by Dyanne Davis
Reggie touched her shoulder. “I’ll see you as soon as I’m done.”
Done? Gabi’s mouth dropped. Reggie was a stripper? She hadn’t known. He’d never danced the other times she’d been there. The only thing Reggie had done was serve drinks. This was a new twist. An evil thought took hold. Gabbie turned toward the stage, positioning her chair for a good view, hoping that Eric came while she was watching the floor show.
Reggie gyrated across the stage and Gabi appraised him, very good body, prerequisite six pack and muscles out to yonder. He dropped to the floor and simulated sex acts. Oh Lord, Gabi thought, does this fool think he’s turning me on? It was obvious he was performing for her. Reggie’s eyes were fixed on her as he started crawling across the floor toward her, his tongue making it obvious what he was insinuating. Now she was hoping Eric didn’t walk in at that moment. She wanted to make her husband jealous, not have him commit murder.
Reggie stood and reached his hand out, pulling Gabi’s chair closer to the base of the stage, grinning at her the entire time. He was in front of Gabi presenting quite a view from his vantage point on the stage with her sitting directly beneath him, his package swollen and as far as she could tell, hard. He reached out his hand to touch her and it was all Gabi could do not to move away. She needed him. If she rebuffed him now, he might not be as willing.
When he came so close to her face that she could smell the musk from between his thighs and see the tiny spot of secretion, Gabi moved slowly back and Reggie laughed, making the women go wild and wave dollar bills in the air. Gabi wondered what would make Reggie back off. She fished in her purse for a bill, but he shook his head no very slowly. Then before Gabi could stop him, he was off the stage and grinding his nearly naked butt against any part of her he could get to.
Gabi looked over her shoulder quickly, heaving a sigh of relief when she didn’t spot Eric. She wondered if she would be having fun if she weren’t so miserable. No, she didn’t think she would. She was embarrassed. Mercifully when she finally had the nerve to look in Reggie’s eyes, he got the message, chucked her under the chin and hopped back on the stage, then shimmed his butt for the audience and stood there while they screamed and stuffed money down his G string, all the while rubbing his chest, touching him.
She heard his throaty laugh and Gabi couldn’t help laughing also. Reggie was made for this life. He’d been heading toward it when they were teens. It suited him. Gabi had to admit he had the body and the looks. But she would have given him the moniker ‘Caramel Candy’ instead of ‘Chocolate Pudding.’ His skin was a rich caramel color and his dreads made him look like God’s gift to women. Put that with everything else and almost any woman would be happy.
Almost. But Gabi didn’t want Reggie. She’d always wanted Eric, even when Eric hadn’t wanted her. Now it seemed they were back to that. Her heart sank. It didn’t look as though her husband cared enough to follow her after all. Ten minutes later she was still feeling a bit morose.
When Reggie sauntered from the dressing room, Gabi gawked, wondering why it had taken him ten minutes to come back out dressed in nothing more than the G string he’d left the stage in.
“Reggie, I thought you were changing.” Gabi moved away; she didn’t want to stand this close to him, not the way he was dressed, or rather undressed.
“I was going to change,” Reggie leered at her, “but I’ll probably do better like this for awhile.”
She glanced around the club. “You’re working the room for more tips?”
“No,” Reggie grinned. “I’m only working you.”
“You don’t have to work me.”
“I suspect that I do. Don’t forget we have history together. I know you, baby. I think I have to bring my A game for you, make you see what I’m working with these days.” He ran his hand over his chest and down his abdomen, then reached for hers and placed it on his chest. “How does that feel?” Reggie asked.
Like a sweaty, hairy chest, she wanted to say but didn’t. Instead Gabi asked, “Can we slow down for a second, let a sister breathe?” It was time to forget her plan and take her butt home.
“Where’s Eric? I can’t believe he lets you come here knowing I work here.”
“First off,” Gabi backed away pretending to pout, making sure to wet her lips, watching him as he gazed at her, tracing them with her tongue, “Eric doesn’t let me do anything, he’s my husband, not my daddy.”
