“Van’s going to go wild for that,” Anne said.
“If he makes it. You look sexy, too. Red suits you.”
“Thanks. Still no word from him?” Di shook her head and asked the bartender for two glasses of wine. “You don’t usually drink when you’re working,” Anne noted as she took the glass of chardonnay.
Di lifted her glass and said, “My work here is done. I’m not dancing the showstopper. We’ll end with the seven veils number.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive. With Van not here, I don’t want to risk having to dance for strangers in the suite.”
“I hadn’t thought of that. A pity. I saw you rehearsing earlier. You do a hot old-school pin-up girl number. And with no light show this time, you were showing quite a lot of yourself.” Anne lifted her glass in a toast and took another sip.
“Show time,” Sam said. Before the lights went down, Di scanned the room once more, looking for Van, but didn’t find him. Gerome Spade walked to center stage, looking handsome in his tuxedo. “Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Vanz.”
The announcement met with the audience’s applause. Anne leaned in and said to Di, “I wouldn’t mind seeing him dance.”
“We’ll be adding men to the line up over the next several weeks,” Di said. “He has experience.” The two women smiled and clinked glasses.
“Tonight marks a milestone in the history of Vanz. After tonight, Vanz will no longer be known as a gentlemen’s club, but rather the premier entertainment destination for men and women.
“Tonight,” he paused and scanned the audience, “you will be treated to not only cabaret and musical numbers, but also burlesque dance. Burlesque takes many forms, as you’ll see, where the performers tell stories through dance in,” Gerome paused for dramatic effect, “various modes of dress and undress.” He smiled and the audience reacted with applause. “You’ll find the dances sexy,” he continued, “lighthearted, even funny. Why before the night is over, you’ll see magic, be entertained by comedians, musicians, and the best dancers in New York.
“So without further ado, welcome the ladies of The All New Revue at Vanz.”
The club darkened as the introduction to “All That Jazz” spilled out of the sound system. “Here we go,” Anne said. The dancers came out on stage in black tuxedo jackets, black stockings, high black pumps, and black fedoras pulled low over their eyes. Each woman carried a shiny black walking stick. They moved through the steps flawlessly, like they’d been doing the show for months. They shifted left to right in two lines, they switched, back to front, then both lines merged with the dancers facing the back of the stage. They took off their jackets, and with flirty looks over their shoulders at the audience, dropped the jackets in front of them. Together, they turned and formed a chorus line. Wearing black satin halters and tap pants that sat low on the hip, the ladies’ high kicks were as good as the Rockettes.
The crowd went wild as the women came forward, their kicks high and uniform as they subtly shifted their shoulders and arched their backs. The women looked confident, proud, and professional. Di couldn’t have been prouder. As the music ended, the women took a bow and left the stage to thunderous applause.
Next, a spotlight hit a woman standing alone at center stage. The pianist struck a note and she began to sing, “Loving That Man of Mine.” She wore a gorgeous white satin, floor-length halter dress with a red feather boa, red shoes, and long red gloves. Her Veronica Lake looks were a throw back to another, more glamorous era. She slowly shifted her hips while she sang the sultry song. As the song progressed, she dropped the boa and slowly peeled off the gloves in a slow, sexy tease that had the audience on the edges of their seats.
“She’s amazing,” Di said.
“The audience is mesmerized,” Anne agreed. When the singer reached behind her neck to untie her halter, someone whistled, and she smiled playfully, which encouraged more cheers. “It’s working,” Anne breathed. When the dress hit the floor, the singer cupped the mike and leaned in. She wore a beautiful strapless red bra and matching red G-string. She shifted her shoulders and hips, her hands on her thighs now. As the song ended, she turned, unhooked her bra, looked over her shoulder and dropped it to the floor. Then she walked through the curtain at the back of the stage.
The audience erupted into applause, with half the audience standing and whistling their appreciation. Di looked over at Sam as he monitored his iPad. He caught Di’s gaze and gave her the thumbs up. Private performances with Sable were $5000.
The show continued. All the acts were all well received. Di noticed a few technical glitches and minor missteps, but nothing the untrained eye would have noticed. The performers all continued like the professionals they were.
Unable to sit still, she moved around the club, checked in back stage, and congratulated the performers as they walked off stage. Orders for private dances, all in the private rooms and alcoves around the club, came in at a steady pace. Everyone felt pleased with how the night had gone, but Di most craved feedback from the person missing.
Needing a moment to herself, she walked into her dressing room to take a break from the crowd and excitement of the performance. Inside, she closed her eyes, leaned back against the door, and took a deep breath. The scent of the roses Van had sent filled her senses and ramped up her longing for him. She had so much she wanted to tell him. She wanted him to see what he’d allowed her to create at the club, but most of all, she longed to feel his arms around her.
“You look beautiful.” Startled, Di opened her eyes and found Van standing next to the dressing table in the center of the room. She took a step towards him but stopped. “You’re here?” she said, unsure if they were actually together in the same room, or if she’d conjured him and this was a dream.
He laughed. “I am.”
