Breaking the kiss, I turned my face to the side to get some air. Angelo nuzzled his face against my chest.
“Was that my big present?” I asked. “...Angelo?”
I turned back to see him looking at me with an intense gaze. My heart did a little kick jump.
Ever so slowly, he ran his finger down the length of my nose. I swallowed hard, sure something big was about to happen but at a loss as to what it would be.
“There are no words,” he slowly said. “For what you are to me.”
My lips stretched wide. “If you can’t say how I make you feel, how about you show me?”
“That I can do.”
With a growl, he grabbed my hands and hoisted them above my head.
Angelo
Bass pounded through the open industrial space, multi-colored lights shooting across the floor.
One hand against an ear, I turned to Paige. “I feel like I’m in a rave.”
“What?” she shouted back.
Or maybe it was something else she said. I couldn’t really hear her over the music.
She took a sip from her beer bottle and smoothed her hair. On the other side of the bar a blonde guy eyed her. I shot the guy a look and he quickly turned away.
I put my mouth close to Paige’s ear. “You look great!”
She smiled and nodded, though maybe still had no clue what I was saying.
Indeed, she looked amazing. Delicious, really, what with her tight, thigh length dress and black high heels. I appreciated dressed down Paige as much as any other Paige… but damn it if the tight dresses and red lips didn’t do something to me.
“Come on!” Nodding my head at the other end of the party, I took her hand and led her through the crowd. We wound around a group of Franko and Tre’s buddies, some girls dancing, and over to the far corner.
Sophia and Lia sat perched in a windowsill. They’d cracked the window to get a bit of fresh air.
“What’s up?” Lia asked, taking a drink from a red plastic cup.
“This is quite the party,” was all I could say.
She just laughed. Really, what more were we to expect when our little brother announced he was throwing a New Year’s Eve party? Franko loved coming to New York to party. Give the kid a holiday and some cash to blow and he was bound to go crazy.
Sophia adjusted her miniskirt and crossed her legs. “Just wait till the strippers get here.”
Paige’s eyes went wide.
“She’s joking,” I explained, looking over at the two other women. “Right?”
Sophia shrugged.
“With Franko?” Lia asked. “Who knows?”
“Who are you guys kissing at midnight?” Paige asked.
Lia rolled her eyes. “No one in here. The guy selling pretzels down on the corner looks more appealing than any of the frat boys here.”
Sophia shook her beer bottle. “Probably my drink.”
I tightened my hand around Paige’s. There was something I’d been looking forward to doing all night… Well, all week, actually. I’d been waiting for the perfect moment. At the moment, I was beginning to feel that maybe there was no such timing.
I turned to her. “Hey. Let’s go up on the roof. I want to show you the view from here.”
Her nose wrinkled. “Now? It’s almost midnight.”
“We’ll come back down in time if you want to.”
She glanced at the other two and shrugged. Sophia wagged her eyebrows at me as we walked away. I ignored her.
The rooftop was only a couple floors away, making it a swift elevator ride. The second the door opened a harsh wind swept across the rooftop.
“Yikes!” Paige cried, pulling her coat tighter around herself.
I opened my coat and pulled her into it. “Sorry. I forgot about the wind.”
“It’s all right,” she said, her teeth already chattering.
Wrapped together in my coat, we shuffled behind the small, elevated roof. The tiny structure blocked the wind, giving us a bit of a reprieve.
“Wow,” Paige said.
I followed her gaze to the view of lit up Manhattan. Green and purple, the color choices of the Empire State building for the night, added a special touch to the picture.
“It’s beautiful,” she sighed. “I missed it, you know. Even just for a few days. As great as Christmas was, I’m still happy to be home.”
I tightened my arms around her stomach and pressed my face into the top of her head. “I know the feeling.”
Shouting came from down on the street below.
“Hey!” Paige said, breaking free of my embrace to spin around and face me. “I almost forgot. We should go back down for Midnight.”
“Unless you want your kiss up here.”
She eyed me, her pupils just visible in the dim light. “Maybe. It depends. What else is in it for me? Just a kiss?”
I shoved my hand into my pocket and felt for the little box there. Keeping my eyes on Paige’s face so I wouldn’t miss a second of her reaction, I pulled the box out and opened it.
The whites of her eyes popped in the gray light. “That’s not what I was thinking,” she breathed, sounding like she was in shock.
A little bit of panic got to me. “It’s not?”
“No, I was thinking second base or something.”
I laughed, trying to lighten the mood, but that was all nerves. It came out sounding dry. It turned out the moment of proposing to someone was more nerve wracking than I would have thought.
“Will it do?”
If she’d just give me an answer, I could breathe a little easier.
Someone began shouting out an open window across the street. “Ten!” came their cry into the night.
The person’s friends joined in. “Nine!” the group yelled altogether.
Paige licked her lips. “I… I.”
“Eight! … Seven! … Six!”
“Paige?” I asked. The way she had frozen made me nervous a panic attack might be on the horizon.
“Five! … Four!”
“Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you!” Paige shrieked. “What, are you kidding me?”
“Three! … Two!”
