Love on the Highlight Reel (Connecticut Kings Book 2) (29 page)

“Mmm, don’t tease me,” I whispered against his lips when we finally parted. “Doesn’t your flight leave at eight?”

He squeezed my ass harder, then rocked his pelvis against mine. “Eight-thirty. But traffic.”

“Mmmhmm,” I nodded, slipping my hands into the front of his sweats. “Traffic.”

“Fuck
,” Jordan groaned, grabbing my hands before I could grab
him
. “No time.”

I sucked my teeth. “Rude.”

“Sorry babe.” He cupped my face, planting a kiss on my forehead. “There’s something else though, that I wanted to tell you in person.”

I jerked my head back, alarmed. “What?!”

“
Chill
,” he said immediately, chuckling. “You remember that night of the Royal Ball, how you tripped on me about those pictures of me and Dawn?”

I shook my head. “Nope. No recollection.”

“Yeah right.”  He sat down on the arm of my couch, motioning for me to come and stand between his legs. Obviously, I obliged. “Anyway, I didn’t get it then. But… I get it now. I
really
get it now.”

I frowned, confused. “Jordan… what are you talking about?”

He held up a finger for me to hold on, then fished around in his pocket for his phone. He pulled it out, turned on the screen, then held it up for me to see. My eyes went wide.

Love Connection in the Works For Kings Exec and Sports News Heartthrob Cedrick Rochester?

“Nooooo!!”

“
Yes
,” Jordan nodded, as I scrolled through the pictures. The hug I’d grudgingly given looked downright inappropriate. The grin, when I told him I held grudges? Now it seemed flirtatious. My smile, as I essentially told him to fuck off, only in nicer words?
Why did it look so damn inviting?!

“Jordan, this is—”

“Not what it looks like,” he finished for me, with a wry smile. “But, it looks like what it looks like. And knowing that you and him used to get down… I was ready to punch a hole through this dude.”

“What website is this even on?” I asked, scrolling through the pictures again, horrified. It was like a car wreck – I couldn’t stop looking. “I’m not like… a celebrity, for people to take pictures of me!”

Jordan shrugged. “It’s a gossip site, that follows TV personalities.
You
may not be a celeb, but your boy Ceddy is. Even if it’s just a low level one, he has a following.”

“I’m disgusted.”

“So was I,” Jordan scoffed. “I only saw this shit because Jess sent it to me, asking if we’d broken up. Seeing this herb ass dude with his arms around you turned my damn stomach.”

My lips parted as I fully realized what he was saying. “Jordan… were you
jealous
?”

“Damn right I was jealous,” he exclaimed, then broke into a laugh. “Like, I was
heated.
And then I remembered how my innocent dinner with Dawn must have looked to you—”

“Damn right,” I nodded. “She was all over you!”

“She was
not
all over me.”

I sucked my teeth. “Her arms were around your waist, your arm was around her shoulders, and y’all were showing all your damn teeth, laughing and living it up.”

Jordan reared back, twisting his face at me. “You just remember all those details like that?”

“Just like you’re going to remember all the details from these pictures of me and Cedrick.”

He lifted an eyebrow, then nodded. “Point taken.”

“Uh huh.” I leaned into him again, draping my arms over his shoulders. “I didn’t realize you were the jealous type, Mr. Johnson.”

“I’m not,” he insisted. “I’m just… possessive. Or something.”

“Uh huh.” I grinned. “Is that why you followed me to that concert earlier this month?”

He scoffed. “Wasn’t nobody following you. You can’t call it that when I bought my tickets and the ones for your friends at the same time, with you standing over my shoulder watching. And that’s wasn’t possessiveness. That was… me making sure we were good.”

“Mmm,” I said, then pressed my lips to his.

More than anything, I was teasing him. Brielle was one of the biggest popstars of our time, and her music was universal. Everybody enjoyed it. I hadn’t minded his need to tag along to the concert. With our seats so close, but not beside each other, it was almost like we were there together, and we got to take advantage of the “public privacy” backstage.

That said, I
did
understand what he meant about making sure we were good. The concert was a few days after Thanksgiving, which was a few days after our meltdown. He’d taken three days to get to Kenya to see his mother and come back, then he had a game, and everything had just been so busy that we were kind of in flux.

Now though… we felt solid.

“I’ve gotta get out of here,” he said, but slid his hands underneath my jersey to cup my breasts. “I’ll never hear the end of it if I miss this plane.” His thumbs brushed, then circled my nipples, completely contradicting his declaration that he had to go.

I pulled myself away from him, before I gave in to the urge to snatch the jersey over my head. “You’re right. I’ll see you when you get back.”

“It’ll be my birthday when I get back,” he grinned, and I shook my head.

“Are you going to tell me what you want, or not?”

“Not,” he said, standing up. “The plans are already made. You just have to be where I tell you at the time I tell you.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “So you’re surprising
me
, for
your
birthday?”

He nodded. “Yep. All you gotta do is play along.”

“You’re scaring me.”

