WineBar: The Complete Story

by Alexis Angel

  Reminding myself that I’m a professional, I head to the back and redress in my regular clothes, anxious to get out of this strip club and regroup. That was a rollercoaster of emotions, and my body is still feeling aftershocks from those two incredible climaxes. A long bath and rich red wine are definitely in my future. And of course daydreams of Carter, as usual.

  Carter

  Walking out of the private room, I’m in a total daze. What the fuck was that? I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like that in my entire life. My body is still on fire from Destiny’s touch. I want more. So much more.

  And I don’t even know what to do with that. Never have I once wanted more from a girl once she got me off. One and done, basically. I don’t even think about them after it’s over. If I think hard enough, I might be able to remember one or two girls over the years that stood out from the hundreds. Maybe. Then again, I don’t think anyone has ever been that memorable. Not compared to what I just experienced with Destiny.

  I need to find a way to get more of her.

  As I make my way back through the strip club, Chase comes up and slaps me on the back.

  “Dude, you didn’t have sex with her.” He sounds shocked. I’m not sure why he would be after five years of this. But I have to say, I’m a bit shocked too. I wanted to. So fucking bad.

  “How do you know?” I mean, I know he said it was constant filming from here on out, but I didn’t see a camera anywhere in that room. And I looked. Especially when thoughts of slipping my dick in Destiny’s sweet pussy were teasing at the corners of my brain.

  Chase laughs. “We had a webcam in the box of condoms. Don’t get me wrong, all of that was crazy hot. It'll make great TV. I’m just surprised you didn’t give in.” He shrugs. “Oh well.”

  Part of me wants to ask why he’s so surprised. He knows how committed I am to making it to the end of the season. To claiming my two billion dollars that I’ve earned. I mean, all this self-denial definitely warrants that kind of bonus. But I don’t ask because all I can focus on is Destiny.

  I scan the club, looking for her. I need to talk to her before we leave. I can’t just walk away. What if I never see her again? Unacceptable.

  Just then, I see a flash of blonde hair headed toward the exit of the club. Destiny.

  I run after her, totally ignoring Chase calling after me. I don’t give a fuck what he’s saying right now. I need to catch Destiny before she leaves.

  I reach her just as she starts to walk outside. Stretching out my hand, I clasp my fingers around her wrist.

  “Destiny!”

  She gasps and whirls around, her blue eyes wide, her hair floating around her face like some kind of halo. Like a fucking angel. A very naughty angel.

  “Oh, hi,” she says, her voice coming out in a low whisper. “It’s you.”

  She tries to pull her hand away, but I tighten my grip. “Where are you off to in such a hurry?” I tease.

  She doesn’t say anything, just gives me a look that I don’t quite understand.

  With the hand not holding on to her, I pull my phone from my pocket and unlock it. “What’s your number, baby? I can’t let you just walk out of here with no way to find you again.”

  Destiny glances around the club like she’s looking for something, then tilts her head toward the open doorway. I follow her out, never releasing my grip on her soft wrist.

  Once we’re outside, she still doesn’t look any less uncomfortable. She’s looking all around as if she thinks we’re being filmed, which of course, we probably are.

  “Look, Destiny,” I say, moving in close to her, feeling an urge to pull her up against me and take that look of discomfort away from her. What the fuck is that about? “Now that your bit in the show is over and your work for ABN is done, I’d really like to get to know you.”

  She lifts her head and searches my eyes. “What do you mean?”

  I give her a slow smile. I mean all kinds of things. But I start with something simple. “Just that I really enjoyed my time with you tonight and I’d like to know more about you, separate from Head Hunter.”

  She looks all around again and licks her lips nervously. I’m not quite sure what she’s thinking, but as long as she’s willing to not walk out of my life forever right now, I’m good with whatever it is.

  Looking back at me, I can’t get any kind of read on her. Her face is blank, her eyes are like a mask, and I can’t tell if she’s even slightly interested. When she shrugs casually, I wonder if I totally misread what went on in the private room because I sure as hell got the impression that I wasn’t just some client.