He didn’t move; he just stood there staring at her. Di looked her fill, too. He wore a classic black tuxedo and a crisp white shirt with onyx studs and cufflinks. A slightly crooked bowtie completed the look.
“The show is wonderful, far beyond what I could have envisioned. You’re incredible.”
“Thank you.” She moved closer. His gaze slid down her body like a caress.
“If that dress was designed to drive men wild, it’s working.” He held out his hand. When she slipped her hand into his, he pulled her into his arms. “Have you been walking around the club in this?”
She nodded. “There’s only one man I wanted to drive wild tonight.”
“Mmm,” he touched her face with one hand while the other arm held her closer. “Should I be jealous?” he asked with a smile that tugged up just one corner of his mouth.
Di smiled, feeling confident. “Only if you’re not interested,” she said.
“Oh, I’m interested,” he growled. “And I plan to keep you close.”
“Shut up and kiss me already,” she said. When his lips finally moved on hers, she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on. Her knees weakened as Van deepened the kiss, and for the first time in weeks, Di’s world righted. Needing someone this much should have scared her, but it felt natural. The connection between her and Van had always been intense, but what she hadn’t realized until these past weeks was that it had also been inevitable. She’d needed him to show her there was more to life than dancing, and he’d needed her to change this club into something he and his employees could be proud of.
When the kiss ended, Van continued to stroke her back and press kisses to her face and neck. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” she asked.
“I wanted to surprise you.”
She shook her head, her hands pressed to his chest. “Everything about today seemed off, knowing you wouldn’t be here. I just couldn’t imagine doing all this without you seeing what we’d created.”
“This was for you and the staff, but I’m glad you’re pleased with the results.” He touched her face again. “Sam says the receipts are phenomenal. It should be a record night.”
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Di frowned. “This was for me and the staff?”
He stepped away from her and moved a few items around on the dressing table as he spoke. “I wanted you to learn more about how the club operates, and I wanted the employees to be not only well-compensated, but proud of what they’re doing.”
“Why are those things important to you, Van?”
He sat on the stool in front of the table and looked up at her.
“You still don’t know?”
Di shook her head. She wanted to join him, but stood still, almost afraid to move.
“Because I love you.”
Di did sit then, because her legs threatened to give way when she heard his words. She sat on a couch where he must have been sitting before, waiting for her.
“I knew I loved you the first moment I saw you, the same way I know a business I want to invest in. With a business, I work the deal. It’s an impersonal process I’m good at.” He smiled. “It’s harder with people. They want more—deserve more,” he added. “But it’s hard for me to let people in.”
“No one likes putting themselves in a vulnerable position, but there’s freedom in it.”
“How?”
“When you put everything you are into something, it’s only then that you can find true fulfillment. I can perform a flawlessly executed dance, but if I don’t let the audience see my passion for the dance, it falls flat. People can only connect to your art if they’re invited into the place it was created—in the heart and soul of the performer.”
“But people will still reject what you do,” Van pointed out.
Di smiled. “Yes, but it won’t matter because I know that what I’ve given was not only my best technically, but also the best of me.”
“It’s simpler for me—cleaner. I see what I want, and I get it.”
“Except that didn’t work with me, did it?” When he didn’t respond, she continued. “And I suspect it hasn’t worked in other aspects of your personal life.”
He stood and approached. “I don’t have a personal life,” he admitted. “But I’m finding that I want more in my life than work.” He took her hand, knelt, and said, “I’m hoping you’ll be willing to take on one more project.”
“I’m listening.”
“Show me how to love you the way you deserve to be loved.”
Di placed her hand over his heart. “That’s the hard part. You have to trust me with things that make you feel vulnerable.”
A shadow passed over his eyes. “I’ve spent a lifetime burying that part of me.”
“But it’s still there, and until you can embrace those parts of yourself as parts of what make you who you are, they’ll always be there for someone else to use against you.”
“Embrace and admit your weaknesses?” He shook his head. “That can be deadly in what I do.”
“I’m not saying you have to expose those things to the world, but if you know what those things are and can accept them as part of yourself, that’s real strength nothing and no one can breach.”
He took both her hands and held them against his chest. “I might need you to walk me through that,” he said.
She nodded and forged ahead. “I suspect talking about why you bought and have kept the club would be a start.”
“Baby steps?” he suggested.
“Or you could just jump in,” she countered.
Van stood and shoved his hands in his pockets. “It’s a short and tragic tale, really. My mother was a dancer here. My father owned the club. They had an affair.” He clenched his jaw and a muscle ticked there while he wrestled with saying the rest. Di sat quietly, listening. “She got pregnant, obviously. For years, she hoped he’d leave his family for us, but that’s something that was never in his plan. That reality crushed her spirit over time, and she ultimately took her own life.”
Di went to Van and touched his arm. “I’m so sorry.”
He smiled ruefully. “That’s where the story takes an unexpected turn, one neither of them could have seen coming. Her child was left alone after she died, and that finally forced the old man’s hand. He felt,” Van paused, then continued, “obligated to take his fourteen-year-old son into his otherwise perfect family.” The look he turned on her was cold and lifeless. “They never quite forgave me for being the very real evidence of my father’s indiscretions. I’m sure there were others.”