“Sho, you right,” Reggie answered. “So tell me, baby, you’re thinking about stepping out on him or what? He ain’t hitting it like he should?”
Gabi closed her eyes to the vulgar question. She wanted to slug Reggie but to answer his question, no, Eric wasn’t hitting it right. He wasn’t hitting it at all. Still, to have another man talk about her personal business made her want to smack the taste out of his mouth. She swallowed the anger and took another step back. “Why don’t you go behind the bar and get me a bottled water and we can talk about it.” Yeah, right, she thought.
Why wasn’t Eric following her as she’d done him? The hoochie mamma clothes she was wearing had brought fire to his eyes. Now if only he’d do what came naturally and follow her. She knew he was curious.
She glanced up, saw Reggie coming toward her with the bottle of water and a glass in his hand and at the same time she saw Eric. Damn, this wasn’t the way she wanted it. She wanted Eric to know how it felt to find your spouse all hugged up and touching someone else.
At practically breakneck speed Gabi ran toward Reggie, pummeling into him and pushing him against the bar. He sprawled over a stool.
“Damn, baby, you must really be thirsty.”
She laughed, going between his open legs but not taking the water from him. She didn’t want his hands on her so keeping them full was a good thing. Her heart was pounding. She could feel her husband’s anger like bullets hitting her in the back. Gabi could hear the still quiet voice within caution her that she was heading for trouble but she ignored it. This was her life and she was going through with it.
“Oh, oh, baby, I think we’ve got company,” Reggie said a moment before she felt pressure on her arm and was pulled away.
***
Eric glanced around the club, the absence of any male customer sending warning bells through him. He paused, listened to the screaming women and his eyes flew to the stage and the gyrating male stripper. A damn strip club. He hadn’t believed it when he’d seen the matches nor when he’d found the information on the Internet and he didn’t believe it now that he was here.
Gabi was at a strip club. When he found her he was going to take her home kicking and screaming if he had to. She was not going to stay in a club filled with a bunch of naked men.
Commotion from across the room at the bar caught his attention. Eric blinked, recognizing Reggie under all the long hair. When his vision completely adjusted to the dim lighting, his heart sank. That couldn’t be Gabi between Reggie’s legs. His confusion turned to blind rage and propelled Eric across the room. His only thought was to get Gabi away from Reggie. He grabbed her arm. “Gabrielle, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Eric,” Gabi said as though in shock, making her eyes go big and round. She pulled on her top as though to straighten it out. She ran a hand down the front of her tight leather pants and looked down as though checking to see if she was buttoned up. Both men followed the path of her gaze. Eric was glaring, fit to be tied. Gabi covered her mouth with one of her palms and widened her eyes even more, trying to fill them with shock.
Reggie glanced at her and smirked, his eyes telling her that he was aware of what she was doing. She shot him a look, pleading with him not to give her away.
“Eric, long time, no see, man.” Reggie leaned forward to shake Eric’s hand and Eric shoved him backwards. Reggie shot Gabi another look, one that said, I-owe-you-that-one-Gabi-but-no-more.
“Don’t long time, no see me,” Eric growled between clenched teeth and this time gave Reggie a solid shove with the palms o
f both hands right in the center of Reggie’s bare chest.
Before anything could jump off, Gabi positioned herself between her husband and Reggie. “Stop that,” she ordered Eric. “You have no reason to do that. His hands weren’t on me. He’s holding a glass with one and a bottle of water with the other.”
“You’re coming home with me.”
Of course she was going home with him; that had been her plan. “I’m not ready to go,” she said instead.
“Gabi, I’m warning you. I will physically pick you up and carry you out of here if I have to.” He glared over her head toward Reggie. “I wouldn’t advise your getting in this. It isn’t your business and I don’t need any excuse to kick your ass. I just plan damn don’t like you. And to find you dressed like that pushing up on my wife. It wouldn’t take but a word to make me kick your ass, just on G.P. Eric glared at Reggie before turning toward Gabi. “Now come on, Gabi, get your stuff and let’s go.”
