No Reservations (13 page)

Let's hope I won't have to endure a sympathy night at the Penny Pincher again.' He pul ed his shirt back on and stepped into his shoes as he ate the last bit of food. 'We're going to hash out this moving-in-together thing when Leah and Brandon have worked this through.'

Before she could argue, he swatted her ass and left.

Smiling, she wandered over to Leah's door and tapped.

Leah? Girl, I hope Bingo didn't wear you out, we have Australian strippers to ogle,' Kate cal ed through the closed door.

Leah opened up. 'I'm ready.'

'Good, you can tel me why poor little Bingo went away upset and why Dix is going to have to take him to a strip club.'

'He'd better not bring him back with anything itchy.'

They both laughed as they got ready for their night on the town.

'Those can't be real. Are those real? Those can't be real.' Laughing through her astonishment, Leah put a selfconscious hand on her chest. 'Good Lord, they're bigger than mine.'

Kate, drink in hand and eyes shining with laughter, had to catch her breath before she could speak. 'Al real and covered with enough oil to fry a basket of fries.'

The man gyrating on the stage had stripped down to a fringed loincloth, his long hair held back from his face by a leather headband. His broad, muscled chest gleamed under the barrage of disco lights as the music thumped. And then he did it again, the trick that had so astounded Leah. One, two, one, his pecs jerked in time to the bass beat. He never stopped grinning.

Leah finished her second margarita and leant back in the comfortable padded booth Kate's connections had scored for them. 'Damn, that's impressive.'

The show had barely gotten under way, but already the screaming audience had been whipped into a frenzy by the total y cute emcee with the sexy Australian accent. The place was packed, wal -to-wal women, and not a one of them had to wave a dol ar bil to get a stripper's attention. Thunder From Down Under didn't work that way. You paid to get in, you sat back and enjoyed the show.

'I sort of miss the dol ars,' she confided to Kate. 'I mean, they say that something like twenty-five per cent of the dol ar bil s in circulation have spent some time in a stripper's G-string. Besides, stuffing money in a guy's jock is so . . .

tactile.'

Kate guffawed and slapped the table, then jerked the platter of nachos towards her to grab up a chip dripping with cheese and salsa. 'You'd better slow down on those drinks.

You're starting to rationalise touching strippers again.'

'As if that needed rationalising!' Leah waved at the waiter, a cute young thing in a pair of black dress trousers and a bow-tie, and nothing else. 'Another round!'

Then they had no more time for jokes, because the show began in earnest. And sure, it was a group of buff, toned and tanned men al greased up and shaking their moneymakers to s pop tunes, but what wasn't there to love about that? Leah sipped at her third drink and sat back to enjoy the show.

Dix is so much hotter than any of these guys.' Kate shoved away the empty nacho basket and pointed to the stage, where a trio of dudes dressed like firefighters were bumping and grinding. 'So's Bingo, for that matter.'

'Brandon' Leah said firmly, because the name Bingo made her want to laugh and cringe at the same time, 'is super-duper way hotter than that.'

Kate lifted her glass. 'We are fucking two of the hottest men on the planet. You do realise that.' Leah clinked her glass to her friend's. 'Hel , yeah!'

'Although that one on the end is pretty fucking delish,'

Kate added, pointing to a short-cropped blond in a pair of bal -hugging denim shorts. 'I could do without the plum-smugglers but, holy shit, does he have a nice bel y.' 'I'm not into blonds so much, but yeah. Nice.'

Kate snorted and rol ed her eyes. 'You're not into blonds.

No kidding.' What's that supposed to mean?' God, it felt good to laugh. 'It means you have a type.'

'Pfft.' Leah nodded towards the stage. 'And you don't?'

'Nothing wrong with it,' Kate said, then paused, looking at the stage. 'Now that one. That guy, he's your type.'

The song had ended and a new guy took the stage.

Leah looked. Tal , lean, dark hair with emo bangs covering one eye. From this distance she couldn't be sure, but she thought he might have blue eyes. He wore a pair of black suit pants and a white button-down shirt, a tie pul ed loose at his neck.

'Hel , yes,' she murmured, watching as the emcee pul ed a woman up from the front row and seated her in a spinning office chair. Can I tel you how happy I am we're back here in the non-VIP section?'

Kate laughed. 'What, you're not interested in going home covered with baby oil?'

