Nicole toweled the sweat from between her breasts and pulled the tape from her nipples before putting her normal bra back on. She couldn’t wait to get upstairs and take a hot shower. After every show, she would stand in the shower for twenty minutes and scrub her skin until it glowed red and raw. It was the only way she felt clean after having all those eyes on her naked body. Having all those men staring at parts of her body that were supposed to be private had a way of making her feel slutty and cheap.
She hooked her fingers under the thin strings at her hips about to pull the thong off when she heard a loud throat clearing behind her startling her. She quickly turned to find Ice leaning against the open doorway to the dressing room. His tight T-shirt hugged his muscled chest, every line and crevice demanding attention. His jeans seemed too loose around his hips and did nothing to show off the firm ass hiding underneath them.
“You scared me.”
“Sorry. Maybe you should shut the door before you change.”
Her head slightly tilted to the side as she grinned at him. “Why? So all the people who just saw all my naughty bits on stage can’t see my naughty bits back here?”
Ice pushed away from the doorframe and walked further in the room. “No one saw your naughty bits. You kept those covered. Well…not all of them.” He looked down at the plain, white bra she’d put on. For a second she felt a little self-conscious about her plain underclothes. She hadn’t expected anyone to see her undressed when she wasn’t performing, so the idea of wearing something fancier and most likely more uncomfortable hadn’t appealed to her.
“We all saw those.” He stopped in front of her.
“What are you doing back here?” she asked as she dropped her gaze away from his. She didn’t want him to see the effect he had on her when he was this close.
“The look on your face when you left the stage was…unsettling. I thought something might be wrong. Is there something wrong?”
She shook her head. “How could there be? I just stripped naked in front of a room full of strangers for money. Nothing else could scream loser more than that right? I feel fabulous.” She hated that her voice shook and cracked with her emotions. She didn’t want to cry in front of him. She didn’t need him seeing how emotional she could be. That made her look more pathetic then she already felt.
Her breath caught in her throat as she felt his hand glide across her cheek. His palm applied the right amount of pressure to make her head come up, and her gaze darted up to his. “I don’t want to hear you say that about yourself again. Do you hear me?” His voice was thick with his accent. The sound made her stomach do funny flip flops.
His warm breath smoothed over her skin as his head dipped low toward her bare shoulder until his lips hovered inches away from her heated skin. Her lungs involuntarily sucked in and hold a breath as she waited. She wanted him to kiss her. She wanted to feel his mouth on hers.
“You dance beautifully, Nicole. You don’t dance like any other dancer here. There’s something special about you.” His words caressed her skin as he spoke, and a shiver ran up her spine. He had an effect on her that made her body go weak.
“That’s because I spent most of my life dancing.”
“I can see you as a ballerina.”
She smiled as his lips moved, hovering inches above her skin. “Can you? That’s pretty good since I trained in ballroom.”
That made him pull his head away and stood straight. “Really?”
Just like that, the spell that held her captive against him broke, allowing her to take a step back and turn her back to him while pulling her T-shirt over her head.
“I have to get out to the floor. Shouldn’t you get back to the bar?” she asked over her shoulder, not trusting herself to get close to him again. But before she had a chance to put some distance between them, the weight of his chest pressed hard against her back. The warmth from his body soaked through her clothes and into her skin, and she trembled from the heat. She swallowed a lump of nerves as her words fumbled in her throat. “W-what are you doing?”
His fingers slipped around her arms, spinning her around and looking into her eyes. “Why can’t I get you off my mind?” His question wasn’t meant for her to answer. He asked himself. She wasn’t given a chance to respond. Instead he pushed her back until her body pressed against the wall of the dressing room, and he closed the space in front of her.
His hard body pressed her tight against the wall so even the force of their heavy breathing could be felt between them. His hands come up to grip both sides of her face, holding her still while his mouth closed over hers. Her breath stilled in her throat as his lips pressed hungrily against hers. His mouth opened, drawing her bottom lip between his teeth, tempting her to open her mouth completely for him. A deep intake of breath forced her mouth to fall further open, giving him the chance to slip his eager tongue inside.
The feel of him inside her for the first time shut her mind down. The constant, dull ache between her legs every time she was near him, roared to life, louder and stronger than ever before. His hands fanned out over the sides of her head, working his fingers into the depth of her hair. Pressing their bodies tight against each other, allowing no space for movement between them. Ice’s mouth grew hard and heavy against hers, slanting from side to side as he ate at her and she at him.
Bringing her palms to his chest, her first thought was to push him away, but the smooth hardness under her hands kept her there. She needed to feel him against her.
Nicole arched her back from the wall to thrust her pelvis into him, delighted when his hard erection thrust back.
“You don’t know what you’re asking for, little one.” His voice dripped with his rich accent. She was beginning to love the sound of him.
“Are you sure about that?” Another thrust of her hips caused her to smile as she heard him groan with the hope of pleasure.
“My little temptress. I guess you do know what you’re doing after all. Let me tell you, if you keep playing with fire you’re not going to like the outcome.”