“Don’t be scared, beautiful. I promise you – we’ll both have a good time.”

eighteen.

My hands shook as I held up the tiny card in my hand, passing it in front of the electronic scanner that would let me in the door. I took a deep breath as I listened to the locks disengage, and the green light telling me I could come in flashed in front of me.

I tucked Jordan’s VIP card to
Arch & Point
into my clutch as I pulled the door open and went in.

Two security guards waited side by side, blocking the hall. It reminded me of that night, months ago, that I’d come to pull Jordan’s tipsy ass out of this very club.

My, how things have changed since then.

One of the guards looked me over, then stepped aside, allowing me to pass into the dark back hallways of the club. As soon as I turned the corner, a familiar face lit up in greeting.

“Look at
you
,” Shenelle – better known around here as “Southern Comfort” gushed, hooking her arm through mine. “I knew you were fine, but goodness girl!”

I couldn’t help blushing over the compliment. It was one thing to feel like you’d done a good job in the mirror. For a woman who turned people on for a living to think you’d done well? Something else entirely.

“I’ve been tasked,” she continued, in her sensual southern drawl, “with getting you to the appropriate VIP room, and ensuring you that your privacy tonight is top priority. In other words, your secret is safe with us.”

I quietly choked back a snort. Calling it a secret was being generous when
so
many people seemed to know.

“Thanks Shenelle,” I said anyway, because that wasn’t her fault. “Can I get any clues about what’s going to be happening?”

Her pretty caramel-toned face spread into a grin. “Nuh-uh. My lips are zipped, honey. Trust me though. You’ll have a good time.”

“Yeah, that’s what I keep hearing.”

Too bad that didn’t actually tell me anything.

From jump, when he first told me to meet him
here
, of all places, I’d had my reservations. And an attitude. A serious fucking attitude. But
best girlfriend ever
would at least give it a chance, knowing that her man held a deep appreciation for the strip club, plus the fact that it was his birthday. So I smiled. I agreed. I waxed and buffed and pressed and dressed and got my ass here at the time he said.

But I was ready to kill everybody in this place if anything got out of hand. Being
best girlfriend ever
didn’t mean I was going to take any bullshit.

“You have
nothing
to worry about,” Shenelle said in a soothing tone that really did calm the edges of my nerves. She led me to the door all the way near the back, to a room I’d never had to pull JJ from before. Using a card I hadn’t noticed before, she unlocked the door, then held it open for me, gesturing me inside with a flourish. “Have a great night,” she said, pushing me inside, and then closing the door behind me.

The first thing I noticed was the stage.

Lush black curtains dominated the backdrop in here, unlike the deep blues the club used everywhere else. There wasn’t one pole in the middle of the stage – there were six, arranged in a half-circle that gave an effect almost like a cage.

What the hell is this man getting me into?

I looked at the audience area where Jordan was sitting, looking good enough to eat with a fresh line-up and trim, and a dark grey Henley that clung to his muscular frame. Where I was standing was draped in shadows, and background music filled the room. He hadn’t seen or heard me come in.

And neither had Cin.

She stood in front of him in sky-high Louboutins, lace thigh-highs, and garters, plus whatever was underneath the short silk robe she wore. I hung back for a second, watching their interaction… pleased by how non-flirtatious it seemed.

They really do look like friends talking
, I mused, even though I still held a little skepticism. Even before getting back with JJ was on the table, I’d always thought their relationship seemed different from what it looked like on the surface – horny football player and money-grabbing stripper. I’d brushed
that
inclination off though. Because… Of course that’s what the relationship was. Why wouldn’t it be? He was single, she was sexy… that was just how these things went.

Only… apparently not.

The both looked up when I stepped forward, and Cin’s mouth dropped open. “Well,
damn
Cole!”

Jordan didn’t say anything – he just
stared.

I’d taken minute care of my appearance tonight. Sleek, bone straight hair, parted right down the middle to frame my face. Professionally done makeup. Impossibly high heels. Glowy skin. And a
tiny
Kings royal blue dress that showed so much cleavage and thigh it barely qualified as a dress at all.

I was pretty damned sure I looked ready to get on stage myself – which was the goal. These girls weren’t going to outshine me on my man’s birthday.

Or any other, for that matter.

Jordan stood up as I approached, quickly closing the distance between us. His big, nimble hands went to my waist, pulling me against him.

“
Mmmm,
” I moaned – helplessly – as he kissed me, devouring my mouth like we hadn’t seen each other in days. He grabbed my ass as my dress rode up, batting my hands away when I tried to tug it back down.

“Where did you get this, and when can I see you in it again?” he growled into my ear, then grazed my neck with his teeth. I giggled as he licked me there, turned on by the wet, rough rasp of his tongue on my skin.

“You like it?”

“
Hell
yes.”

“Mmm.” I backed away from him, giving him a naughty wink. “You’ll like what’s underneath even better.”

His eyes went wide for a second. “Yo, Cin – cancel this shit. I’m taking my lady home.”

