by Nicole Snow
I watered my horses and delivered their dwindling feed before I took a quick shower. Just before I turned in, I clenched my tight tip envelope in my fingers, a nightly ritual that always brought ecstasy or sorrow.
The sad gaggle of ones and fives that dumped out on the kitchen table told me what I had to do. I didn't even stuff the money back in my purse before I ran upstairs and threw myself on the bed.
Sobbing wasn't appropriate. Neither was clawing at my sheets in a rage.
I had to do it, anything to blow off the demonic steam roiling in my depths. I tore off my clothes, raked one hand up my hot, pale thighs, and went straight for my folds.
I rubbed myself quickly and angrily. My clit bulged out into my fingers, pulsing as new wetness gushed out below.
My legs trembled. I imagined tomorrow night in some old ranch house, a bunch of half-drunk pretty boys gawking at me as I pumped my hips at them and flailed around their living room, shaking my ass, my tits, my smile.
And Gabe would be in the background, a serious shadow cut like a god. Maybe he'd watch jealously as his cousin and the others slipped their hands across me, stupidly tried to kiss me, or stuffed obscene dollars into my panties.
And I burned for that jealousy. I wanted to make him lose control and do something stupid.
For the first time in too many years, I wanted passion, raw and real. Blinding. Hotter than hot.
My clit pulsed and began to vibrate in a slow volcanic wave. The heat traveled up my core and exploded outward, simultaneously setting my arms and legs on fire.
I shook, grunted, and pumped myself against my viciously circling fingers. I came hard, going deeper than the bachelor party, imagining Gabe on top of me.
My famished moans echoed through the empty house, loud and guttural. Orgasm struck hard and lingered for a long time when I thought about his primal heat wrapped around me, all muscles and country grown glory.
Strong, young, dominant, virile...
“Fuck!” Everything I wanted in a man came burbling out, hidden in the single curse that left my lips.
I collapsed in total exhaustion. He'd made me feel a little better, or at least the fantastic version of him I'd created had.
Now, my brain needed sleep, but not before letting out one last jagged sob. I balled fists and slapped the mattress as hard as I could. Toxic energy gurgled out of me, leaving me light and carefree for my dreams.
I drifted away slowly, uncertain if the burn deep inside me was all rage or unchained lust. I didn't know if I went to sleep cursing or praising Gabe Avery.
Bastard! You've really done it. You, and my stupid situation, are making me walk the plank into the deep, dark, and unthinkable.
II: Stripped Bare
I waited until the last possible moment to pick up my phone.
First, I dialed the saloon and told them I wasn't coming in. Feeling under the weather.
Thankfully, I hardly ever took time off and gave up desperately needed money, so nobody questioned it.
Dialing Gabe's number wasn't nearly so easy. For a second, I hoped it would just ring and go to voice mail. I'd hang up and forget this whole thing, even if it meant forfeiting a whole night's wages and tips.
“Hello?” His voice beamed through the phone, rich and smokey on the other end.
“It's me. Ashley Lambert. Listen, Gabe, I've been thinking about your offer...and I think I'm in. As long as you keep it professional, just like you promised.” I bit my tongue hard enough to hurt.
“Yeah, about that. I've already found someone else.”
In the pause between us, I nearly lost my mind. I stayed on the line, speechless, a thumb tap away from disconnecting the call.
Then I heard a rush of air on his end. “Just kidding! Seriously, we're looking forward to seeing you this evening. I'll give you the directions if you're ready...”
“Don't ever do that again,” I snapped. “This is hard enough. I really thought you were serious.”
“It wasn't meant to be cruel. Just my way of checking whether or not you're serious.” I shook my head, envisioning his dark smile pressed up to his phone. “And now that I know you're committed, we can all have a good time tonight. Anyway, here it is...”
He read off the numbers. I grabbed a yellow slip from a notepad and wrote as quickly as he spoke.
“Huh? That's just up the road?”