She flew into my arms. The joy that filled me up couldn’t be contained. I lifted her off her feet and spun her around.
“One! Happy New Year!”
The block erupted in shrieks, hoots, and whistles. The noise went on and on, a never-ending stream of jubilation.
I pressed my lips against Paige’s and kissed her with everything I had.
And I never stopped.
THE END
TAKEN FOR THE FIRST TIME
A Novella - Second Edition Mar 2017
Copyright © 2016 Bella Love-Wins
(Original Title: Taken by Santa)
Written by Bella Love-Wins
Chapter 1
Dakota
I just discovered that honesty is not the best policy. No, the truth can get you in a shitload of trouble if said honesty is shared with the wrong people, in the wrong place, and at the wrong time. Like five minutes ago, when I wrote the number ‘0’ on that bright pink sticky note. I should have left the piece of paper blank, or declined to participate, or even better, I could have just written the number ‘1’.
How bad would a white lie have been at a time like this, anyway?
I’m at a half-empty strip club on ladies’ night, for Christ’s sake.
Four days before Christmas.
This should be a safe place to tell the truth, but I realize now that I’ve baited myself, and lying was realistically the best option. I’m surrounded by nine women who are all here in celebration for the bachelorette party I organized for my sister, Dina, before she gets married on Christmas Day, no less. For as long as I can remember, Dina has dreamed of a Christmas wedding. She wants everything white, snowy and sparkly, and that is what she’ll get.
Tonight though, is all about getting a little wild and a bit dirty. We’ve been throwing back shots, dancing, and ogl
ing the male strippers on the main stage of the Blue Bayou strip club.
We’ve also been playing party games. They were fun right up until ten minutes ago when I passed the reins to Veronica, the resident hot blonde girl with big blue eyes, a healthy helping of boobs and long legs, who can pretty much get any man she wants anywhere she goes. She decides that we need to play a weird version of Have I Ever. Except in Veronica’s game, the rules are different. All ten of us have to play at the same time, by writing down our honest answer to one question and placing the handwritten responses in Dina’s cock-shaped party hat. The question is, how many times have we each had an orgasm as a result of a man’s mouth traveling south. My sister, as guest of honor, gets to pull each response from the hat, and she has to guess who wrote each answer.
Shit.
I should have written the number ‘1’, because it’s not just the case that I’ve never had an orgasm from below-the-belt action.
I’ve never had an orgasm.
Ever.
What’s worse is that my sister hones in on my answer like a dog with a bone. She is close enough to everyone to guess every answer correctly. My ‘0’ is her last guess, which isn’t really a guess, due to the obvious process of elimination. I have a perfectly good reason for my answer, and I’m dumb enough to explain it to Dina and her friends, thanks to all the shots I’ve already had. It’s because I happen to be a twenty-one-year-old virgin who has never ever messed around with a guy. I’ve kept that secret so close to my chest that even Dina didn’t know before tonight. It’s not that I’ve been going around telling people that I’m sexually active, but there’s a finality about sharing the harsh truth inside a strip club around the holidays. In this particular setting, people can’t help but want to do something about it, as though deflowering me would make for a special gift.
It irks me that Dina doesn’t flinch for Shelley’s ‘15’ or Veronica’s ‘too many to count’ answers. She has nothing to say for Melanie, who wrote ‘3, but 2 of those times were when my boyfriend used a vibrator’. Sure, those replies attract their fair share of chuckles, but my ‘0’ seems to evoke a silent confusion, followed by a rallying cry among our mostly inebriated group, one that screams ‘get Dakota to sit on a guy’s face before the night is over’.
“We’re serious,” Dina says to reiterate the comments by her excited mob clan of friends. “You can’t afford to let another day go by without finding out the joys of lip service between your legs.”
“Time to make your girly bits sing!” Shelley shouts, and I’m grateful the music in here is turned way up.
“Not gonna happen,” I say, shaking my head. “Not here, not now, not like this.”
I point to the stage, hoping they’ll turn their attention back to the firefighter stripper act. The ripped blond guy with the Santa hat has just thrown down his yellow fireman’s turnout jacket. He’s swinging his red suspenders around to get the women excited for the grand finale of dragging his pants off.
Leave it to Veronica to make my life more difficult at a time when I can be enjoying the show in peace.
“How about this, Dakota? The next guy that walks into this club gets to do you the honor.”
“Aww, hell no,” I say.
“How about, next cute guy who’s willing?”
“Do I look desperate to you?”
She studies me for a moment. “No, you don’t, but that’s the problem. If you knew what you were missing, you would be desperate. Come on, I’ll even help. I nominate myself to warm them up to the idea. Think of it as my Christmas gift.”
I signal to the waitress. I need drinks for everyone around the table except for me. At the moment, I’ll do anything to get them off my back.
“Two rounds of nine black Sambuca shots,” I tell the waitress who shows up in a skimpy green elf costume. It’s Dina’s favorite liqueur shot, so everyone at our table has been indulging.
“Right away,” she answers and returns to the bar with a smile on her face. I make a guess that she’s happy for the big order, and probably happier that we aren’t the usual rowdy male patrons who come in here and stuff dollar-bill tips in the waistbands of her teeny tiny boy shorts as a rule.
