by Vivian Ward
“Thanks. You know, I like to do a lot of yoga. Maybe it helps?” I shrug.
“Yoga? Why yoga out of all the things you could do?”
“I don’t know. It’s on TV’s in the morning and I can do it for free,” I laugh. “There’s no way I could afford a gym membership anywhere and it’s such a pain to drag Cam along for a brisk walk, so I do yoga.”
She nods her head. “That makes sense. I think I’ll start doing yoga, too. You’ll have to tell me what channel it comes on. Maybe I can lose some of this cake-testing fat.”
We both get a good laugh. “All right, I’m going to go raid your closet again. Any recommendations?”
She cups her chin with her hand while she thinks. “Did your man crush like what you wore last night?”
“Stop calling him my man crush!” I giggle. “He’s my boss, and how should I know?”
“Did he look at you? Say anything?”
“I don’t know. I was too busy trying not to look at him to notice if he looked at me.”
“See! Girl, I knew you liked him!” she waves her finger at me. “Why do you try to hide it when we both know the truth?”
I sit down at the table with her. “I don’t know. Well, I do know. There are a few reasons, actually.”
“What are they?” she begins getting her icing bags ready to decorate the cupcakes.
“First of all, he’s way out of my league. He’s always had a lot of money.”
“That sounds like a good reason TO go after him! You need money, and he has it.”
I roll my eyes at her. “That’s shallow, plus I’d never let a man financially dominate me again. No thanks. Garrett did plenty of that in our marriage. The second reason is there’s a no-dating policy at work. Employees aren’t allowed to date each other or any of the clients who come into the club.”
She laughs. “So the strippers can’t date each other? You’d think they’d want that. Hot girl on girl action in a strip club? That’d bring in some money.”
Leave it to Ann to think like that. “No,” I laugh. “Chase’s sister made the policy because he’s a bit of a player. He always has been, even back in high school. Then there’s the doormen. Zeke, and another doorman but I haven’t met him so I don’t know his name yet.”
“Sounds like his sister knows a thing or two about her brother. It’s probably better for business if he doesn’t date all the strippers. But….,” her voice trails off.
“But what?” I ask her.
“What if he doesn’t follow the rules? What if he breaks them? Then what happens?”
I throw my hands up in the air. “I don’t know, Ann. He and his sister co-own the place, so it’s not like he’d get fired, but he made it very clear when he gave me the tour that this is a strict policy and his sister makes sure that everyone adheres to it.”
“Meh,” she smacks her lips. “Rules are meant to be broken. If you like him, I think you should go for him.”
I gasp. “Ann! I can’t do that!”
“Why not? How long has it been since you got laid? Huh? Your divorce was how long ago?”
“That doesn’t matter,” I snap. “Besides, I don’t need to get laid. I can take care of business myself.”
“Yeah, but you can’t deny that there’s nothing better than a man’s strong hands grabbing you as he fucks you senseless.”
For a moment, I picture Chases hands spreading my legs apart, working their way up my thighs and I can practically feel myself becoming wet.
“Okay, that’s enough,” I say, putting my hands up. “I’m going to go rummage through your clothes. Are you sure I can take whatever I want?”
“Yeah, as long as you get laid,” she teases.
Chapter 12
Chase
Once I got rid of my sister, I finally finished sorting all of the invoices and filled out most of the schedule. I’m waiting for Melanie to come in tonight to tell me what her availability is before I hang the schedule up for everyone to see.
We’ve got a different group of girls working tonight, but that’ll give her the opportunity to meet the other half of the staff. Well, most of them anyway. There are still a few girls that she won’t meet until the weekend—if she works this weekend.
“Hey boss man,” Zeke says, walking around the counter. He holds up his hand, and I grab it, giving him a hug.
“What’s up, Zeke?”
“Not much, boss. I slept in and when I woke up, I fixed a big ass pan of eggs before I went to the gym. How’s your day been? Busy?”
“Nah, not really. I haven’t been to the gym in a few days; too much work. Abby was here this afternoon, busting my chops as usual. You know how she is: overbearing, a pain in the ass? I swear her voice sounds like nails on a chalkboard,” I laugh.
Zeke gives a slight chuckle before changing the subject, dismissing the comments about my sister. I can’t blame him though. You’re not supposed to shit talk your boss—or one of them with the other one, I suppose.
“Speaking of girls,” he says, making himself a water. “What’s up with that girl that started here last night? Do you know her?”
I try not to smile, but it’s hard.
“Yeah, we went to school together, but can you do me a favor? Don’t tell Abby about her.”
“Why?” he asks.
“Because, Abby and Melanie never really got along and it’ll just be easier if my sister is ignorant to the situation as usual.”
“Got you,” he says, punching me in the arm. “So, do you like this girl?”
“What?” I stop dead in my tracks. “What would make you say that?”
“Boss, I saw the way that you were looking at her. She’s fine as hell, and those legs,” he smiles. “I caught you looking at her.”
“Of course, you did. I’m her boss, and I was observing her during her first night of training,” I try to brush it off, but he sees right through my bullshit.