“Really?” Her breathy voice barely a whisper as she crashed her lips against his once more, but he quickly pulled his mouth away. His breath still pounding against hers. “I’m not a relationship kind of guy, Nicole. I can’t give you what I’m sure you’re looking for.”
His rejection took her by surprise. Her eyes darted back to his. “What is it you think I’m looking for?”
“I haven’t figured out your story yet, but I don’t believe you belong here for one second. You’re not one of us.”
The fire he caused in her core moments ago began to fizzle out. “What the hell does that mean?”
Ice glanced down at her mouth once again before taking a step away. Air drifted between them, chilling her without his heat against her. She tried to wipe away the cold by rubbing her hands along her bare arms.
“You’re better than a place like this or a guy like me. You deserve better than anything I could even think about giving you. There’s something about you, Nikki, something special. And for that reason alone, I’m not the guy for you.”
What the hell? The heat of her anger immediately drove the chill away. “Then why the hell kiss me like that just now? Why torment me for no reason?”
Ice began backing away from her, making his way to the door. He paused before he stepped into the hall and looked back to her. “Because no matter how much I know I need to, I can’t seem to stay away from you.”
Chapter Five
Nicole turned the key to unlock her apartment door. Her plans were to spend her evening in a hot bath, soaking the night away. Since she got the evening off, she wanted to treat herself with some relaxation. She stopped in her open door at the sounds of female laugher drifting across the hall from Ice’s apartment. His actions were beginning to piss her off; he’d all but insisted she wasn’t his type but hadn’t stopped flirting or sneaking kisses from her every chance he got. Every time he brushed past her at work, he made sure some par
t of his body touched her while giving her a teasing grin. Or at night when he walked her upstairs after closing the bar, he would press her back against the wall of the hallway and take his payment in the form of a steamy hot kiss that always left her breathless, panting, and wanting more. He’d even insisted she be the only one to stock his locker room before his fights. She figured having her in his locker room before a fight gave him another excuse to steal a kiss from her, insisting they were strictly for good luck.
It wasn’t that she minded all the stolen kisses; she liked them actually. It was that she was good enough to play around with, but that she apparently wasn’t good enough to be allowed in his apartment. She had asked him on more than one occasion if he would let her step inside his inner world, only to be turned down.
A throaty, female giggle floated to her ears, snapping any of the composure she tried to hold onto. She’d had enough. She’s going to make him tell her once and for all what this girl had that she didn’t. She was tired of hearing his excuses. She was no longer going to sit by and watch him openly flirt with other females while keeping her at arm’s length.
Dropping her purse on the floor inside her apartment, Nicole turned and marched across the short hall to the only other door besides hers. She was finally going to get some answers, and she wasn’t afraid to play dirty if she had to. She brought her fist to the wooden door and pounded; the force nudged the door open a little allowing her entrance.
Pushing the door wider, she was in awe the moment she walked inside. His apartment looked nothing like hers. Her apartment felt small and closed off, while his felt more open with its windows covering one whole side of his living room. He had been right. He had the perfect view of the waterfront. That’s why her apartment seemed so small; they must have taken square footage from her side to make his. The open floorplan started in the kitchen where his front door opened and led into a living space.
She paused at the giggles coming from across the room where a leather couch sat facing away from her. There sat a blonde woman, tipping a beer bottle to her red, lush lips. This girl couldn’t be anything serious to Ice. She had never seen this girl with Ice before.
Turnabout was fair play. If he was going to play with her feelings, then it was only fair that she returned the favor. Seeing that Ice was nowhere in the room, an idea came to her. Palming her keys in her fist, she slammed them on top of the counter making damn sure the clashing metal echoed through the room.
“Who the hell are you? What the hell is going on here?” Nicole asked drawing surprised attention from the blonde over to her.
“Who are you?” The girl darted her eyes between Nicole and the entrance to the hallway. Lucky for her, the girl hadn’t had time to get naked yet. Nicole might have lost her nerves if she had walked in on them actually having sex. Staying in character, she placed an angry glare on her face. “Who am I? I live here. Who the hell are you?”
The girl jumped to her feet as if ready to defend herself. “You live here? He never said…he had a roommate.”
Nicole glared at her. “Roommate?”
The woman’s face froze, stunned as the meaning behind her words sunk in. Quickly snapping out of her shock, she grabbed her purse from the coffee table, rounded the couch, and headed toward the door, but not without having to pass the area where Nicole still stood. The girl slowed down in order to sidestep her before closing the door behind her as she left the apartment.
Smiling at her triumph, Nicole jumped up and sat on the kitchen counter to enjoy the show as she waited for Ice to realize his date had left him.
“Sorry about that…” Ice’s words ended as he reentered the room with his cell phone in hand as he looked around the room.
“Missing something?” she asked from her spot on the counter.
Ice turned toward her taking in the sight of her for a moment until a smile slowly spread across his lips.
“I know you’re jealous, but this takes it to a whole new level of the playing field,” he said walking toward her.
“Jealous? No, I’m not jealous. I just thought you deserved a taste of your own medicine is all.”
