Strip for Me

by Coffman, Georgia

  Lauren lets out a howling laugh as though the idea of being a bride is hilarious. It’s not, really, seeing as how she’s been waiting for this ever since she first went out with Rhett a year ago.

  It was love at first sight.

  A true southern fairy tale.

  The perfect couple that even Mom and Dad approve of.

  Barf.

  The only reason we’re having her bachelorette party so early is because most of her bridesmaids only had this weekend free. Not that I’m complaining. I’m happy to have met this mysterious stripper sooner rather than later.

  Sam sways to the right, dragging Lauren out of her seat, but she doesn’t have to drag or ask me twice.

  I tuck a small strand of hair behind my ear, suddenly very aware that I’m underdressed compared to everyone else. But instead of cowering, I straighten my back and pull my short tank down so that my cleavage shows.

  Game on.

  It’s finally our turn, and I give the attendant twenty dollars for my pictures. When I turn, I’m met with a searing gaze from my stripper, and when his nostrils flare at me, I would’ve gladly given two hundred dollars just to watch him do that again.

  As I approach him, he takes my hand and sits with one knee on the ground, setting me on the other.

  “I’m happy you stayed,” he whispers, tickling my earlobe and sending shivers down my neck.

  “Couldn’t pass up the opportunity to touch your abs.”

  He chuckles, his minty breath mixed with faint cigarette smoke.

  My face flushes at the idea of having a smoke. I stopped smoking so much after my ex and I ended things—he was the reason I picked it up in the first place. Since moving on and picking up a new habit of working out so regularly, I stopped.

  But I could really use one now to settle these nerves of being in this guy’s presence.

  We don’t make eye contact, smiling at the camera instead and waiting for Lauren and Sam to sit still. The photographer snaps the picture, but their shoulders still move up and down from their inability to quit laughing. They turn out blurry in the picture, but I tuck mine under my arm for safekeeping, anyway.

  I tell myself it’s a keepsake for Emma to ogle shirtless men for once. Not for any personal reasons.

  When we’re done, his hand leaves my exposed waist, but there’s a burning there that longs for more. I have an overwhelming need to sneak off with him to the bathroom stat.

  But I keep walking in the opposite direction. Once I reach our table again, I take a big gulp of my drink as sexy thoughts of him and me getting it on in the bathroom take over. Watching ourselves in the mirror as he fucks me from behind.

  Deep breaths.

  As much as I want to ditch Lauren, I’d never hear the end of it. Especially if I left her for a stripper.

  I shake my head. It’d be a bad idea from every angle, anyway. My vision is fogged by Captain Morgan and lust. I have no control and am way out of my league here. I’m normally more confident around guys. I’m usually the one giving them thoughts of doing me in the bathroom, not the other way around.

  “Care for a lap dance?”

  I pause, my knees buckling at the sound of his deep voice in my ear.

  I down more of my drink, taking my time to swallow before I find my voice. “Um… actually, we… were just leaving. Weren’t we, Lauren?” I pull her toward me and frown at him. “Yeah, we have plans, so… we should really be going.”

  I cringe at my weak voice, but I’m confident I’m making the right decision in trying to leave.

  Lauren puts her arm around me and kisses my cheek. “You’re so cute, you know? I forgot how cute and funny you are.”

  I stand back, shocked that she gave me a compliment and actually kissed me, like she’s forgotten all about her distaste for me. Alcohol really does change people. “Okay, I definitely think we should be going.”

  “Even in your ridiculous cropped tank at my bachelorette party, you’re just so cute.”

  Ah, there she is—the real Lauren.

  I nudge her with my elbow to get up, but she doesn’t budge.

  I don’t know where she gets the shot from, but Lauren takes one and holds the empty glass in the air. “Now who has a stick up their ass, huh?” She points at me. “No, we’re staying here all night and partying with McDreamy and McSteamy over there.” She points to two other strippers who wink in our direction. Her eyes aren’t even open.

