I agreed and she moved off into the crowd.
I spent the rest of the night delivering drinks and smiling. It seemed the friendlier I was, the more tips I made. Still, I tried to remain professional. Well, as professional as I could in the center of a strip club.
A lot of these guys had a major case of grab hands. Good thing I moved fast.
By the time two a.m. rolled around, my feet hurt, my shirt was dry and kind of stiff feeling, and I really just wanted a shower.
Adam told me I was done for the night, but I had to fill out the paperwork before I could go. I went in the back and grabbed my bag, then plopped down at the end of the bar.
While I was waiting for Adam and the papers, I released my hair from the pony that was giving me a headache and pulled all the tips out of my apron and counted them. Two hundred dollars. Then I remembered the money from my dance, so I fished it all out of my bag and counted it. A hundred and fifty bucks. Not bad for almost falling on my face and making a fool out of myself.
Hottie bartender appeared in front of me. “Want me to cash out all those singles?”
“That’d be great. But I should wait and find out how much of this I have to share.”
He shook his head. “We don’t share tips here. What you get is what you earn.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep. Adam says if the table hands you a tip, it’s because they like you and not whatever drink you brought them. It’s why the girls don’t really have sections. It’s kind of a free-for-all.”
I nodded. It was kind of like a free-for-all.
I handed over my stack of cash. “It’s three hundred and fifty. You can just give me twenties or whatever you have.”
“Not bad for your first night,” he said, then went over to the cash register and exchanged all my ones for larger bills.
When he came back, he handed me the cash and a glass of ice water with a straw in it.
“Thanks.”
“What’s your name, new girl?”
“I’m using Violet as my stage name.”
His lips lifted. “Clever,” he mused, reaching out to touch the purple strand in my hair.
“You got a real name, Violet?” Why is it that everything he said sounded like sex on a stick?
Or maybe it wasn’t his words. Maybe it was the fact that his fingers were still playing with my hair.
“Harlow,” I said, trying to hide the little tremor in my voice.
“Harlow,” he repeated. It sounded like a purr that rumbled from deep inside him.
“How about you? You got a name?”
He was still twirling my hair along his finger and the simple, lazy movement was literally making my stomach quiver with some sort of anticipation.
“Cameron,” he said, his voice low because he was leaning over the bar toward me. “Everyone calls me Cam.”
“Are you a surfer, Cam?” I asked, my voice throaty and low. How is it that I tried the entire night to sound like that and never managed?
He cocked his head to the side. “How’d you know?”
I shrugged. “You look like a beach kind of guy.” All tan muscles and messy blond hair.
“You think I’m hot.”
“You seem to have a thing for my hair.”
His movements stilled and he glanced at his fingers tangled in my hair. His eyes widened just a fraction and it made me think he hadn’t realized what he was doing. It created a little fizzle of disappointment inside me because I liked the idea of him touching me because he liked it. I didn’t want it to be some kind of weird accident.
“What can I say? My hands sometimes have a mind of their own.”
The bottom dropped out of my stomach and something low in my abdomen clenched.
“Cam,” Adam said from behind me. “Are you hitting on my new dancer?”
Cam pulled away, returning to me my personal space he’d been crowding. My body seemed to follow him, as if trying to be close to him again.
“You better watch out for this one, Violet. He’s a real ladies’ man.”
I glanced back at Cam, arching an eyebrow.
He grinned.
“Here,” Adam said, stacking some papers in front of me and handing me a pen. “When you’re done, you can go. Be here tomorrow night to dance at seven.”
I couldn’t help but sneak little glances at Cam out of the corner of my eye as I wrote. Was it true? Was he a ladies’ man? If he were, it would do me no good to be attracted to him. I wasn’t the kind of girl that would stand in line for attention. I guess I wouldn’t be surprised if he was. I mean, he worked in a strip club and his uniform was shirtless. Suddenly I understood why there were women in this club. All the bartenders were men and all of them were hot.
When Cam caught me looking, he smirked and I averted my gaze and finished up the paperwork. I picked it up to carry into Adam’s office, but Roxie intercepted me.
“Taking that to the boss?”
I nodded.
“I’ll do it.” She reached out and took the papers.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to.”
There was something about the way she said it… I gasped. “You have a thing for him?!”
She got this who me? look across her face, but then she smiled. “Maybe a little crush.”
“More like a big one.” I teased.
