Her Gentle Giant, Part 2: Remember to Dance (33 page)

Epilogue

June, six months later…

“I can’t believe I’m really going to do this.” Rachel said to herself as she looked in the mirror. At Cami’s direction, she applied another layer of liquid eyeliner to her eyelids. Charlotta helped Rachel with her false eyelashes and put the sky-high acrylic shoes by the stool.

“Oh, don’t worry. You’re going to be phenomenal. I can’t wait to see you up there,” Charlotta told her.

“You have time to run through your routine once if you hurry.” Cami buckled the silver strap on the clear platforms. The shoes put any other pair of fuck-me shoes she owned to utter shame. Just as Cami and Charlotta had taught her, Rachel rose from the stool gracefully, tilting out her ass as she straightened her legs in a classic stripper turn. She adjusted the waistband on the skimpy black and silver cheeky shorts, which revealed most of her ass to great advantage. She checked and adjusted her cleavage in the mirror. Charlotta teased and sprayed Rachel’s hair one last time, making it big and wild. She needed to look just different enough from her everyday self for this to work but enough like herself to catch his eye.

“Your music is out at the DJ booth, cued up and ready to go,” Cami said, trotting back in the room in her white, ruffled bikini thong and white ruffled bra. Her feet were shod in her white platform school girl style pumps.

“You don’t think the Trace Adkins song would have been a better choice? I could do either one.”

The girls shook their heads, and Cami said, “You need music that is totally different from what you usually listen to when you’re together. It needs to be just different enough that when he hears it, it won’t automatically bring you to mind.”

Rachel grinned. “And you’re sure neither of you danced for him to these songs?”

“I’ve never danced to either one of those songs, but I may use your routines after you’re done, if you don’t mind,” Charlotta said, grinning.

“Well, you both taught me and helped develop the routines, so go for it. Just not for
him
, okay?”

Cami giggled. “No problem. I used to dance to ‘Supermassive Black Hole,’ but it’s been a while, and I’ve never danced to ‘Bad Things.’ That routine is my favorite.”

“It’s the vampire thing.” Charlotta snickered. “Maybe he’ll
bite
you tonight.”

Rachel laughed and checked her ass in the mirror one last time, running her hand over a dimple that was visible.

“Do I have enough body glitter on?” Rachel asked.

“You look perfect,” Charlotta reassured her. “Once you get under the purple neon lights, all imperfections disappear. Your ass looks great. You’re going to want to warm up a little.”

“Yeah, how long do I have?”

“Twenty minutes, give or take. The appointment isn’t scheduled until two o’clock, and it’s one thirty now. Jake is meeting him at the door since the front is locked. It’s going to be
perfect
.”

Rachel was a little nervous, but the girls’ enthusiasm helped to build her confidence. She ran through part of her routine under the lights. Her muscles felt warm and relaxed when Charlotta came from the front and waved at her and Cami to get behind the curtain, where they listened and waited.

* * * *

Eli checked his appointment planner and made a quick call while he sat in his truck. He’d arrived early for his two o’clock appointment. When five minutes until two rolled around, he got out of his truck and strode across the parking lot to the door and was met by one of the managers.

Charlotta had given his name to the owner. They were having some problems with their AV system, and the manager had called Eli. Eli had told him it sounded like a signal distribution problem and agreed to come and check it out the following day.

“Thanks for coming, Eli,” Jake said, shaking his hand. “Let me show you where everything is. I have a lot of paperwork that I’m trying to wade through right now, so if you need me, I’ll be in my office. Charlotta is here working on routines with a couple of the other dancers. If you need me, she can direct you to my office.” Jake showed him the problem then exited through a heavy wooden door beside the bar.

“Hi, Eli,” Charlotta said as she walked up, dressed in short shorts and a workout top.

He turned, smiled at her, and gave her a friendly hug, saying, “It’s good to see you.”

“You, too. I’m helping two other dancers refine some routines and practice some new moves. Will it bother you if we have the music up? We don’t want to be in your way.”

“Oh, no. I’m checking the monitors right now. You won’t be bothering me at all. Rachel tells me she has enjoyed taking lessons with you both.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Charlotta said in her melodic, sweet-as-honey voice. “She’s an excellent student. Some things come naturally to people, and Rachel is a natural at dance.”