  Wide-eyed, I turn to my stripper, lifting my chin to meet his gaze as he towers over me. “I guess we’re partying with the cast of Grey’s Anatomy.” When I look back at Lauren, who has another shot—where are they coming from?—I shake my head and decide I don’t care. I need one too, so I just take hers. “Give me that.”

  I throw back the shot, watching as he swallows like he’s the one drinking it, his Adam’s apple moving up and down.

  “I’m Sebastian,” he says with a wide, knowing smile.

  From up close, I can see his eyes are dark brown, almost as dark as his irises. A few freckles are sprinkled under his eyes and on his cheeks, giving him a boyish charm to his otherwise manly build.

  A sexy combination.

  I gulp—and it’s not because of the shot.

  Chapter 3

  Sebastian

  She quickly averts her gaze as she pulls at her short tank, like she’s suddenly nervous that I can see her belly button. “Can you smoke in here? I need a cigarette.”

  I pat my bare chest, then lean forward and grip my own ass, which makes her lips part and my dick twitch. “Fresh out. Nowhere to put them.” I wink, her blush growing in front of my eyes as she watches me carefully.

  It’s adorable. She’s adorable.

  And hot.

  I wrap a small piece of her hair around my finger, loving its velvety texture. “Am I ever going to get your name?”

  “I need a better pickup line than that, dude.” She takes another gulp of her drink, staring at me through her long lashes. When she swallows, I’m mesmerized by her every movement, especially when she smiles in challenge.

  I dwell on how she called me dude—I like it. I also like her faint southern accent, but she doesn’t look like the average southern belle. No hoity-toity outfit or attitude to match. This girl has a down-to-earth quality, an energy I can’t quite place, but she also has some city girl in her.

  “Kendall,” someone says behind me, “you can’t hog him all for yourself. Share!”

  It’s another girl from the bachelorette party, and what strikes me isn’t the way she drew out the word share to give it extra r’s and extra whine. Or that she’s now touching my bicep. What strikes me is that I finally got her name.

  Kendall.

  Kendall yanks on my other arm, surprising me with the amount of force coming from such a small person. Although, I shouldn’t have been that surprised. She clearly works out, judging from the definition in her arms as she tugs on me.

  And from her legs. With those thin yoga pants, all I can see are legs. My dick throbs at the thought of them wrapped around me.

  “He’s mine. Get your own, slut,” Kendall spits, which has me reeling. I can’t contain my laughter at the way these two are playing tug-of-war with me.

  I say to them both, “There’s plenty to go around, ladies.”

  Another girl with a “Bride-To-Be” sash around her and a tiara on her head comes over. She looks a lot like Kendall, although a little more petite and taller in her heels. She’s holding her hand up like we’re in class and she has a question.

  “I want in.” Before I can move, the bride wraps her arms around my neck. “I like your sailor costume.” She wiggles her eyebrows, and the vodka on her breath reminds me of my bastard uncle. It was his drink of choice, always emptying water bottles and filling it with vodka.

  But instead of going down memory lane straight to Hell, I smile as I always do. And just as I’m about to say something, Kendall stops me. Not with her words, but with her glare.

  She’s
not laughing.

  In fact, she’s now giving her bride friend a scowl, and not the cute one she gave earlier, but a fatal one.

  She looks legitimately pissed.

  Chapter 4

  Kendall

  Now I’m pissed.

  Lauren can’t have Sebastian. He’s my stripper.

  But of course, she wants him to give her attention, just to take his attention off me. Why else would she leave the other one to waddle over here like a stupid penguin?

  She can’t even handle her liquor.

  She’s always wanted my stuff. Whether it was my shoes or lipstick, she’d take them without asking and not give them back for weeks, at which point she’d say they were hers all along.

  The one time I inadvertently took something of hers, we ended up giving each other the cold shoulder. To this day.

  And that was seven years ago.

  I even tried apologizing back then, but she wouldn’t hear it. So I stopped trying. Stopped trying to apologize for that or any of my life choices since then.

