Blow Softly (Red Light: Silver Girls #1)

by Debra Kayn

  "Hold on tight, sweetheart," whispered Bear against her opened lips. "I have a feeling this kiss is going to knock both of us on our ass."

  He captured her mouth, opening hers, and when he'd aligned his head perfectly with hers, he pressed against her tenderly. She trembled at the closeness, the warmth, the taste so foreign and real, she closed her eyes, never wanting him to stop.

  And, he only made the kiss better when his tongue connected with hers and withdrew. She wanted the intimacy he offered more than she'd wanted anything in her life. Long, slow strokes of his tongue fed the spiral of arousal growing inside of her and between her legs.

  Bear eased back, kissing her lips. She opened her eyes and found him watching her, easing away from the depth he'd taken her until he cupped her cheeks and lingered over her mouth.

  "Tell me I'm welcome to come back," whispered Bear.

  Her breath came hard and heavy. She nodded.

  He kissed the tip of her nose and lifted her off the railing and put her on her feet. Her legs shook, and Bear steadied her.

  Bear lifted her chin. "Will you be okay?"

  She blinked, unable to do more than let him know she still breathed, her heart still beat, and she was alive. She might die tonight, but for now, she was better than okay.

  "Go inside. Text me later if you need to talk."

  She stepped away and Bear stopped her. He still held her hand. She smiled, letting him know she was going to be okay, and he let go.

  She opened the sliding door and stepped into her room. Sitting on the bed, she refused to gaze outside at Bear and fought to find her balance. If she looked, she'd go back out on the balcony and stay with him.

  He had told her the truth. His kiss knocked her on her ass and had her wanting more.

  Chapter Eleven

  The customer who introduced himself as The Mayor thrust between Madison's legs. She planted her feet on the edge of the mattress and clutched the throw rug underneath her. She arched her back every time The Mayor plunged inside her, closing her eyes, and careened her head atop the mattress as if in the throes of passion.

  "That's it, Lisa. Work it." The Mayor grunted.

  She had no idea who Lisa was or if her customer misheard when Tiff introduce her to him, and she didn't care. His large body shuddered. Madison stilled. Her job over. His fifteen minutes of allotted time ended, and she only had one customer to go before her work day ended.

  As soon as The Mayor staggered back away from the bed, Madison sat up and retrieved the wastebasket for the used condom. She slid on the silk robe hung over the chair and waited while the man fastened his dress pants and straightened his tie. Before she'd gone to work for the Network, she believed prostitution was all about slapping bare skin against bare skin.

  The men were required to stay dressed and only let their cock out of their pants. While she catered to their fantasy, either presenting herself in costume as requested or naked. The rules behind keeping the customer dressed came down to safety. A condom protected her and the clothes kept her from having to touch another person.

  Other people failed to understand or put into play how men preferred visual sex. They enjoyed a naked body, the sight of a pussy, even though their focus centered on their dick. In the rawest term, she was only a hole for a man to enjoy while his eyes fantasized her body.

  Sex had nothing to do with her and no pleasure ever came her way. She closed herself off from the act each and every time.

  The door opened, and Tiff escorted The Mayor out of her room. She removed the rug on the bed and replaced a new one on the mattress. With five minutes to spare before her next customer, she puckered her lips and blew softly. She'd practiced whistling every spare second of her day in between customers and still failed to make any sound.

  She walked over to the dresser, blowing out of her puckered lips at different speeds and intensity. She opened the KY Jelly, put a drop of the lubrication on her finger and spread the liquid along her sex. After one more customer, she'd be off until four o'clock tomorrow.

  She unplugged the warmer for the night, and went into the bathroom and washed her hands. A low, short whistle came from her lips stopping her from reaching for the towel. She tried whistling again, afraid she imagined the sound, and an airy shrill came from her mouth.

  Stunned, she hurried into the bedroom, pulled her phone out of the drawer, and texted Bear.

