by Teri Kay
“No…I’m fine…I just didn’t realize the time. Can we talk later?”
Shit. She said fine. It's not fine, but I could tell it wasn't something to push. I pulled Ryann close to me and held her for a minute and gently kissed the top of her head. “Whenever you're ready, beautiful. I'll see you tonight.”
Grabbing my bag, I left Ryann’s almost on a mission. I had a lot of shit I needed to sort out and plan if everything was to work out right. My first stop was the club. I acted like a douche and I didn’t need to bring that around work with our VIPs.
Later on in that same afternoon, I trudged into Damon's office. "Hey, " I greeted him.
“Oh, well hello. Sir Fucking Crazy Ass Nut Sackage,” he almost yelled at me. “What the fuck, dude? What happened last night with you? G brings in a lot of money and he likes Vaughn. Deal with it.”
“Yeah, well, I get it. I’m sorry for acting like a dick last night. But you know as well as I do that Ryann is not just another dancer,” I said sternly. I could see the look on his face change. “I know she’s only here because her show is on hiatus and needs the money. All I can say is that I like her. After Jordyn, I wanted to keep my distance from any dancers. But I can’t with her.”
“Fine, bro. I get it. What do you want from me?” he asked.
“Keep her away from G!”
“You know I can’t do that. That’s up to her. But you can,” he said with a sneaky smile. “Oh, look. Vaughn’s schedule just happens to be free tonight. Not anymore.”
“Thanks, bud. I’ll see you tonight,” I left and headed to the parking lot. Climbing in my truck, I grabbed my phone and sent a text to Vanessa.
Me: Hey girl—I need your help please.
Vanessa: Of course. What can I do?
Me: Let Vaughn know she was booked by a VIP with a special request. All black leather.
There was no reason for the leather except is was fucking hot. The way the material hugged a woman’s body drove me nuts. The thought of Ryann tucked into a tight skirt caused my dick to perk up.
Vanessa: Really? Sounds hot.
Me: It will be. And if all goes well, she won’t be in tomorrow night.
Vanessa: What’s going on Nathan?
I left that text unanswered. Just one more text before I am off to run some errands and make sure Ryann doesn’t have any excuses.
Me: Hi butterfly. I hope you are enjoying shopping with Ali. Question—Any plans for your days off?
Ryann: Nothing too much. Why? What’s up?
Me: I have a 3 day tournament in Laughlin. I would love it if you would join me.
No response. I knew I would get my answer from her that night.
I pulled up the club at about nine-thirty in my rented red Mustang. I didn’t want to drive my own car, if Ryann saw it she'd know I was there. I wanted to surprise her. Plus, I wanted to show her what some real power behind the wheel felt like. I booked a private room for the evening requesting only Vaughn—the VIP that requested her all damn evening. Fuck...what do I call her at the club? I didn’t want to look at her as Vaughn Haley. That’s not who she was to me. But I knew when we were at The Cave she didn’t want to be called Ryann. Easy enough to stick with just calling her my butterfly.
I called Rose before the evening began and asked her to set up the room with a bottle of vodka and Jack Daniels so that we wouldn’t be disturbed for the next few hours. I had no intention of having her strip for me tonight, but I also didn’t want her stripping for anyone else until we figured “us” out. Hell, I had the money to cover whatever her tips would have been that night. I just wanted to spend time with her and hopefully convince her to spend the weekend with me.
The lights were down low when Ryann entered, preventing her from seeing my face, but I sure as hell could see her. She was wearing a black leather bra, a tight leather mini skirt and thigh-high heeled leather boots. Holy fuck, my dick instantly got hard. She had on a black wig, giving my changing butterfly an almost dominatrix look. I needed to ask her to wear this outfit for me at home.
“Mr. Sackage?” she asked, coming farther into the room. Fucking Damon. That’s what I get for letting him sign me up for the room after I caused a scene last night.
“Please, call me by first name,” I told her.
