by Max Monroe
But when I clicked the door of the private room shut, all of that fun seemed to disappear into thin air.
My heart sped up its rhythm as my nerves all of a sudden started to get the best of me.
It might have seemed like it was just us now, Cam and me, inside the private room, but I knew without a doubt we weren’t the only presence in this room.
Marco had eyes everywhere. Always.
The click of the door as Trixie pulled me into a private room spoke of seclusion.
The booming music of the main room was muted, and the couch was empty and waiting to be occupied by no one but me.
The walls were all solid, no mirrored glass or anything that would indicate a two-way screening room on the other side, but I could tell by the way Trixie painted the smile across her face that all of that careful construction was nothing more than an illusion.
Her hand was clammy in mine as she pulled me toward the couch and spun me, but I didn’t make mention of it. I could imagine that a woman had to be nervous when she locked herself in a room with a virtual stranger, no matter the circumstances.
And if I was being honest, I was just as nervous myself.
The whole idea to come here hadn’t exactly been planned to the finest detail, and I’d never expected to request a lap dance.
I had a feeling the owner’s insistence was the main reason both of us were in this room.
I searched for a sign of ease in her eyes, but the mission fell short. With a small shove directly to both shoulders, Trixie sent me falling back into the sofa. I hit with a soft thud and quickly redistributed my weight as she spun to face the door and started to swing her hips.
One thing I knew for sure? Her ass was magnificent. It was round and high but meaty with muscle, and I imagined each cheek would go a long way to filling the palm of my hand.
But I had no idea why she so persistently shied away from eye contact, and I didn’t know why there seemed to be more to Marco’s interactions with her than a simple boss/employee dynamic.
Sure, strip clubs were handled a little differently than say, Walmart, but this was just unusual. The way he looked at her. The way he watched her. It just wasn’t the same as the other strippers within the club.
Maybe when it came to Marco’s interest in her, it was just an issue of insurance. With her black hair, perfectly toned body, and innocent eyes, Trixie was sure to be one of Marco’s main and featured draws. If I were the kind of guy who made his money in the business of eye candy, I’d be protective and enthusiastically involved in my number one asset’s interactions too.
A blinking red light drew my attention to the upper corner of the room where a camera swiveled to capture Trixie’s new position in the room.
I could envision Marco behind the lens, poised in his office and watching our every transaction.
Just the thought of that kind of scrutiny—for me and her—put me on edge.
With a spin and sway, Trixie turned back to me and pooled a pile of her hair on top of her head. The positioning of her arms lifted and presented her breasts, and I had to swallow a ball of arousal as it settled in my throat.
She had one of the most captivating bodies I’d ever witnessed move. In charge and aware of herself, she danced with an ease and confidence I’d never seen. It wasn’t sleazy. It wasn’t cheap. And it wasn’t what I expected when I paid to be seduced.
It was subtle and powerful, and it made you feel like her every move really was just for you.
Still, even with all of that, all I wanted was to have her sit down.
It was the weirdest fucking pull. She was quite easily the sexiest woman on the planet, and I really just wanted to talk to her. To peek inside her mind and see what drove a woman of her caliber to a life like this. What she valued in herself and what she didn’t give enough credit.
Goddamn, I could spend a lot of time teaching her to give credit where credit is due.
“Trix,” I hummed, wanting her to come closer and praying that she’d stay far enough away that I could control myself at the same time.
The corner of her mouth curved up in a smirk, and I melted at the sight of it. It was the first expression I’d ever seen her make that seemed like a glimpse into the real her, and at the taste of it, I couldn’t stop myself from taking off at a run.
“Come here,” I coaxed, hoping she’d know I didn’t expect her to put her tits in my face. I just wanted to smell her, to feel the heat of her body.
I was feeling kind of creepy, but I was powerless to stop it.
She moved at my command, glancing over her shoulder at the camera as the mechanical sound of it turning whispered through the room.
It took me out of the moment, but apparently catalyzed something in her because when she turned back, she didn’t waste any time before reaching to her back and unfastening the hook holding the skimpy blue fabric of her bra over her breasts.
I wasn’t sure if the shyness was an act or the truth as she covered most of the flesh with her free arm, but a rosiness stole across her cheeks that neither one of us could deny.
There were feelings there, pulsing between us as she exposed herself for my eyes.
She pushed herself forward, and I rubbed at the tips of my fingers to squash the urge to touch her.
“Like what you see?” she asked, a bite of her lip taking me to a place far, far closer to my own orgasm than I’d intended.
Hard and angry, my cock pulsed against the zipper of my jeans as she moved her arm to let her breasts swing free.
They weren’t overly large—a full C cup, most likely—but they were the most delectable fucking things I’d ever seen in my life.
Tanned and perky and natural, they hung from her body with just the right weight and attention. Her nipples were peaked and pink, and my mouth watered at the fantasy of wrapping my lips around one and sucking until she came.
Fuck, I’m in trouble.
“You are literally the most perfect thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
An answer to a question, a prayer to the Lord, or a simple admission spoken to myself, I didn’t know what the words were meant to be, but I knew they were true.