  "I whistled!" She smiled around her puckered lips ruining the sound and only blowing softly to the room.

  A knock came from the door. She sucked in air, dropped her phone in the nightstand, and pushed the drawer closed with her knee, smiling at the gentleman entering the room. All she wanted to do was finish her job with the customer and kick him out of the Blue Room and keep whistling.

  The door closed. Madison slipped the robe off her shoulders and let it slither to the floor.

  "Beautiful." The man circled his finger in the air. "Turn for me. Let me see what I'm getting."

  Madison pivoted slowly. Her hip first, followed by her shoulders, and finally, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and made a complete turn. One glance at the erection in the man's hand, she retrieved a condom and handed over the protection.

  "How about you put it on me?" The man stepped forward.

  While some prostitutes would help, she preferred to keep contact to a minimum with Tiff's permission. Instead, she crawled up on the bed on her hands and knees, looking over her shoulder. The customer, taking her lead, rolled the condom on himself and followed her to the edge of the bed.

  She wiggled her ass until two hands captured her hips and held her steady. She breathed through the intrusion into her body and tossed her hair down her back. The faster he finished, the sooner she could try and contact Bear again and tell him the good news.

  She'd succeeded in making a sound for the first time since Del stole her words from her in a fit of anger and while conversations and speech were out of her reach, her world opened up a little more now that she could whistle. She had Bear to thank. Without him, she'd be totally silent.

  "I'm going to come." The man grunted.

  Madison blinked several times bringing her back to doing her job.

  Her customer pulled out of her. "God, you're good."

  She crawled off the bed and grabbed the wastebasket. Confident all men were pleased as long as they got their nut off, she'd done her job, and he'd walk through the doorway completely satisfied. She received no pleasure, no gratification, and no arousal.

  She felt absolutely nothing.

  He slipped her an extra twenty dollars when the door opened. She smiled and watched the customer leave with Tiff. The moment the door shut, she rushed to the bathroom, showered, and dressed for the night while whistling.

  She texted Bear again. "Can you come over tonight after Silver Girls opens?"

  Slipping the phone into her pocket, she hurried to dinner. Anxious to show off her new skill to Bear later.

  In the kitchen, she sat beside Sunny and Aubrey. Marci passed her a taco salad. She smiled her thanks and dug in, hungrier than she'd thought.

  "Who had the big guy with the suit?" whispered Sunny.

  Paige reached for the sour cream. "Not me. Every single customer wore dirty boots as if they came right out of the mine and headed straight to Red Light. Though I have to say, miners are big, if you know what I'm saying."

  "Well, then who had the sharp dressed man?" Sunny looked at Aubrey, who shook her head, and then at Madison.

  Madison pointed at her chest. She'd had the mayor.

  Sunny leaned closer. "Is he rich or important?"

  Madison shifted in the chair and grabbed the notepad and pen off the table. She scribbled the answer down and passed the paper to Sunny.

  "He's the Mayor of Federal?" Sunny crumbled the note. "In a town this size, he's probably not rich or important. I was hoping he was a mine owner or stock broker."

  "Always chasing the dream, eh?" Paige laughed. "Do you really think a rich man w
ill whisk you away and put you in a fancy house and let you be his arm candy until you're too old to look good?"

  "Weirder things have happened to other prostitutes. I've known two other women who met men willing to support them and rescue them from a life of prostitution." Sunny jabbed her fork in the bowl, spearing lettuce. "All I need is a way out. A man to bankroll me for a few months to a year and I could go somewhere and start over."

  "Dream on, girlfriend. You're a nympho. You wouldn't last a month without dick or should I say a variety of dick." Aubrey shook a bottle of hot sauce over her bowl. "Some of us have no choice but to sell sex. If you were serious about leaving, all you'd need to do is hang out at one of the bars. Get your sex like a normal woman."

  "It's not the same thing, and you know it." Sunny scooted her salad away from her and stood. "I'm going to my room. The conversation in here depresses me."