  “Fine,” she says quickly, grabbing my phone from me and typing in her number, and then hands it back to me, and starts to turn away.

  “Hang on,” I say, holding the phone up to snap a picture of her. “For your contact,” I say when she arches a brow. Or for my spank bank. But she doesn’t need to know that.

  She doesn’t say anything again, just gives me a look like she’s wondering if we’re through here yet. What the fuck? It’s like she’s totally not interested. Well, at least I got her number. She may not care right now, but I’m not about to let this be the end of whatever we started back in the private room.

  I give her a sexy grin, the one that normally has women dropping their panties in a heartbeat. “Until next time, Destiny.”

  She simply gives me one last indecipherable look, then spins on her heels and walks away.

  Ashley

  “Oh my god, Ashley, look at this one,” my friend Michelle squeals, pulling out a sexy little black dress and holding it out to me. This is the ultimate retail therapy.

  Michelle and I go to Bergdorf Goodman for a little shopping on the regular, and today I need this girl time even more than usual. I’m about to go out of my mind waiting for Carter to call.

  I take the dress and hold it up to myself, imagining what Carter might think when he sees me in it. Wondering if it’s sexy enough to make him want to see me out of it.

  I bite my lip. “I don’t know, Michelle, is it hot and slutty enough?”

  Michelle laughs. “Seriously? That dress screams do me now.”

  I nod, not entirely convinced. “I just want to make sure it’s perfect. I know he’s going to call and ask me out.”

  The way he looked at me last night outside the strip club was fucking intense. I didn’t expect that from him at all. I had no idea how to handle it either. All the reasons I wanted to send Lorraine in for me in the first place were front and center in my head all night. I was hired to do a job, but I’m not feeling the least bit professional about it. Yeah, I want to fuck Carter—and that’s what I’m getting paid to do—but I can’t seem to compartmentalize my job from my feelings this time around. And I have no idea why.

  Michelle looks at me, her eyes bulging. “Girl, you are seriously getting into your work this time.”

  She knows all about my business—she's my best friend, after all—but I haven’t told her about this particular job. It’s super secret. Well, they all are, typically. But I don’t usually keep secrets from Michelle.

  “Who is it this time?” she asks. “Because I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so worked up over a client.”

  I bite my lip, wondering if I should tell her. Then it just falls out in a spew of word vomit. “It’s Carter Blaine from TV. You know, Head Hunter? I’m supposed to seduce him.”

  Michelle’s mouth falls open. “Are you fucking kidding me? Oh my God, Ash, I’m so jealous. Are you going to be on the show?”

  I nod. Michelle doesn’t watch the show, so she didn’t see me on the live stream last night at the strip club, and the edited episode doesn’t air until later this week. She does know all about it, though. I mean, everyone does. It’s fucking Head Hunter, after all.

  She squeals again. “This is crazy! I mean, I’m still totally jealous. Because, well, Carter Blaine. But it’s totally awesome. Do you think you’ll be able to do it?” Her eyes narro
w skeptically. “That guy is unbelievable. Seriously, five years and he still hasn’t done it? I know you’ve got some skills, girlfriend, but he’s got some serious tenacity.”

  “Tell me about it.” I roll my eyes. “Last night was…well, let’s just say it would've made any other guy give in.”

  Just then, my phone rings, and my nerves go crazy. Taking a deep breath, I turn away from Michelle and steady myself, then answer my phone.

  “Hello?” My voice comes out cool and aloof, surprisingly. At least I’ve still got it, even though Carter pushes me to the limit of staying the course with my assignment.

  “Destiny.” Oh God. Just the sound of his low, gravelly voice has my pussy aching with slow pulses.

  “That’s me. Who’s this?”

  He chuckles, as if he doesn’t doubt for a second that I know who he is. “Only the guy who had his hands all over you last night and made you come so hard you couldn’t see straight. The same guy who plans on doing it all over again with you tonight.”

