by Mari Carr
Johnny’s face darkened as she said Trevor’s name. “Oh, I’ll call you,” he assured her. “Right after I plow the fucker over with my cab.”
Riley sighed. “Truth be told, Johnny, I think your plans for Trev might be kinder than his wife’s when she finds out he cheated on her.”
Johnny perked up at her comment. “Really?”
She nodded.
“Then I’ll make sure not to kill him with my cab. Want to make sure he’s alive to get the wife’s treatment too.”
Riley laughed. “You’re a heartless bastard, Johnny.”
He smiled at her. “And you’re not so bad for a tourist, Riley. Even if you do know fuck-all about Wayne Newton.”
Aaron added his goodbyes to the mix and tugged Riley out of the bar. He’d never been so happy to be outside in the fresh, clean air.
“Ew,” Riley said, scrunching up her nose. “We stink.”
“Stale smoke and beer. What do you say we go back to the hotel and take a shower together? I’ll even let you suck my cock.”
She laughed. “Gee thanks, sugar. Actually that doesn’t sound like such a bad plan. The shower part,” she clarified.
“Hey, you’re the one who promised to make up the fact we just spent an hour longer in that dive than we needed to.”
“Johnny was distraught. We couldn’t leave him like that.”
Aaron sort of thought they could. The man had been three sheets to the wind and he wasn’t sure Johnny was even going to remember talking to them come morning.
“There you two are!” a loud voice said from behind them.
Aaron turned, surprised to find Bubbles jiggling her way across the parking lot toward them. He wondered if she realized her spandex top really wasn’t a suitable replacement for a bra.
“Hey, Bubbles. What are you doing here?” Riley asked.
“I figured you guys would come looking for Johnny. I’ve been waiting out here almost an hour. I was just about to give up. Time is money, you know. Thought maybe you’d chickened out. Were you in there that whole time?”
Riley nodded and Aaron saw the hooker was impressed. “Dayum, chica. You’re a crazier bitch than me.”
Aaron tried to ignore the fact Riley took Bubbles’ comment as a compliment.
“Was there a reason you were looking for us, Bubbles?” he asked, not forgetting the promise of a shower and possibly a blowjob looming in his very near future.
“Did Johnny know where Bella was?”
Riley shook her head. “Nope. And he’s not happy.”
“Didn’t figure he would be after the hit he put on that last guy. Put the poor guy in the hospital for nearly a week. Johnny may be stupid as pigeon shit, but he’s strong and mean when riled.”
Aaron had to agree with that assessment.
“Anyway, I was thinking after you left. Maybe you should go to Swingers.”
“Swingers?” Aaron asked.
“It’s the strip club where Bella works. Fucking bitch stole the job I wanted.”
“You wanted to be a stripper?” Riley’s voice expressed her surprise.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Who wouldn’t want to be a stripper? All that money, men looking but not really touching. It’s a dream job. Way better than being a fucking ho.”
“So why are you a hooker if you hate it? You’re a smart woman, pretty face. I’m sure you could find lots of jobs.”
Bubbles shrugged. “Not as easy as you think. Sort of fell into the hooking after high school, got into some money troubles and sex was a quick way to make a buck. Now people know me around here. I got a reputation. Ain’t nobody gonna hire a hooker for any respectable job.”
“So move somewhere else,” Riley suggested.
“With what? Monopoly money? Besides, where would I go? I was born in Vegas. Only place I’ve ever been. I got friends here.”
Riley fell silent and Aaron tried to beat back his sixth sense that said her sudden quietness couldn’t be good. Anxious to distract her from whatever plot she was cooking up, he latched onto the first thing that popped into his mind.
“So where is this Swingers?” he asked.
Riley glanced at him, a smile crossing her face. “You wanna go to the strip club?”
“Why not? For all we know, she’s taking a spin on the pole as we speak. Johnny mentioned her love of the spotlight. And if not, maybe Bella called in and quit. Maybe she told her boss where she was going. It’s worth a shot, I suppose.”
