Must Be Fate: (Cody and Clover) (A Jetty Beach Romance Book 3) (18 page)

The vibe in this place is different from other strip clubs I’ve been to—more of a party atmosphere. I see as many women as men in the crowd, and most of the people at the tables aren’t even paying attention to the girls on the poles. They’re hanging out like they’re at any other club.

Clover finds us a small table and we get a couple drinks. I know I need to stop—it’s getting late and I have to get up early. But I can’t very well come into a place like this and not order anything.

Clover sits near me, her knees touching mine, and looks around with a mischievous glint in her eye. “What do you think?”

I take a sip of my whiskey. “I think you’re the sexiest woman in here.”

“Yeah?” she says. “Maybe you’d like to see me dance like that?” Clover nods toward the woman at center stage, who hooks her leg around the pole and twirls.

“Wait,” I say. “You’ve never worked in a place like this, have you?”

She laughs so hard she almost spills her drink. “Oh my god, no. I’d fall on my face.”

I put my hand on her bare knee and slide it up her thigh. “That’s okay, you don’t need to put on a show for me.”

She tips her legs apart and smiles.

I’m just about to get up and lead her out the door, determined to find our hotel, when I realize there’s someone standing behind me.

“How about a dance, you two?” The woman has a sparkling red bra barely containing a set of huge fake boobs, and a piercing through her belly button.

Clover and I say “Yes!” and “No, thanks” at exactly the same time.

I swing my head around to Clover. “What?”

She stands and licks her lips. “Come on, baby, don’t you want to watch?”

“Private room, then?” the woman asks.

Clover grabs my hand and, before I realize what’s happening, I find myself ducking behind a curtain at the side of the club. Bewildered, I let Clover push me into an upholstered seat.

The stripper’s dark hair is in a ponytail, and she’s wearing thick makeup. “I’m Kitty.” She turns a seductive grin on Clover and twines her finger through one of Clover’s curls. “I love your hair. So wild.”

Clover looks at me and giggles.

“So how about it, big boy,” Kitty says, looking at me. “You like to watch?”

She nudges Clover down onto the seat next to me and turns around, then flips her ponytail over her shoulder and arches her back, sticking her mostly bare ass in Clover’s lap.

Clover laughs again, putting her hands on Kitty’s hips. I’m so fascinated, I can’t look away. Kitty runs a thumb beneath her bra, tugging on it. Clover reaches up and unfastens the hooks, then slides her hands down Kitty’s back.

Oh shit.

Kitty turns and slips off the bra, revealing huge tits that barely move. She glides her hands up and down her body, rocking her hips to the music.

Turning her attention to me, Kitty moves so she’s standing with one leg between Clover’s, her other leg between mine, semi-straddling us both. She writhes around in front of us, tossing her hair, moving her hips.

I hardly pay attention to her. Clover’s skirt is hiked high up her thighs, and I can see her pulse beating in the thin skin of her throat. I put my hand on her leg and lean in to kiss her neck.

“Ooh, you like her don’t you,” Kitty says. “Come here, cupcake.” She grabs Clover’s hands so she’s standing, and moves her in front of me.

Clover laughs again while Kitty stands behind her and puts her hands on Clover’s hips.

“Move with me, gorgeous,” Kitty says. “Show your bad boy what you’ve got.”

Kitty stands close behind Clover, her hips up against Clover’s ass. They start to move together, swaying to the beat of the music. Clover’s eyes are half-shut, her lips parted. Kitty’s hands move up Clover’s ribs, lifting her shirt. Clover raises her arms, letting Kitty pull her shirt off, leaving her in nothing but a pink bra and that short black skirt.

I breathe hard, grabbing Clover’s waist. Kitty presses her closer and Clover widens her stance to straddle over me.

“That’s it, cupcake,” Kitty says, leaning over Clover’s shoulder. “You’re sexy as hell, baby girl.”

Clover smiles and grinds into my very hard cock. I groan, holding her hips while she moves over the top of me, rubbing her pussy across my groin, her breasts in my face. I wrap my hand around the back of her neck, pulling her mouth to mine.