“Okay. Newt. Really? Newt Sackage?” Ryann flipped on the lights and fuck if I didn't get the hottest view I ever fucking saw. The back of her leather skirt was connected only by three belt buckles. Nothing else there but her bare, perfectly round ass. I was dying to sink my fingers into her tanned flesh. She spun back and caught me almost drooling at the sight of her. “Nathan. What’s going on?”
“I wanted to spend an evening with you,” I grabbed her hand and pulled her toward me.
“I’m flattered. I am, but I was counting on the extra money,” she said, disappointed.
“The money? Or G?” I demanded. “I’ll pay you if that’s what you want.” Crap. That’s not how I meant for that to sound. I’m not sure how I meant for it to sound but not like that.
“I’m not a fucking hooker, Nathan. I don’t sleep with my clients,” she spat. Damn, I upset her again.
“Ryann, that’s not what I meant and you know it. I told you I was jealous. I booked the time with you tonight so G couldn’t. And if that means paying you VIP tips, baby, I will.”
Her expression softened. She sat her naked ass down directly on my lap, and ran her fingers through the back of my hair. “Nathan, c’mon now. G’s hot and all,” she giggled. “But remember who I shared my bed with last night.” She kissed me softly right along my jawline. “G is a nice guy, but he’s part of my job. You're my friend.”
“Ouch. Friend zone, huh?” I ran my hands along her bare thighs.
“You know what I meant nuts,” she playfully slapped my chest.
“Come away with me this weekend.” I prepared myself for her excuses.
“I have to work tomorrow.”
“Vanessa said she’d cover your shift.”
“I don’t have anyone to watch Roxy and I can’t leave her alone all weekend.”
Thought of this one too. “Does Roxy like other dogs?”
Ryann nodded. “Usually,” she answered.
“Then it’s handled, she can stay at my house with my house sitter. Just one last thing,” I said to her.
“And what is that?” Ryann asked cuddling up closer.
“You to say yes, beautiful.”
“Well, since you have it all covered, Nathan, how could I say no? Yes, I will go with you this weekend,” Ryann agreed.
She leisurely moved and straddled my lap, pressing herself straight down on my rock hard erection. “I have a few more hours left on my shift and it seems like I'm booked with a very important person. I need to make sure Mr. Sackage gets the full experience here at The Cave,” Ryann whispered as she leaned over me to turn on the music. I inhaled every part of her body as she pressed herself close against me.
“If your body is this close to me, I can’t control myself from not touching you. I need to have you naked next to me. And trust me I will have you,” I practically growled with desire. “Not here. Let’s start our time away now.”
“Nathan, I can’t leave early,” Ryann shrieked.
“Is it the money? I told you I would cover your tips tonight.” I knew she didn’t like the idea of taking money from me, but I'm the one who booked her, and I booked her until closing.
“No. After the scene with you last night, I don’t want to tell the owner that I'm going home early with a client,” Ryann said, completely frustrated.
Is that how she still thought of me? As a friend? As a client? I needed to take control of this situation. Now. “I'm more than a client, butterfly. The owner says you're leaving with him. Let’s go,” I said with more authority in my voice than I've used before. The look in her eye told me she wasn’t going to question what I told her to do.
We stood up, and I escorted her out of the room with my hand on her hip the
entire time. I walked behind Ryann at all times making sure that I was the only one who could see her succulent ass. An ass which continued to tempt me in a way that I no longer wanted to control. We went straight to the back, grabbed her purse and left. On Friday nights, I knew Ryann drove with Rose to work so we wouldn’t have to work about her car. She stopped, looked around, and had no idea where to go next when she didn’t see my truck in the parking lot.
“I’m going to show you some real power this weekend, beautiful,” I said as I opened the door to the Mustang for her. Ryann just shook her head, laughed and crawled in. We drove to her condo first so that she could pack a bag for the weekend, and pack up Roxy to bring her to my place. I knew this made her a bit nervous at first, until she saw my oversized yard and dog run that I had custom built for Cheech.
“That’s quite a setup you have here, nuts. I'm assuming by the size of the run here your dog is quite active.”