  I’m about to stalk off, but I can’t. I physically can’t move, dizzy just at the thought of making a dramatic exit. The alcohol fumes are clouding my vision, and the anger is fueling the fire.

  Too bad I don’t have a cigarette to light with that flame.

  Lauren rubs her hands over Sebastian’s chest, making matters worse, but then something smacks my right shoulder. It’s Sam, but it might as well have been reality.

  Suddenly my vision clears, and I notice the other strippers leaning closely to giggling women who are batting their eyelashes.

  Sebastian is also just doing his job by flirting and humoring drunken women.

  The anger is just tied in with the liquor.

  Well, and the fact that I want Sebastian to get naked with me.

  Heat radiates between my legs. The intense physical attraction to him is almost more than I can handle. My need to feel the ultimate level of ecstasy is so extreme that I contemplate yanking him from Lauren. Maybe in doing so, Lauren will fall and break her nose.

  I’m drunker than I thought.

  I normally wish Lauren ill, but not to the extent of physical harm. It’s mostly for a large zit on her nose or added weight to cover her six-pack.

  I’m about to go splash water on my face when Sebastian turns a sly eye to me. My eyebrows shoot up, meeting each other in confusion.

  He gently pats Lauren’s arm as he whispers something to her. She covers her smile with one hand as she walks away, and I wonder what he said, jealous that it made her giddy while I glare.

  He moves over to me and murmurs, “Where’d you go, huh?”

  “I’m right here.” I shrug lazily.

  He leans even closer and runs a hand through my hair, keeping it there like he can’t help but touch me. He says something else, but I can’t hear it. I’m too focused on how close he is to my face, mere inches, with a handful of my hair in his hand.

  I part my lips, my fantasy coming true…

  When he leans back, I curse that I was so close to feeling his lips on mine, the pool between my legs increasing the longer I’m in his presence.

  Sebastian now has a twinkle in his eye that wasn’t there before. “I have an idea.” Is that what he said before? Letting go of my hair, he winks at me before getting his friend’s attention—his hot friend. If Sebastian wasn’t so damn sexy, I’d be making bedroom eyes at his dark friend with the tattoos covering his chest and arms.

  Sebastian says something to him in hushed tones, where I can’t hear, so I take this opportunity to admire his lean torso, my need for control lost for a good half hour now.

  I jump when his friend pulls back abruptly.

  “Are you serious?” he asks. “Yes! I’ll text the other guys.” He high-fives Sebastian before smiling at Amber, my sister’s friend from high school. Bad choices are waiting for her to be made, and I couldn’t be happier for her to take advantage.

  This is Vegas, after all.

  “Get you some, bitch,” I call out to her.

  Too drunk to scold me, she winks and pulls the guy closer.

  “Let’s go out.” Sebastian wraps his arm around my waist, his hand resting on my lower back.

  “We are out,” I say weakly.

  “Somewhere better.” He’s only a few inches away, his manly cologne drawing me in further. “What do you say?”

  I lick my lips, Sebastian watching my every move like he’s sketching me on his mind’s canvas.

  I slowly nod, against all logic.

  I agree to step into the ring for this little game that started when he pulled me up to dance with him.

  As a slow smile spreads across his face, I know I’m playing with fire. I’m going to get burned like I did the last time I lost control. But I take his hand, anyway, telling myself that I know better. I’m more prepared now to protect myself.

  I can play the game long enough to get the pleasure I’m after.

  I can play with fire and win for one night.

  Chapter 5

  Sebastian

  I’m breaking every one of my rules just by talking with her after the show. I vowed never again. Not after the Hell I went through the last time.

  And now I’m asking her to go to a club? To drink and dance with me?

  The similarities between her and my ex are too similar.

  This can’t end well.

  But Kendall is looking at me like she wants to climb on top of me. I’m two seconds from asking her back to my place, or to get a hotel room here. The latter being much faster.