My head is fuzzy; Clover’s body writhing all over has me going crazy. Her tongue tastes like whiskey, and her vanilla scent fills me. I run my hands up her thighs and grab her ass beneath her skirt.

“Ooh, you two are hot,” Kitty says.

I’d forgotten she was even here.

Kitty leans over Clover’s shoulder. “Go for it, cupcake.” Her voice is low. “Do it. I’ll cover for you guys.”

Clover’s eyes widen and her mouth drops open. She reaches down and starts unfastening my pants.

“Wait, what are you doing?” I say, but I don’t try to stop her.

Kitty is still behind Clover, but she backs up a little. She meets my eyes and winks while she continues dancing, then turns, arching her back toward us.

Oh fuck, I don’t know if I can do this.

Clover gets my pants open and pulls out my cock, squeezing the shaft. She swipes her other fingers between her legs and rubs her wetness onto me. Her eyes don’t leave mine.

“We can’t do this here,” I whisper.

“Yes, we can,” she says.

One hand pushes her panties to the side, while she guides my cock in with the other. My eyes roll back in my head. She feels so fucking good, I can barely stand it. She rides me hard, moving her hips, grinding her hot pussy all over me. I dig my fingers into her ass, moving her faster.

“Do it, baby,” she says into my ear. “Come in me right here.”

I forget where we are and the fact that a stripper named Kitty is a foot away, faking a lap dance. Her pussy contracts, and I unleash. My cock pulses—harder, harder, pouring into her. I can’t see; I can’t think. There’s only Clover, her huge blue eyes right in front of mine, her tongue licking my lips as she comes.

She finishes and we both pause, breathing hard. Her eyes widen in surprise and she covers her mouth, her body shaking with laughter.

“Holy shit,” she says, still laughing. She quickly pulls off of me and adjusts her skirt. I fumble with my pants, trying to get my dick back inside before Kitty turns around.

Kitty stops dancing and picks up Clover’s shirt. “Oh my god, you guys. I do this five nights a week, and I’m never turned on, but you two… Let’s just say I’m off in thirty, and you are going to make my boyfriend a happy man tonight.”

I’m so stunned that I have no idea what to say. I pull a bunch of cash out of my wallet and hand it to her without counting it. She thanks me, Clover puts on her shirt, and we walk out of the curtained booth. Kitty’s gone before we get halfway across the floor. I don’t bother finding another table. I’m dazed, high as shit on the craziest sex I’ve ever had.

“I think I need some air,” I say.

We get out to the street and walk through the people lingering outside. I grab Clover and push her up against the side of the building, leaning my face close to her ear.

“You’re fucking insane; do you know that?” I kiss her neck and nip her ear with my teeth.

“You love it,” she says. Her hands glide beneath my shirt, caressing my back.

“You bet I do.”

I wake up, sprawled sideways across the bed. I’m naked, although I don’t remember getting undressed. Even the memory of getting back to our room is hazy. After Club 90, we somehow managed to find our hotel and stumble upstairs to our room. I’m pretty sure we tried three doors before we found ours. I remember Clover covering her mouth to stifle her laughter every time the room key didn’t work.

My head hurts and I need water. I get up and pull on my underwear, then grab a bottle of water from the mini-fridge. Clover is face down, her wild hair spilling out across the sheets.

What a night.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. I had way too much to drink. Did we really have sex in a strip club last night? Holy shit, I think we did.

I take a drink of water, and Clover stirs.

“Hey, gorgeous,” she says, blinking at me with sleepy eyes.

“Hey,” I say. “How do you feel?”

“I think I’m still kinda drunk,” she says.

I grab her a water, and she sits up in bed, wearing nothing but the sheet.

“Thanks,” she says. “What time do we have to leave?”

“Checkout is at eleven,” I say. “I have a breakfast meeting at nine, but it should only take about an hour.”

She puts her water on the nightstand and grabs her phone. “Wait, what time is your thing this morning?”

“Nine.”

“Oh, shit,” she says.

“What?”

“It’s ten fifteen.”

