Southern Seduction (14 page)

“Wait a minute…” she announces as her brow creases inquisitively. “What night club?”

“Wild Nights,” Daniella replies barely above a whisper.

Eliza’s eyes go wide and her mouth forms a tiny ‘O’ of surprise. “
Wild Nights?!”
she shouts loudly, her voice bouncing off the walls of the small apartment. “The
strip
club!”

Daniella inhales sharply through her teeth as her best friend’s shrieking tone pierces her ear drums. She nods and averts her eyes away from the shocked, laser-beam stare being thrown her way.

“Daniella Pruitt! You got a job as a stripper?! Oh my gawd! Oh my gawd! Oh. My. Gawd!” Eliza exclaims as her Southern accent becomes more apparent by the second. “I cannot believe this!” she screeches. “Your brothers are gonna kill you!”

Daniella winces. Her friend is one hundred percent correct. If Billy or Bobby ever find out she is working at Wild Nights, they will be on the first flight back to Texas. “It’s only for a short time, E. And I would really appreciate you not telling a soul about this.” She tosses a pointed look.

Eliza holds up both hands but still continues to shake her head in disbelief. “Okay.” She meets Daniella’s sharp eyes. “Okay, I swear on my grandmomma’s grave I won’t say a word. Are you going to tell Sarah?”

“Yeah, I’ll tell Sarah.” She knows there really isn’t an option. Eliza and Sarah are joined at the hip; if one knows, the other is bound to find out anyways. It’s probably better for her to hear the information from Daniella rather than through Eliza.

Eliza cocks her head to the side as she begins to process this outrageous information and then it hits her. “Wait a minute!” She grabs Daniella by the shoulders and looks straight into her eyes, refusing to release eye contact. “Who owns Wild Nights?”

“Huh?” She feigns confusion and immediately averts her eyes to the left of her interrogator.

“You’re working for Penn Wilder, aren’t you? Oh my gawd! I can’t believe it took me this long to put it all together!” The shouting begins again, and Daniella stands up, releasing her body from the strong grip on her shoulders. “You little minx! You got a job at
his
club!”

One drunken night two years ago, Daniella told her friends everything. She spilled all the dirty details regarding her and Penn, including the night that had changed her in a way she couldn’t avoid no matter how hard she tried. The night she’d given herself to her first love—and up to this point, her only love.

Does anyone ever really get over their first love?

It doesn’t seem like it. She’s never managed to really move on, and Eliza’s incessant questioning has her wondering if she got the job at Wild Nights because she was desperate or because…she wants to be close to him. Her irrational heart is telling her it’s the latter of the two, but the Type A, always-in-control part of her is saying no way in hell. That it would be crazy to get a job as a stripper because she wants Penn to see her as a woman and not a little girl.

Daniella has always seen herself as put together in a free-spirit kind of way, but maybe she’s doesn’t have it all together. Maybe she’s a little screwed up. Maybe she’s letting her irrational heart guide her decisions…

“I don’t really feel like having this conversation right now,” she informs Eliza as she starts to walk into the hallway. She doesn’t have the strength to discuss her decisions, especially since her motives for her decisions might be a little bit fucked up.

“What conversation?” Sarah asks as she walks out of her bedroom, rubbing sleep from her eyes. She stops in her tracks, glancing back and forth between her two best friends.

Eliza clears her throat, grabbing her attention.

Daniella tosses her arms up in the air unceremoniously. “Fine!” she yells. Sarah looks at her inquisitively, quietly gauging her reaction. “I got a job at Wild Nights.”

Sarah’s jaw drops and her eyes grow in surprise.

She answers her friend’s question before the words can spill from her shocked lips. “Yes, Wild Nights, the strip club.” Sarah’s eyes manage to go wider and Daniella sighs heavily. “I don’t wanna talk about it. I’m going to my room.” And with that, she heads into her bedroom, slamming the door shut with a harsh bang.

As she throws herself down on the bed, all she can think about is the shocked reactions she received from her two best friends. If they were surprised, she didn’t want to imagine the kind of response she would get from her family…

Time has passed at warp speed over the last few weeks. Keeping up with classes and working two part-time jobs is harder than she could have ever imagined. Daniella spends her weekdays sitting in classes until three and then drives the thirty minutes to Cumbie to wait tables at her parents’ diner. By the time she gets home, she’s exhausted and has to practically pull all-nighters to keep up with her classes.

And the weekends, well… Those are filled with fishnets and cleavage-revealing shirts. She keeps busy cocktailing for patrons of Wild Nights from mid-afternoon until well past one in the morning. She hasn’t had as much contact with Penn as she originally thought she would. He’s actually been pretty distant, always traveling to various business meetings outside of Houston. Last she heard, he was in Albuquerque doing god only knows what.

As she’s walking out of her last class of the week, her phone vibrates inside her messenger bag. She grabs it from the front pocket and is shocked to see a message from
him
. This is the first time he’s ever contacted her. Yeah, his number might be programmed into her phone, but it’s only because he is her boss. Or at least that’s what she keeps telling herself.

Penn:
Can you come by the club early tonight?

Daniella:
Who is this?

Penn:
SMARTASS

A stream of giggles escapes her chest.

Daniella:
Hi Smartass. I can be at the club by 4. Does that work?

Penn:
Yes. Be prepared to dance.

Daniella:
Really?! I get to dance tonight?!?!?!?!