Something about her spoke to me. Deeply, intimately. Carnally.
I knew without a doubt in my mind that if I let this dance go any further, I’d come in my pants like a teenager.
“You’re amazing,” I told her truthfully as I stood from the couch and dug into the depths of my pocket for a tip.
Her eyebrows were drawn as she scooted back clumsily at my unexpected invasion of her space.
“We still have ten minutes left.”
I shook my head and handed her the only three large bills I’d had in my pocket. There was something weird about paying the woman you were crushing on for her time, but if she was working in this place, exposing herself to doing this every day, she had to need the help I could give her.
I only wished I’d prepared enough to offer her more.
“You’ve done your job, I assure you,” I told her honestly. “Any more and you’ll be the one getting a show.”
Her eyes widened at the insinuation, and I smiled.
“Yeah. You’re good at what you do, and better, I have a feeling, at what you don’t even know you’re doing.”
Her lips parted softly as I reached out to give her hand an innocent squeeze and then stepped around her and out the door.
I wanted to look back, but I couldn’t. Leaving her in the room felt like walking away from a piece of myself, but I knew wholeheartedly it was the right thing to do.
Her career or not, stripping was in no way the avenue I wanted to use to get to know one another.
Marco eyed me as I moved through the main room toward the exit, so I made it a point to go over to him. I wasn’t sure if the camera he had positioned in the room had audio or not, but I definitely didn’t want him thinking I was leaving because Trixie hadn’t done a good job.
“Cameron,” he greeted suavely. “Leaving so s
oon?”
I smiled largely and stuck out my hand. He took it in a solid shake. “Great establishment, Marco. I’ve got an engagement to get to, but I’ll be back. You don’t have to worry about that.”
He smiled and laughed, a knowing light transforming the aura of his grin. “Ah, you’re satisfied, then?”
“You bet,” I confirmed with a slap to his shoulder.
As far as he needed to know, I was more than satisfied. But when it came to Trixie, I had a feeling the satisfaction of getting enough might never come.
In a tight leather jacket, skinny jeans, and high-heeled boots, Trixie looked like the perfect accessory to my motorcycle as she strolled out the back door of Skins and into the parking lot with a group of other girls.
After leaving several hours ago, I’d gone home to eat a late dinner, taken care of Lucky, crated him to ensure minimal damage while I was gone, and then made my way back here on my motorcycle.
I wouldn’t call it a plan, and I wouldn’t call it completely off the cuff either.
I’d known the moment I’d left Trixie alone in that private room that I wouldn’t be able to go very long without seeing her again, but I desperately wanted to do it somewhere where she had the freedom to speak her mind.
Sinister intentions or not, Marco kept a close eye on her and the other women in his employ, and a third-party voyeur wasn’t really my thing.
I wanted to know her. Her secrets. Her truths. Even her lies. They’d all tell me something I’d never know any other way.
Her steps faltered when she caught sight of me leaning against my bike under the streetlamp, but she gathered herself quickly, looking back over her shoulder and into the shadows at something.
I smiled and looked to my crossed ankles as she said something to the women she was with and slowly made her way over to me.
“What are you doing here, Cam?” she asked by way of greeting.
I couldn’t help but smile. “So you at least remember who I am. That’s a positive sign.”
She rolled her eyes and glanced behind her before stepping closer to me and lowering her voice. Once again, I got the feeling she was a little too hyperaware of being watched.
“Yeah, I remember you. Kind of hard not to when you won’t leave me alone.”
I hooked my smile into a taunting smirk. “But do you really want me to?”
She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest before asking again, “What are you doing here?”
With a quick shove, I pushed to standing. “I really want to talk to you. I thought maybe we could even do it where someone wasn’t watching us the whole time?”
Her scoff was sardonic. “Here definitely isn’t the place for that.”
So, I’m right. She is being watched pretty closely. Maybe even right now.
“Let me take you for a ride.”
“To where?” she asked cautiously.
But my answer was already planned, and it didn’t have much of a strategy other than whatever she wants.
“Wherever you want to go. I’ll even just take you home.”
She bit her lip in indecision, and my pupils dilated slightly. God, her lips were the perfect plush pillows.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why me?” she asked.
I shook my head. I didn’t know the answer to that question any more than she did. “I just need to know you.”
She bit her lip again as she fought giving in, but when it released, the power of my persuasion had won out. “Not home. Somewhere else.”
“Okay,” I agreed immediately. “Somewhere else, I can do.”
I could feel Marco’s eyes on my back as I stood beside Cam in the nearly empty parking lot of Skins. He’d made a point to walk out some of the girls tonight, feigning concern about their safety with us leaving the club so late.
There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary about the hour we were leaving or the crowd we’d spent the night entertaining. The only thing out of the ordinary was the man who’d been waiting for me on the motorcycle.
A fact, I was certain, Marco Sabella hadn’t missed.