Bubbles hitched her oversized tote bag on her shoulder and fluffed up her already voluminous pink hair. “You two mind if I tag along? Figure if Bella cut and run, the boss might finally give me a shot at her spot.”
“Sure. The more, the merrier,” Riley said. “You can tell us how to get there.”
Riley and Bubbles headed off toward the corner in search of a cab, chatting away as if they’d been friends forever. He fell into step behind them and listened as Riley espoused about the wonders of Baltimore.
Fuck. It sounded like his wife was trying to talk Bubbles into considering a move to the east coast if the stripping job didn’t pan out.
The images of her pop’s face and those of Riley’s four brothers crossed his mind. Riley was infamous for bringing home strays—injured pigeons, dogs, once she even found and rescued a blind rat. Hell, just a couple weeks ago, she’d started putting milk out on the back stoop of the restaurant for a small kitten she’d found.
Bubbles laughed loudly at something Riley said and Aaron sighed. Yep. He could see it now. Bubbles was the ultimate stray.
Chapter Seven
Riley laughed as they entered Swingers. While Aaron was a pretty worldly guy—his job as a cop ensured that he’d seen plenty—she couldn’t miss the slight blush that stained his cheeks when they were led to a table by the almost naked, bald hostess. Totally bald. There wasn’t a hair anywhere on the woman—a truth driven home by the fact she was basically wearing two strings, one around her waist and one between her legs. Riley assumed this was her version of a thong. Her husband’s eyebrows rose to his hairline when he first spotted her, but in typical Aaron fashion, he recovered quickly.
“That was interesting,” he said after she took their drink orders and left. It was nearly two a.m. and the place was in full swing. There were two women performing. One was dressed in a skimpy police outfit—her badge attached to her naked breast through a nipple piercing. She was swinging a billy club as a blonde woman she’d handcuffed to the pole gyrated and pretended to resist arrest. As she moved, her clothing began to fall away, piece by piece, until she was left in just a thong.
The crowd—equal parts male and female—was urging the policewoman to use her billy club on her captive. She began rubbing it between the other woman’s legs to great applause.
“Damn. This is a strip club?” Riley asked.
Bubbles shrugged. “Swingers sort of blurs the line. It’s connected to Swingers Too through those doors over there. That’s a full-fledged sex club. This is just sort of the warm-up. The girls get the customers so hot and bothered they’ll drop the hundred-buck cover charge for Swingers Too without blinking an eye.”
Riley watched a couple hand over a wad of bills and pass through the door to the other club. Good business sense, she decided.
As that show ended, two more women came onstage to act out the roles of teacher and naughty schoolgirl. Riley squeezed her legs together and tried to ignore Aaron’s smug glances when the teacher used a ruler on the student’s ass as punishment.
“Looks like fun,” he murmured to her. “List worthy?”
She wanted to smack him for his cockiness, but instead her traitorous body forced her to merely nod. His genuinely pleased grin prompted her to respond with one of her own. “I had no idea you were such a dirty boy.”
He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “You have no idea how dirty.” He dragged his hand down her arm, moving inward very discreetly to pinch one of her turgid nipples. She gasped as his quick squeeze sent
a jolt of arousal straight to her aching clit.
She leaned closer to him. “I’m horny.”
Aaron’s smoldering gaze let her know he was sharing her pain. “Let’s see if we can find the manager and ask about Bella.” He glanced at his watch. “I have every intention of having you naked, your ass filled with that butt plug and chained to the hotel bed while I fuck you raw within the hour.”
Riley swallowed heavily, her panties soaked with the sticky juices his sexy promise produced. “Make that within half an hour,” she said, her voice huskily betraying her need.
He nodded. “Deal.”
Bubbles followed them as they stood and walked to the bar. The woman was hell-bent on trying to get a job at the club. While Riley appreciated the fact she wanted to give up prostituting herself, she wished Bubbles would branch out to an entirely different line of work. Maybe one that let her remain dressed.
