by Keke Renée
Sensual
By
KeKe Renée
Published by 304 Publishing Company
Copyright 2021@Keke Renée
All Rights Reserved. Except for use in any review, no part of this book may be performed, reproduced, published, sold, or distributed by any means, or quoted in any medium. Including on any website, without prior written consent from the owner. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
For questions and comments about this book, please contact 304 Publishing at [email protected]. Visit the official website at www.304publishing.com.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Latest Releases by Keke Renée
Upcoming 2021:
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Disclaimer
Synopsis
Chapter One: Elina
Chapter Two: Elina
Chapter Three: Julian
Chapter Four: Julian
Chapter Five: Elina
Chapter Six: Elina
Chapter Seven: Julian
Chapter Eight: Elina
Chapter Nine: Elina
Epilogue: Julian
About the Author
304 Publishing Company
What’s Next?
Catalogue of Releases by Keke Renée
Latest Releases by Keke Renée
Wet Heat (Wet Heat Series, Book 1)
Every Time We Touch: A Novelette (Wet Heat Series, Book 2)
His Peace, Her Pleasure
Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Love Don’t Live Here Anymore (Vanessa/Andrew, Book 1)
Love Don’t Live Here Anymore (Isabella/Andrew, Book 2)
One Night Only: A Novelette (Love by Design, Book 1)
Cassian and Savannah (Love by Design, Book 2)
Deidra’s Love (Love by Design, Book 3)
Protecting Bria (Special Force Operation Alphas)
Haven
Upcoming 2021:
Seeking in Romance (Touch, Bare, Please, Love)
Dedication
I want to thank my readers for loving these characters so much
and for waiting so long for them to come back.
Acknowledgments
I WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE my behind-the-scenes team of beta readers, editors, designers, and more.
As a writer, I continue to strive for the best, and I appreciate each and every person who reads my work.
Without your continual feedback, I wouldn’t be on this path, watching my doubts slip away.
Introduction
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Disclaimer
THIS WORK OF FICTION has strong language and explicit sexual content and is only intended for mature readers.
This story may contain unconventional situations, language, and sexual encounters that may offend some readers.
If you are looking for sweet, fluffy romance, then I would recommend selecting another book.
This book is for mature readers (18+).
Synopsis
Elina lives for the money. She works hard to get it, but her line of work directly contradicts her upbringing and her family’s values. That’s why she has never told her parents. What they don’t know can’t hurt them, she thinks. But when someone walks into her best-kept secret, it may not be a secret for much longer.
Julian had no idea a night out would bring him face to face with his best friend’s little sister—the same girl he used to have a crush on. When he sees her, he’s both happy and shocked. She’s not the same young woman she used to be. She’s all woman now. But her lifestyle is all about making fast money—by any means necessary.
Now, he’s left wondering if it’s still a bad idea to get involved with his best friend’s kid sister—or if they’re free to move forward.
Chapter One: Elina
MY HIPS SWERVED FROM left to right as SZA’s latest song played through the speakers. I dropped down low and spread my legs with my back against the pole, while guys threw money at me onstage, loudly clapping and whistling. I knew that as the closing act, I had to bring out my best moves to make the men want to come back and spend money on me again. I dipped into a split, stretched my arms back, turned, and fell flat onto my stomach.
“Honey! Show us what you got!” Kenny, one of my regular customers, screamed out, tossing money on the stage. The lights shined down on me, as I slid my hands behind my back, undid my bra, and turned with my back to the crowd.
“Yeah! Woo-hoo... Honey!” another voice called out.
I smirked, knowing that was what I loved. As a dancer, hearing the roars, cheers, and excitement from the crowd pumped me up to keep going and show them why I was the most requested dancer at Club Sensual. My golden-brown skin glistened with sweat beads on my arms and thighs. I worked out constantly to stay in shape, but nothing could beat the genes I’d gotten from my mom. We were both five-seven, with long legs, thick thighs, an apple-shaped butt, and wide hips.
Shannon and Eli Murphy had raised me and my brother in a traditional family with school, church, afterschool programs, and family dinners every night. It would have been shocking for them to see their daughter, Elina Murphy, dancing on a pole for money, naked in front of men who were thinking of twenty different ways to pleasure me in their beds.
“Let’s give it up for Honey! Show her some love!” the DJ shouted over the microphone.
I tossed my bra into the crowd and held both breasts with one arm. I rose and grabbed the pole with one hand, then climbed up into a split. I smiled, looking into the crowd. More money came from their pockets as I showcased my 40-C breasts with pasties covering my nipples. I released a breath and stared out into the crowd, amazed at another standing ovation.