I grab my phone, but the battery’s dead. “Are you kidding me? Fuck.” I fumble for the charger and plug in my phone. My head is pounding.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “Well, I guess we can just get breakfast on our way out of town.”

“Seriously?” I say. “Missing this makes me look really unprofessional.”

“Okay, so just text them and let them know something came up.”

“What am I supposed to tell them? Hey, sorry, I overslept because I got drunk and fucked my girlfriend in a strip club last night.”

“We went out and had a little too much fun,” she says. “Who doesn’t do that sometimes?”

“Doctors,” I say. “Doctors don’t do that. Fuck, we didn’t use a condom last night, did we? Holy shit, Clover. What the fuck?”

“Calm down,” she says. “I told you, I’m on the pill. It keeps me regular. You don’t need to use a condom with me; I won’t get knocked up.”

“Pregnant isn’t the only thing you can get from having sex,” I say. “Trust me. I’ve seen what happens.”

Clover’s mouth drops open and her eyebrows draw together. “Fuck you, Cody.”

“What?”

“I’ve been tested, you asshole,” she says. “Last year, before I moved to Jetty Beach. I’m so fucking clean you could eat off me. Which, you’ve basically done, and I don’t recall you complaining then.”

“Why were you tested? Did you have a reason?” I ask. It’s a stupid question, and I know it as soon as the words are out. But I can’t help it. I’m a
doctor
. It’s literally in my job description to think about stuff like this.

“Well, gosh, Dr. Jacobsen, my last boyfriend had these little sores all over his dick. Do you think that might be a problem?”

I glare at her.

“It was the right thing to do,” she says, and I can hear the anger in her voice. “I’ve had sex before. With other guys. Shocking, I know. I wanted to be sure.”

She gets up and storms into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

I sit down on the edge of the bed and rub my hands up and down my face. What the hell is happening to me? I feel like I don’t know who I am anymore. I drove a motorcycle halfway across the state, broke into my neighbor’s backyard, had sex in a strip club. I’m trying to keep up at work, but I’m getting buried and my patient roster keeps growing.

I don’t know if I can keep doing this.

Clover eventually comes out, but she’s quiet as she packs her things. She’s angry with me, but I’m not sure what to say to her. I feel like I’ve sacrificed a lot for her since we got together, and she keeps pushing. She wants to take me farther and farther out of my comfort zone. Where does it end?

More importantly, where is this going? How much longer before she decides the stars are telling her to move on, and she does?

We spend most of the three-hour drive home in silence. I can’t stop thinking about our conversation last night. Maybe I’m rushing, to be thinking about marriage. It’s only been six months. But I spent two years with Jennifer, and for most of that time, I knew I’d never marry her. I don’t want to do that again. It wouldn’t be fair to either of us.

I’m at a point in my life where I want a relationship with at least the potential to be forever. I bought that damn three-bedroom house for a reason: I want to fill it. I want a wife—and, at some point, kids. That’s always been what I want, and nothing has ever changed that. Jennifer didn’t change it, and Clover hasn’t either.

Can I see myself having that life with Clover?

She’s not the type of woman I ever saw coming. If I’d met her some other way—through friends, or at a bar, or at someone else’s party—I don’t know what I would have done. Her smile is infectious, and I would have been entranced. But would I have pursued her? Would I have sought out a relationship with someone so wild and free?

I glance at her from the corner of my eye. I honestly don’t know.

“You can just drop me off at home,” she says when we turn into town. It’s the most she’s spoken to me during the entire drive.

“All right.”

“You don’t get to be mad at me,” she says. “I get to be mad. You’re the one who’s being a dick.”

“Excuse me?” I ask. “How am I the one being a dick?”

“You’re acting like I must be fucking radioactive or something,” she says. “Oh no, you had your dick inside me without a coat on. It’s the end of the world.”

“It’s not about that,” I say.

“Then what is it about?” she asks. “Why have we been sitting in silence for three damn hours?”

“I overslept and missed a meeting, and you act like it doesn’t matter,” I say. “It’s my own fault; I’m not blaming you. I’m the dumbass who kept doing shots. But it’s easy for you to be flippant about it. You don’t understand the pressure I’m under.”