“Come inside. You can meet him and the sitter, Molly.” When we walked through the door, Cheech didn’t even look up from Molly scratching his belly. The drool just continued to ruin my couch. I actually heard Ryann chuckle when she first saw my dog.
“Yeah, I don’t think he needs anything more than the couch,” she laughed. I introduced all the dogs and humans and everyone seemed to be comfortable with one another. Excellent, we were set to begin the two-hour drive to Laughlin. By driving, I hoped that we could talk and start getting to know each other more.
I gave Ryann some time to settle in and get comfortable on our drive before we started those conversations.
She broke the ice. “Okay, Mr. Owner. Want to explain that one please?”
“Yesterday, I said we all come with baggage. Let me tell you about mine,” I sighed. I started by telling her about Damon and Isabell and how I then became part owner of The Cave and how that led me to meet Jordyn. I explained how our relationship was rocky and that we moved to San Diego for her to go to nursing school and that we broke up because she cheated on me with another dancer from the club. I left out Ella. I never once thought of her as baggage and I figured it was a conversation for another time.
Ryann told me about her ex-husband, Lucas. They'd had a great relationship until they didn’t. Basically one day, he just changed his mind and left. I had a feeling there was more to the story but I didn’t want to push her, especially before our weekend together.
I was playing in a three-day quarter million dollar poker tournament. They could be boring twelve hour days, but the payoff could be big if I finished in the top twenty-five. The only payoff I truly cared about this weekend was with my butterfly.
Into You
I felt like my brain was all discombobulated, like I was on a damn roller coaster of emotions. After a great couple nights of getting to know Nathan, we'd had that awful morning at the Paris Hotel. Yet that had nothing to do with him. But it made me realize that I was not ready to do this dating thing yet. And now my new job, one VIP in particular, was already causing Nathan and me to argue. But argue for a good reason, I mean he was jealous of G—Ah— G. Richard Grovanski, NFL playboy. The man tipped me enough to pay three months of rent and wanted to take me out to dinner. That man made me feel sexy as hell, but he was a client, and I was beginning to learn his reputation with women.
On my way to pick up Ali, I called Vanessa. “Hey, girl. Got a minute?”
“Hey, teach. Sure do, what’s up?” she asked.
“So long story short. Nathan and I have been flirting…and arguing back and forth for a couple weeks now. Last night we had a long talk and we admitted we have feelings for each other. But this was only after he heard I spent another evening with G and received a three thousand dollar tip,” I explained to her.
“Holy shit. Is that what was in the envelope?”
“Yes.” I also told her about how he wrote me note, asking me out to dinner. “I have no idea what the hell to think. Both guys are clients, and I remember what Ashlynn said about it all getting messy. Nathan’s a regular, G’s famous. What the hell do I do?”
“Girl, there’s no set rule about dating clients, but think about where this all will lead in the end. There’s a world beyond The Cave, don’t get caught up in all of this. Here’s what I will say. Nathan is one of my best friends. He's a good guy. G is hot but has reputation with the ladies. Think carefully before doing anything. Oh and on a totally different note. You've been booked by a VIP tonight that requested you in all black leather.”
“Really? Who?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t told,” Vanessa explained.
“Hmmm. Okay. I can make it work. Thanks for listening. Let’s get together on Sunday,” I suggested.
“I…ummm…might be busy. I’ll see you tonight.”She hung up abruptly.
What was Vanessa’s change in attitude about? It was like she didn’t want to tell me something. I'd have to talk to her tonight. Today was all about Ali. Not having kids of my own made me love these times I got to spend with her even more. There’s something fun about being the cool auntie. Plus, it gave me a chance to just forget the drama and get some retail therapy in. Today our plans were lunch and the mall.
As much as I tried to focus on Ali, all day my mind kept wandering to my VIP request that night. I haven’t been at the club long enough to have regular requests, so this was a bit odd. I assumed it was G. I mean who else would it be? Would he expect more? Would I make another three grand? Should I go out with him? Does that make me a prostitute? Damn, I needed to work on my mind running wild.