“Yeah, okay. Whatever you say, boss.” He picks up his bag of lunch and places it in the fridge behind the counter.
“But if you could keep an eye on her and make sure no one messes with her,” I block him from passing. “I’d appreciate it.”
A bellowing laughter comes rumbling out of him. “Sure, whatever you say.”
“Thanks, Zeke.”
Just before 8, Melanie comes strutting through the door and my cock rises instantly. She smiles at Zeke as she walks through the door, making her way over to the counter.
Tonight she’s wearing a short white dress that clings to her body with a skinny pink belt and heels to match it perfectly. A sparkly headband sweeps her sandy brown hair away from her face, exposing a pair of pearl earrings that matches her necklace. She looks so fucking hot.
Biting the inside of my cheek, I will myself to think of anything besides being inside of her.
“Hi Chase,” she says, making her way to the dressing room.
Moments later, she walks back out and stands beside me as she clocks in on the computer. I can’t help but stare at her cleavage that bursting out of her V-cut dress. It’s practically begging me to grab it.
“Hi,” I say, stepping behind her as I grab a sleeve of cups to restock behind the bar.
If I thought her ass looked great in the shorts that she wore last night, then this dress makes her ass look magnificent. Her perfume smells delicious. It smells like a mix of sugar and vanilla with flowers mixed in. I want to lick every inch of her body.
“Who will I be training with tonight?” she turns around to face me.
“Uh,” I stutter as I try to focus my attention on anything besides her body. “Tonight you’re training with Ginger. She’s over there,” I point across to the lounge where she’s waiting on a group of businessmen who came in about a half an hour ago.
“Sounds good,” she says. “Is it slow tonight? There seemed to be more people here last night when I was working.”
I shrug. “Some nights are slower than others, and some nights the crowd comes in a little later.�
��
I study her as she watches Sapphire on stage. Sapphire is one of my top girls and normally she only works the weekends, but she’s covering for another one of the girls tonight. Not only is Sapphire amazingly talented, she’s also gorgeous, which is why she easily moved her way to the top of the list for my busiest nights.
“I haven’t finished making out the schedule because I wanted to talk to you,” I say, raising my voice over the music. She lifts her gaze to meet mine, and her eyes look so beautiful. They have a smokey look that appears natural with her skin tone. I don’t know how she does it, but you’d think she woke up looking like that every day.
Maybe she does.
“How come?” she asks, breaking eye contact with me as a customer walks up to the bar and asks for a beer.
“I wanted to put you on the schedule full-time, but I’m worried about how you’re going to work both jobs.”
She turns to the customer, “That’ll be six dollars, please.” The man hands her the cash and walks back over to the row of seats surrounding the stage. “When I put in my two week notice, my boss said that I didn’t have to work the last couple of weeks.” She smiles up at me, “You were right. I made a lot more money working here for those few hours last night than I do an entire day at the diner, so I figured what’s the harm? If my boss says I don’t have to, and I’m making more money here, it only makes sense.”
“All right,” I say, taking a seat on a barstool that we keep behind the counter. “I’ll put you on the schedule full-time then.”
I can’t help but smile at her as I say that last part, and it must be contagious because she smiles right along with me.
“Good. Looks like you’re stuck seeing me almost every night then, huh?”
“That’s not a bad thing,” I say to her. “I think you’re going to like working here. I noticed you fit right in last night.”
“Thanks. I better go help Ginger,” she says, pointing to a group of guys who just walked in.
I glance over at Zeke who is laughing at me, shaking my head. He completely knows that I like her, but as long as he keeps up the charade so will I. There’s no way that Melanie and me could ever have anything more than an employee/employer relationship.
But I’d love more than that with her. I’d like to take her out and listen to her laugh, show her a good time, and let her know that there are still good men out there. She deserves someone better than the loser that she was with because she’s so much better than that.
I watch her taking drink orders from the group of guys that just walked in when one of them reaches around her and puts his arm around her ass. Before I can make my way around the counter, she pushes his hand away and puts some distance between the two of them.
“Is everything okay?” I ask her as she comes back to the bar to punch in their drink order.
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” she says.
I know she’s lying, but I keep my cool and pretend it didn’t happen because I don’t want to embarrass her. I’ve been in the business long enough to know that this sort of thing happens a lot, but if she says the word, I’ll throw that guy out on his ass myself.
Maybe it’s because I know what a shitty past she’s had and how her ex treated her, even though she’s never told me directly. I heard plenty when she was talking to her co-worker, but it was enough to know that Melanie could do a million times better and that she deserved more.
Or maybe it’s the fact that I want to be the one to give it to her. I want to take care of her and show her how she deserves to be treated.
A lot of women come here to work, single mom’s who are trying to get a leg up, but Melanie is different. She’s always busted her ass and tried to make something of herself, but life got in the way. The difference is, I can’t stop thinking about her and all the things I want to do to her, regardless of how forbidden they are.
Chapter 13
Melanie
“Hey Ginger, do you care if I grab a quick break?” I ask as we clear out two of our biggest tables.