“Van—”
“So when I was able,” he continued, “I bought the club. I wanted to make it into a place where women like my mother could be safe rather than prey for men like my father.”
Stunned, Di had no words. She wanted to hold Van and comfort him, but knew that’s not what he needed. He needed acceptance and confirmation that he’d done the right thing. He already had confirmation on the latter, so she focused on the acceptance part.
“I can’t imagine how it felt to go through the tragedy of losing your mother and living where you weren’t wanted,” she paused, shaking her head. “But I know those experiences molded you into a strong man of character who’s everything his father wasn’t.”
He turned that cold look back onto her. “But that is what you thought of me,” he accused. “You treated me as if I was just like him.”
“And you could have walked away, leaving me to believe that. I deserved it, but you didn’t do that. Instead, you placed me here to uncover clues about who you really are. I’m hoping that was because you were tired of walking away from people who formed wrong impressions of you.”
“With most people it wouldn’t matter, but I wanted your respect,” he admitted softly. “I thought you seeing what I’d done with the club would be enough.” He smiled and pulled her into his arms. “I should have known better.”
She touched his face and said, “I don’t understand why you felt I was worth it, but I’m honored.”
“I told you,” he said, his forehead resting on hers. “I love you. I need you in my life.”
Her heart flipped over inside her chest. Hearing him say the words was incredibly humbling. “I’m falling in love with you, too, Van.”
She felt him stiffen. “Why do I sense a ‘but’ in that statement?”
“Love is a process of learning to trust someone with all your parts—all the good and bad, and all the joy and hurts. We need time to share all those things with each other.” She looked up at him while hope opened up inside her. “I’m willing to go there with you, but you have to be willing to come with me.”
He lifted her face to his and kissed her. “Baby, I’m already there. I’m all in.” He sealed the promise with a kiss.
14
They watched the rest of the show together in Van’s private booth. He’d imagined any number of scenarios where Di learned his carefully guarded secret about his family. Her telling him how she admired the strong, caring man it had made him had shocked and awed him. What kind of person saw the worst in someone as good? He smiled and pulled her closer. She laughed. “What?”
“You’re incredible, and I don’t deserve you, but I’m going to do everything I can to make you not regret taking me on.”
“I don’t need anything but you,” she said. “The real you—all of you.” She leaned in and whispered against his ear, “I like the bad boy in you, too. A lot,” she said and squeezed his inner thigh, dangerously close to another part of his anatomy that wouldn’t mind being squeezed.
He was about to drag her out of the club and back to his apartment when Anne walked up to the table. “Pardon me for interrupting, but the veil dance is up next. What am I telling the emcee? Is that going to be the finale?”
Di looked at Van then Anne, clearly conflicted. “What?” he asked.
“Di was supposed to do the final dance, but she’s been quite unable to commit.” Anne swung her accusing look to Van. “I’m blaming you for distracting her with your disappearing act.”
“Is that what the sexy red dress in your dressing room was about?”
“I didn’t want to dance if you w
eren’t going to be here,” Di said.
“Why?” Van asked.
She trailed a finger down his lapel and looked up at him through her lashes. “I didn’t want to dance for anyone but you, and if I’d gone up there, I would have had to go into the private suite with strangers.”
He nodded. “I see. So, you created a dance guaranteed to make me want to buy all your private dances. Again.”
“I hoped you would buy them,” she confirmed.
“So what’s holding you back now that I’m here?” he asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“Not sure about the dance or me?” he pressed.
“Tick, tock,” Anne said.
In response, Van held up a finger.
“Tell me,” Van said.
“The first time I danced here, you didn’t want me to.” She lowered her voice so only he could hear her. “And now that I know about your mother, I understand why.”
“That’s not why I didn’t want you to dance here. I knew you’d have every man in the audience eating out of the palm of your hand, and you did. What I didn’t know was if you’d have me. And I wanted you, badly,” he admitted.
“Oh,” she said, surprised. “As it turns out, I did have you,” she reminded him. She leaned in, giving him a delicious view of her cleavage. “And I plan on having you again tonight. As many times as I can,” she added and bit his earlobe.
He turned his head and kissed her. “Minx.” He nudged her with his arm and said, “Go dance.”
She sat back, a surprised expression on her face. “You’re sure.”
“Are you?” he asked. “Sure of me?”
She gave him a look that by all accounts should have scorched his clothes off. “Should I be?”
In answer, he just smiled and sat back, resting his arms along the plush cushions of the booth. Her gaze narrowed at the unspoken challenge he’d shot back at her.
Di faced Anne and said, “Tell Gerome I’m the finale.” She stood, squared her shoulders, and said, “I hope you have deep pockets.”
Julianna came out next and held the audience enthralled as she performed the seven veils dance. Her execution was perfect, but the intrigue she wove into the dance made it captivating and had many customers texting their requests from their cells.
Dared: Scandalous Moves Series Page 9
