her hands on his dick were Heaven. Nirvana. Absolute Bliss. Tony thought he could die now, her taste in his mouth and her touch on his body, and never regret a single thing.

Reaching down, he fumbled a condom from his back pocket. He knew in about another ten seconds he was going to be inside her, ready or not. He reached down to gently disengage her hands, and quickly rolled the protection into place. Then he let his eyes cruise her body, taking in the sheen of moisture on her thighs, the sleek curls over her pussy, her pale tummy, which was heaving with each breath.

“Offer me your nipples.” He didn’t know how he was going to last, but he absolutely had to taste those ripe raspberries again. Again there was no hesitation.

She reached up, cupped her small breasts in her hands and lifted them toward him. He rewarded her obedience by leaning down and drawing his tongue over one quivering tip. Slowly, methodically, he licked at each nipple, painting designs of sensation over the delicate flesh until they were so red and swollen they looked painful.

She writhed in his arms, pressing upward, trying to coax him into the deep suction she prayed would bring her relief.

“Remember, Ariel,” he rumbled. “If you want something, you must ask.”

*

Meri was so turned on she didn’t even know what to ask for. His mouth? His hands? His gorgeous cock? She wanted them all, and she wanted them now.

“Please,” she panted, and he smiled at the word. “Please, I need you to...” Her words trailed off as he drew his tongue over her nipple yet again.

“You need me to what?”

The music seemed louder, a cacophony of noise that bled into the static in her head.

“Fuck me,” she finally cried. “I need you to fuck me.”

His smile turned wicked.

“What do you do if you need something from me?”

She looked at him in complete disbelief. Her juices were running down her thighs, they were in a corner in a club full of dancers, his cock felt about the size of a submarine, and he was waiting until she asked politely?

She gritted her teeth, tried to catch her breath, and gave in. Sort of.

“Please fuck me, Anthony.” She was using Karen-voice again, and she hoped it would work.

“Please take your great big cock, and stuff it so deep inside me I can’t walk tomorrow.” She hid a smirk as her repetition of his words seemed to turn him on as much as they had her.

“Please pin me to this wall and make me come until I scream.”

Apparently she was polite enough.

Anthony grabbed her thighs, pulled them apart and lifted her in one smooth motion. Then he set the tip of his cock to her narrow entrance and surged in with one long, powerful stroke.

She felt his cock forging in, inch by inch. His diabolical little metal bar dragged against her sensitive tissues while his blunt erection stretched and parted tight, neglected flesh with a pleasure bordering on pain. She could feel every huge, pounding inch as he possessed her. Owned her. In that moment, she couldn’t imagine ever being without him inside her. It felt too damn good.

He braced her shoulders against the wall and pulled her lower body to his, giving himself room to work. Holding her by the hips, he began to thrust in a slow, deep rhythm that rapidly had both of them breathing fast.

Meri knew if he’d just move a little faster, just thrust a little harder, just touch her clit, she’d come like she’d never done before. Like the women did in her romance novels.

“Anthony,” she moaned. He kept up his rhythm. Slow and deep.

“Anthony, please.” This time he looked up. His eyes were wild, and the muscles of his neck and shoulders were corded with the strain of holding back.

“If you want something,” each word was a gasp between thrusts. “You know what you have to do.”

She was too far gone to try female tricks to manipulate him. All she could do was beg.

“Please, go faster. Anthony, please, I need to come.” He sped up immediately, and her voice rose to a low scream of pleasure. “Please touch me, make me come, God, Anthony, please.”

*

He felt the very second the orgasm took her. The tiny, strong muscles of her pussy began to ripple around his cock, drawing him in deeper and triggering his own explosion. Everything about her orgasm, from the clutch of her pussy to her incoherent begging, tripped his trigger. It felt like he came for hours. And when he was done, she was still shuddering around him.

*

When they were both finally still, he pressed her to the wall for one last, lingering kiss.

“You taste like summer,” the words were so low, she didn’t think he’d meant her to hear them. He began to pull away, and she suddenly wasn’t quite ready to let him go.

“Please hold me, Anthony.” The words were entirely her. No baby talk, no Karen-voice, nothing but Meredith asking for what she needed. She marveled at her courage. None of the men in her life gave her what she needed simply because she asked. Even Marcus only gave so much before becoming disgusted at her “silly female emotions.”

Anthony responded to her request by sinking back down against her. Sheltering her from the room, she felt him fumble with the condom before he stretched out one arm and dropped it in a nearby trash container. Convenient, she thought. Then, still holding her with one hand, he began to straighten her clothing with the other, pausing to pet her still-quivering flesh from time to time as he smoothed the sequined fabric into place.

When he finally did let go, he didn’t go far, only stepping back enough to fasten his pants, and a few of the buttons on his shirt. He held out his hand, and she started to take a step forward, only to wobble wildly as she discovered her legs weren’t quite up to supporting her.