Penn:
Not exactly. But I’m giving you an opportunity to prove that you’re ready.

Daniella:
Fine. I’ll show Grant that I’m more than ready.

Penn:
Not Grant.

Daniella:
Huh?

Penn:
Me

Daniella’s eyes expand in surprise at his last message. She has to perform a routine in front of Penn?
Holy shit.
She’s more than thankful that she’s managed a few hours in the dance studio this week, but that still doesn’t help squash the nervous energy buzzing throughout her body. A thousand bees float underneath her skin, wreaking havoc on every single nerve ending. Dancing has never made her nervous, but dancing in front of Penn? That has the unfamiliar feeling of stage fright pressing inside her gut. After a few deep breaths and a mental pep talk, Daniella is ready. Ready to blow his mind.

“Leave the boots on,” he announces huskily.

One look at Daniella in a jean skirt and cowgirl boots already has Penn foaming at the mouth. She
is
going to wear those brown, scuffed-up boots, and the selfish side of him is taking over. He already knows that whatever kind of dance she has prepared to perform for him won’t get her any closer to her goal—her stupid goal of stripping at Wild Nights. She is an intelligent, beautiful woman, and he will do everything in his power to prevent her from stripping in front of a crowd of strangers.

For one, Bobby would have his ass if he ever found out, and two, he just can’t stand the thought of it. It damn near kills him to even think about her up on that stage in front of a crowd of horny men. He fights the urge to throw her over his shoulder and drag her out of the club every single night she cocktails in that joke of a uniform. It doesn’t help that he’s the one who picked out those uniforms when the club first opened. The moment he saw her dressed in fishnets, lacy boy shorts, and the signature cleavage-revealing top, he was mentally kicking his own ass.

Daniella stands on the empty stage, late-afternoon daylight shining in through the windows and hovering over her in the most delightful way. She has her hands on her hips as one boot taps impatiently.

“Penn,” she admonishes. “I’m not wearing boots to dance. This is ridiculous. I want to wear what I planned on wearing.”

He shakes his head, eyeing her with a hint of amusement in his eyes. “Nope, darlin’. Leave the boots on. All of my dancers need to be prepared to dance in anything.”
What bullshit
, he thinks to himself.

She cocks her gorgeous face to the side, her brunette ponytail swishing across her shoulders. After a few seconds of gauging his reaction, she chooses to just go with it. If this is what will get her on that stage to make money from dancing, then she’ll do it.

“Fine,” she responds with irritation. “Where is everyone by the way?” she asks as she glances around the empty club.

“Who knows,” he answers immediately even though he knows where they were. He made sure all of his afternoon staff members were too busy with menial tasks before she arrived. No way in hell would anyone but him see her dance
. Ever.

“Do I get to choose my music or are you going to choose that for me too?” her feistiness spits out fearlessly.

He begins to chuckle as an amused smirk spreads across his full lips. “What song would you like?”

“I’m not telling,” she says with pure sass as she hops off the stage and proceeds to choose her own music behind the DJ booth. His eyes follow her across the room, but before he can take one step in her direction, she demands, “Don’t even think about it, smartass. Get comfortable.”

His blue eyes shine with intrigue, but he doesn’t question. Penn sits down on the edge of one of the tables in front of the main stage, ready to watch her
prove herself
.

I’m N Luv (Wit A Stripper)
by T-Pain begins to blare through the speakers. His jaw drops to staggering depths as he shakes his head at the outrageous song choice.

“Kidding!” she shouts towards him with a laugh. She strides in his direction with determination, pulls out a single chair, and sets it in the middle of floor, patting the leather cushion. “Take a seat,” she demands, and her confidence surprises both of them.

He sits down, his elbows propped up on his knees and his head rests in his hands as he waits patiently for her to move things along. After she rearranges a few tables and chairs, leaving Penn all by his lonesome in the center of the club, she strides back to the DJ booth and pushes play on the real song.

Closer
by Nine Inch Nails.

His eyes lift and he shifts his body to lean back against the chair, his hands hanging at his sides. In sync with the industrial, rock beat, Daniella sways her hips and strides her long legs in Penn’s direction. The soles of her boots click in time with the music. She pulls the ponytail holder out of her hair, leaving her locks long and messy. Her body moves effortlessly, graceful even, as Trent Reznor’s voice resonates through the speakers. She’s not going to step onto the stage to prove her point; she will dance directly in front of him. Every inch of her body will be visible to his eyes and tempting his restraint.

I’m ready. I’ve always been ready.
She runs her hands down her body, touching her curves seductively. Her brown eyes are hooded, lustful even, as Daniella allows the music to control her body. This routine isn’t choreographed, her movements only predicted by the heady beat.

Penn adjusts his growing arousal as she turns around and bends forward, flipping her russet hair over her face. The strands brush the ground as she rocks her hips back and forth hypnotically. His eyes latch on to the small white thong visible underneath her jean skirt. His cock protests against the now tight constraints of denim. Every cell in his body is affected. She’s more than proving her point. It might be a moot point, but she doesn’t know that.

She stands, tossing her gorgeous hair across her back, and glances over her shoulder at him as she pops the button of her jean skirt. It slides to the floor, leaving her luscious ass bare. He fights the urge to bite his fist. Only thirty seconds into the song and he is painfully turned on. His dick dominates his thoughts, desperately wishing he could throw her on the stage and bury his face between her thighs.