She sighed. “It doesn’t matter anyway. He won’t date the dancers. He doesn’t mix business with pleasure.”
“I thought he was married.”
“I doubt it will last; none of his marriages do.”
“Is he damaged?”
“I just don’t think he’s found the right woman yet.”
“Well, if you ask me, he needs to stop getting married until he actually finds her.”
“Maybe he’s a hopeless romantic.” She sighed, gazing toward his office door.
“Maybe he’s a typical guy who thinks with the brain inside his pants.”
She snorted. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
“Well, thanks,” I said, gesturing to the papers.
She nodded. “Call me tomorrow and we’ll meet up before work. Get you some outfits.”
She headed into Adam’s office and I went outside. Ty held open the door for me as I walked out to the parking lot. “That was some dancing tonight, Miss Harlow.”
“I’m a complete disaster, Ty.”
He chuckled. “You got the job, didn’t ya?”
“Yep.” I smiled, proud of myself. Passing an audition to become a stripper might not be something I should be proud of, but dammit, I was. It took a lot of guts for me to do what I did tonight and I was able to hold on to my job without actually getting naked.
“See you tomorrow night, sugar.”
I waved good-bye and went around the side of the building to the back of the lot where I was able to squeeze my car. The air was thick and humid even at this early hour. I lifted my hair up off my shoulders and tied it into a messy knot on the top of my head to keep it from sticking to my neck. I wanted a shower and my bed. If I made tomorrow night what I did tonight, I could pay off half my bills. Then I would just need to catch up on my rent and start paying toward my tuition.
I had to keep my school schedule on track. I had a four-year plan that included a bachelor’s degree, and I fully intended to make it happen.
I unlocked my Toyota and climbed inside, anxious to turn on the air-conditioning. I slid the key in the ignition and turned. The engine turned over. The car did not start. I tried again. Same thing.
I groaned. “Not tonight,” I said to the car.
Then I pumped the gas pedal (isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?) and tried again. That didn’t work either.
I leaned my forehead against the steering wheel and considered my options. I could go look under the hood and try to fix whatever the problem was. Maybe it was something easy like something coming unplugged.
I climbed out of the car, popping the hood a
nd staring down at the filthy, greasy engine. Ew. It was so dark that I could see practically nothing. What I could see didn’t appear to be broken.
I laughed a little at my incompetence and let the hood fall back into place.
It was dark out here.
The parking lot was almost empty.
It was after two a.m.
I could call a cab. But that would eat into the money I needed to pay bills.
With a sigh, I trekked back to the door. Ty raised an eyebrow when he saw me again but opened the door for me. I looked around for Roxie, thinking maybe she could give me a ride home. But she wasn’t on the floor. I glanced at Adam’s office and the door was shut. If she was in there, I really didn’t want to bother her. That seemed like some sort of violation of girl code.
“I thought you left?” Cam said, coming around the bar.
His black dress pants hung dangerously low on his hips, but were belted into place. Peeking just a little above his waistband was the thick band of his grey boxers. The lighter color drew my eye like a thief to an open bank vault.
“Is Roxie around?” I asked, forcing myself to look anywhere but at his narrow hips.
He shrugged. “Something wrong?”
“My car won’t start.”
“I’ll look at it.”
“I already did. It’s too dark to see anything.”
“You know about cars?” he said, his brows rising halfway up his forehead.
“Well, no.”
He laughed, grabbed a black leather jacket, and went toward the door of the bar. “Come on.”
I followed him out into the darkness and directed him to my traitor of a car. He popped the hood and bent over the engine. It was really hard not to notice how firm his butt looked in those pants.
“Turn the key, will ya?” he said, his head still out of sight.
I went and did what he asked, and the engine did nothing again.
“Battery’s dead,” he announced, slamming the hood.
I uttered a curse word.
“I’d give you a jump, but I brought my bike to work tonight.”
“How did the battery die?”
“You leave your lights on or something?”
I glanced down. My lights were in the on position. “How did that happen?” I muttered. “Wasn’t even dark when I came to work.”
“I’ll give you a ride.”
I probably bumped it while I was sitting in here bouncing with nerves before my shift earlier. Geesh, today was not my day.
But then his words broke through the beating I was giving myself. “What did you say?”
“I’ll give you a ride.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that.”
“Maybe I want to.”
“Says the ladies’ man,” I quipped. It was more of a reminder to myself to not be taken in by that blond hair and dark stare.
