The Billionaire's Allure (The Silver Cross Club Book 5) Read Online Free

with.”
    “Thanks,” I mumbled, embarrassed by all of the pairs of eyes on me.
    The meeting was over. People began gathering coats and notebooks, chatting to their neighbors, asking about plans for the weekend. I gathered my things in silence, feeling ashamed but hopeful, eager to get home and start writing.
    Darya came over to me while I was putting on my coat. She was very quiet, and she wrote dreamy, elegant short stories that usually made Claudia cry. “Hi, Beth,” she said.
    I smiled at her. “Hi.”
    “I was wondering,” she said, toying with the end of her ponytail. “I was thinking of going out to get some dinner. And I wondered if you’d like to go with me? I’m really interested in your book.”
    “Thank you,” I said. “That’s very kind of you. Tonight isn’t good for me, though. I have things I need to do, so. Maybe next week.”
    “Sure,” she said, and tucked her hands into her coat pockets. “Any time.”
    Walking home, I wondered if I had hurt Darya’s feelings. She was trying to reach out, maybe trying to make friends with me, and I had turned her down cold.
    I shrugged it off. What did I need friends for? I had my book, and my job.
    That was more than enough.
    * * *
    I arrived at work earlier than usual on Friday afternoon because I wanted to speak with Germaine before the club opened. She was in her office, as always, going through paperwork.
    “Hi, Germaine,” I said, rapping lightly on the doorframe.
    She looked up. “Beth,” she said. “Of course. Come in.”
    I closed the door behind me, and her eyebrows crept up. Surely she knew why I wanted to talk to her. “That guy who was here on Wednesday evening,” I said. “He was looking for me, right?”
    Germaine leaned back in her chair and folded her arms across her waist. “He said he was,” she said. “And it seems he wasn’t lying about knowing you. You certainly knew him.”
    “You didn’t tell him I worked here, right?” I asked.
    “Of course not,” she said, frowning at me, like she was offended I would even suggest such a thing. “I would never give out that sort of information. We were at something of an impasse when you came in, actually. I wouldn’t tell him anything, and he refused to leave.”
    “So you wanted to see if he recognized me,” I said. “To see if he was lying or not.”
    She nodded. “You answered that question for me quite effectively.” A small smile crept across her face. “I must say, that was one of the more impressive slaps I’ve ever witnessed.”
    “Thanks,” I said. “I guess.”
    “Should I blacklist him?” Germaine asked.
    That was an option available to every woman who worked at the club, dancers and waitresses alike. If a man bothered one of us—if he touched us when we didn’t want to be touched, persisted after we asked him to leave us alone, or even looked at us in a way we didn’t like—we could tell Germaine to blacklist him, and he wouldn’t be allowed near us again. Repeat offenders were banned from the club. Most of the dancers had blacklisted at least one client. Xanadu held the record at six.
    I had only ever blacklisted one client, a man who had never learned to take no for an answer. Germaine no longer permitted him in the club.
    I didn’t want to blacklist Max. History and curiosity overcame my innate caution. I sort of wanted to know what he had to say to me. So I said, “That won’t be necessary.”
    Germaine was watching me very closely. “Please let me know at once if you change your mind. Blacklisting is no reflection on you as an employee, Beth. I do everything in my power to ensure that the club remains a comfortable working environment. Say the word, and Javier will turn this man away at the door.”
    “I know,” I said. “Thanks, Germaine. I think I’ll be able to deal with him.”
    “As you will,” she said, and nodded her dismissal.
    I went back out into the main room of the club. Workers had started arriving—waitresses and