Swallowing hard, I noticed she was looking behind me. Turning to look over my shoulder, I saw him. “Robert.”

“Oh my god, Dodge. What if he saw us?” Sierra said with panic laced in her voice. Grabbing her, I headed to Joel’s office.

“He didn’t.”

“How do you know? We don’t know how long he has been here for! How did he know I was here? He has to have someone following me!”

Sierra was beginning to panic. “Calm down. Where is your purse?”

Shaking her head, Sierra said, “I didn’t bring one. I have this.”

Sierra pulled out a little pouch from the inside of her bra. “It’s got money and my license in it.”

“Good, we’re leaving.”

Practically pulling Sierra’s arm out of her socket, I opened the back door to the club and stepped out into the ally. Sierra began dragging in one deep breath after another.

Trying to appear like I was calm, I was internally praying to God that Robert did not see me practically fucking my client on the dance floor while at the same time, I was pissed I had let my feelings for Sierra come out like I did. Pushing my hand through my hair, I shook my head. Fuck, I needed to get a better hold of my desire for Sierra.

“Do you think he saw us?” Sierra asked.

“No,” I said a little too harshly. “Fuck, I can’t believe I fucking did that with a client!” I shouted out.

Sierra’s face dropped. The moment the words were out of my mouth I regretted them. Sierra was so much more than a client. “Glad to know where I stand in the grand scheme of things, Aaron. Maybe you’d prefer Mr. Walker?” Sierra shook her head and let out a gruff laugh. “I can’t believe I let myself think you would have some sort of feelings for me. You’re nothing but an asshole.”

Sierra began walking off. Reaching for her arm, I pulled her back to me. “Where in the fuck do you think you’re going?”

“Home, asshole,” Sierra said as she pushed my hand away.

Walking after her, I said, “No. You’re not going home, Sierra.”

Letting out a laugh, Sierra looked over her shoulder at me. “The fuck I’m not. Stay away from me, Dodge.” Stopping, she turned around and began jamming her finger into my chest.

“Better yet. Go on back and find some whore to hook up with. You had yourself pretty worked up back there. Lord knows you don’t want to fuck your client. Maybe if I was someone like Ryn who needed a fuck-buddy you might be up for the job?”

“Sierra, stop.”

Her eyes filled with hurt as she slowly shook her head. “I can’t do this. It’s one rejection after another from you. You work me up, Dodge, only to push me away.”

“That’s not it,” I said as Sierra held up her hand.

“It is. You just said it. I’m your client.”

Pushing my hands through my hair, I said, “You are my fucking client!”

Slowly nodding her head, Sierra said, “Right. How could I be so foolish and forget what this really is. Don’t worry, I’ll never make that mistake again.”

Turning on her heels, she quickly began walking away. Stepping out into the street, she whistled and a taxi stopped right away. Glancing back to me, she looked forlorn as she got into the taxi as I just stood there like an idiot.

WIPING THE SWEAT FROM MY face, I continued to run as fast and as hard as I could. I loved running down at Town Lake. Something about being outside with all the people and the river was refreshing.

Stopping, I placed my hands on my thighs and dragged in one breath after another. My phone began ringing and I pulled it out to see it was Kacey. We had been friends since college. She recently moved back to Austin with her fiancé and we had connected back up.

“H-hello,” I panted.

“Please tell me you’re having hot sex. One of us has to be having hot sex.”

Laughing, I made my way over to a bench and flopped down. “Nope! Sorry.”

Letting out a sigh, Kacey asked, “Then what in the hell are you doing?”

“Running.”

“Ahh . . . guy trouble.”

Making a face, I pulled my head back and laughed. “What? Because I’m running you automatically think I’m having guy trouble?”

“Yep. That was what you did in college. Anytime you had a bad date, or you got stood up, or you fought with Robert . . . you ran.”

Shaking my head, I said, “I never got stood up.”

“Yeah you did. Remember the guy who was on the UT football team? Blake something or other. He stood you up.”