by Lee Savino
As I hit the sidewalk, a truck rolls by, close enough to spatter my jeans with dirty water. Just the final sprint in a run of shitty bad luck. I plan to strip down to my bra and underwear before the interview. Randy wasn’t too happy to see me yesterday; I’m not sure why I think today will be different. Desperation and delusion caused by an empty stomach.
If he would just give me a chance, I know I have a pretty enough face. With more food, I’ll have all the lady goods I need to barter with. But I need cash to buy food, and to get cash, I need a night on the pole.
If I were smart, I’d move on from this tiny town, where the best employment option is a rundown dance bar catering to truckers. But I don’t have the money to run far and can’t risk poking my head up in a nearby town. The Hell Riders own this part of the country.
My only hope of hiding is this pit of mud and broken pavement, too small to support much more than a couple of gas stations, a general store that sells everything from chainsaws to underwear, a dingy 24-hour diner, and Randy’s.
The neon sign is off, but the door is cracked open. I pause in the alley, comb my fingers through my hair and try not to think of the last time I showered. Maybe Randy will let me freshen up in the bathroom before he puts me on a pole.
A deep breath, and I walk through the dark doorway. A man sits on the stage, rifling through CDs. The strip club’s namesake, ugly even in the silted shadows of his club. He’s fat and balding, blunt fingers scratching his neck with a sandpaper sound.
But he’s king here, and he knows it. He glances at me as I walk toward him and huffs in disgust. Hope dies, but I plant myself in front of him.
“I wanna dance.”
“Thought I told you ‘no’ already.” Randy goes back to sorting CDs. “Don’t need a stripper with no tits.”
“Put me on a pole and see what I can do.” I’m bluffing. I’ve never danced naked in my life. But I know enough about how rough guys like their women. Growing up in a motorcycle club will teach a girl.
“Just told you. Don’t need another dancer. Get your skinny ass outta here.”
Fuck this. I stride away, detouring at the last second to the bathroom. Randy didn’t even look at me.
Inside, I wash my face, take a good look and grimace. My skin is so pale it’s almost translucent. There are ditches under my eyes. My backpack, my one possession, is filthy, spattered mud hiding the worse stains underneath. One glance, and Randy will know I spent last night curled in a doorway in a back alley—and that I’m desperate not to do it again. I look gross at best, or maybe hungover. My hands tremble a bit as I apply a little makeup. I’ll wait in here until I feel less like a junkie, then go out and insist the proprietor of this fine establishment give me another chance. I’ll grovel and do it sexy. I’ll do what I have to—even suck Randy’s dick.
By the time I’ve worked up the nerve to exit the bathroom, a deep voice fills the club. I slip from the bathroom but stay in the shadows.
Fat Randy has another petitioner.
“Just want you to hear me out.” A big man spreads his hands. His broad shoulders block my view of Randy. The newcomer is big, but not with fat. From the solid way he fills out his flannel shirt and jeans, he’s all muscle.
“No broad of mine is gonna up and leave to service a bunch of—”
“We’ll pay. Room and board, ten thousand at the end of the season. More if she does a good job. My guys might tip.”
I hug the wall, what I just heard reverberating through me. Room and board and ten thousand dollars.
“Eh,” Randy grunts. “I’m not gonna let you poach my girls. They’ve got a good thing here and they know it. Summer’s the busy season. They’re not going to go to bumfuck nowhere and dance for a crew of dirty lumberjacks.”
“I just thought—”
“The answer’s ‘fuck no.’ Now get the fuck out. If I hear you’re hanging around, talking to my girls about this, I’ll have Bernie make sure you get the message. Bernie!” Randy shouts, and a tattooed hulk appears from the smoky gloom, plants his fists on the bar and leans forward like a gorilla.
Randy smirks. “Bernie doesn’t talk much. He uses his fists instead, you get me?”
Shaking his head, the big guy pivots. I shrink into the shadows and watch his boots clomp past.
I get a quick look at his face—black beard clipped tight to a clenched jaw—before he hits the door with his hand and shoves it open. I’m following before I can stop myself.
“Hey, you,” Randy sees me and shouts. “Get out of here. Don’t need no more dancers.” I leave before he calls thebouncer to toss out my ‘skinny ass.’
I scurry up the sidewalk, chasing the big guy. “Hey!” I call but it comes out a raspy whisper. He keeps walking. He’s got a nice stride, long and loose. Faded jeans, stained and washed clean. Boots and a thermal shirt under Carhartt plaid. He looks like a lumberjack, a rugged sort who grew up here with the pines.
Be brave.
“Excuse me.” I get close enough to touch his elbow. He swings around and glowers at me, black brows knotted, beard hiding a frown. I try not to cringe.
“Um... did you say you were looking for a female entertainer?”
His eyes skip up and down my lean frame.
I raise my chin and puff out my chest a little. “I’m game.”
He just looks at me. His jaw is square and hard under a bristling black beard.
“You work there?” He tilts his head toward Randy’s neon sign.
“Not yet. I was going to apply, but I like your offer better.”
He looks away a moment, and I see him thinking of a way to blow me off.
“Where would I be staying?” I blurt.
“Logging camp about fifty miles north of here.”
“I didn’t realize there was anything north of this town,” I try to joke.
“There isn’t. The camp’s remote. Nothing but bears, trees, and us.”
You’re not a bear? I shut the teasing down. “And you just want a dancer? Not anything else?” A breeze kicks up and I shiver. The thought of taking off my clothes makes me cold.
He looks at me a for a second, his gaze distant like he’s seeing right through me.
“Did you eat?” he grunts.
“What?”