  My mouth drops open. Holy fuck. That is so hot.

  “Hmm,” I say, fighting for control. “I think I might have an idea who this is. But could you be a little more specific?”

  “How about the guy with the twelve-inch cock? Does that ring a bell? Because I know you don’t see that every day.”

  I smile. Sure as hell don’t. “Oh yes, I think I know now. Carson Blake, is it?”

  “Carter Blaine, and you know it.” I hear the smile in his voice. “But make sure you get it right, because it’s the name you’re going to be screaming at the top of your lungs tonight when I sink my mouth into that sweet pussy.”

  I can’t even. Oh my God. I’m literally about to fall out on the floor in the middle of Bergdorf’s because this guy has me so hot.

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “Before I blow your mind, though, how about dinner? Le Cirque?” Carter suggests, though it’s obvious it’s not a question.

  “Let me check with my assistant, but I think that can be arranged.”

  “I’ll have my driver pick you up at eight, Destiny.”

  The phone beeps, signaling the call has ended, and my hand falls limply to my side. Oh my God, that alpha thing he just did is so totally hot. I look at Michelle and scream, bouncing up and down on my toes as I tell her what he said.

  I have a date with fucking Carter Blaine. And if all goes well, at the end of it I’ll be fucking Carter Blaine. “I have to bring my A-game tonight, Michelle. I can’t mess this up. I have to be the sluttiest of all sluts. That’s the only way, right?”

  Michelle doesn’t look convinced. “I don’t know…”

  “What do you mean?”

  She purses her lips and gives me a scrutinizing look. “I know you, girl. This is not just a regular job for you. You never act like this. You like him.”

  I don’t answer her. That’s way too close to the truth. I think back about all the things I read in his file and how he seems like he’d be a really good catch.

  “Here’s what you need to do,” Michelle says. “You need to go with your gut. Be yourself. Show him the real you. Not the person you think he wants to see. That’s what they all do. And look how that ends up every week.”

  I realize she’s right. I mean, look what happened with Lorraine last week. “But if I just act like myself, then what? I’m trying to seduce a man here, Michelle. Not find my one true love.”

  She smiles. “That’s easy. Once he sees the real you, he’ll be begging to stick his cock inside you.”

  I roll my eyes. “How romantic.”

  Michelle laughs, but I think about what she said. It’s a tactic I haven’t used before, and to be honest, I really don’t feel like putting on an act with Carter. It just might work.

  Carter

  I’m standing outside Le Cirque waiting for Destiny. Pacing back and forth on the sidewalk, I catch the valet watching me. No doubt he knows who I am. There’s a camera crew parked out on the sidewalk, plus an entourage of paparazzi stationed across the street. At least the camera crew isn’t allowed inside the restaurant. I’m sure they’ll have something set up to catch our date, but it'll feel somewhat normal without cameras shoved in our faces.

  I start to wonder why I’m so concerned about the date feeling normal. That goes right along with why I’m even going on this date in the first place. This is the first time I’ve ever seen the same woman more than once in my entire five years of starring in Head Hunter.

  But as the chauffeured town car pulls up in front of the restaurant where I’m standing, all those thoughts fly out of my head. I don’t have time for that bullshit. All of my focus is on Destiny as she climbs from the car.

  Holy fuck.

  She looks incredible. If I thought she was the sexiest, most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen last night at the club, she’s completely blowing that out of the water tonight in the sexy little black dress she’s wearing.

  I feel like one of those cartoon characters whose eyes are bulging out of their head as she comes toward me. That dress cradles her perfect D cup tits like it was made for her, and her amazing ass that I got up close and personal with last night looks just as awesome. How am I supposed to make it through a dinner at this posh restaurant without tossing her across the table and having my way with her?

  The look in her eye as she reaches me tells me she knows exactly what I’m thinking. She bites her lip and looks down to where my cock is obviously tenting my pants, and the effect she’s having is just as clear. Looking back up at me, she smiles a sexy and devious smile.