Aaron asked the bartender about the manager and the man directed them to a small door near the restrooms. They knocked on the door and were bid to enter. The manager was seated behind the desk and Riley was shocked by his appearance. She’d anticipated a swarthy guy who walked with a swagger and wore his shirt unbuttoned to show off all his bling. This man looked like her sister-in-law Lily’s dad, the straight-laced government employee. The manager was a short, slight man with reading glasses and a bad comb-over.
Aaron introduced himself and briefly explained why they were looking for Bella. Riley was getting bored with the story simply because of the number of times they’d been forced to retell it.
The manager, Louis, nodded as Aaron finished his recitation.
“She called in and quit.”
“When?” Aaron asked.
“Late last night. Saturday’s her night off anyway. Tonight’s a different story. I’m totally pissed off. There was no way I could find a pony girl in one day. She’s my main act.” Louis glanced at the clock on his wall. “In about thirty minutes, I’m going to have to take that stage and tell those horny drunks that the star attraction isn’t here.” Louis picked up a glass of milky-looking water from his desk and chugged it down. Riley figured he was dosing himself on a little plop, plop, fizz, fizz. “My fucking gut is killing me too. Do you know what this is gonna do to business until I can find a damn replacement?”
“I can be your pony girl.” Bubbles had been remarkably quiet the entire time they were in the office, standing by the door. For a moment, Riley had forgotten about her. An amazing feat, considering Bubbles was pretty hard to ignore.
Louis looked up and grimaced. He obviously hadn’t been aware of her presence either. “Jesus, Bubbles. Are we gonna have to go through this again? You know I’m not gonna let you be the pony girl.”
“Why not?” Riley asked. Regardless of Bubbles’ rather outlandish outfits, she couldn’t help but think the crowd she’d just been a part of would love seeing Bubbles’ girls.
Louis rolled his eyes. “Why not? I’ll tell you why not. Because she can’t dance. Woman has two left feet.”
“But I been practicing,” Bubbles insisted.
Louis snorted with impatience. “You said that last time and you fell off the stage and broke a table. Why don’t you just accept the fact that not everybody’s cut out to be a stripper and you happen to be in that group?”
“But I’m just saying, if you’ll give me another chance, let the crowd see me. I know they’d—”
“You want me to put you onstage tonight? In front of witnesses? Jesus, you’d hurt somebody.”
“Surely you have women working here who aren’t onstage. What about a hostess job? Or a lap-dance lady?” Riley suggested.
“I don’t need any hostesses and the performers do the lap dances too. There’s no distinction.”
Riley walked over, taking Bubbles’ hand and dragging her closer to Louis. His lack of height put him almost at eye level with the hooker’s most profitable asset. “But Bubbles could be your special lap-dance lady. Do you know how much money men would pay to have these beauties thrust in their face?”
The manager’s face took on a greedy, thoughtful look.
“How much would you pay, Aaron?” Riley prompted, throwing him an answer right or pay later look.
“Oh damn,” Aaron said. “At least fifty.” Riley’s eyes narrowed. “A hundred dollars. I’d slap down a hundred bucks without even giving it a second thought.”
“Really?” Louis asked.
Riley got a sense she was close to victory, but Louis didn’t concede as easily as she’d hoped.
“She still can’t dance. Even lap dances require a bit of rhythm. She has none.”
“I’ll teach her.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw Aaron’s head jerk toward her. “What?”
Riley looked at her husband. “I’m going to teach Bubbles how to give the world’s greatest lap dance. You have an empty room?”
She thought she heard Aaron mutter “Jesus” but she wasn’t sure if it was said as a curse or a prayer.
“You can use my office,” Louis offered. “You’ve got fifteen minutes, at which time I’m coming back. If she doesn’t give me the sexiest lap dance on earth then she has to promise me she’ll never come back here looking for a job again. Deal?”
Riley wasn’t completely satisfied with the bargain. “If she does give you a great lap dance, you hire her and make her your main attraction and give her,” Riley paused, wondering what the split was for exotic dancers, “fifty percent of her take.”
Louis laughed and shook his head. “I’ll give her thirty percent.”
