by Anne Martin
The stage was empty. I stalked up the steps and launched myself at the pole like I was charging an opponent. I swung around and took a pose that would kick anyone in the face if they got too close. After that, I worked the pole like I’d done when I first got to Vegas and juggled all the jobs I could while I saved up for my own assault vehicle.
I’d named her Violet, a green-gray beast that could take out anything, pure iron muscle that had rolled over my opposition until Nix had gotten her exploded. Even if we won and he bought me a very nice set of replacements, I still felt sad about it.
I danced for Violet, for the smell of the ripped leather seats, the hydro in back to give it a shot of surprise speed at the end of a long and dusty race. I loved her so much.
At the end of the song, I swung away from the pole and bent down to snag blondie’s drink. I raised my glass and called, “To Violet!”
“To Violet!” The customers of the bar called back along with other lewd comments that didn’t bother me. I threw back the drink and tripped coming off the stage. Horse was right there, catching me in his perfectly strong arms. I stared at him for a long moment, startled at the contact, his chest warm and solid, his gaze smoldering and lighting a fire in my stomach that spread through my veins.
His voice was a rough growl that sent the flames flickering faster. “They think you like women, but I remember that beast. Is that what really makes you hot? I have a V-twelve cylinder engine in my warehouse, two banks of six, common crankshaft, perfect primary balance. No second balance shaft necessary. Triple overlap power pulses…” His voice got lower and lower and his warm hands weren’t letting me go. He felt way too good. I was going home with someone tonight, but I’d be out of my mind if it was with the biggest man-whore in the city. Hygiene and the knowledge that I’d have to live in the same hotel with him afterwards made me strong.
I pushed away from him. “There isn’t an engine in the world that would drive me into your arms,” however good they felt.
Chapter 2
Horse Demon a.k.a. Nathaniel David VanBuren
I enjoyed strip clubs as much as any man, but watching Trixie ‘Dragon O’Hara doing a pole routine in that blue dress was a whole new level of pleasure. I recorded it on my phone. I could use it as some form of blackmail later. Violet. No one handled steel and rpm like Trix. I wondered every time I saw her why we hadn’t ended up in bed together. It would be almost as good as seducing her off Nix’s team. She was his secret weapon. Not so secret if you knew the game. Too bad she didn’t like consorting with the enemy. Smart of her too.
Smart, confident, beautiful, and now irrefutably talented with a pole. I glanced at Minx. I shouldn’t have said that, about strippers not being respectable. Trix stepping up so her friend wouldn’t feel bad about her career, that was sweet. Trix wasn’t supposed to be sweet. I relied on Trix being as tough as advertised. The idea that there was some way to get under her skin would lead to insanity.
I watched her leave the club with the blonde boy and got to the parking lot in time to see her drive off with him on a stolen motorcycle.
“Wasn’t that your bike?” Minx asked, batting her lashes at me.
“She’s an excellent driver. My bike’s in good hands.”
Her smile grew harder. “That’s true. She’ll only crash it on purpose. Good thing she doesn’t hate you!” She climbed into a cab and I got in, pushing her over.
A flash of anger flowed over me. Trix on my bike without me? It was criminal. “We’re sharing. If you don’t mind.”
She studied me for a second before she shrugged and went through her purse, looking for lipstick. Trix would never hurt a beautiful machine, would she?
“How long have you known Trix?” I asked.
She gave me a funny smile. “Long enough to know a little bit about her psychology. You should tell her that you like her.”
I stared back at her, surprised for a second before I snorted. “Are we talking about the same girl? The Dragon wouldn’t believe word I said. She’s not kind to the sweetly sincere type. I’ve seen what she does to the poor idiots who tell her how beautiful she is and how they can see past the tough girl. What was his name, the one that she duct-taped naked to the statue in front of…” I shook my head. Even getting naked with Trix under those circumstances would be something, but she always kept me at a distance. It really did seem like she hated me, but I’d never done anything that her boss, Nix hadn’t done. We’d been a pair before Kitten whipped him. I grinned at Minx, my most charming smile. We were in the back of a cab. I had my reputation to maintain. Unfortunately, my libido was tearing down the strip along with my bike. “What does it take to get her into bed?”
She studied me with those big eyes. “No one gets her in bed. She gets you. I don’t think it’s going to happen with you. Is that all you want with Trixie? You want the girl who’s impossible to seduce to put another notch in your belt? I’d have to really hurt you if you broke her heart.”
I ran a hand over my stubble. Minx wasn’t very large, and her reputation wasn’t anything like Trix or Jezabel, both fighters and racers that no one messed with. Still, it was sweet of her to threaten me. “I don’t break hearts, Minx.”
“So you want to have a fling of mutual meaningless pleasure? That’s too bad. She needs to settle down and find someone who can truly adore her forever.”
I laughed. “That’s a nice fairy tale. If she ever let me into her bed, I can’t see why I’d ever want to be anywhere else. I’d be willing to adore her as long as she’d let me.” Had I said too much?
She shook her perfectly oval face. Her large green oval eyes were almost cartoonish in their size and the idealism glowing in those depths. “I’m not talking about her bed, at least not only that. She’s more than some hot racer Venus. She needs tenderness.”