  "Hey, what about going up on the roof? Silver Girls will be open, so the bikers will be hanging around the back of the building." Paige wiped her mouth with her napkin. "Tiff gave us beer. Looking and drinking will entertain you for a few hours."

  "I've got phone calls to make." Sunny walked out of the room.

  "What's her problem?" asked Aubrey.

  Marci stepped over to the group of ladies. "Everyone deserves their privacy, ladies. Give Sunny some room. I also would like to remind you not to gossip about the customers. We appreciate their business, and they deserve our respect."

  Madison lowered her gaze to the table. Guilty of talking about the mayor, she wanted to follow Sunny out of the room and check her phone to see if Bear answered her.

  She grabbed Sunny's bowl she'd left on the table and her own and took the dishes to the sink. Once she had the dishwasher loaded, she caught a break while Marci distracted the others over picking out tomorrow night's dinner and left the kitchen without anyone stopping her.

  Outside the Blue Room, she paused when the door at the end of the hallway leading to the first floor opened. She slipped into her room and stopped the door from clicking shut. Curious to see who came to Red Light, she peeked out into the hallway.

  Tiff and Jeremy walked in her direction. She put her ear to the crack she'd made and stayed hidden. For the last two days, she'd waited for a reprimand to come her way for inviting Bear here, but Tiff hadn't said anything more about her breaking the rules.

  "I get what you're saying, but the sheriff promised he'd control the crowd." Tiff stopped outside her suite. "I think it's important for security to remain the same while you're gone."

  "I'm still putting Bear and Gunner on duty round the clock." Jeremy kissed Tiff's forehead. "I'll be back tomorrow night. Once the meeting is over, I'll have a better grasp of how to move forward."

  "If it's no big deal, why can't Cam go to the prison instead?"

  "His knee won't take the long ride." Jeremy opened the suite.

  The two of them shut the door, blocking Madison from hearing more. She quietly latched and locked the door. Her excitement over hearing Bear's name dampened over her concern for why Bear would be guarding the building.

  Her dinner laid heavy in her stomach. Why would Jeremy go to visit a prison and why would Tiff trust the sheriff around Red Light?

  The hazards involved in having someone in law enforcement near the bordello were too risky for her to comprehend. Obviously, Tiff wanted to keep her routine the same. Madison relied on her employer to keep her safe, and Tiff's discomfort worried her.

  In six years of working for the Network, she could only remember two times where her safety had been compromised. In Nevada, she'd worked for an illegal bordello when the Feds came through and hauled two women off for prostitution, and the owner received twenty-five years in prison. She walked away from the situation because the madam had changed her motel room at the request of one of the customers and the Feds missed picking her up. The close call almost had her leaving the Network for a safer job.

  Then, last year, she'd arrived at a bordello in Orange County, California and found the doors barred and police surrounding the building. She'd stepped out of the taxi and kept walking until she could call the Network out of harm's way and inform her employer of what she'd found. They'd sent her back to the airport and reassigned her to New Mexico.

  While she believed Tiff had everything under control at Red Light, overhearing the conversation made her feel as if she played Russian Roulette with her life every day she chose to work in an illegal establishment. At least at Red Light, Tiff ran the business incognito as an abused women's refuge while downstairs she ran a legal business. The cover story much better and more believable than she'd found at other bordellos.

  Her phone vibrated. She pulled up the message.

  Bear: "Be there in 10."

  She opened the sliding door to let the cooler outside air in and sat down in the chair in her room and typed out a message on her phone to give to Bear when he arrived. The long stream of notes she had stored on her phone surprised her. She'd talked a lot to Bear, whether showing him her phone in person or by sending him a text. Saving the last conversation, she opened a new note file. He was the only man she'd ever talked with using her phone. All the other files on her cell pertained to her job or were details from past employers she needed to keep handy.

  Finished with her message, she placed the phone on her lap and puckered her lips. A soft whistle filled her ears.