“
I’ll
say,” Eli said.

She chuckled. “I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the fruits of her labor.”

“Yep.” He carefully pulled the monitor from its built-in cabinet.

“Well, I’ll get out of your hair. Good luck finding whatever the problem is.”

“’Kay,” he said as she walked away. Hmm, that was odd. When he pulled the monitor back, he expected to see a mess behind the TV, but the cables were all fitted properly, the wiring neat and orderly, and all labeled properly. He sighed, thinking he’d have to trace the problem back to the source.

As he double-checked the wiring and connections behind the monitor, music began to pound through the loudspeakers in the heavy bass beat that dancers preferred. He glanced up briefly as Cami and another dancer took the stage, running though their routine. Jake must have hired a new dancer, and Cami was developing a routine to do with her. They were moving simultaneously to Muse’s “Supermassive Black Hole.”

He went back to work but felt his eyes drawn again. And again. The other stripper was
something else
. He could be a happily married man and still appreciate that fact. She had long, curly, dark hair, and under the purple lights, he couldn’t be sure if it was black or brown. Her features were in shadow. She was built perfectly, with soft, smoothly toned feminine curves. She and Cami went through the basic moves of their dance on the stage, and then she turned and leapt for the pole, timed perfectly with Cami. She spun and worked her way up the pole, using her ankle and the back of her calf for leverage.

Guiltily, he realized his full attention was on the dancer and not his job. Even worse, his cock responded. He turned away, trying to ignore her. Now he understood why Rachel had arranged for Charity to find two strippers at his bachelor party who looked
nothing
like her. It made sense, and it also explained why he was responding to this one. She reminded him of Rachel.

To check the theory, he glanced up again over the back of the monitor, and sure enough, she
really did
remind him of Rachel. His cock wholeheartedly agreed, wanting Rachel, preferably
right now
. He realized he was still watching when she looked up from her squatting position at the base of the pole and gracefully rose, swinging her delectable ass way out. Then she grinned at him.

He stood up and banged his head on the cabinet.
No
. He looked away, feeling guilty when a white-hot streak of pure lust shot right through him. The dancer was
flirting
with him, and he was responding. He needed to get done and get the
fuck
out of there.

He cursed at himself for taking this job.

Sure, Jake, I can fix your problem. No, Charlotta, you won’t distract me a bit. No, Eli, you’re not some horny, over-sexed fucking Neanderthal—

He glanced up as she climbed the pole, in sync with Cami, and somehow held herself there with no hands, arched out over the stage, spinning. Reaching for the pole, she flipped herself then spread her long legs above her head into a perfect ballet-like split before twining them around the pole. She slid back down it fast, way too fast for his comfort. Stopping smoothly at the last second, with just her fingertips on the stage floor, she rotated onto the stage on her back. She rolled and rose on her skyscraper shoes, her knees parted as wide as they would go, and ground her way into a standing—

What. The. Fuck?

His heart lurched, and his pulse pounded in his ears. He
knew
that grind. The dancer flicked her hair and looked over her shoulder, directly at him. Smiling again, she twisted around the pole, lifted her feet off the stage, and spun with her hair sailing around her. Releasing the pole, she danced on the stage, skimming her hands down her satiny thighs. His cock reared up when she caressed her mostly-bare, curvaceous ass then trailed the backs of her fingers over her ribs and the sides of her full, round breasts, up her throat, and into her hair.

He
knew
that move, too.

The beautiful dancer shimmied down to a squat and crooked her finger at him as she rose gracefully, rolling her luscious hips. The song ended, and another song began. Cami left the stage as the dancer transitioned smoothly into Jace Everett’s “Bad Things.” He pushed the TV monitor back into the cabinet because there was nothing wrong with their system. He knew why he was here.

His cock tingled in gratitude when he slowly made his way out from behind the bar, moved toward the stage, and took a seat, smiling territorially at his dancer. She never spoke or broke character as she turned and grasped the pole again, dancing with it as she swung her ass out, stepping gracefully in the heels that were higher than any he’d ever seen on her before. They made her legs look impossibly long.

Leaping to the pole, she spun as she climbed higher then somehow flipped upside down and executed another perfect split, and the lines of her long, supple thighs and calves made his mouth water and his cock twitch. In a move that made his heart lurch fearfully, she released her grip on the pole and locked her calf around it before she could plummet to the stage.