I inhaled sharply at the thought of giving the Dragon tenderness. I’d recently been exposed to more of Trix’s skin than I’d seen in a year, counting the time she had half of her shirt burned off. I had that whole strip show in my phone to watch on repeat if I so desired. What I desired was the real thing, flesh, blood, wild curly hair that she didn’t try to tame, and that chin. She always lifted up her chin when she saw me, like she wanted me to nibble on the adorable pointed thing. It was more likely that she didn’t like that I was a head taller than her and had her by a hundred pounds.
When we pulled up at Minx’s apartment, she gave me a warm smile. “You didn’t even flirt with me. It’s a good thing Trix isn’t in the stripping business. Who could compete with that raw sex appeal? I hope she doesn’t do anything tonight that she regrets too much.”
My blood went cold, which should have been a relief with how warm thinking about Trixie made me. “You really think she’s going to go on one of her benders with blondie? He was such a little thing. She’d break him.”
She laughed. “He was very fit and he had a sweet face. He’s the perfect antidote to you.”
I frowned at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She smiled impishly and shook her head. “No one’s immune to your appeal. I would love to see the two of you together as a couple, but you’re both kind of strong-willed. I think that’s why you make her nervous.”
“You’re saying that Trixie stole my motorbike to go on a bender with an anemic yuppy because she wanted me? I’m trying to not be in a bad mood, Minx, but you’re making it really hard.”
She winked at me. “Ah, Horse, I’d love to, but I’ve got to work early tomorrow. Sweet dreams. I believe that you have a driver to flog before Trix gets to him. I’ll let you pay for my share of the cab.”
I grabbed her hand. “Sure, I’ve got the cab, but first, tell me something.”
She raised her eyebrows, waiting.
I swallowed. I didn’t usually act like this, but Minx was Trixie’s friend, and she’d said that she could see us together. “Have you ever been with her?”
She raised an eyebrow. “That’s a personal question, but
no. We’re good friends. Trix doesn’t involve her friends in her recklessness. I know that she goes on benders and does all kinds of stuff with whoever she hits with the force of her trajectory, but she doesn’t look at women in general that way. Couldn’t you tell with the way she watched the dancing, or didn’t watch the dancing? She was paying a lot more attention to you than anything else.”
I sighed. “Are you trying to set us up? Neither one of us are interested in forever. I didn’t realize that you were such a romantic. I’ll have to take you off my list.”
She laughed, a tinkling laugh of someone who was too idealistic for her line of work. “Like Jezabel and Felicia? I’d be honored to join the noble ranks of women you don’t seduce.”
I grinned at her. “Not that you aren’t extremely tempting, but you’re a little too sweet for my tastes.”
“And Candy isn’t?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Candy of Nix’s team? That’s never going to happen.”
Her eyes twinkled. “All these women who you won’t seduce, it’s almost like you have standards.”
Something about the way she said that twinged my conscience. “Hey, Minx, I apologize about what I said earlier. I’ve seen you dance and you’re very talented. I respect stripping as much as any career.”
She shrugged. “I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher when I was little, but the lure of bright lights and living fantasy did me in. I’m not a stripper, though, even if that’s what I do right now. I’m a performer. Anyway, I never told Trixie that about me. Sometimes it’s scary the way she can see through people’s bull.”
She studied me for a second before she turned and left without another word. Left alone in the cab, I pulled out the phone. For a second, I watched that video of Trix on the stage before I softly swore and deleted it.
The next morning, I was waiting for the elevator, going through the business section on my phone when the doors opened.
Trix stood in her blue dress that had been sexy before it was partly ripped and burned off her. Her makeup was mostly under her eyes, and she looked a little bit like an exorcist. No, like the demon-possessed girl, but that body.
“What are you looking at?” The sound of her raspy voice sent chills over my skin. She carried her heels, one of which was broken off. She really had gone on one of her rampages with that pale little amoeba.
I cleared my throat. “You stole my bike. I’m wondering if I should report you for other stuff too. You cause any fires I should know about?” If she burned down my warehouse, I’d light her on fire, and I wouldn’t use a lighter.
“Pansy is in the garage in the exact center of your parking spot. You knew I’d take care of her.”
I smiled, but it wasn’t my usual. “Pansy? That’s not what I named her. Seeing you like this makes me wonder what kind of condition you left her in.” I nodded at her body, letting my eyes linger on her delicious curves that spilled so temptingly from the insufficient confines of her strapless bra. My pulse pounded more rapidly the longer I studied her.
“I’ll give her a tune-up tomorrow, just stop talking.” She put her head in her hands in classic hangover posture. Her position camouflaged her more obvious charms.
I narrowed my eyes at her. She’d stolen my bike and taken it joyriding with someone else. I said loudly so it echoed off the elevator walls, “Do you always take your walk of shame with so much enthusiasm?”
She groaned and buried her face deeper in her hands.
“Did you make blondie cry?”
She came up snarling. She shoved me against the side of the elevator, my back hitting the metal with a thud while her body pressed against mine. “I’m going to make you cry.”