“
Noo
,” I laughed, intersecting my fingers with his. “You planned this for your birthday, so we’re doing it. Come on.”

“I was about to say,” Cin giggled, approaching us with a drink, which she placed in my hand. “I didn’t come out of retirement for the night for no reason.
Somebody
is gonna watch this show. Y’all sit down. Get comfortable.”

She left us in the main area by ourselves, then went through a door that I suspected led backstage. Jordan pulled me down onto a piece of furniture that was some kind of armless love seat, and immediately slid his hand up my thigh.

“Why would you walk in here looking good like this?” he murmured into my neck as he played with the hem of my dress.

I took a long sip from my drink, teasing him with my silence before I answered. “Why
wouldn’t
I? It’s your birthday.”

“Anybody else see you in this?”

“The doorman at my building, and the security here.”

“I’m fucking them up.”

“Hush,” I laughed, getting comfortable in the space under his arm as I took another drink of whatever fruitiness was in the glass Cin gave me. “I dressed for
your
eyes, sir.”

“Tell those niggas not to look at you then.”

“
Hush
.”

I jumped a little as the lights went out – completely pitch black – and didn’t relax until I felt Jordan’s reassuring arms around me. Tiny beads of light appeared in front of us, where the stage was, and I drained my drink, trying to prepare myself for… I had no idea what.

I had no clue what to expect from tonight. A parade of strippers? Endless lap dances for him while I held the stack of money to make it rain?

Music started, blasting the familiar tune of Usher’s
Can You Handle It
from the surround sound. Jordan’s lips brushed my ear as a horizontal band of light appeared, barely an inch high, moving from ceiling to floor. It illuminated Cin’s body in hints as it traveled over her, from her position behind those metal bars on the stage. When it hit the floor, it moved back up again, providing subtle peeks of brown skin encased in what appeared to be very expensive lingerie.

It was…
hot.

As the music went on, other bands of light joined the first one, but never illuminated much at once. Different directions, different speeds, different colors, all timed with the beat of the music. It was undeniably sensual, without being
sexual
, somehow. It was beautiful, honestly, watching her move in those hints of light, wondering what would be next. I was spellbound.

“Is this what you always come to see?” I whispered to Jordan, not taking my eyes off the stage.

He gave me a low chuckle in return. “Hell no. But it’s still sexy, right?”

“Yeah,” I agreed, as the song started winding down.

The lights went completely out again, and when they came back up, filling the room, Cin wasn’t on the stage anymore. Other music started playing again, something else sexy, but it was apparent to me that this was down time now. Jordan pulled me up from our seated position, leading me over to a small, but well-stocked bar at the back of the small room.

“What are you doing?” I asked, watching as he mixed something up in a shaker, plopped an oversized ice cube into a glass for each of us, then poured the drinks.

“Getting you liquored up.” He grinned, then handed me my glass. “You were stiff as hell watching Cin’s little show.”

I frowned, first at his assertion, then at the strength of the liquor in the drink after I took a sip. “I enjoyed it though. It was… art.”

“I know. And you haven’t even seen her make her ass clap yet –
I’m playing
,” he quickly added, seeing the look on my face. “I believe you when you say you enjoyed it, but it doesn’t change the fact that you were stiff. Like you were scared to enjoy it
too
much. I know you like dick, don’t worry.”

I shoved Jordan’s side as he laughed, then took another swig from my drink. Maybe I
was
being a little stiff about it. This was one of the few opportunities I had to be out with Jordan, no real worries about privacy, just able to have a good time. And it was his birthday. I probably
should
just relax and enjoy.

I finished my drink, and then had another. By the time the liquor was starting to kick in, leaving me feeling looser, but still
lucid
, the lights dimmed again. This time, they didn’t go completely dark – the room filled with deep blue light, and the laser beams came up again. Instead of being focused on the stage, they went around the whole room, making it look like the set of a music video.

New music started, something with a slow, sexy, distinctly “island” vibe. I looked up to see that Cin had come in again, but not on the stage this time, and she’d changed clothes. Instead of the lingerie from the stage show, she was in tiny black boy shorts and a loose black crop top, with the lacy black strap of a bra peeking out from her shoulder. Her feet were in different, still ridiculously high heels, and she was wearing… knee pads.

What the hell is about to happen?

I quickly got the answer to that question. As soon as the lyrics started, a man asking forgiveness for his behavior, and blaming it on his inebriated state, she started dancing. Winding her hips, swinging her hair, but not just looking sexy… like,
actually
dancing.

And she could
move
.

She blended moves that were obviously tight, professional choreography with ones that were meant for titillation, like dropping onto her haunches, legs wide, as she twerked and twirled her pelvis. I wasn’t even sure whose entertainment this was really for – her full attention was directed right at me.

She danced toward us, and yet again I couldn’t look away, because she was just that damned good. When she reached where Jordan and I were still standing at the bar, she turned away from us, then put her ass right in
my
pelvic area, grinding against me. I yelped, covering my mouth with my hand as Jordan laughed, grabbing me at the waist to keep me steady.