“No,” Gabi answered defiantly and was genuinely surprised when the grip tightened on her arm and her husband swooped her up into his arms and carried her out of the club. He stopped, looked around, spotted her car and headed for it. Eric didn’t say a word until he opened the door and nearly shoved her inside.
“You have no right to do this,” Gaby hissed, mildly offended yet at the same time excited that he’d come. She glanced up at him and saw the fire in his eyes. Their gazes held for a moment and she shivered in spite of her plans. She had to shake away the thought, but her husband was still the one who did it for her. She could feel her emotions churning, the lust building in her nether regions. She could feel the pool of liquid desire being released.
“I have every right,” Eric answered. “Now drive and I mean home, Gabi.”
Good, Gabi thought and drove away checking her mirror, wanting to tell Eric to back up off her car. The fool might end up ramming her, he was so angry. But anger wasn’t what she was going for. Anger could be gotten over. She was going for the jugular. She was going for gut wrenching pain. She wanted to make him hurt as badly as she did. And she knew exactly how to do it.
ANOTHER MAN’S BABY 229
Chapter Sixteen
For thirty minutes Eric sat glaring at his wife while she behaved as though nothing was wrong. He was waiting for her to apologize, anything. And that damn smile on her lips was beginning to get on his nerves. When he could take it no longer, he got up and began marching from one end of the room to the other.
“I don’t believe it, you were stepping out on me.” Eric was pacing back and forth. He was so angry that he was unable to be still. He’d halt for a moment and glare at Gabrielle, then he’d return to his pacing. He wanted to strangle her for behaving like that. What the hell was she trying to prove? And with Reggie, of all people. “I can’t believe you were with Reggie.”
“No, I was at a club.”
“I saw you, Gabi, dressed like that and standing between his legs with him having nothing on but a damn G string. He might as well have been naked, Gabi!” He took her hand. “Come on,” he said, “I want you to see what I see.” He tightened his grip as though he thought she might resist and didn’t release her until she stood in their bathroom in front of the mirror.
“Look at yourself, you look cheap. You put on even more paint than you had on when you left here. You’re my wife,” he roared. “You won’t embarrass me or yourself like that ever again. Do you hear?”
Gabi sat on the edge of the tub and stared at him, not answering, allowing him to rant and rave. Okay, his anger was justified in a way. When he finally took a breath she swallowed. “You keep forgetting, we’re getting a divorce.”
“Hell no!” Eric shouted. “I told you we’re not getting a divorce, you’re my wife and it’s going to stay like that. I love you, Gabi, and you love me. Okay, you got even with me. I know you set this up. Now we’re even, we can forget this nonsense and stop acting crazy. We’re not kids and we’re not getting a divorce. Now wipe that crap off your face so we can talk.”
Evil filled her. For the first time in Gabi’s life she wasn’t thinking of the consequences, the right or wrong of what she was doing, only that it felt good for once not to be the one hurting. “I like what I have on-”
Before Gabi could finish her sentence, Eric was scrubbing her face with a wet towel, and then he scooped her up in his arms and carried her kicking and screaming toward the bed.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Gabi screamed.
“I’m going to make love to you and make you remember us. I’m going to drum all of this other nonsense out of your head.”
“You can’t just make love to me.”
“Like I keep telling you, you’re my wife.”
“So damn what? We’re getting a divorce.”
“We’re not going out like that, Gabi.” Eric started pulling off his clothes, throwing an arm over Gabi as she attempted to move.
“Do you plan on raping me?” she asked.
“I plan on making love to you.”
“Without my consent.”
He shrugged.
“That’s rape, Eric.”
“Then I suggest you consent because it’s going to happen.”
“Why, because I was with Reggie?”
“No, because I love you, damn it, and you’ve been so damn stubborn. You’re going tit for tat and it isn’t going to happen like that. Now give me permission,” he demanded, pushing her back and pulling her leather pants from her body.