The old Avery place, actually, his parent's ranch. It was the same place Gabe stayed while working around our farm as a young man, just one of the many big ranches the Avery family owned near the Idaho border.
“Yeah, the place is all mine now. I'm hosting tonight. Stacked to the gills with drinks and good music. Of course, you're welcome to partake –“
“But what about your parents?” I hissed, suddenly feeling like a dumb teenager.
“They sold the place to me as soon as I came back and headed south. Bozeman. It was getting to be more than they wanted to keep up with anyway. The oil boom in North Dakota has been very good to this family.”
I flushed, feeling like an idiot. I thanked him for the address and he gave me the time to show up.
“Oh, and Ashley, don't worry about overdoing it with makeup and lingerie. Everybody there likes to keep things simple. Natural. We all know it won't be staying on too long either.”
Before I could answer, he ended the call. Relief streamed out my lips in one long, brutal breath, but half a second later, I tensed again.
Great. Now that you've got it set up, you actually have to go do it.
The old Avery place looked a lot like I remembered on the outside. I arrived half an hour early, when it was supposed to be just Gabe and his cousin, the man of honor.
“It's good to see you again,” he said, opening the door and ushering me in like an old friend.
My eyebrows lifted a little. I wasn't sure what I expected – maybe a strong pull of the wrist or even a playful slap on the ass. Certainly not the cordial, but very business-like way he carried himself.
I didn't know what the big ranch house looked like before Gabe moved in, but I knew it had undergone some serious renovations.
The interior looked like a modern penthouse, decked out with surprisingly modern leather sofas and sleek glass tabletops. A stuffed cougar in the corner and mounted horns from a bull gave the place a mountain rancher's charm.
So did the photos of Gabe on the wall, smiling amid other men, happy and dirty as he gazed out from a landscape of oil derricks and drilling trucks behind him.
“Come on, Ashley. Cousin Jesse's waiting for you downstairs. He's eager to meet you.”
I reluctantly pulled myself away from gawking at the old photos and followed him down a long staircase. The faint, cool scent of recent woodwork kissed my nose as I trailed his long shadow.
A lean, muscular man reclined on an older sofa downstairs. He looked up at me with a broad, hungry smile and winked, mimicking Gabe's attractive features.
“Pleasure to meet you, little lady. Jesse Colton.” He wrapped his rough fingers around mine and squeezed warmly. “Yeah, it's true what they say – I'm getting married tomorrow. But damn, if it weren't, I'd be all over you with more than just my eyes.”
“Go easy, Jesse,” Gabe said in a low growl. “She's yours to look at all you want, but I won't let anything else happen here tonight. Make sure everybody else knows that too.”
“Aw, Gabe, you know I'm an honorable guy. Definitely not gonna break my vows with Julie before they're even taken!” The gleam in his eye said he wanted to do otherwise.
But I believed him, and relaxed a little. He offered me a drink and waved me over to the nearby recliner.
We sat listening to jaunty country music, waiting for the other men to arrive. About ten minutes later, the doorbell started ringing nonstop.
Jesse disappeared upstairs to collect his buddies. Across the room, Gabe eyed me slowly, possessively, gaze fixed on me like hot laser beams.
Fiery. Maybe making him jealous will be a lot easi
er than I thought.
“Thanks for doing this. I couldn't have found a suitable girl on such short notice, and certainly not one so beautiful.” He tipped his hat.
I flushed as we locked eyes. For a second, I forgot I was about to get up and start undressing for him and at least half a dozen strangers.
The thunder of boots on the stairs quickly reminded me, though.
I stood up to see Jesse and six burly cowboys behind him. The men were yammering to themselves until they saw me and went silent.
“Holeeeee shit!” A large, older man finally said. “Jesse, man, you didn't tell me you ever hooked up with Ashley L. You must've made her owe you big time!”
“Yeah, I thought she didn't do that stuff anymore. But hell, I like what I'm seeing,” said another man, taking off his hat and blotting his forehead.
Hot blood pumped into my face. Anger pushed through the uncanny desire and shame throttling my system.