His presence, it seemed, was more about watching than being seen, as he stayed deeply enough in the shadows I doubted Cam could even see him. If coming outside wasn’t for Cam’s benefit, it had to be for his own. Namely, a ploy to influence my behavior.
I’d only been working at the club for a few months, and I focused most of my energy on blending in. A fly on the wall was only effective when it went unnoticed. Make too much of a buzz, and the swatter comes out.
And Cam Mitchell was sure making it hard to keep the hum of my wings quiet. Especially when he was doing things like waiting for me in the parking lot after the club closed for the night.
I was hesitant, worried even, that his interest in me, in Trixie, would lead down a dangerous path. Not only for me or for the case I’d been working so hard on, but also for him.
If Marco ever became hip to my undercover game, Cam would become an accessory to my betrayal. My accessory. And I feared that wouldn’t end well.
Too bad you’re starting to actually like the guy.
I pushed that unwelcome thought out of my head and tried to focus on the rational, concrete facts.
Marco Sabella might have acted like a laid-back man whose only concern was keeping the customers of his club happy and entertained, but that was a persona.
The real man ran a prostitution ring behind closed doors where the women paid more than their share of flesh and blood.
They’d show up to the police station sometimes, bruised and beaten by a customer or Marco or both, looking for the solace we could provide. But they never spoke of names, the fear of the consequences far too great.
Beyond that, we knew he had ties to the drug cartel in South America—that he imported heroin and cocaine at an unprecedented rate—but we still hadn’t acquired enough concrete evidence to prove it.
He was a monster and the textbook definition of bad. The very last person a man like Cam Mitchell should ever find himself associated with, no matter the reason or circumstances.
Bottom line: this was the kind of situation that could go very fucking wrong, very fucking fast.
“Let me take you for a ride,” Cam whispered, impervious to the turmoil raging throughout my body.
He had to see the fear in my eyes, the uncertainty in my heart—after all, it was painfully obvious to me—but the width and intensity of his smile never eased.
Fuck, he was making it hard.
Marco’s boisterous laughter filled my ears, making it clear he wanted me to notice him again, and if I was smart, I’d do well to remember it.
I had a role to play, and I knew to my core that Trixie wasn’t the type of girl who would deny advances from a guy like Cam Mitchell.
No. She’d embrace it. Own it. And if anything, she’d fucking encourage it.
But there was more to me than Trixie, and the detective behind the stripper had questions.
“Where?” I asked cautiously.
“Wherever you want to go. I’ll even take you home,” he offered kindly. He sounded gentlemanly, even. And as much as I tried to figure it out, I couldn’t imagine what a nice guy like him wanted to do with a girl like me.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why me?” I asked. The question was simple on the surface, but just below, the layers were never-ending. Why Trixie, why Lana, why any of it? Was it the secrecy of Lana that kept him interested or the sexual allure of Trixie?
There were so many questions and absolutely no time nor avenue for answers. I couldn’t exactly ask him which of us he found so damn attractive.
His eyes turned serious, and they never left mine. “I just need to know you.”
For nearly my entire life, I’d been surrounded by men. My dad, my uncle Joe, and their buddies. My cousin Steve. And now, the mostly male police force I worked with at Hoboken PD.
I wasn’t an expert in
the opposite sex by any means, but I’d learned how their minds worked for the most part. I’d learned how to spot the jerks from the nice guys. The narcissistic assholes from the ones with good intentions.
Obviously, I didn’t know Cam that well.
But when I stared up into those big brown eyes of his, all I saw was an honest man. Someone who respected women. The kind of guy who didn’t toss out cheesy pickup lines or disguise his desire to fuck behind a veil of “I just want to talk to you.”
I searched his eyes for some kind of sign, some kind of hidden meaning behind his words that would make me think otherwise, but I came up empty-handed.
Fuck. This was not good.
And home? Fuck, I could never let Cam Mitchell take me home.
I could never let him know where I lived, not to my house on the outskirts of Hoboken or to the loft apartment where Detective Lana Simone lived when she was pretending to be a stripper named Trixie.
It was too big of a risk.
“Not home. Somewhere else.”
“Okay,” he agreed immediately, stretching out a helmet for me to take in my hand, and I eyed it like a poisonous snake ready to bite. “Somewhere else, I can do.”
“Hey, Trix,” a female voice called from behind me, and I turned to find Star heading in the direction of her car. “You good, sweetie?” she asked, and I nodded immediately. I didn’t need any other input in Cam’s and my conversation, and I certainly didn’t need an audience.
Still, it was nice she was checking up on me.
“Get home safe, okay?”
“I always do.” She jingled her car keys in the air. “Have a little fun for me tonight, would ya?” She winked, and all I could do was flash her a tentatively amused smile.
I’d have liked to say I was comfortable enough to ignore the anxious waves in my stomach and the tightness in my chest in the interest of reassurance, but they were far too overpowering.
Marco’s curious gaze locked with mine from the opposite end of the parking lot, snaring me involuntarily as I moved my eyes from Star, and I knew I really only had one option in this scenario.
And I wasn’t sure if the fact that it was the option I, Lana, wanted to choose was lucky or not.