“Say’s the boss who’s been married four times.”
“Touché.”
“It’s right over there.” He gestured to a black and silver crotch rocket against the building.
“I don’t know,” I murmured, climbing out of my car and chewing on my bottom lip.
“You ever been on a bike before?” Cam asked, slipping the leather jacket over his bare chest. Even still, I could see parts of his abs and the top of his boxers in the center where his jacket hung open.
I shook my head.
“This night is full of firsts for you, then, isn’t it?”
I felt my cheeks heat a little at the undertones of his words. I won’t lie; something warm began to swirl around inside me. “I can’t believe he hired me,” I mused.
“I knew he would. You’ve got this sweetness about you that no one else in that place has.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”
“It’s a good thing. Trust me.”
Trust him. I didn’t even know him. But I wanted to. I was tempted. Boy, was I ever tempted.
He pulled the bike away from the wall, rolling it forward and straddling the black seat. He looked so in control, so powerful sitting there with all that metal and steel between his legs.
“So what’s it going to be, Harlow?” he said, a slight challenge in his voice. “You want a ride?”
If I didn’t get on that bike, I would regret it forever.
I nodded and stepped forward.
4
He pulled a black helmet off the back of the bike and held it out. “Here.”
“Where’s yours?”
“This is mine.”
I shook my head. “You take it.”
He rolled his eyes and climbed off the bike, making sure it was steady before leaving it to stand in front of me. Without saying a word, he reached up and pulled the band out of my hair. Dark strands fell over my head and his arm, tickling my shoulders.
He held out the band, stretching it with his fingers so it was wide. “Here,” he said, gesturing to my hand. I held up my arm and he linked our fingers, sliding the band over onto my wrist.
But he didn’t pull away just yet.
Instead, he wrapped his fingers around mine, sliding down to circle my wrist where the pad of his thumb brushed over the thin, sensitive flesh on the underside.
“I like your hair down,” he murmured, lowering my arm and his hand to step just a fraction closer so he could bury his nose in the hair that fell over my ear.
My heart was beating so hard that it was the only thing I could feel. Well, that and the way his even breathing tickled the soft strands and echoed into my ear. My thigh muscles clenched together and I stood stock still because I was afraid if I moved I would melt into a puddle at his feet.
Cam pulled back, releasing his gentle grip on my wrist and looked down. When our eyes met, I felt the crackle of desire surround us, and then he smiled. He had a dimple in his left cheek.
“I’ll help you,” he said, his voice brushing along my exposed nerve endings and making me shiver. “You cold?” he asked, frowning.
“No.”
I caught the look of recognition in his eyes when he reached up and brushed the hair behind my ear. He knew exactly what he was doing to me. In fact, I would guess he enjoyed it.
Two could play that game.
I hooked a finger beneath the bowtie around his neck. “I like this,” I said, trailing my finger along the fabric that wrapped around his neck.
“Yeah?” he asked after a moment, his voice tellingly hoarse.
“Mm-hmm.”
“It’s itchy.”
I made a clicking sound with my tongue and slid my finger all the way around so my hand was caught between the leather of his jacket and the warm skin of his neck. His body stiffened just a little as my fingers brushed over him as I found the clasp that held the bowtie in place and undid it, causing it to fall away. Using my palm, I smoothed my hand around the base of his throat again and then pulled back to look up. “That better?”
He didn’t say anything but swallowed thickly, and I gave him a little smile, tucking the bowtie in the pocket of his jacket. He cleared his throat and pulled the helmet down over my head. It was heavy and a little too big. I felt if I didn’t hold my head perfectly straight, the weight of it would topple me over.
“I look like a bobble head.” I complained as he adjusted the strap beneath my chin.
“A little,” he agreed and smirked.
Before I could insult him back, he closed the face shield on the front and straddled the bike again.
“Climb on,” he instructed.
Thank goodness I was wearing shorts. I swung my leg up over the side and sat down. The seat was narrow and not really comfortable. I held myself stiffly, trying not to slide into him, but the way the seat angled it was kind of hard not to.
I placed my bag between us and then he grabbed my legs just beneath the knees and pulled. My body came up against him all at once. My breasts pressed up against his back and it occurred to me that I never put my bra back on once I was finished worki
ng. He was completely solid all over, there was nothing but my thin tank and his jacket separating my skin from his, and… he was now sitting between my thighs.
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