Gabe looked at me, and then at the other men carefully. Jesse got the unspoken message, leaned into his friends, and whispered something.
Their faces went slack, numb and half-smiling. Finally, they all gave up and wandered across the room, grabbing their cups for the beer keg in the corner.
“Let's get this party started,” Jesse said.
He gave me a shallow nod and tapped the remote next to his chair. The music flipped over to a bass filled, rhythmic dubstep, like something you might hear in a city nightclub hosting a rave.
You know what that means. Better get on with it...
I stood in the center of the room as the men gathered around. Three of them let out wild, masculine whoops in quick succession. The rest just watched quietly, almost like they were afraid to say anything.
I sighed softly as I shrugged my shoulders, prolonging their agony, rustling out of my coat an inch at a time.
Whatever Jesse – hell, Gabe – had communicated, it worked. I could deal with their wolfish looks and catcalls, but not the judgmental bullshit.
I'll show them how to work it for my dollars. Yeah, I'm working for the pay, but I'm doing this to impress too.
Coat off, I swayed from side to side, blushing a little. It had been too long since I'd shown my body to any man, and never like this.
Nobody seemed to care that I had zero experience in dirty dancing. Just as I started to unbutton my shirt, Jesse slapped his knees, fixing me with a piercing stare.
“That's it, sugar. Don't be shy...”
The words were weirdly encouraging. My skin rippled warmly against the cool room as I opened my blouse and tossed it on the ground.
But that wasn't good enough. I came several inches closer, undulating my hips dangerously close to Jesse's grinning face. I teased him as my fingers went to my back, toying with the bra strap, but not unclasping it – not yet.
Several men groaned. I threw my hair back, closed my eyes, and let the music synchronize with my heartbeat.
Every thud worked like medicine. The men started yelling out encouragement – desperate, wicked things that sent needles up my spine.
“Take it all off!”
“Let's see how wet you can get, honey!”
“You've got me straining through my paints...”
Just like that, I wasn't so shy anymore.
I opened my eyes, red faced and free inside. My bra's clasp popped in my fingers and I lifted it away, circling it once above my head, then side to side.
The guys hollered like they'd just seen an awesome explosion at the end of an action movie, or maybe a death defying touchdown on the field.
Everybody became happy and boisterous. I leaned toward Jesse and shook my breasts in his face.
“Fucking amazing, dude! She's really into it,” a bearded cowboy yelled to the eager groom.
Jesse nodded, licked his lips. I looked at his lap.
Even through his thick jeans, I saw the bulge, popping like a smooth wooden cylinder. His bride was going to be a very lucky woman.
His palms twitched at his sides, angry and eager to touch, but his gentlemanly side remained in complete control.
I turned around, showing everyone else my body, swaying my ass up and down.
With the music and catcalls echoing all around me, twerking didn't feel as ridiculous as it looked on TV. I grinned, getting into, stopping just short of grinding into Jesse's lap.
My thumbs went to my jeans. Just before I started to let them drop, I looked toward the silence behind the cowboys, the one man who wasn't drooling and yelling at me like a drunken idiot.
Gabe. What is it? Don't you like what you see?
His eyes sparkled like gems in the lights they'd adjusted to give the basement a suave party atmosphere.
I studied his face, still bobbing my body to his friends' enjoyment, hoping I hadn't offended him somehow. Then I saw it, carved in the slim, almost secretive smile he wore on his tight lips.
He was looking at me as more than just flesh, more than raw tits and ass for eye candy at a bachelor party. The starry brilliance in his eyes steamed with a deeper desire, fused with concern and perhaps a hint of jealousy.
I stepped out of my jeans, shaking a little. Wet heat flooded the space between my thighs.
I couldn't take my eyes off him. Even though I was supposed to be focusing on Jesse, I kept looking over through my flapping hair and jerking dance moves, feeling a little more heat, a little more of the flood churning in my loins whenever I caught his gaze.