But then my smile dropped—along with my stomach—when I happened to see someone I knew in the back of the VIP section, glaring at me. I slid down the pole and walked offstage as the bouncer gathered up the money I’d made. I went to the dressing room at the back of the club and paced the floor.
“What’s wrong, Honey?” asked Missy, another dancer and my best friend. She sat in front of the vanity mirror and applied foundation to her cheeks.
“I... I... just saw Julian,” I stuttered, rubbing my forehead. I couldn’t believe my secret would be exposed. Why is he here? I thought.
Julian Watson was a longtime family friend and my brother’s best friend. People would never see one without the other when we were growing up. I used to try to run behind them as much as I could, but they always treated me like a porcelain doll that couldn’t be touched or hurt. All through high school, they’d run off any boy who tried to talk to me—even innocently—and they’d always tell my parents what I was doing when I went out with my friends.
“Calm down, Elina. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Missy, you know if he tells my brother, my parents will disown me.”
“Elina, at twenty-nine, do you really care what your parents think?” Missy asked.
EJ would have a field day with torching me about my occupation. Maybe I could pay
him off.
“I care what they think, but I don’t live my life according to their rules, Missy. You know my brother can’t hold water, and I’m already avoiding a family dinner because the club has me doing a lot more parties for the last few weeks.”
“Eli Jr. will be fine. Didn’t he almost get that girl in Highland Park pregnant?” Missy asked.
EJ had to take a paternity test two weeks ago to clear his name. Some girl knocked on my parents’ door and claimed to be pregnant with his baby, and my parents lost it because our family was well known in the city. We lived in the suburbs of Seattle, Washington, and everyone was familiar with the Murphy family. Mom was a high-powered city council member, and my dad was an ER surgeon at the Highland Emergency Center.
“I wonder if EJ is out there with him,” I said to myself.
“You want me to go check?” Missy asked.
“No.”
The door opened, and the owner stepped in looking pissed. Bobby had wanted to date me forever, but I blew him off, and the other women always were jealous because he gave me the best hours and let me do what I wanted.
“What the hell was that, Honey?” he argued.
“Bobby, not right now.”
“You just walked off stage in the middle of a set!” he shouted.
“I know, but I’m dealing with something right now.”
“They want you to come back out,” he said.
“I can’t. Not feeling well,” I lied, as I went to my locker and changed my clothes right in front of him.
“Wait! Honey baby, talk to me? Did someone try something?”
I slid my tennis shoes on, fixed my hair into a ponytail, and grabbed my keys.
“No. It’s that time of the month,” I rushed out.
Missy rose from the chair and followed me to the front of the club. I kept my head down, as some of the men tried to stop me on my way out. I was out the door when someone grabbed my elbow and pulled me against their hard chest.
“Elina,” Julian said through gritted teeth.
“Hey, take your hands off my girl,” Bobby said, tapping Julian on the back. I stared up into the sexiest oval-shaped, chestnut-brown eyes I’d ever seen. As usual, when I was around Julian, my mouth would go dry, and I felt woozy. This man was everything I wanted but could never have.
“It’s okay, Bobby,” I responded, hoping to defuse the situation before Julian could kick his ass. My brother EJ took boxing with Julian in high school, and they still would sometimes meet up at the gym and work out. I didn’t need him hurting my meal ticket.
“I suggest you find yourself someone else to replace her,” Julian demanded, and I yanked out of his hold.
“You don’t run my life, Julian. If you haven’t forgotten, I’m grown.”
“Is that why you’re sneaking around to work here?” he asked.
“That’s not your business.” I stomped off and headed to my car. When the door slammed, I felt his hard body up against my back.
“We go way back, Elina, and I’m just looking out for you. The men in here only want one thing.”
“That’s not my problem.” I tried to look away.
He pulled my chin toward him. “You’re too stubborn to listen, I see.”
“Julian, I’m not that little girl anymore who needs protection.”
“I don’t think your parents would like to know you’re out here. Hell, I hate knowing men have seen you like this,” he said. His lips brushed against my ear, as I felt his hand on my lower back.
“Good thing I’m an adult and can make choices for myself.”
“Then your parents and brother know you’re doing this for a living?” He lifted his brows and stepped aside.
I opened the car door and threw my bag in the back. Julian was challenging me by bringing up my parents, but I doubted that he’d be bold enough to rat me out. “Are you going to say something?” I got inside my car, started the ignition, and peered over at him.