To her horror, a giggle escaped. He grinned in response. “Well, Princess, you might be able to walk tomorrow, but it looks like you’re wrecked for tonight.”

His grin was so devilish and pleased she couldn’t help but return the smile, and then burst into laughter as she collapsed back against the wall.

“Wait here,” he instructed when their hilarity had calmed a bit. “I’ll bring us back fresh drinks.” He sent her a wink. “After that, I definitely need one.”

She caught him before he could walk away.

“Make mine a lemon-drop martini.” When he raised his brows she added, “I’m not really fond of Cosmopolitans.”

He gave a little salute, and forged into the crowd. It parted before him like the Red Sea. He was dark and imposing, and looked every bit as good going as he did coming. She noticed several other women checking out his very fine ass, and would have been insanely jealous if she hadn’t still been able to feel his imprint in her throbbing passage.

Suddenly, a movement to the side caught her attention. A very familiar dark head was weaving through the crowd in her direction, followed closely by an equally familiar blonde head.

“Oh, Hell.” Oh, disaster was more like it. Marcus was here, and from all appearances not very happy to see she was here, too. Marc’s best friend Daniel followed closely behind him, as always, and he didn’t look any too thrilled to see her, either.

She sent a wistful gaze at her dark knight’s back before the two men descended on her.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Marcus grabbed her arm, propelling her in the direction of the exit without waiting for her to answer.

When she tripped and nearly hit the floor, Daniel moved up on her other side, catching her against him.

“Marc, slow down.” Her brother shot his friend an evil look, but did moderate his pace. A little. “When you said you were going to drag her out of here, I didn’t think you meant literally.”

“Fine. I’m going slow.” Marcus sounded anything but fine, and his version of slow was somewhere around warp speed. “Now, I’ll ask again, what the fuck are you doing here? Do you know what kind of place this is? What happens here? Shit, Meri, do you know what you were inviting leaning up against the wall like that?”

He looked painfully uneasy at the smile she shot him.

“Oh, yeah. I know exactly what I was inviting.”

That did not mollify him.

“Look, Meredith, I’ve got too much shit piling up on me right now to worry about digging you out, too.” His voice was still gruff and angry, and his anger sparked her own.

“Who asked you to?” She tugged at her arm. He didn’t free her, but he did stop and look at her for the first time. She flushed a little, knowing he would recognize the sex clinging to her like a fog, but for once she didn’t really care.

“Marcus, all I do is work. Work, and try not to screw anything up.”

*

Marcus winced, recognizing their father’s voice in her words.

“Just once,” her eyes went liquid, “just for one night, I wanted to be like you and Matt. I wanted to have fun, and not worry about who I might disappoint.” Her mouth, which was alarmingly puffy and pouty looking, turned down. “I guess it never occurred to me my being here would disappoint you, of all people.”

Daniel shot him a telling look, and Marcus swore viciously. The last thing he needed now was for his baby sister to get tangled up in this mess. Not when Karen was on the warpath, threatening to expose all the kinky little details of their marriage to the press.

“Well, I am disappointed.” It killed him to hurt her, but he told himself he did it for her own protection. “You aren’t some cheap little whore, and it disappoints me to see you act like one.”

*

At her brother’s words, she felt every bit of blood drain out of her face, and her knees go weak. Was that what he thought of her? Was that what she was? A whore?

So great was her shock, she missed the furious, whispered conversation between Marcus and his best friend. She was barely aware when Daniel led her out of the club and helped her into his Aston Martin.

All the good feelings, the power and exhilaration of the night had drained away under Marcus’ disapproval, leaving her cold and sticky, and feeling vaguely dirty.

“He didn’t mean it, Mer.” Daniel’s voice was soothing, like being wrapped in velvet. “It’s this business with that viper he married.” She flicked him a look.

“What business?”

“Oh, Hell. He hasn’t told any of you?” When she shook her head, he continued. “Well, he’s been staying at my place for the last three days.” She looked at him in shock. “The Viper pushed even Marcus the Great too far on their anniversary, and he walked out. It’s why he’s being a total ass and overreacting all over you.” He reached over and gave her knee a comforting squeeze. “He’s just misdirecting his anger at his soon-to-be ex-wife.”

They drove in silence for a long time, until Daniel whipped the car up the long, winding driveway leading to the Worthington Mansion. When he pulled up to the front door, he leaned over and gave Meri a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Marc and I drove to the club together, so he’ll probably drive your car home tonight. At any rate, if he doesn’t bring it back here tonight, I’ll make sure one of us picks you up for work in the morning.”

She sent him a sad smile. “Make sure it’s you, okay?” She closed her eyes wearily. “I don’t think I’m up for having him take his mad out on me again so soon.”

Daniel nodded, and stood by the car watching as she climbed the stairs to the door. Giving him a little wave, she slipped through the door into the dark house.