Forget the rest of them, I imagined him saying. Dance for me. All for me.
I wandered over to the staircase, fingers gliding across my curves, shaking my ass at them. I wrapped my arms around the post at the end of the stairs, doing my best stripper pole imitation.
The men went wild. Their claps and hoots pierced through the thumping music.
I slid up and down, numb to anything except the tempo, the heat drilled deep into my own body. Overheated muscles from my womb to my inner thigh clenched.
Dripping like honey, crackling hot. Alive!
I panted a little and began to sweat through my tempo. I had to slow it down a little, but the men didn't mind, howling at me to drop my panties so they could see the last mysterious part hidden from their greedy eyes.
I tugged on my panties and chewed my lip, refusing to let them go so easily. It gave me a pensive mask, which only fueled their depraved needs.
Men passed me every few minutes, refills flying into their glasses and then flowing down their warm throats. Even in all the time I'd done at the Silver Quarter Saloon, I hadn't seen so many big, strapping men get wasted so fast.
Gabe's smile grew a little wider. I stared at him through the darkness, across the field of bobbing cowboy hats and moist, matted hair.
My teeth nudged my bottom lip as I hooked my thumbs around each side of my panties and pulled. I never took my eyes off him, exposing my wet, swollen slit for him, ready in all its pink, pulsing glory.
The men screamed like maniacs when they saw it. But when I stopped tugging the fabric at my knees and pushed it back up, their cries turned into pure anguish.
“Noooo! Off, off, off!” They chanted.
Gabe looked away for a moment and pursed his lips, as if he had to push down the lava building in his body.
Jesse wandered up to me and slapped one hand on my slick, hot shoulder. The basement started out cool, but now I was sweating along with everyone else. It felt like a sauna.
I looked up in surprise. “Satisfied so far?”
“Oh, hell yeah, little lady. But I was wondering...can we get some lap dances going?” Instead of looking at me right away for an answer, he drunkenly turned toward Gabe.
Slowly, my benefactor nodded. I grinned, sensing the struggle inside him to balance his own desires with the need to throw his cousin one hell of a send off.
“Are you kidding, Jesse? This wouldn't be a full on strip show without it.” I reached up and raked my fingers over his chest.
His lips wavered. He threw his he
ad back and groaned painfully at the ceiling.
I followed him back to his chair and climbed on top of him. Jesse sat on his hands – probably all he could do to keep them off me.
Now, lust mingled with crazy power in my veins. I moaned, dripping with sweat, the wild and erratic hoots fading around me.
I danced with Jesse for a long time in his seat. My eyes opened nervously when I felt his hand on my ass, but he was just stuffing a big wad of bills there.
“Thank you,” I mouthed.
He nodded, pushing lightly against me, pleading for me to go, before the lust crazed beast inside him caused something bad to happen.
I sat up and threw my hair across my bare shoulder. The basement became hotter than ever – or maybe it was smug satisfaction tearing across my body. I couldn't remember the last time I felt it.
From the fold out chairs, an older, slightly overweight cowboy motioned to me. My eyes locked with Gabe as I hovered over him.
The only man who truly interested me followed my dance, the light glowing a little sharper in his eyes. He was warning me, and the other men, to keep it under wraps.
“Don't worry,” I whispered, finishing up my second lap dance with the big cowboy sighing breathless beneath me.
I wandered back to my coat and purse to unload the crazy amount of cash pressed against my thighs.
Always room for more. Come on, guys. This is starting to get kind of fun, and it sure makes up for those shitty tips.
I danced with two more; quiet, wiry men who took off their hats and followed my wagging flesh with the most respectful grins a stripper had ever received.
I moved down the line, hot and exhausted, but strangely energetic. I tensed a little, not caring as much about the dollars.
I couldn't stop thinking how Gabe himself would reward me. Of course, coming from him, money wouldn't mean much outside that big check he promised. I silently prayed for something much better.
Two men down from him, a big cowboy in flannel bobbed his bearded head in time to my movements. I smiled uneasily.