He leaned against the window, letting his cologne or whatever soap he used waft in the air. He was solidly built, with long legs, wide shoulders, a low-cut, curly fade, and a tapered beard, trimmed to perfection. His deep-brown skin poked out from underneath his turtleneck sweater. I’d tried many nights to think of him only as a friend or older brother, but that ship had sailed once I turned sixteen and entered high school. He’d played on the basketball team, plus track and field.
“Look, I’ll give you a week to tell your people, but I’m not lying for you.”
“So, you’re a snitch.”
Julian smirked, then licked his bottom lip. “Turtle, I’m only trying to protect you.”
“I don’t need your protection.”
“Get that out of your head. I care about you and if any of those guys would have touched you...” He looked deep in thought.
I blew out a breath in annoyance because he knew how my controlling my parents could be.
He tapped on the roof of my car and watched as I put the car in reverse and drove off, leaving him staring at me in my rearview mirror.
I released the breath I was holding and smacked the steering wheel, trying to think of the best way to break it to my family. I honestly hadn’t planned on quitting for at least another year when I turned thirty. The money was good, and I liked the freedom of not having limitations or having to work for someone else.
My cell phone rang in my purse as I pulled up to a red light. I reached over to the backseat and grabbed my bag to answer the call.
“Hello?”
“You looked good, Turtle,” his deep, smooth voice said as he called me by my childhood nickname. My brother said I was constantly running behind them, but I was slow, like a turtle.
I didn’t mind my brother calling me that but hearing it from Julian’s mouth hurt my feelings. I wanted him to see me as more than a little girl or a little sister. “That’s not my name.”
“I can’t call you Turtle now?”
“Only my brother can call me that.” The light changed, and I pulled off into traffic, speeding down the road toward my apartment to shower and try to sleep away the last few hours of the night.
“So, I’m not family to you?”
“No.”
He chuckled on the other end of the line. “Then what am I to you?” he asked.
I pulled the phone away from my ear and held it to my forehead in deep thought. Should I confess that I want to be more? That I see you as a lover and not a brother? What if things don’t work out, and you stop being friends with my brother?
I finally made it home and parked in front of my numbered spot, then grabbed my bag to get out of the car. “I have to go.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“What do you want from me?” I put the key in the door, dropped my bag on my couch, and kicked off my shoes.
“You can’t handle what I want, Honey,” he said.
Hearing him say those words sparked a different feeling in my gut. I was overwhelmed, and I was usually in control. “What does your girlfriend think about you going to a strip club?”
“I don’t have a girlfriend, Honey.”
“It still wouldn’t be a good look for a potential mayoral candidate to be seen in a strip club.” I turned the shower on in the bathroom, then removed my pants and shirt, and placed my hair in a tight bun atop my head.
“Don’t worry about me; I’m the oldest. I have to look out for you,” he replied.
I shook my head, knowing he still saw me as a little girl. “You’re only three years older than me, Julian. You act like I’m some teenager.”
“I know you’re full woman, Turtle. I saw it onstage tonight.”
“Then that should tell you to mind your own business,” I spat, picking up the makeup wipes to clean my face.
“I’ll let you go because I can hear the frustration in your voice. But I care about you and only want the best,” Julian responded and ended the call.
I tossed the phone on the counter and waved
off his statement. Pushing him out of my mind, I focused on getting in the shower and cleaning off the night’s drama, then sleeping all day tomorrow.
Chapter Two: Elina
The front door slammed shut and startled me from my sleep. I groaned and turned over to look at the time on the clock. It was going on ten a.m. on Thursday. I usually got up around eight a.m. and started my day by checking my business accounts and social media and setting up appointments with clients for personal dance classes.
I moved the covers, rose out of bed, and stretched. Grabbing my robe, I strolled to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Ten minutes later, I came out of the bedroom and headed into the living room to figure out why Missy was just coming in from her shift at the club. She was lying on the couch in a sweatsuit with her arm across her eyes.
“Why are you just coming in now?” I walked over to the kitchen and turned on the coffee pot, then grabbed two cups for us.
Missy didn’t have much family. Her parents disowned her and kicked her out at twenty, after she had told them she was pregnant. She ended up losing the baby from the stress of her boyfriend cheating on her. She was living in and out of motels for a while, until I convinced her to move in with me. We’d been friends ever since. Now, at twenty-seven, we were both bringing in the money and living the life with no drama—besides a casual date that she would try to set me up with here and there.
Missy was the one who got me hired at the club. Stripping had helped me save up to open my own dance studio one day. My parents didn’t think it was a real career and would have shunned me if they found out about the stripping. My older brother was a lawyer, and my parents couldn’t have been prouder of him.
“Arghh, Asher dumb ass showed up at the club after you left.”
“Did he do something to you?”