Riley opened her mouth to dicker some more. She loved squeezing blood from a turnip, but damn Bubbles yelled out “Deal!” before she could demand forty.
“If she manages to get me off, I’ll introduce her tonight. Might distract the wolves enough that they won’t mind Bella’s absence. Fifteen minutes.”
Louis closed the door behind him and Riley walked behind the desk, pulling his chair around to the middle of the room. “We’re going to need some room to move.” Glancing around, she found an iPod docked with some small speakers. “Perfect. Bubbles, you try to find a sexy song on Louis’ play list and Aaron, you sit here.”
He dug in his heels, refusing to move. “Me?”
Riley gestured at the chair, annoyed by his reticence. “Um, hello? Lap dance. We sort of need a lap.”
“You’re going to have Bubbles give me a lap dance?”
“Oh for God’s sake, Aaron. I’m going to show her how first and then I thought she could try out a few moves. It’s not like I’m hiring you a prostitute. I’m teaching her how to dance.”
“And what makes you an expert on lap dances?”
She rolled her eyes, impatient with his stalling. “I took that pole-dancing class at the community center a couple years ago, remember? We’ve only got fifteen minutes. Sit down.”
Aaron sat on the chair with a scowl. “You’re gonna owe me for this, Riley. Big time.”
“Fine,” she replied hastily. “I’ll give you a get off however you want card. Now hush.”
Bubbles pushed play and the sultry sounds of a jazz tune filled the air. Riley indicated that Bubbles should stand behind Aaron, but slightly to the right so she would be able to see everything clearly.
Swaying her hips, Riley let the music filter through her body as she moved closer to him.
Aaron swallowed heavily when Riley’s arm brushed up against his. His cock had gone on full alert the second she told him to sit down. There was no way he was going to be able to withstand Riley giving him a sexy lap dance for fifteen whole minutes. He’d been seconds away from dragging her into Swingers Too after her face flushed with excitement when the stripper took the ruler to the other woman’s ass.
He couldn’t hold back a groan when Riley threw one leg over his lap, her body swaying and hovering over his. God, she was amazing. Throughout her dance she spoke softly to Bubbles, giving her directions, advice, but the words couldn’t penetr
ate Aaron’s lust-filled mind. All he could see, all he could feel was Riley’s body as it gyrated, tantalizing him with the need for more.
He raised his hands to engulf her waist, to pull her down on his covered cock. He felt like a randy boy, ready and willing to settle for a dry hump if that was all she’d allow. He’d beg for it too.
She smacked his hands away. “You can look, but no touching.”
He reached down and placed his hands on the seat of the chair, tightening his grip, certain there was no way he could keep his hands away from her generous, perky breasts. She was cupping them from underneath, pushing them up and leaning forward until he thought for a moment he’d felt her nipple brush his chin.
He licked his lips, fighting the impulse to move toward her, to capture that juicy nipple with his teeth. Every motion of her body screamed sex and he was reminded of the image of her in the throes of orgasm earlier in the night.
“Please, Riley…enough,” he murmured, his knuckles white with the effort of not touching her. She looked at his face, her hand caressing his cheek. Smiling sweetly, she lowered herself, the vee of her legs perfectly aligned against his erection. She rubbed deeply enough that the heat of her pussy reached his cock through the denim of his jeans. Fuck. He had no doubt if she continued, he’d come in his pants.
“You want me,” she whispered in his ear, her teeth biting his earlobe.
His breathing was harsh, his lungs expanding and contracting at too fast a pace as he tried to fight down the part of him that was about to give Bubbles an education in a lap dance gone too far.
“You’re about to get fucked, Mrs. Young. There is such a thing as teasing a man beyond his breaking point.”
His words seemed to soak in and he realized she’d been as swept away by desire as he was.
“Shit,” she muttered. She blinked quickly and tried to compose herself. Hell, he thought she’d been teasing, but it was obvious she’d been as turned-on as he was. He grinned. He was a lucky man. His new wife had one helluva libido and he was going to make sure she never geared down out of overdrive.
