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    His hand fell away from my face, and I felt the absence of his touch profoundly. I shivered lightly, and Adam pulled the lapels of his jacket around me just a little bit tighter. His hands lingered in the folds of the fabric. I could feel the heat of them even through the jacket.
    Nameless emotion sizzled, crackling through the silence and making me feel buzzed. Maybe the vodka was working after all. Adam wasn’t much of a toucher; he usually kept within the bounds of his personal space, very few times venturing out of it.
    He was a very controlled man, like he lived by some unspoken personal code. One of his rules was he didn’t date his dancers. Ever. And that little reminder was like ice water tossed on the flames he ignited just by being so close.
    The tenderness he was showing me right now was just like the tenderness he showed a couple months ago, when he held me in his lap. When his words were soft and meant only for my ears. That night had been horrible. I should never want to think about it.
    But I thought about it all the time.
    Mostly in the dark of the night when I was lying in bed alone and all I could do was remember.
    One night our place was broken into. I was attacked, scared out of my mind. The guy ran off when Harlow showed up, but it didn’t really ease my fear. I’d been afraid at the time it was Craig. We knew now it wasn’t.
    Adam showed up that night. Like he somehow knew I needed him. Just the feel of his arms around me was enough to erase the worst parts of that night and replace them with longing thoughts of him. He spent that night on my couch. I slept better just knowing he was there.
    I must have looked now like I looked that night. Maybe it was the reason he was so close.
    “You know you can talk to me, right?” he asked, low.
    I nodded. I couldn’t really, though. My problems weren’t his problems. My bad choices weren’t his responsibility. And besides, he already knew more than enough about the kind of relationship I’d let myself become involved in. It was embarrassing enough without talking about it more.
    “You aren’t going to.” He said the words like they tasted foul. Momentarily, his hands tightened on the lapels of his jacket before he released them and stood.
    “There’s nothing to say,” I replied.
    “I’m opening a new club,” he said, abruptly changing the subject. That softness buried deep within him went back where he kept it, and his normal façade came out.
    “Congratulations,” I said. “Where?”
    “The other end of Myrtle Beach.” He sat in his chair. “Mad Hatter II, it will be just like this place.”
    “I’m sure it will be very successful,” I said, and I meant it. Adam was a good businessman. He knew how to bring in business and how to keep it. I had no doubt this place made him a lot of money.
    “I’m going to be spending a lot of time at the new club in the next couple months, getting it open, training the staff, and making sure it runs as smooth as this place.”
    “Okay,” I said, not sure why he was telling me all this.
    “I need someone to manage this place while I’m doing that. I don’t want business here to suffer because I’m not always around like I am now.”
    A little part of me was let down at the prospect of not seeing him every night I was here. Without really even trying, he’d become a constant in my life. Even if I only saw him from across the room on busy nights or from the pole on the stage, I liked knowing he was around.
    And now he would be around less.
    “Roxie,” he said, calling me back to the conversation.
    “Sorry,” I muttered. “Yeah?”
    “I want you to manage this place when I’m not here.”
    “Me!” I shrieked.
    “Yeah.” His lip curled up like he was amused. “You.”
    I was shocked to say the least. Never in a million years would I think he was going to offer me something like this. “I’m just a stripper,” I said.
    “You are not,” he growled. His angry tone made me look