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lollipop around on her tongue, pretending polite indifference.
    “So you’re like, one of those karate sensei guys?”
    He laughed. “No. I’m a brain surgeon, but I do karate too.”
    She rolled her eyes. “A brain surgeon. Right.”
    His crooked, easy smile unnerved her. He was so damn…healthy. So solid and nonrandom. She didn’t really know how to relate to that or how to deal with the feelings he aroused in her. No. No bouncers. Or bouncer trainers.
    “So I told you my name and why I’m here so much,” he said. “Your turn.”
    “My name is Kat and I come here to watch people.” She threw him a flirty glance and smacked suggestively on the lollipop, only to receive another one of those reproachful looks.
    Whatever. She decided to head back to the dance floor. She didn’t come to Masquerade to get the third degree from a fine man who didn’t approve of her. Where was that fucking idiot earnest-faced pretty boy when she needed him? Stupid brain-surgeon-bullshitter with his huge warm hands and his creepy stare. She infused as much flounce as she possibly could into her “well, bye” and started down the steps before he could say anything else.
    “Hey, baby.” A gruff voice and clammy hand stopped her near the bottom. Arms fastened around her waist, pulling her against a pudgy torso. She pushed away, rolling her eyes at the drunk guy, but he didn’t take the hint. He tightened his arms.
    “Hey, gorgeous. I’ve been watching you all night. Come dance with me.”
    “No. I don’t want to dance. Let go of me. I was just leaving.”
    “You don’t have to leave here all alone.”
    “Believe me, I want to.”
    “Oh, baby, come on. Don’t be like that. I can put a smile on those lips. I’ll give you something really sweet to suck on.”
    Then he leaned in so fast that she didn’t have time to stop him, otherwise she would have punched him in the face. He laid a kiss on her, stabbing his tongue between her lips. She pushed him away with all the strength she had.
    “Ewww!” she said in a voice loud enough to shame him. She put the lollipop back in her mouth to take the sour alcohol taste of his kiss away. Blech, no kissing. No. She didn’t even kiss the ones she liked. She wouldn’t even have kissed tall, dark and handsome karate guy, staring down at her from the top of the stairs. Okay ? his expression seemed to ask. Everything okay?
    No, everything’s not okay. Everything’s so fucking sucky I can barely stand it.
    She wiped off her lips and pushed past the kiss-stealer. She was done for the night. “Just fucking leave me alone,” she yelled back over her shoulder. She didn’t know if she yelled it at dark eyes or icky lips.
    As she stormed off, she wondered if Ryan was watching her go.
     
    Ryan watched her walk out the door, all tight skirt and beautiful ass. Gorgeous, shapely legs in black patent shoes. Kat. So early for her to be gone. He’d wanted to ask her if she was okay but she’d flown without a backward glance.
    Anyway, she wasn’t okay, not at all. Now that he’d talked to her, he was sure of that. She was just generally not okay. He’d seen enough of her shenanigans to know she was confused, troubled and too beautiful for her own good. He never should have talked to her. She was more fun to watch from afar. Close up, the sadness rolled off her in waves.
    He’d only worked a few months or so with the bouncers, a fun sideline from his rather stressful day job and an outlet for the martial arts training he’d practiced for years. The first time he saw her was his second week there and he’d noticed her nearly every weekend since. There was something about her that fascinated him. It was probably the fact that she was the only person in the bar who didn’t seem to be having fun. He hadn’t seen her smile once—not when she danced, not when she talked to the various beefcake guys she hooked up with. His gut feeling was that she needed a good hard spanking. His hand twitched