Nicki pasted the sexy smirk on her face that had become second nature and got herself back into character, fighting her inner revulsion and summoning the courage for what she needed to do. A quick check told her security was in place, watching. She snagged the hundo out of the air and turned her back to him, swaying her ass suggestively before him. For a hundred bucks, she’d give him a good show.
She put both hands on her cheeks and undulated for all it was worth, circling seductively with the music. If nothing else, her job made her take über-good care of her body. Jason, the owner, was pretty decent about it, too. He had some kind of arrangement with the local fitness place that allowed the girls to work out there for a discounted rate. That was a good thing. BodyWorks was a great place, but it wasn’t cheap, especially on a week-by-week basis.
Seductively, she brought her hands to the edges of her leather jacket and began to peel them away, slowly revealing shoulders, then upper arms, upper back. Her breasts were barely covered by black satiny lace that concealed very little. The silver and black links of the choker chain she wore accentuated the light peachy, smooth skin. A matching belly chain wove around her bare stomach, dangling provocatively toward the area covered by her skimpy black lace thong, clearly revealing the spiraling hip tat as she unlaced her leathers and slithered out of them.
Only then did she turn around and straddle her fan, sliding her barely-covered sex along his muscular thighs. Her arms grasped at the rock hard biceps until she was snug against a massive iron arousal. At least he was built. It didn’t justify what she did, but it did make it more palatable, as well as easier to let herself fantasize, because that was the only way this could work. If she allowed herself to see them for who and what they really were, she could never fake the desire needed to pull off a successful lap dance. Fat, sweaty guys doused in Polo were the worst.
But this guy was really smacked together; every point of contact only revealed more hard, solid male muscle. And he smelled good, too. In fact, the scent was rather unique. And familiar. In a rush of excitement and dread, Nicki actually looked into the face of the man she was practically dry humping. Luminous blue eyes bore into hers. An expression so hard and fierce it could have been carved from marble.
Him.
*
Sean knew the exact moment she recognized him. Up until then she’d been smooth, practiced. Fire and ice raced through his veins as he realized that she did this every night. The only thing keeping him sane at that moment was the fact that her eyes were dead. Nicki’s body was there, but her mind was somewhere far, far away.
He’d seen that look more times than he could count; it was one he wore often, one he’d seen in his brothers’ eyes when they were forced to do something they didn’t want to do but had to. Somehow that thought comforted him a little. If she actually enjoyed this, he would have walked away and not looked back.
But she didn’t. Christ, she hated it. He could sense it, feel it with a certainty he dare not question. And that gave him hope.
When she saw it was him, her eyes blazed with life. Her body tensed mid-stroke and her lips parted slightly in surprise. Several emotions passed through her face in seconds, and he felt every one of them acutely – initial shock, then fear, then... embarrassment?
It took only a few seconds for her to recover, and then she began to pull away. She was going to bolt, going to leave him, but he wasn’t going to let that happen. Before she could throw herself from his lap his hands came down like iron cuffs over her thighs in warning, trapping her in place. Her eyes widened. He saw a flash of panic.
He was aware of the security guy closing in on his right, and another not too far off on his left. He could kill them both, instantly, without hesitation if they tried to interfere.
“Finish it,” he commanded, his voice a rough, erotic whisper.
Sean’s hands eased just a little, and the panic in those smoldering eyes gave way to something else. Determination. Lust. Hunger. She signaled off the Security guys, then dug one hand into his shoulder and wove the fingers of her other through his silky black hair and smiled. Then she tilted her head back, giving him a perfect view of her rock-hard nipples poking through the lace and began to ride him in time with the music.
Sean’s eyes darkened to a deep sapphire blue as he felt the hot moisture soak into his jeans. He saw the telltale flush in her cheeks and the widening of her eyes; heard the softest of feminine moans even over the pounding music. At first, he thought he’d imagined it. But then realization dawned, followed closely by a swell of triumph rising up within him.
He flexed his hands to draw her gaze back to him; he had to look in her eyes to know for sure. Her smoky light grays were still a little dazed, and the telltale flush blossoming on her cheeks told him everything thing he needed to know.
Oh yeah. She had.
The fog cleared all too quickly. The soft smoke reverted back to the cold steel he’d seen before, her features hardened, and her chin lifted in defiance. Sean amended his assessment: she had come, but she hated herself for it.