'Not even.' Leah watched as the cute guy, just her type, twirled the woman on the chair and danced around her. 'And I already told you, if Dix brings home my Brandon covered in -

Oh, shit.'

The action on the stage had taken a surprising turn.

Leah had been expecting the dancer to shake his stuff in the woman's face, maybe reach down and yank off his tearaway pants and sit on her lap. Standard male stripper moves. But this guy . . . this guy in his naughty-schoolboy outfit, had just dropped to his knees, pul ing at his tie, sliding open the buttons on his shirt to reveal a bare sleek chest with a line of dark hair disappearing down his bel y into the waistband of his trousers.

'He's got body hair!' Kate crowed. 'Wow!'

Leah swal owed a rush of saliva, tasting tequila and lime. 'Yeah. That h just my type.' Kate shot her a look. 'Like I said. Nothing wrong with it.'

The scene on the stage was overblown and bordering on ridiculous, but nevertheless Leah felt a rush of heat as the dancer rubbed his cheek up the woman's leg, only to pul away and arch back, thrusting his groin into the air as the emcee encouraged the woman's friends to egg her into uniipping his pants. When she did, the energy level in the room ratcheted up another couple hundred notches until the air practical y vibrated from it. Or maybe that was al the screaming, Leah thought as the woman reached for the stripper's crotch and gave them al what they clamoured for.

Kate woo-hooed along with the crowd, and a moment later Leah found the voice to join her. The waiter brought more drinks. The guy on his knees got up so the woman in the chair could pul his pants down around his ankles for him. After that, the moment was lost when he started to re-enact the famous underpants-dance scene from Risky Business, but Leah kept her eyes on the guy as he finished his strut, planted a kiss on the woman's cheek and left the stage.

Nothing wrong with having a type, hel no. Wasn't it better to know what you wanted, what you craved, than denying it? Or worse, never finding out? Leah sat back again against the padded booth, watching the next set of dancers, one of them in a pair of fishnets and a wig, rock out to the

'Time Warp'. How could anyone not love a bunch of half-naked men with good senses of humour?

Her phone lay dark and silent in her bag, but she reached for it anyway and slid a finger across the touch screen to unlock it and check for any missed cal s or text messages. Nothing. She put it on the table where she'd be able to see if something came in, just in case.

'Brandon checking up on you?' Kate teased.

Leah shook her head. 'No. I'm sure he and Dix are busy right about now.'

She frowned, imagining a set of huge tits and a tiny, tight ass in a thong bouncing on Brandon's lap. Women paid attention to him al the time. Hel , they couldn't walk into the grocery store without him turning heads. But there was no threat from a stripper, no matter how naked or covered in glitter she might be. Or how big her tits. For strippers, it was just a job. Right?

'You're not worried, are you?'

The music had died down a little bit while the emcee chattered, getting them ready for the second half of the show.

He was talking about some sort of picture package available for sale after the performance. Leah shook her head. 'No. I trust him.' 'I trust Dix too,' Kate said. Then she frowned. 'Did I tel you Pickles came on to him?'

This put everything into proper perspective, and Leah drew in a breath. 'No! Wel , I'd say I'm shocked, but I guess I'm not. What a bitch.'

Kate sneered. 'I tried. I tried to put myself in her place.

Dix is an awesome man, how would I feel if he didn't love me?

'

Leah nodded as they both made growling sounds when the dark-haired pirate came on stage and undulated around a young woman in a tight T-shirt with BRIDE emblazoned across her boobies. Boobies she now was busily exposing and shoving into the face of the oiled-up pirate as she tried to grab a handful of cock.

Leah sniffed. 'Her mother must be proud. Anyway, they've been split up for a long time. While it's nice and al for you to be understanding, that bitch needs a smack.

Kate shrugged and downed her drink. Wow, she was tipsy. It was a good thing Eve was thousands of miles away or she would have gotten a smack.

She snickered. 'I'm done with her. I told her off, but she doesn't care. Dix says he told her off too. I believe he did. But like I said, she doesn't care. She can't possibly think she'l win him back. She couldn't do that before I entered the scene.'

'Maybe she just wants to drive a wedge between you.'

Leah shrugged, and Kate was comforted by how much her friend saw in people.