  “Hi…Carter, is it?”

  I chuckle and wrap an arm around her waist, letting my hand rest low on her hip, grazing the curve of her ass.

  “Good girl. You better get it right. I want to hear that name falling from your lips over and over tonight.” I give her ass a gentle squeeze, and she gasps a little breath that makes my cock twitch. Fuck, I can’t wait for later. But I do want to focus on our time together right now. I want to enjoy our dinner because for some reason, I actually want to spend time with her in a way that isn’t just sexual. What can I say? She totally intrigued me last night. And if I’m already breaking a precedent by going out with her tonight, I might as well enjoy it.

  “Carter,” she repeats softly, leaning in close and stretching up so that her words brush across my ear in a breathy sigh. “Like that?”

  I grin and lean down, brushing my lips across her ear. I feel the shiver race through her body, and chuckle softly in gratification. I’m definitely affecting her, whether she wants to play it cool or not.

  “Not quite like that,” I whisper. “You’ll be screaming it.”

  The host shows us to our table for two in the elaborate circus-themed restaurant. We’re seated underneath a great sweeping silk that looks like a circus tent, and I watch as Destiny takes it all in. She doesn’t look awestruck, and I wonder if she’s been here before. I wonder a lot about her. And I want to spend the evening finding out everything I can.

  “Sure of yourself, aren’t you?” she asks after we’re seated across from each other.

  I lean forward, taking her hand and flipping it over so that I can stroke the inside of her wrist with my thumb. Another little shiver makes its way through her body. “I’ve been called cocky,” I say.

  She smiles at the innuendo. “So I’ve seen.”

  I wiggle my eyebrows. “That’s right.”

  Destiny’s cheeks turn red, and I laugh.

  When our server approaches, I order a bottle of Cristal. “Is that okay with you?” I ask her after he leaves.

  “My favorite.”

  “Oh is it now?” The lady has class. Interesting.

  Our sommelier returns and pours us each a glass, and I lift mine in the air. “To a night of firsts.”

  Destiny clinks her glass to mine, cocking her head and studying me, and that’s when I realize what I said. I didn’t mean that kind of first, but she’s the first woman who has actually made m
e consider it, that has been a temptation.

  She smiles and takes a sip. “Sounds like a plan."

  Ashley

  Carter watches me over the rim of his champagne glass, and his gaze makes me feel totally exposed. Like he’s trying to see right through me and find out every last one of my secrets. And I have a lot.

  I think back to Michelle’s advice. How I should just be myself. The idea sounds really perfect. There’s nothing more I’d like to do right now than enjoy this dream date with Carter Blaine. For there to be no pretense. No acting. No job to perform. I would love for it to be a real date.

  And that’s so dangerous. It’s exactly why I worry about my ability to do this job. And being here with him right now, with him so sexy and charming, makes me question it all. Am I even doing the right thing?

  “So,” he finally says, still watching me intently. “How long have you been a stripper?”

  I swallow. There it is. I can keep up with my story that I concocted after Lola Anders said she wanted me to seduce Carter at the strip club. Or I can be honest.

  Just be yourself. Michelle’s words echo in my head.

  I stare into Carter’s piercing blue gaze, thinking about all the inside info I have on him. How I want to get to know him beyond the public persona he puts on for the sake of the cameras and the media. And that’s when I decide. If I want to get to know the real him, then it’s only fair that I should let him know the real me. This doesn’t feel like a job anymore. I‘m not even sure if I want it to be. So I’m going to do it. I’m just going to be me.

  “I’m not really a stripper,” I admit, watching his face for his reaction.

  He sits back and sets his glass down, resting his hands on the table, not saying anything at first as he continues to study me.

  After a minute, he smiles and nods, leaning forward again. “So what do you do…Destiny?”

  I cringe. “Yeah, about that. My name isn’t Destiny.”