“Sure, babe, go ahead and take twenty. I’ve got this.”
I really like working with Ginger. She’s quite the character. Her deep red hair and pale skin go right along with her name. When I first heard that her name was Ginger, I thought maybe it was a joke, or a nickname, but it’s not.
Red hair runs in her family, and when she was born with a full head of red hair, her mom thought it would be hilarious to name her Ginger. But her red locks match her spitfire personality. She’s crude, funny as hell, and keeps these guys in check.
“Thanks. I’ve been going non-stop,” I say as we round the bar.
Chase is leaning behind the counter reading a magazine and pops his head up. “How come?” he asks.
“How come, what?”
“How come you’ve been going non-stop? What’d you do today?” he puts his magazine down and hands me a can of soda from the fridge behind him.
“Thanks,” I look at the can. It’s Pepsi. “How’d you know I liked Pepsi?”
A playful grin tugs at the corner of his lips. “I saw you drinking one last night.”
“Very observant,” I say, taking a sip from the can. “And to answer your question, I worked at the diner this morning and when I got off work, Ann and I took Cam out for Mc Donald’s before I came in to work here for the night.”
“Ann?” he questions.
I nod, taking out the pretzels from under the counter. Alyssa taught me the importance of never eating out of the bowls on the counter last night, which I will never do again.
“Yeah, she’s my babysitter for Cam. She’s great with him and she’s a really good friend.”
“If she’s such a good friend, how come I’m just now hearing about her?”
His eyebrow shoots up and that playful grin creeps back across his face. I know he’s only teasing, but I sort of feel guilty for not telling him much about me other than the fact that I’m a single mom.
“I don’t know. I didn’t want to bore you with details?” I giggle.
I’m not sure why, but I get so nervous talking to him. He’s so cool, confident, and cocky. I hardly doubt he’s interested in kids—my boy in particular—or babysitter details. Plus, I don’t want to tell him what a loser I was with because I’m not very proud of it.
“Boring details?” He laughs. “You know, I think I’d like to meet this son of yours. He seems to be all you ever really talk about.”
I let his words sink in for a minute as I sip my soda.
“You don’t really seem like the type to care about all that stuff, especially kids and sitters.”
He leans against the counter next to me and nudges me with his elbow. His cologne is so spicy and intoxicating. I can’t stop drinking it in.
“Are you kidding? Just because I don’t have kids doesn’t mean that I don’t like them. Besides, you’ve barely told me anything about you and what’s going on in your life. So, what’s up?”
I’ve not wanted to be rude and interrupt our conversation but I need to use the restroom. If I don’t go soon, my eyeballs might just burst.
“Can you excuse me for a minute?” I ask. “I need to use the ladies room.”
“Absolutely. I’ll get the ice restocked while you’re gone so you can tell me all about what’s going on in your life.”
I bite my lip. I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. “I’ll be right back.”
As I’m coming out of the restroom, I stop by the dressing room to grab my phone to see if Ann’s texted me. There’s no messages, which kind of makes me sad. I miss my baby and I was kind of hoping she’d send me a silly picture of him or a photo of him sleeping. Tucking the phone back into my purse, I notice that one of the dancers is staring at me. I’ve never met her before, so I’m not sure what her name is.
“Hi,” I say. My voice crackles as I try to speak. I clear my throat. “Sorry,” I smile. “Hi, I’m Melanie.”
“Nice to meet you, Melanie.” She gets up
from her chair and walks over to shake my hand. “I’m Sapphire. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“You have?” I’m shocked. This is only my second night here, so I’m not sure how any talk about me would get around so fast, or why. “I hope it was only good things.”
“It was very good things. I hear that you went to beauty school and that you can do hair and makeup like nobody’s business. Is that true?”
A timid smile pulls at my lips. It makes me feel good that the girls have been talking about the little makeover that I gave Amber on my break last night.
“I went to beauty school, but never got to finish, but it’s never stopped me from continuing to practice on my own.” I laugh, but it’s true.
“Yeah? Would you want to give me a mini makeover? I’d like to see what you could do with my makeup. I need a new look, but I’m not sure what I want.”
Glancing up at the clock, I’ve still got about ten minutes left until Ginger might start to look for me. “Sure, have a seat.”
Reaching out in front of her, she hands me her makeup bag and says, “Here you go. Have at it.”
“Thanks.”
Prepping her face, I use some makeup remover and fan her face dry as we make small talk. I learn that she has a teenage son, which shocks me because she doesn’t look old enough.
“Wow! I would’ve never guess that,” I say. “You look great. How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking.”
“I’ll be 40 in eight months, but I owe it all to Chase. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t look this good.”
I’m not sure what she means so I ask as I select a few shades that match her natural skin tone. They should really bring out her big blue eyes.
“He helped get me into shape. He works out all the time, you know.”
“Yeah, I gathered that when I ran into him when he came to the diner. He was talking about carb day this, and gym that,” I say, blending the colors together.
“That’s Chase,” she smiles. “He gave me a workout routine and taught me the importance of lifting weights to make my legs and arms appear firmer. It works!”