She already had, but that was years ago. I studied her face, so close to mine, the way her pupils dilated the longer she had me against the wall.
I growled and shifted, getting more comfortable against her skin. “I’m sure you’ll do your best. I’m the kind of man who reciprocates. You stole my bike. Seems like I have to steal something from you.”
I didn’t give her a chance to think about it before I rolled us so she was the one between a Horse and a hard place. I kissed her. She tasted real and authentic, like her warmth beneath the thin fabric of her dress. I kissed her too hard, too hungry, but I felt like I hadn’t touched a woman in centuries. I couldn’t count the times I’d looked at her mouth and wanted to take it.
She must have been in shock or why would she let me taste her tongue and kiss her and kiss her? Her lips softened against mine, parting for my tongue as I pressed against her, my hands sliding into that unruly hair. I kissed her with the pent up aggression I should have spent in the ring, but the surprising softness of her exploded the blood in my veins, spreading fire until the elevator bell dinged.
I ripped myself away from her, struggling to regain control over some part of my body. I gestured her out onto her floor. For a second she stayed leaning against the wall, eyes unfocused and lips soft and wet, chest rising and falling, arched up towards me. It was almost like she’d been waiting for me to take her. No one took Trixie, but her looking at me like that, so soft, she hadn’t hated me kissing her. I took that as an invitation and moved back to her.
I had my hands on her waist when she kneed me.
I grunted and inhaled sharply while she grabbed my shirt in her fists. Her voice was breathless. “I should have crashed Pansy. Forget the tune up. You touch me again and I’ll put you in traction.”
Then she kissed me. Her lips seared mine, her tongue hot and sweet as she shoved against me, a hard kiss that made my teeth ache in the sweetest way. It was all her, rough, wild and terrifyingly uncalculated. She let go of me and staggered out of the elevator, leaving me staring after her aching in a bewildering number of ways. That woman. How was I ever supposed to forget her when she kissed me like that?
I felt pain below the belt for a while after that. I didn’t mind my injury because being kissed by Trixie was a victory worth any price. It was a relief that she’d kissed me back so my underdeveloped conscience wouldn’t bother me about taking her in the elevator.
I kept expecting to run into her and had a few choice things to say to her, but she went MIA. Did she feel like I’d assaulted her? She could have kneed me right away. She wasn’t inebriated. When I asked around a subtly as possible, no one had seen her. I won against Nix the next weekend with his backup driver.
Afterwards, I was standing there trying to enjoy gloating when Nix came over to congratulate me.
He put out his hand. I took it. We squeezed until I couldn’t feel my hand. The lack of feeling was mutual.
“Where’s your driver?” I asked casually.
He grunted. “Flu. You seem less smug than expected. You must realize that your win won’t last.”
I let go of his hand. “How’s the wife?”
He blinked at me. “We don’t talk about my wife.”
I shrugged. “It’s just inconceivable to compare who you were to who you are. Can a good woman really change a man?”
“You looking for a change?”
“Change can do you good.”
He studied me for a long time before he shook his head. “Not you.”
“What?”
“Someone has to keep the bar low so the rest of us look good in comparison.”
I snorted. “So that’s my purpose in life. I was wondering.”
“Seriously, Horse, stick with being the lovable womanizer, or hatable in Trixie’s case. People are confused enough with me going off and being respectable. If you turn over a new leaf, they’ll start saying it’s the business. Recruits will go down, it’ll lose it’s overall edge, and profits will go down with it.”
I smiled at him. “Your business roots are showing. We’re in it for the rush, remember? The money’s only a side-benefit to life on the edge. Trix doesn’t actually hate me. She’s an equal opportunity man hater.” She couldn’t hate me and kiss me like that. Maybe.
“Oh, no. She hates
you. To be honest, she’s usually mean like that when she finds a man attractive. It’s just as well. If she knew your business end, the rich, indolent bit, she’d hold you in contempt too.”
I grinned at him. I’d thought she’d kissed me like she wanted me. “She took a rich little bastard with her on her last rampage. I don’t know. I could shower her with multi-terrain tires and wrenches, maybe an assault vehicle to go with them. You shouldn’t tell me that she has an itch for me. I’ll start thinking I should let her scratch it.”
He snorted. “Only if you like limping.” He turned away with a slight smile on his mouth. He was thinking about something, not seducing her, no, but something.
At any rate, the whole win didn’t leave me in as good a mood as I’d hoped, not when I was spending my enormously high I.Q. on trying to figure out where Trixie ‘Dragon’ O’Hara had disappeared to and why. Traditionally, I took my team out to dinner afterwards. Pixel spent the whole time talking about how awesome his driving skills were, Aaron spent dinner with his headphones on, typing on his laptop, working on videography and the girls, Vicky and Tess talked about hair product. It wasn’t exactly intellectually stimulating. I’d already over-analyzed all of them and come to my conclusions. Trixie was the most fascinating case of psychology I’d ever seen. Other things were fascinating as well. That dress, for instance, how it had stayed on after she’d burned it, what she’d used as an igniter, and how I could be the one she took home. Ever since she’d moved into my hotel, she’d been in my periphery. After that kiss, she was front and center.