That evening, I found the sexiest leather get-up I could and got ready for another night of half-naked dancing. Whoever it is, I knew my limits and would not compromise that for any amount of money. But I definitely wouldn’t mind dancing for G again. There was something about him that made me feel like a sexy woman. I needed that right now. Almost as much as I needed the money. Not that Nathan didn’t make me feel sexy, but G was different. I checked the VIP names and saw it was booked under the name Newt Sackage. Really? I understood using a name to not get identified, but grow up gentlemen.
Before I started my evening, I scanned the parking lot to see if Nathan’s truck was parked out there. Nothing. No Harley either. That morning he'd once again thrown me for a loop when he said I would be a good mother someday. I knew I had to tell him, but when? Part of me was hoping Nathan was my VIP tonight, and yet another part of me wanted it to be G. Either way, I looked hot and I was going to dance my ass off for whoever paid to be with me. I just hoped it wasn’t the dirty, old man from my first week, but I highly doubted he was a VIP.
I wasn’t sure how I felt when I switched on the lights and saw Nathan sitting there. The way he stared at me, with such desire, such lust, sent a shiver all the way up my spine. I was definitely falling for him and for that same reason I was disappointed. The last time I was requested in a private room, I made big money. Money that would pay three months’ worth of rent. Something about taking money from Nathan felt completely wrong. I wasn’t there to fall for a guy, I was there to make some cash.
After some arguing and persuading, Nathan convinced me to go to Laughlin with him for a few days. He was playing in a poker tournament and I figured the time away would be a nice break. There was only about a month left before my summer vacation was over and I had to go back to my everyday life. He told me I could come and watch him play, but I felt like me being there would be a distraction for him. I’d much rather spend my days lying by the pool and reading, or shopping if I had the money.
On the drive to the casino, Nathan told me about being a silent owner of The Cave and his ex-girlfriend, Jordyn. It now made sense now why he had this constant hot and cold attitude towards me. He said dating a dancer was something he would never do again. What did it mean for us? I had the urge right there to tell him I was really a broke ass teacher and only started dancing so I didn’t have to move home with my mother and her nudist boyfriend. But the thought of being honest terrified me. The risk was still ju
st too big. I did tell Nathan about my divorce, yet not the complete truth on why. After the rejection I had felt from what happened, I wasn't ready to share my brokenness with any other man. Damn, I really hated not being honest.
We checked into our suite a little before two in the morning, and we were both exhausted. He had to be in the poker room by eight in the morning, so I knew he needed to get to sleep. I wasn’t going to be the reason Nathan wasn’t on his game for the tournament. I couldn’t even imagine playing for something where first prize was over a hundred thousand dollars. Poker was Nathan’s job and I wasn’t there to distract his concentration in any way.
“What’s wrong? You’ve been too quiet since we got here,” he commented as we entered our room.
“Nothing, honey. I promise. I was just thinking about how I don’t want to be a distraction for you here at this tournament,” I answered.
Nathan laced his hands around my waste. “Did you just call me honey?”
Shit. “Yeah, I did,” I admitted, embarrassed. I tried to wiggle out of Nathan’s hold but he wasn’t letting me go.
“Don’t you try and get away from me, butterfly,” he whispered as he pulled me into a tighter hold against his body. “You're so cute when you get embarrassed,” he kissed my nose. “Your cheeks turn the prettiest shade of pink when you blush,” he kissed both of my cheeks.
“You may call me honey or any other name you want as long it comes from these sweet lips,” his passionate kiss caused my entire body to break out in goosebumps. I gasped for breath when Nathan pulled away from me. “So, I didn’t want to assume anything about the sleeping arrangements. I got us a two-bedroom suite.”
“You really are a gentleman aren’t you?” I asked.
“Ryann, I want to sleep next you. I want to hold you and watch you relax in my arms. But I'm not going to push you into anything you aren’t ready for,” he whisprered against my lips.
He made me nervous. Nervous in such a good way. He said all the right things just when I needed him to. I was definitely excited for what the weekend could entail for us. There was no way in hell I was going to sleep in a separate room. Reckless abandon it was.