  But she’s here with a group, and I don’t want to tear her away from them. At least with us all going out, it’s a win-win.

  Even Ty was surprised I suggested going out, since I hardly do that anymore. It has to be a special occasion to make me come out to the Strip, and even then, I’m a drag.

  As I gather my things in the locker room, there aren’t many people left back here except for a couple of new guys gloating about the women they’re going to meet afterward.

  Ty tells them to bring the girls to MGM with us, and they nod enthusiastically.

  I shake my head and remember my beginner days when I was eager for everything. Eager to hang with the veteran dancers. Eager for the next fuck. I didn’t think I’d ever get enough pussy back then, but I sure as hell tried. With my job, I had an endless stream of it, so I indulged, picking off every dangling apple of temptation that I came across.

  But I learned.

  I learned it would’ve been the end of me had I continued the sleepless nights, threesomes, and drinking beyond consciousness night after night. I started missing workouts, coming late to practices, and getting wrapped up in more drama than Jersey Shore. Minding my own business and establishing boundaries have kept me not only in line with my job, but also sane.

  I’m myself again.

  At least partly, anyway.

  “Dude, nice work with the bachelorette party.” Ty whistles, rubbing his hands together like he’s ready to put a plan into motion. “Found me a hot and desperate divorcée. Bet she’s never had chocolate dick before, but we’re about to change that.”

  I nod, laughing at the stars in his eyes.

  “And she used to be a cheerleader. A cheerleader!” He tilts his head to the ceiling. “Thank you, Jesus. Who would’ve thought I, former nerd extraordinaire, would get the cheerleader? If only I could pat my younger self on the shoulder now…”

  I roll my eyes, unable to picture this massive human as a dorky teen. Especially one who never got laid. His younger self would indeed be proud now.

  Once outside, I drink Kendall in and scratch the back of my head, kicking myself at what I’ve gotten myself into.

  “Don’t back out on me now.” Ty steps in front of me and holds me by the shoulders. “Don’t you fucking back out now. You need this. It’s been far too long—”

  “I’m fine.”

  He pins me with a hard stare. “I know that look. You’re alread
y regretting this. Just promise me you’ll wait until tomorrow, until after you spend the night naked with that blond angel. If you still regret that, then damn. You’re so far gone, not even angels can save you.”

  He smirks as I push him off me and walk toward said blond angel.

  And that’s exactly what Kendall is.

  With every step, my dick throbs with thoughts of her light hair splayed on the pillow around her head like a halo.

  I rub my hands together and inhale, preparing myself while I get back into my old charming routine.

  Before I can say anything, Kendall points at me while the girls laugh behind her so hard they’re holding their stomachs. “Wherever we’re going, no lap dance. I’m… I’m good with just getting a drink, so… you’re off the hook.”

  “I was kidding about that.” I chuckle at the visible release of tension from her shoulders. “This isn’t that kind of place, nor am I that kind of stripper. Have you never been to a show before?” I feign disappointment, stepping back and clutching my chest.

  Her cheeks turn a light shade of pink, making her look innocent and vulnerable, although she doesn’t seem like either.

  And that’s when I see it.

  Her smile.

  A shy, sexy one that I’ll dream about long after she’s gone.

  My chest warms and swells like the pump I get from working out.

  I’m most definitely fucked.

  Chapter 6

  Kendall

  Sebastian holds his arms out wide. “MGM then?”

  He changed into faded black jeans and a white V-neck tee. His denim button-up is open with sleeves rolled up, exposing his dark forearms.

  He’s not oily like when he was on stage. No, here, he looks normal. As normal as possible, anyway. He’s still too good-looking, it’s almost painful.

  I’m about to answer him when Amber pushes me aside to walk toward Sebastian. She points a manicured finger to his chest, bats her long, fake eyelashes, and says, “I’ll go anywhere you want to take me.” My eye twitches at her dazed expression, one she wouldn’t have if we were within a seventy-five-mile radius of our hometown.