  The music downstairs filtered into her room at the first sign of Silver Girls opening. She slouched in the chair and concentrated on hearing the words, recognizing the song. Use Somebody by Kings of Leon.

  She bobbed her head to the beat and tried to whistle along with the song the way Bear had all those nights in the alley. The shrill sound came out choppy, one-toned, and she couldn't stop the smile ruining the formation of her lips and had to keep starting over, but she successfully followed the beat of the music.

  Tapping her toe, she struggled to keep going. Her chest tightened and filled with excitement. The desire to express herself with more than hand signals and facial expressions filled her with a sense of accomplishment she hadn't achieved in a long time.

  The song ended. She covered her mouth out of habit, silently laughing out of pure joy.

  Two taps on the door broke her out of her self-indulgence. She sat up straight and stared at Bear standing in the open doorway to the balcony.

  His eyes smiled. She moistened her lips trying to get her heart to stop racing, but he continued to look at her. The softness in his gaze, the crinkles at the corner of his eyes, and the solidness he brought with his presence left her unable to stand.

  She liked him.

  The rules, her occupation, the differences in their personalities, and the fact she would never be able to utter how much she enjoyed having him around and to tell him how she felt about him no longer mattered. She could see he understood her in his eyes and the way he accepted her without question.

  He wanted to be with her. She had no idea why or what made him seek her out, but the answer no longer mattered to her. His being here, looking at her with respect, interest, and his emotions on display were more than she'd ever thought possible and she wanted to make sure he never looked at her any differently.

  She stood and approached him. The need to keep him out of her room had nothing to do with the rules. She needed to ignore the acts she performed inside the Blue Room to keep Bear from doubting everything about her.

  Outside on the balcony, she slid the sliding door shut and handed Bear her phone to distract him.

  Bear ignored her message and hooked her neck dragging her closer until she leaned against his body. "You had a choice to stop me from kissing you last time I was here, and you let me in. Now kissing you is going to be something I'm going to do whenever I want."

  He captured her lips. She opened her mouth, and he tasted her. His lips pressed harder. She clung to his vest and gave him her tongue. Arousal bubbled in her chest, spilling out to the rest of her. Her body responded, loos
ening, tingling, and bending to the shape of him.

  Bear pulled back. "And, you can kiss me whenever you want."

  She nodded quickly and tugged him down, testing how well he accommodated her needs. He growled into her mouth. The vibration startled her, and she pulled back.

  "Sweetheart?" He studied her.

  She blew out her cheeks and let the air out slowly. No stranger to men's sexual arousal, her body's response to Bear remained a different matter.

  Over the last several years, she'd ignored her sexual needs. Pleasure never came while working, and never seemed important when she had time off. Suddenly, Bear stood before her and was aware of how she reacted to him. She stepped away. Her body shook. Conscious of her vulnerability at letting herself selfishly feel, she needed to slow down before she lost control.

  Chapter Twelve

  Bear's hand tightened on the back of Madison's neck stopping her retreat. He loosened his hold, sucking air to get a grip on what he'd witnessed. The sight and sound of Madison pathetically whistling to the music had amused him. She sounded like a cat in heat until she'd smiled in obvious pleasure, unaware of him standing there losing his shit over the sight of her.

  Then, she'd looked up at him seeking permission to kiss him and he gave it to her. Hell, he'd break his back giving her the world if she let him.

  He had the means to take her away from Red Light and make a life for her where she wouldn't have to spread her legs for anyone but him. She'd gain the protection from the club, and nobody in Federal would have to know she'd fucked their husband, their brother, their best friend.

  Madison stroked his cheek through his beard. He lowered his gaze to her concerned eyes and nodded, knowing she worried about his reaction. Hit by a strong force to protect her, he shook. His big body trembled needing to take care of her.

  She'd whistled, and going by the pleasure of her success, her entire expression changed. He wondered if she'd ever felt better. She enjoyed the sound as if she heard her favorite song on the radio that reminded her of good times, innocence, and summertime.