Dina turns to me. “You’ve got to do this, Dakota. I never realized you took your conservatism this far.”
“I’m not conservative,” I say in objection.
“Then, what would you call being a virgin at twenty-one? You do realize you’re in your third year of college, right? If you wait any longer, it’ll be weird and freaky.”
“I prefer not to label it.”
“Maybe this party is a blessing for you.” Dina’s gray eyes light up. “You owe me a party favor,” she says, eyes full of mischief. She reaches down to her purse and drags out the keys to her convertible. “And this is what I want. Veronica gets to ask the next acceptable guy who walks in, on your behalf, of course.” She dangles her car keys. “I’ll even let you get your cherry licked in my car, and you know how special it is to me.”
“Girl, have you gone and lost your mind?” I screech. “I’m not doing it. This is your bachelorette party. You’re the one with the license to misbehave one last time before your wedding. And you know what else? It’s all kinds of disturbing, having this conversation with you…my sister!”
“But you’re single. You can do what you want with whomever you want tonight. My vote is for you to go all the way.”
I shake my head. “Are you serious right now? I’m here for you, Dina, not to get my rocks off with some lowlife strip club patron who has to pay for a woman to give him a lap dance.” The waitress returns, and I hastily scoop up the two shots that she puts in front of my sister. “By the way, you’re cut off,” I tell her, knocking them back.
Dina gets to her feet. “That party favor is mine to use exactly the way I want,” she barks. “Everyone here agreed to it, including you. Sorry, sis. You don’t get to back out.” She straightens up, crosses her arms, and turns to face the club entrance. “Get ready, Dakota. You’re up for the next decent looking guy.”
I’m about to vehemently object when someone catches my eye at the front door. I immediately wave over to the waitress for another round. I ask for eleven drinks—three for me, and one for everyone but Dina. Thank goodness we booked a block of adjoining rooms at the hotel down the street.
Two drinks may not be enough.
Owen, my former neighbor and old high school crush, walks in wearing a Santa suit and a fake beard halfway down his face.
Chapter 2
Owen
I walk into the Blue Bayou in a Santa suit. It’s ladies’ night and a few days before Christmas. I’m here to win a bet. My frat brothers have collected a thousand bucks to see me sneak up onstage and do as much of my sexy Santa striptease that I can complete before getting thrown out of the place by some big, mean as fuck bouncers. I’d do pretty much anything for that kind of money, so I don’t mind risking a black eye or two. A grand is just enough cash for me to put a sweet bow on all my last-minute holiday shopping. The truth is, I’d do this for free. I love Christmas, I enjoy strip clubs, and I have no problem getting naked.
There’s a pretty sparse crowd inside, which makes what I have to do that much easier. Straightening out the pillow doubling as a fake belly under my costume, I head to the main stage. My timing is perfect. A firefighter act is wrapping up, and the music hasn’t quite come to an end. The boys start to clap loudly as I step up on stage and proceed to do my thing. Hands raise into the air. The only cluster of women in the place begins to applaud and whistle excitedly.
I’m feeling like a boss. My smile grows as I mentally count my money with the removal of each item of my costume, starting with the thick, black Santa belt. I whip the thing around like a pro for a while, until the pillow drops from my midsection. Removing it from under my suit, I fling it to the side stage area where my friends are congregating, to avoid hurting anyone who’ll give a damn.
The red velvet suit jacket is next to
go. It leaves me shirtless, with just the red pants, my Santa hat, and black lace-up boots. The music changes over to an upbeat country western version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. I realize I’m sexy as hell, but I’ve never heard a group of people scream as much as these ladies. At the rate they’re going, they’ll probably faint if I remove my tear-away stripper version of Santa pants. To keep them conscious, I wrap up with my Santa hat, flinging it into the audience, directly toward the raucous ladies.
That’s when I notice a few familiar faces.
The woman in the baseball cap that reads ‘Bride-to-Be’ looks just like one of the two sisters who lived on the street where I grew up. The hesitant girl next to her that they’re all pushing toward the stage proves it.
I squint to double-check.
Yes.
It’s Dakota and Dina all right, plus seven or eight of their loudest friends, I’d have to guess. They toast each other with shot glasses, and I notice three who have chosen something different to drink right afterward. One, a brunette, is chugging a beer. Another cradles a rum and Coke, and a third keeps refilling a shot glass with a bottle of Jack Daniels. Luckily, she seems to be slowing her rate of consumption. Otherwise, I might fear for her later on. For me to do my best, all of these lovelies need to be awake and alert. I would hate for my singular talent to go to waste on a bunch of boozers.
I give the ladies a wave and get back to my moves. Before I can finish my potentially award-winning performance, fate catches up to me. Three burly bouncers stalk toward the stage to get rid of me. I’m actually surprised it took them this long. Raising my arms to show them my readiness to cooperate, I step down and begin walking toward my friends, who have quickly made it to the exit.
There’s just one thing.
Dina is outside waiting for me with a leggy blonde I’ve never met.
The Billionaire and The Virgin Page 29
