Jaded by Karin Tabke Read Free Book Online

function, there is no sexual exchange. We are not a brothel, Sergeant.” She pointed to the door. “If you insist on insulting me, leave.”
    “Lighten up, Miss Devereaux. I call them as I see them and right now I’ve got a dead guy who is known to hang out at this gentlemen’s club run by some ghost who is currently in Italy and at every turn in this place, I’m turned away by some moody brute, and you, the lady in charge, is giving me crumbs. So excuse me if I’m just a tad bit suspicious. Now, what time do the doors of your gentlemen’s club open for business?”
    Jade sat down in her chair, the effort smooth and sleek. Languidly, she crossed her legs and looked up at the detective. She’d have to be blind not to see the way the detective’s eyes flickered downward every time she moved. The dress she wore was discreetly deceptive. It gave a man the hope that with the wrong move, one or both of her breasts would pop out. She took great pains to make sure no more than necessary was revealed.
    “I’ll tell you what, Detective Vaughn. Feel free to talk to any employee here, on their time, not mine. I have a business to run, and I don’t like blips.”
    Jase grinned, the gesture startling. He had straight white teeth, his canines just a smidge longer than average. He looked like a big, bad, hungry wolf. She shivered, and understood that the man standing in front of her was not one who liked to play games for which he didn’t make the rules.
    She smiled. That was okay; she relished knocking men off their balance beams. They all deserved to want, but not to touch.
    Jase flipped his notebook closed and slipped it into the breast pocket of his tailored black suit. For a cop he had excellent taste in clothes.
    “I’ll make myself invisible out there, pretend like I’m a guest.” Jade opened her mouth to protest, but Jase halted her with his hand open in a stop position. “I give you my word, my partner and I will be discreet. Either allow me free rein out there or I call Vice and make it ugly for everyone.”
    He had her between a rock and a hard place. Jade slid the chair back and slowly stood. In a slow unhurried gesture she flung her hair over her shoulder, straightening her shoulders. Disappointment lurked when Jase’s gaze didn’t drop to her chest. Instead he held her gaze in an unwavering stare.
    “I’m sure Miguel would not take kindly to that.”
    Jase cocked a brow. “Miguel?”
    “Velasquez, your current chief of police. He stops by at least once a week.”
    Not breaking his gaze, Jase laughed low and moved around the desk, stopping no more than a foot from her. His spicy manly scent tickled her nostrils. “I don’t back down from empty threats, Miss Devereaux.”
    Jade played her hand. She stepped in closer to him, so close that if she took a deep breath her nipples would brush his chest. She didn’t dare. But he did. Jase’s blue eyes danced as he moved incrementally against her. Her body jerked at the contact. Her eyes widened, and heat flushed her skin.
    “Be careful, Miss Jade. I bite.”
    Jade didn’t flinch. “So do I, and I draw blood.”
    Jase smirked and stepped back from her. “We’ll see about that.” Then he simply walked out of her office, softly closing the door behind him. Jade sank into her chair, her knees suddenly unsteady. What the hell had just happened?
    And dear lord, why? She was the cat in the cat and mouse game. Always, she held the control. She used her body and the promise of it to lure men into opening their wallets wider. It’s what kept them coming back. But this man, Jase Vaughn, knocked her off her game as effortlessly as if he were flicking a piece of lint off his thousand-dollar suit.
    She shook her head and composed herself. It was a fluke. She’d been too long without a man. Her body stiffened. Eleven years to be exact, and the reason why was as vivid in her brain today as it was all those years ago.
    Shame engulfed her.
    It would be another eleven