He joined her in the kitchen stopping two feet in front of her and crossed his arms over his chest. “And why do you think that? What have I ever done to you that makes you feel the need to get back at me?”
The closer he strolled toward her, the more the heat built in his eyes. That warmth melted her kneecaps into a puddle of goo. It was the one look she could never say no to. “You toy with me all the time.” The words sounded breathless, even to her own ears.
“How do you think that?” A smile curled over his lips and he took another step closer to her.
“You kiss and tease me all the time, but you don’t treat me like the other girls. You won’t even let me see the inside of your apartment.”
“And yet, here you are.”
“Not by your doing. You forced me to be mean to that girl.”
That got a chuckle out of him. “I forced you to be mean to and run my date off? Please, tell me how I forced you to do that.”
She felt the need to defend herself. “If you’re not interested in me, then why do you keep leading me on? Why do all the other girls get to see your apartment and have…” She stopped before she added sex to the mix. She wasn’t going to have him pity her that way.
“And…have what?” his voice demanded. He wanted to hear her admit she wanted him. She wasn’t going to give into him that easily.
“I’m simply wondering why all those other girls get the fun side of you, and I don’t.”
His blue-eyed gaze studied her for a moment as if he were trying to figure her out.
After a long moment of staring into each other’s eyes, she broke the silence dragging on between them. She needed to come clean with her feelings. Her gaze dropped away from his, no longer able to stand the fact she might disappoint him.
She released a heavy sigh. There was no point beating around the bush anymore. She needed to get the words out. “I don’t understand what all those girls have that I don’t. I like you, Ice. I see something in you that those other women don’t see.”
“What’s that, Nikki?” His voice was tremendously soft and discreet, and the question sounded sincere, as if it might break him if she said the wrong thing.
“I’ve known you only a few weeks, but I already know you’re dedicated to your work. You put all your true friends on pedestals as if they can do no wrong. You stand up for what you believe is right, and believe it or not, I know you’re a nice guy, even though you don’t want people to think you are.”
Her eyes lifted to his, and even though his were still a soft, melted blue looking back at her, the rest of his face hardened. “You couldn’t be more wrong, sweetheart.”
Her heart fell into her stomach as she watched him circle away from her. She thought he was leaving the room, but when he reached the edge of the kitchen, he spun back around on her, his jaw tightly set. His eyes burned holes into her soul. She had awoken something in him. Something that scared the shit out of her. He had a dark animal buried inside him, and the thought of finally seeing it made her stomach burn that much more.
“I’m none of those things. You have no idea what kind of person I am. I’m what I let you think I am. There are things I’ve done in my past that would send you running to lock yourself away from me. You’re an innocent, Nikki. I can see it all over your face. I have nothing to offer a girl as soft as you.”
There it was again. The cold hardness that was meant to push her away. She wasn’t playing into it anymore. Not until she found out why it couldn’t be her. “Why do you treat me like a child? You think I can’t handle you, but the truth is, you don’t know shit about me either.”
“I know we come from two different worlds, baby girl. You probably grew up in a home where you had both parents love you, and you never had to know what a hard life meant.”
“I won’t apologize for having parents who stayed together
and loved me.” The heat started to burn inside again, and it wasn’t from him standing so close to her.
“I’m not asking you to. I’m pointing out the differences between our lives. I had to fight for everything I wanted. For what I needed. It’s one of the reasons I became a fighter. I grew up fighting on the streets. Out there, it’s either learn to fight and be the victor or fail and become the victim. Do you know what they do to young boys on the streets if you lose a fight? Do you have any idea what kind of torture you have to endure? It’s like prison, the top dog always gets the meat first.”
She sucked a sharp breath in as she imagined the life he described, the kind of life she could only imagine went on in the streets every day. The dirty, little secrets no one wanted to talk about. She wanted to cry for him. For the afraid, little boy he had to have been.
“See, you can’t even handle hearing about it.”
Her back stiffened at the challenge. “Try me.”
He thrust his fingers through his hair. “Christ, you don’t want to hear this.”
“Yes, I do. I want to hear all about you. The good and the bad.”
“Why?” His voice had softened.
It took her a minute to answer him. She needed to stand her ground. “Because we’re friends.”
He shook his head, dropping his eyes to the floor placing his hands firmly on his hips. “The good and the bad, huh? There’s a hell of a lot of bad inside me than there is good. Do you know why I go after those kinds of women, Nicole? Why I let them into my space and not you?”
He raised his gaze back to hers. As he spoke, he leisurely walked toward her. His steps slow and steady, like an animal on the prowl. Once he closed the distance between them, he braced both his hands on the countertop on either side of her legs. Leaning in, his chest rested inches from hers. She could feel the pounding of her heart soar in her chest brought on by his closeness.
“I hang out with those women because they don’t mind the way I fuck them. They actually prefer my way. I’m not an easy lover to satisfy, Nicole. Matter of fact, I’m a hard guy to please. I have a…unique taste for sex. It’s not for the weak.”
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