'Her latest is to use the girls and Dix is real y upset. I feel bad for him, you know? Holy shit, you could bounce quarters off his ass.' Kate nodded her head back to the stage where pirate boy had pul ed off his skin-tight pantaloons and made a slow, sensual circle with his hips. 'Chris tal mighty, I'm having impure thoughts about a boy I'm probably old enough to have babysat for.'

'That hip action is impressive,' Leah said, rapt.

They were both silent a while as they watched the grace and blatant sexuality the pirate guy brought out of his body. A flex, a shimmy, it was more than just shaking his cock. He owned it, owned his sexual lure, clearly revel ed in the power he had over this room of women. The cocky smile, the coy look through his hair as he glanced back over his shoulder --

the man was al about that moment on stage and while it was fun to giggle, there was a definite depth of pleasure emanating from him. Pleasure at being happy in his skin.

Leah needed that with Bingo, er, Brandon. And truth be told, Kate knew she had to figure out how to get that with Dix. How to move past this current Pickle-sized hurdle and embrace their future. They'd worked through her reluctance regarding dating a co-worker and now they had even bigger things to deal with.

'What's his plan then? Has she said things about you to the kids?' Leah broke away from the scene on the stage for a moment to look at Kate.

'She hadn't before this latest little stunt. But... oh wow, a threesome.' Three of the dancers got on stage and did a sort of unified grinding thing. So total y homoerotic and what girl didn't like that? 'Whew, guh, wow. Al hunks al the time.

Yannow, I can watch men crawl al over each other al day long.'

Leah snorted a laugh and they clinked their glasses together as they continued to watch the show and the roiling wal of women who grabbed any male who came within grasp.

'Oh holy shit, that thing . . .' Leah's voice wandered off as they both watched pirate boy jump up on a table and pour two bottles of water over his body. In the lights his skin glistened blue as the water sluiced down over a very defined chest and bel y. 'He's so wet. I should be disgusted but I'm not. I feel dirty.'

They both laughed. Kate's sides already ached from al the laughing they'd done since arriving in Las Vegas. They'd both needed this trip.

Uh huh. Real y dirty. He has nipple rings. That's real y fucking hot but only in context. Like on guys like him. On Dix, it would make me laugh. A tat? Now that would be hot.' Kate shifted, squeezing her thighs together a bit.

'We need to get the pictures with them afterwards.'

Leah's statement was decisive and Kate nodded. Leah loved strippers of al kinds and she was Kate's best friend. What sort of friend would refuse a photo op with the fine young pirate? She snickered. Yeah, right. It was al about Leah.

'I can see you blaming this al on me if photographic evidence leaks out,' Leah said.

'Hey, I wil not hesitate to throw you under the bus.

Remember when those Borg things came at us at the Star Trek Experience at the Hilton? Bitch, please, you're Borg meat and you'l slow 'em down so I can get away. If Dix sees a pic of me looking al stunned by that flat hard field of twenty-two-year-old stripper ass? It's al you. You made me and shit.

I'm a pawn, an innocent.'

'Cold. So very cold.'

'Totes.'

'Back to Pickles.' Leah made a circular motion with her hand, tel ing Kate to get on with it.

'So until her arrival at the lake house she hadn't said anything to the girls, but I think that might change. I don't want to put him in the middle. That's the one thing I've always promised myself. I demand he give me al of himself, yes. But they come first. He's a father first and I respect that. It's one of the things that makes him so sexy. He loves his daughters and they love him. They trust him, Leah. They simply know he wil be there for them and he is. I can't get in the middle of that. She's trying to put me there and I know it's hurting him. I don't want to be the source of that sort of conflict for him. It hurts me that Eve would tiy to use those girls to harm him.

That's just so fucked up.'

Leah took a deep breath. 'She's a douchenozzle. And we hate her. But you can't let her win. Katherine, this woman cannot best you. She's a complete and total idiot. You're Katherine Edwards and she's Pickles. And from what you've said, Dix's daughters love their dad, he loves them and they're certainly old enough to spot bul shit. Why let her do this?'

'Whoa! Wow, is he double-jointed?' Kate blinked as she and Leah goggled at the stripper on the stage. He fel into the splits and did some back bendy deal. Al emphasising a body he had to spend hours every day on. And stil , Dix was the man who brought her nipples to a point and her cunt wet and hot.