Of Blood and Bone (30 page)

A knock at the door to the private room has us all turning our heads in that direction.  The girls immediately start laughing and hollering and cat-calling.

Dear God, I hope it’s the stripper and not a cop or something!

The door opens and in walks the most incredibly handsome guy I think I’ve ever seen.  He looks like he’s in his early twenties, really tall, and built like a football player—wide chest and shoulders, thick arms and legs, tiny waist in between.  He’s dressed in solid black from head to toe.  But it’s his face that’s most impressive. 

Sweet hell, he’s effin’ gorgeous!

His short hair is dark blond and his face is chiseled perfection. I can’t tell what color his eyes are as he scans the room, but I can see that they’re dark.  He’s just opened his mouth to speak when his eyes finally make their way to me.  They click to a stop on mine and he stares.   

I’m completely mesmerized.  As I look into them, I still can’t determine a color, but the orbs look nearly black.  Even in the light spilling through the door behind him, they look like pools of ink.  Just barely, he tilts his head to one side as he watches me.

It makes me nervous. And excited.  I don’t know why. I have no reason to be, but he makes me feel twitchy. Squirmy.  Warm.

We’re still staring at each other when Ginger gets up and drags him further into the room, flinging the door shut behind him.

“All right, Shawna.  Come kick your single life to the curb the right way!”

The other girls start squealing and cheering her on.  Shawna’s smiling, but shaking her head.  “No way! Not this girl!”  The bridesmaids-to-be get more insistent, two of them coming around to take her by the hands and haul her to her feet. 

She leans back, away from them, shaking her head more vigorously.  “No, no, no.  I don’t want to. One of y’all do it.” 

She starts wiggling her arms to free herself, but the girls have a death grip on her thin wrists.  When she looks at me, her wide brown eyes tell me all I need to know.  She’s totally freaked by the idea. 

“Liv, help!”  I raise my hands in a gesture that says
what do you want me to do?
She nods toward the hunk hulking behind Ginger.  “You do it!”

“Are you crazy?  I’m not stripping a stripper!”

“Please!  You know I’d do it for you.”

And she would.  Dammit.

How the hell does the world’s clumsiest shy girl get wrangled into doing things like this?

As I so often do, I answer myself.

Because she’s a pushover!

Taking a deep breath, I stand and turn toward the Hot Hulk, purposely jacking my chin up another notch.  He’s still watching me with those smoky coal eyes. 

When I take a step toward him, he very slowly raises one eyebrow.  

Heat washes through me.

Must be those dangerous drinks,
I think
.  It has to be. 

I feel flushed and a little breathless, but I take another step anyway. 

Hot Hulk takes a step away from Ginger and turns to face me fully.  He crosses his arms over his chest and waits, that one brow still raised in curiosity.  He’s not going to make it easy.  He’s leaving it all up to me, just like Ginger asked them to do. 

As if on cue, the music that’s been pumping into the room all night gets louder.  It’s a sexy song, heavy on the bass.  It’s mood music for sure.  It seems to punctuate every intense beat of my heart as I get closer and closer to those velvety eyes.  

When I stop in front of him, I have to look up.  My five and a half feet of height is nearly a foot shorter than his towering frame. 

Up close, I see that his eyes are brown.  Dark, dark brown.  Nearly black.

Sinful.

I’m lost in wondering why that particular word would come to mind when the girls start chanting for me to take his shirt off.  Uncertainly, I glance at their excited faces then back to him.  Slowly, he spreads his arms, holding them out to his sides, away from his body. 

One corner of his mouth twitches.  His expression, his body language is rife with challenge. 

I realize he doesn’t think I’ll do it.  No one probably does.

And that’s exactly why I will.

Letting the beat of the music relax my tense muscles, I plaster on a smile as I reach forward to tug Hot Hulk’s shirt from the waistband of his pants.

CHAPTER TWO- Cash

Damn, she’s beautiful!

Between this girl’s black hair, her bright probably-green eyes, her banging little body and the way she seems a tiny bit shy, I’m wishing we were alone in this room together.

Her smile doesn’t leave her lips as she runs her hands around my waist, untucking my shirt.  When it’s free, she starts to pull it up.

But then she pauses.  For a split second, I see her hesitate.  She’s trying not to show that she’s unsure of herself, of what she’s doing.

I stare down into those liquid eyes.  I don’t want her to stop.  I want to feel her hands on my skin.  So I taunt her, hoping to feed the feline that I’d be willing to bet is buried somewhere down deep. 

“Oh, come on.  Is that all you got?” I whisper.

Her eyes bore into mine and I hold my breath, waiting to see which side will win.  In fascination, I watch as the balance of power shifts and the change is reflected in her eyes.  They get a little brighter, a little feistier.  I’ve never actually
seen
someone muster courage.  Determination.  Something in this girl refuses to give in, to back down.  She’s rising to the challenge.  And it’s hot as hell. 

She keeps her eyes on mine as she starts to pull up my shirt.  She leans in closer and I get a whiff of her perfume.  It’s sweet and a little musky.  Sexy.  Just like her.

She has to plaster her body to mine and stretch up on her tiptoes to get my shirt over my head.  I can feel her breasts pushing against my chest.  I could make the task easier for her.  But I don’t.  I like the feel of her rubbing against me.  There’s no way I’m ruining that.

Once she has my shirt off, she backs up and looks me over. She’s shy about it.  That much is obvious.  It’s like she wants to look, but she’s a little embarrassed to, which actually makes it more of a turn on for some reason.  I’m sure every other eye in the room is watching me, watching
us
, but hers are the only ones I can feel.  They’re like tongues of fire, licking my skin.  They’re searing and tangible.  Or at least they feel that way to me.

I take a deep breath and her eyes drop to my stomach.  Then they flicker down a little further.  She stares longer than she should, but not nearly as long as I want her to.  I start to get hard. 

Her eyes widen and her lips fall open just enough for her tongue to sneak out and wet them.  I have to grit my teeth to keep from pulling her to me and kissing that lush little mouth of hers.

Light pours into the room. It’s just enough to break the spell. 

I hear a man’s voice.  A very pissed-off man’s voice.

“Dude, what the hell?” It’s Jason.  I know why he’s angry.

It’s not easy to tear my eyes away from hers.  There’s a shy, reluctant excitement in them that makes me want to see how far I can push her.  But I don’t.  Push her, that is.  Instead, I look away, turning my head to glance first at Jason and then at the room of salivating females.  The jig is up.

Damn.  That was shaping up to be quite a diversion.

I smile into the group of faces riveted on me.  “Ladies, this is Jason.  He’ll be entertaining you tonight.”

All eyes turn to Jason as he closes the door and moves around me.  I look at the girl that’s holding my shirt.  She’s perplexed.  And for good reason.

“What do you mean, he’ll be entertaining us?” she asks, turning her confused eyes on me. 

I don’t answer her right away.  I know she’ll figure it out soon enough. 

She looks over at Jason, trying to piece together what just happened.

“Now, which one of you beautiful women is the bride-to-be?” Jason asks.

I see it the instant understanding dawns.  Her eyes widen again and, even in the low light, I see her cheeks turn red. 

She looks back to me and frowns.

“If he’s the stripper, then who are you?”

“I’m Cash Davenport.  I own the club.”

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