She slowly slid down and lowered her body gracefully to the stage, her ankles still twined around the pole. She released the pole, stretched out, and came up on her hands and knees. The sweetly arching curve of her back inspired vibrations in his cock that had him gritting his teeth to control his response, as did the sinuous grinding of her hips as she whipped her hair back with her hand. Sitting upright, she ground her hips and pumped up and down in an erotic move that he could’ve sworn he felt on his cock. Repeating the movement, she caressed her abdomen and slid her hands over her breasts.

She placed the sole of her shoe on the stage and rose on one knee then leaned forward on that foot and smoothly placed the other shoe on the stage and rose in a slow, graceful rolling movement, swinging her ass out again. Swinging her beautiful ass out like that was akin to waving a red flag in front of a bull. She danced around the pole then spun around it, climbing again. She rotated upside down and split her legs wide open as she did, one hand above her on the pole and one below, lowering her in the spin until she came to a stop spread wide directly in front of him.

He had no idea she was so flexible.

She came to her knees and executed a roll on her hands and knees that positioned her at the edge of the stage, her ass directly in front of him. She gave him a teasing little shake, which had him grinning and chuckling at the sudden urge he had to lean forward and take a little bite. Rising again gracefully, she rolled her hips, one foot first and then the other. She took the pole in hand and leapt to it, spinning with one calf around it, the other bent up to her ass, and threw her hair around. Spinning, coming back to the stage, she swung her legs out, landing flawlessly.

She continued dancing around the pole, rolling and grinding her hips, swinging her ass out, always in slow, unhurried erotic movements. She stretched out her hips to him and swung her ass around and back again as the music began to fade. She stood upright and released the pole and sauntered gracefully in the skyscraper heels until she stood directly above him in a wide, sexy, confident stance.

Slowly, she squatted and lowered one hand to the stage and then the other. She panted lightly, and her body was covered in a fine sheen of body glitter and sweat. The purple lights illuminated the upper swells of her succulent, full breasts, and she was close enough to him that he could detect her sweet womanly scent, tinged with her arousal.

He’d already glanced around and knew they were alone in the main room of the club. Jake probably had surveillance cameras and monitors in his office so he could keep an eye on his business, which was wise. It was for that reason Eli was relieved that she’d not removed her top as part of her dance. To Jake, they were probably just more breasts, one pair out of twenty or thirty he saw on a nightly basis. To Eli, they were the most perfect twin beauties in the world and not for others eyes, only
his
. He was glad she felt the same way.

“Sir, if you enjoyed my dance you’re permitted to tip me.” She smiled playfully at him and hooked her finger in the elastic waistband of her skimpy little shorts as if she thought he might actually slip a bill in there, then added, “But why stop at the tip, when I’d really prefer the whole thing?”

There was no stopping the deep rumble that rose from his chest as he stood. He couldn’t take her up on the offer here, so he kept the caveman in check. Given his height, he was at eye level with her on the stage. He placed his warm hands on hers and kissed her, gently at first, but his hunger for her deepened quickly.

When he released her lips, she spoke softly. “Did you like how I danced for you?”

“You are one incredible woman, Rachel Wolf.”

She gave him a sexy, confident grin. “Why, thank you.”

“Why here?”

“It was Cami and Charlotta’s idea. They thought you deserved the full strip club experience, and I’ve been fantasizing about doing this since we first started. I had to do it when no one was around, so they thought of an excuse to get you here. Sorry you had to go through the trouble of messing with the monitors. If I could perform on a real strip club stage, privately for you, then I had to take that opportunity, right?”

“Of course. I loved it.

“No regrets?” she asked as she reached for him.

“No regrets, angel.” He lifted her gently from the stage and set her on her feet. He grinned as he looked at her. Rachel was nearly eye level with him in those heels. She slid her hands over his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“I’m probably getting body glitter all over you.”

“Mmm, yes, angel. Get it
all over me
.”

He slid his hands over her ribs and down her waist as he kissed her deeply. She moaned when he squeezed her ass cheeks.

“You’re bringing the shoes home, right?”

A seductive smile spread across her lips. “Oh, yeah, these are mine.”

He growled deeply in approval.