For a moment Gabi thought of stopping what she was going to do. As much as she’d been telling herself she no longer had feelings for her husband she’d known all along it was a lie. He stared at her for a nanosecond and the love in his eyes touched her core. Eric was right, she loved him, but right now she didn’t want to.
“Okay, you have permission,” she said as his fingers hooked on the side of her silk panties and pulled them down her hips. His fingertips brushing her skin sent liquid fire coursing through her. This was the feeling that Reggie could never produce in her. Her body reacted this way only for Eric. Though lust raged inside her, she didn’t want to be so easy.
She couldn’t speak to him; her voice had already trembled, letting Eric know that she wanted him. Good Lord, that was the one thing she couldn’t fake. She did want Eric to make love to her. She closed her eyes, trying to will the feeling away, but it wouldn’t leave. Not when his lean brown body was poised over her and his lips were so close to hers. How the heck could she resist him? She never had before.
“Can’t we stop fighting?” Eric moaned and entered her quickly.
Her traitorous legs wrapped around him. It had been a long time, she acknowledged as her arms held him close. He felt so good, his strong brown body covering her, his face pressed close, his lips trailing kisses all over her body.
Gabi trembled inwardly. If only, she thought. The scent of the burnt panties returned to her. He wanted her because he believed she wanted another man. The thought was summarily knocked out of her mind when Eric worked his magic. The feeling of ecstasy he produced was all that she was aware of. She could feel her eyes roll back in her head, and her moans were for real, nothing fake about them. She trembled with her approaching release.
He should have done this weeks ago, Eric thought. He should have just marched his ass back into their bedroom and taken charge, not allowing Gabi to throw a hissy fit. He knew he wasn’t guilty of sleeping with anyone. In fact, the very thought of doing it had vanished the moment his wife thought he’d done the deed.
He’d missed her so much, he thought as he thrust repeatedly into her heat. Her initial fight had made him so hot, so hard. Her scent permeated the room, wrapped around him and drove him home. With each thrust, Eric thought he would come but he held off, waited until he knew his wife was plunging over the edge. It was always so good when they came together.
“Hurry,” Gabi urged her husband. “I can’t wait much longer.”
“I know, baby,” he moaned. ”
I want us to come together.”
His soft whisper was like a cold bucket of ice water being dumped on her, waking her up. Eric was so damn smug. He knew her body so well. He thought this was all it took to make her get over her hurt. Yes, she loved him. With everything that was in her, Gabi loved him. And he had no right to desecrate that love.
Don’t do it, the voices were shouting at her. One voice became ten and ten a thousand. She was going to ignore the voices. She had to do this for herself. She had to know that Eric loved her enough to bleed as she’d done.
He heard her moan. Now was the time. He growled as he felt his release nearing.
Gabi loved when they came together and now was no different, except this time when she felt them crest she opened her mouth and screamed, “Reggie.”
What the hell?
“Reggie!” Gabi screamed.
“Reggie?”
Oh no she didn’t! Eric couldn’t stop the release, couldn’t hold it back. Damn. Eric shook with the force of his release, feeling a strange energy surrounding him and Gabi, feeling a difference when his fluids entered Gabi’s wetness. He groaned and fell on Gabi for about the space of ten seconds. Then as his breathing returned to normal he lifted off her and looked down at her smiling face. “Hell no!” he roared. “You didn’t just call me by another man’s name.”
“But I didn’t,” she said innocently. “Did I?”
Oh, that was her game. Eric was so angry at her that he wanted to do as she’d done when she’d caught him with Jamilla. He wanted to throw something, namely her.
“This wasn’t fair, Gabi. That was evil. You waited until I was right there and did something like that. Why don’t you just get a knife and stick it in my heart?”
“I just did.”
“I thought it was an accident.”
“It was,” she said and started to cry, covering her eyes. “Reggie just made me feel wanted, loved.”
She wailed as though that was supposed to make him feel better. He glared down at her. Yes, he’d started it but still, damn, it hurt.