“Breakfast.” He jerks his head down the street at a diner. “My treat. We’ll talk.”
Lincoln
The girl slides into the booth, visibly relaxing into the warmth. She’s all skin and bones in tight jeans and a fucking hoodie. A hoodie, during this cold snap. She looks like she’s barely outta high school.
When I first saw her out of the corner of my eye at Randy’s, I clocked her as an addict, but her eyes and voice were clear and brave. It took courage to run after me, and I respect that.
I’ll warm her up, buy her a good meal, give her some money to buy a decent jacket, and let her down easy.
She’s biting her lip, shoulders hunched. Fuck, I don’t want her afraid of me.
“How old are you?”
She licks her lips. “Twenty-one.”
I can’t keep from scoffing.
She meets my frown with a proud chin. “Here.” She fumbles in the backpack she’s been gripping like it’s a safety blanket. Slaps down a plastic rectangle. ID.
Sierra Woodhouse. Organ donor. Motorcycle license, too, which is interesting. And yes, if I did my math correctly, she is twenty-one.
I relax a little. She looks like jailbait, but unless this is a forgery, she’s not. I hate the thought of someone so young working at a place like Randy’s. But I ain’t paid to care. Everyone’s got their own fucked up story. The best thing about living away from civilization is that I don’t have to deal with people’s bullshit anymore.
“Tell me about the job,” she demands. Feisty. Stronger than she looks.
“Food first.” I prop up my menu. Workman’s special right at the top includes two of practically everything on the breakfast menu. They know how to feed men around here.
I order the meal and coffee from the tired waitress and wait for Sierra. She’s biting her lip, looking at the menu with an almost pained expression. Nothing hurts an empty stomach like a possible feast.
“Make that two coffees and two specials.” I hand back my menu but take Sierra’s and set it aside. “I’ll let you know if we need more food.”
Sierra keeps her gaze on the table, like trying to choose what to eat took the fight out of her. Her eyelashes are dark smudges against her pale skin. She has a few freckles.
“You from around here?” I ask.
“No. You?”
I sigh. “Wisconsin. Thought I was used to cold weather.”
“And?”
“Hell isn’t hot. Hell is cold and, November to May, it’s right here.”
“How far are we from the Arctic Circle?”
“Not far enough. There’s just two seasons up here. Winter, and the one we’re in now.”
“What’s the one we’re in now?”
“Blackfly and mosquito season.”
That gets a tiny smile.
I shut up until they put food in front of us and motion for her to dig in. She tries to be dainty, but she shovels the cheap calories in. I order a second cup of coffee and wait until she slows to talk.
“So, the job.”
Her eyes flick up to mine. They’re green and striking, slightly almond-shaped. Not one hundred percent Caucasian background then. Her face is decent enough, even pretty if it wasn’t so thin and hollowed out, but her eyes are fucking gorgeous.
“I’ve got a crew of guys up in logging country. This is our busy season, and we don’t have time for off days. I don’t want my guys running down here to get a fix.”
“By fix you mean ‘pussy.’” She doesn’t shy away from the word. “You want one on call.”
I shrug. It seemed a good idea at the time. Now, I’m not so sure.
“What does the job entail? Like, how many hours?”
“You dance every night. Other than that, the time is yours. Eat with us, sleep in, do girly shit—”
“I’ll do it.”
I sit back with a sigh. The booth creaks. “Have you stripped before?”
“No. But I’ve waitressed. And how hard is it to take off your clothes?”
I study her a moment. Her wrists are small with delicate blue veins. I could snap them with one hand.
“I don’t look like much, but I’m tough,” she continues. “I catch on quick. I’ll be good for your guys, I swear.”
“There’s more. The guys might want... more.”
“I can do that, too.” She meets my stare head-on. I have to admit; my dick perks up a bit at her boldness.
“You have experience?” I ask, like this is a regular job interview.
“I’m not a virgin, if that’s what you’re asking. My momma told me about the birds and the bees.”
I snort. She’s blunt and honest. A breath of fresh air.
“So you’d be willing to…”
She shrugs. “I can do anything for that amount of money. Anything and anyone.”
I stare at her. “You’d have to get tested. We’ll pay for the doctor.”
She hesitates a moment. “Okay.”
Fuck, what can I say to deter her? “There are seven other guys, all built like me.”
“I won’t break. I can take you.” Her green eyes bore into mine.
Now I’m sprung, my dick hard enough to punch through the table. “Fuck me,” I mutter.
Her glare turns into a flinty smile. “That’s my job.”
“The characters are brilliantly depicted…You should totally read this one!” —Reviewer on Bookbub
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Of all the sex tapes I’ve seen, Theo Kensington’s is the best. He got a beautiful, muscled back that flexes with his buttocks in time with his thrusts. His jaw clenches and his eyes bore into the mirror over the bed. It’s almost as if he’s looking at me.
Then he pulls out and I get a good look at him. All ten inches.
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Also by Lee Savino
Contemporary Romance
Royally Fucked
Her Marine Daddy
Her Dueling Daddies
Beauty & The Lumberjacks
Innocence: a dark mafia romance trilogy with Stasia Black
The Berserker Saga and Berserker Brides (menage werewolves)
Draekons (Dragons in Exile) with Lili Zander (menage alien dragons)
Bad Boy Alphas with Renee Rose (bad boy werewolves)
Author Bio
Lee Savino has plans to take over the world, but most days can’t find her keys or her phone, so she just stays home and writes smexy (smart + sexy) romance. She loves chocolate, lives in yoga pants, and looks great in hats.
For tons of crazy fun, join her Goddess Group on Facebook or visit www.leesavino.com to sign up for her mailing list and get a free book.
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