Chapter 2
Hendrix ignored the annoying Christmas decorations scattered around the rooms of the club. He wasn’t in the mood to celebrate the holiday. What he was in the mood for was to figure out what the hell had been bothering Emily for the past several months.
Christmas was in a few days, so TBC, or The Billionaires Club as the members preferred to call it, only had a few visitors. Most of the members were busy finalizing end of year corporate issues or attending galas with their spouses. It would be quiet for the few next weeks until the big New Years Eve event.
Whatever was bothering Emily, he wanted this resolved before that event. He didn’t like the idea of guests and spouses of the members crowding into the club. It was a security issue that, normally, he and his team could easily handle. But whatever was going on with Em added another layer of complexity.
Walking into the security office hub, Hendrix gripped the edge of a desk, trying to stop himself from going right back to Emily’s office and demanding that she tell him what was upsetting her. She’d lied when he’d asked about the problem, even going so far as trying to adjust her body language to try to convince him.
But he wasn’t stupid. He could see the terror in her eyes. What the hell had happened between now and earlier this morning? Emily was the manager of this exclusive club that catered to the billionaire bastards who loved announcing to the world that they were the corporate, financial, and political leaders, that they were the standard by which every other person in the world should measure their success.
But Hendrix knew that, with very few exceptions, these men were criminals. And not the nice, neat white-collar criminal that gouged consumers with unjustified price increases, although they were good at those crimes as well. No, he knew all the dirt on these men and would use it when needed to protect the club.
“Boss?” one of his guards prompted.
Hendrix looked up at the woman. She was an ex-marine and damn good at her job. She not only looked tough, but the woman knew moves that would take down a drunken sailor. Plus, she was highly observant and acted on her instincts.
“What’s up?” Hendrix asked, pushing away from the table and trying to focus on her words instead of on the beautiful brunette upstairs. He knew that Emily was hiding something. Something bad. Her gorgeous hazel eyes usually glowed with confidence and happiness. And her soft, peachy skin was the epitome of healthy living. Emily was truly beautiful, inside and out. Emily worked with the club owners to ensure that every staff member earned a living wage. She ensured that the staff’s health benefits were the best money could buy. Emily knew each of the one hundred staff members by name as well as their family members. She went out of her way to make sure that everyone was thriving, nudged the owners to set up a college fund for the employees and their families, provided additional job training so staff members could advance in their jobs. In return, every employee who worked for this establishment went out of their way to work harder, just to earn a smile of recognition from Emily.
Hell, the woman had even rescued a horse, then purchased a donkey as the horse’s companion – apparently, horses needed to be part of a “herd”. A momma cat and her kittens soon followed. And Hendrix was pretty sure that Emily was feeding a nursery of racoons that had found shelter in the old barn.
With Christmas dinner coming up, she was going around to every staff member, asking about their plans to ensure that they had a place to go for the holiday. Emily’s soft heart couldn’t stand the thought of anyone being left alone for the holiday.
Of course, he also suspected that Emily wanted to find someone to cook for. She was incredibly sad now that her two best friends, Maggie and Ann, had married and were living thousands of miles away in foreign countries. In the past, those three had spent every holiday together, as well as most of their days off.
So far, Emily hadn’t found anyone who didn’t have a family to spend Christmas with.
She hadn’t asked him yet though.
Hendrix had a plan. Especially after he’d seen the terror in those beautiful eyes a few minutes ago. She’d tried to hide it, but the way she’d gone deathly pale, Hendrix knew something was up.
With a determined sigh, he vowed that he would find out. Emily was…well, he’d like to say that she was his woman, but although Emily was always kind and laughing with the other employees, she was painfully polite whenever he came around.
He’d like to gather her up into his arms and…hell, he wanted to make love to her, to give her so much damn pleasure that she melted as she clung to him, her sweet, curvy body trembling against his as he held her close.
He adored her. He loved the efficient way she ran the club. He loved the fact that she’d started out as a waitress under the previous owner’s management and worked her way up to becoming the general manager. The new owners, Levi Harris, Matteo del Campo, and Sean Byrne, rarely visited their offices since Emily had taken over all of their tasks. Levi, Matteo, and Sean preferred to spend their evenings with their families now. Plus, those three didn’t respect the club members. Those three knew almost as much about the members as Hendrix did.
But Emily…she was so damn beautiful! When she smiled, it literally melted almost every part of him. Except…well, that part didn’t melt. Hell, that part seemed to be in a heightened state of arousal all the time now.
“So, what do you think?” Laura asked.
Hendrix had no idea what to think. He hadn’t heard any of Laura’s comments because he’d been too focused on Emily.
Rubbing his forehead, he straightened with a heavy sigh. “Sorry, Laura. I’m a bit preoccupied at the moment.”
Immediately, the ex-marine was on alert. “Anything I can do to help, boss?”
He shook his head, thinking back to Emily’s office. “Not at the moment,” he said. “But I’ll keep you in mind if something comes up.” He switched to another topic and Laura nodded, confirming that she had everything under control.
Walking out of the security office, he headed to the kitchen. Charlie, the new chef, was a damn fine cook! He was teaching Hendrix how to cook foods that didn’t include beef and a grill.
“How’s it hanging?” Charlie asked cheerfully as soon as Hendrix walked into the kitchen. Hendrix frowned at the shorter man, who chuckled and waved Hendrix closer. “Come on, big guy. You’re going to learn how to make a roux today.”