Surrender (Club X #2)(43)
Author: K.M. Scott

It took him less than a minute to undo all my fine work, and then he was standing next to me slipping his pants back on. Even though I’d told myself over and over that anything that happened between us would lead to nothing good, I couldn’t help want to touch him, to run my fingertips over his chiseled abs up to his strong shoulders. He knew it too, or at least I believed he did when I caught him watching me stare at him.

Quickly, I brushed away the sand that clung to my shorts to distract me from him standing so close. “Time to get going.”

He gave me a smirk and nodded. “So this is what friends do, huh?”

“Sort of, although the burying you in the sand thing was new for me.”

“Want to do this friend thing tomorrow night?”

Before I thought his offer through, I answered, “Sure. Same place and time?”

“You’re scheduled to work, so same time, but I think we should do something different next time. Maybe get a bite to eat.”

We began walking back toward the house, and I said, “That sounds suspiciously like a date, Stefan.”

Shaking his head, he looked at me. “Date? Nah. No such thing. Just two friends eating something together. Happens all the time with friends, doesn’t it?”

His grin told me he knew we weren’t acting like friends, but I didn’t care. It was cute. “Yeah. Happens all the time.”

EVERY NIGHT for two weeks Shay and I hung out doing the friend thing, even though I knew she didn’t think of me as just a friend any more than I thought of her as one. One night we gorged ourselves on the best Mexican food to be found at three a.m., and another night we drove around for hours with Shay’s arms wrapped tightly around me as I teased her by going too fast and she tried to explain to me what she did in her research.

Never before in my life had I enjoyed being around someone and not made a move on her. Not that I didn’t want to. God, I wanted to. Every minute I spent with Shay I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her. Not a night went by when I didn’t want her in my bed, but until she saw me as more than just a player, friends would be all we could be.

It was strange, but part of me wasn’t in any hurry for that to end. I could be myself around her. If I felt like acting stupid, I did and she laughed at my stupidity. When I decided to be serious, she let me be that without asking if something was wrong or if I was mad at her like other women did when I wanted to be something other than Stefan March, owner of Club X. There was no posing or pretending with Shay.

Just thinking of spending time with her put me in a good mood, even when I had to attend one of the weekly owner meetings or had to deal with Kane or Cash reading me the riot act for one thing or another I’d done. On the outside, I was the same Stefan, but underneath that façade, I got to be the person I was with Shay.

Even managing the club became something it never had been for me before. I’d always accepted my position there. Cash was the face the world saw of Club X. Kane was the hidden part, something that fit him to a T. I lived somewhere in the middle. The man members saw as the manager of the nightclub, I’d always been expected to be the life of the party, and for a long time I’d played that role easily. Drinking and chasing women helped solidify my reputation within a few months of the club’s opening, but it didn’t take long before both had become routine and too often boring. Now, though, I enjoyed meeting people and working with my staff, not because I wanted to sleep with any of them but because I was good at showing members a good time.

That didn’t mean things had gotten any better with my brothers. In fact, they’d gotten worse. Kane especially seemed to need to remind me on almost a daily basis how important Lola and her father were to our continued success, as if I didn’t already know that. Shay’s knack for understanding the people around her, including me, had begun to rub off on me, but no matter how much I wanted to see Kane’s point of view, I couldn’t.

I knew what I had to do. Why did he think I needed to be reminded constantly?

As I thought about all this, I heard someone walk up behind me. Turning around, I saw him approaching me with that same angry look on his face he so often wore in front of me. I was looking forward to another great night with Shay after work. I didn’t want him ruining it.

“Hey, Kane, what’s up? Before you bring up the whole Lola thing, I know. I have to make sure she’s happy.”

“That’s good, but I’m more curious about our bet, little brother. You leave every night with Shay, from what I can see. At least you’re trying to be sly about it and not let Lola see, but I’m wondering why I haven’t heard you gloat about taking over my part of the club in nearly two weeks.”

“Nothing to gloat about. We’re just friends.”

I rarely saw shock on Kane’s face, but there it was. I’d succeeded in stunning him.

“Friends? Stefan, she’s a female. Unless you’ve lost your dick, you can’t be friends with a female. It’s impossible.”

“For you maybe. Not me. I haven’t made a move on her in weeks, even though we spend every night together.”

Kane gave me one of those throaty laughs he did when he found something really amusing. “Me? I could be friends with a hundred women. I practically am upstairs. But even I would have to dump the friend thing if I was spending every night with the same woman. You, on the other hand, are a dog. You’re Cassian March’s son all the way, so don’t try and feed me that friend bullshit. You’re playing an angle, and you know it. I’m just curious how it’s going.”

I turned away to avoid the judgmental look in his eyes. “Not this time. I admit I’ve been a bit of a man whore in the past, but Shay’s different. We’re just friends, and no, I’m not playing any angle.”

Kane walked around me and stood at my side so I couldn’t evade his stare. “A bit of a man whore in the past? Stefan, you’re a man who’s made it his life’s work to sleep with every woman who passes in front of him. And when you aren’t sleeping with a woman, you’re figuring out how to get in her pants. So now, I’m supposed to believe you’ve found what? A conscience? God? A love of rejection?”

Jesus, he was a ball buster! Shaking my head, I tried to explain how things were between Shay and me. “We’re just friends, Kane. Do I want more? Fuck, yeah. But I’m not going to get more if I do my usual thing, so I’m content to be friends.”