Tiny Dancer [Divine Creek Ranch 13] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (22 page)

“Sorry, Presley Ann. You know what happened last Halloween when you talked me into playing it. I even took it off my playlist.”

Ben knew exactly what song she was begging for without the title even being mentioned.

Presley Ann stomped her foot. “Fine, then. Maybe I’ll sing it myself!”

Pouting wasn’t a good look for Presley Ann. Ben wondered how many drinks she’d had already that she was ready to go karaoke on everyone.

Dave grimaced and pled silently with Ben as he made eye contact with him. “Please don’t, Presley Ann. But if you do, move away from the booth so I don’t get hit when people start throwing things at you.”

Presley Ann confirmed her intoxication level when she made a melodramatic clawing motion in the air, mimicking the Michael Jackson video, and began screeching lyrics over “Bad Moon Rising,” which was already playing.

“’Cause this is thriller,
thriller
—”

A wadded-up napkin thrown at her barely missed her face as Ben finally veered over to intervene, moving the inebriated socialite back over to the table she and her sister had taken earlier when they’d arrived.

“You know what, Presley Ann? You should come and sing for us on a karaoke night. Patrons would love that.”

Presley Ann gave him an owl-eyed look and said, “You don’t have a karaoke night, Ben.” Her lips curled up in what might have been an attractive smile if she hadn’t followed it with a loud belch.

And if I have anything to say about it, we never will!

Leah rolled her eyes and pulled her sister’s chair out as she mouthed
sorry
to Ben. To her sister, she said, “I’m gonna get Corinna to bring you a soda.”

“I don’t need it.
I’m not drunk
,” she said with an obnoxious tone reserved only for those who were drunk and knew everything. “I’m gonna go talk to those three big
hunkalicious
hotties at that table over there.”

Ben stifled laughter when she pointed to the table near the dance floor where Camilla’s friends, Cody, Heath, and Spencer, sat watching the dance floor.

“Sure, sis. After your soda.” Leah thanked Ben and then waved at their waitress.

Ben continued mingling for a few more minutes before he returned to the bar and switched with Ethan, allowing him to circulate for a while.

Seth Carter’s sister, Lucy, walked up to the bar and Ben greeted her. “Hi there, sweetie! What can I get for you?”

She was dressed in a black cleavage-baring corset, tight-fitting slinky long black skirt, and towering black beehive wig. Lucy smiled back at him. “I think I want one of your Divine Margaritas.”

“Sure thing.”

While he was mixing Lucy’s drink, Camilla snuggled up next to him and to Lucy she said, “You make a kick-ass Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Lucy!”

Beck O’Malley and Patrick Owen, who were also sitting in the next couple of chairs down, both turned in her direction. Beck’s interest was hard to miss, and Patrick said, “That’s Lucy Carter? Damn!”

Camilla shot her friend a reassuring look, and Lucy stood up straight, cheekily boosted her ample cleavage together, and winked at them. “That’s right, boys!”

Presley Ann, who evidently had made a beeline to the bar after finishing her straight soda, stood next to Lucy while waiting her turn to order another drink. She looked over at Lucy and, with a curled lip, said, “Is that who you’re supposed to be?”

Camilla smiled at Presley Ann and said, “Tons of cleavage and a black beehive? It’s pretty obvious. What can I get for you?”

Presley Ann placed her order and then gave Ben a flirtatious smile as he poured Lucy’s margarita for her. After signing to Camilla to mix Presley Ann’s drink a little weak, he looked at Presley Ann and said, “Didn’t feel like dressing up tonight?”

She twiddled a long blonde curl and huffed in irritation. “
No one
gets my costume! I’m sup
posed
to be Britney Spears. Duh!”

Camilla cast him a sideways glance and bit her lip, looking like she was holding back laughter. Presley Ann looked exactly the same as she did anytime he saw her.

Camilla handed her the drink she’d ordered, and after paying, Presley Ann said, “Well, laters, peeps,” and sauntered off.

Camilla made a trademark Presley Ann face at him and softly said, “Well,
duh
.”

Lucy gasped and nearly sputtered her drink. “Hey, hey, hey,
hey
!
Whoa
!” She set the drink down, and Ben immediately saw the cause of her upset as she grabbed the back of her corset.

“What happened?” Camilla asked.

Lucy’s eyes got big, and she grabbed the corset to her front, saying in a furious whisper, “My corset! It’s coming loose! Oh my gosh, where’s Jayne? It took us half an hour to get me laced up!”

Camilla got Ben’s attention and said, “I’m going to help her before she flashes everyone.”

Beck waved a hand at her and said, “I’ve got it, I got it. It’s okay, Camilla. Pipe down, Lucy. We’ll get you trussed back up in no time.”

Beck wasn’t drunk, at least Ben didn’t think he was. But he also noticed that Lucy went completely stiff and gasped as Beck grabbed hold of the rapidly slipping laces and turned her so she faced the bar. They’d drawn a few pairs of eyes, but most of the patrons were focused on the dance floor and their own conversations. Ben watched with growing concern as Lucy blushed while Beck jerked at the strings, tightening them back up, row by row.

Patrick nudged his arm. “Ease up on the laces a little, Beck. We don’t want her to pass out.” Beck jerked the laces so hard at one point Lucy lifted a hand to cover her jiggling cleavage.

Beck smirked and looked over her shoulder, leered at her breasts, and said, “Good Lord, woman, a man could happily smother to death between those gorgeous tits.”

Lucy’s eyes popped wide open, and a look of utter astonishment crossed her face. Beneath the pale pancake makeup she wore, her cheeks turned red, and she looked ready to bite him with her vampire teeth.

“There ya go, Juicy Lucy,” Beck said and then shocked even Ben when he delivered a resounding smack to Lucy’s round ass, bumping her up against the bar.

“Juicy—” She growled and curled her little hand into a fist, as she turned to Beck. “You big, hulking baboon. I ought to—”

Jayne Sheridan picked that moment to intervene. “Lucy, are you okay? I saw what happened from across the club. I think your costume got caught on that blonde’s somehow, the one that just walked away. She must’ve accidentally pulled the strings loose.”

Camilla scoffed. “I doubt it was an accident.”

Jayne turned to Beck. “Thank you for helping her, Beck. That could’ve been really embarrassing if you hadn’t acted so quickly.”

Beck smiled at Jayne and nodded kindly. “I was happy to help, ma’am. I wouldn’t want her to be embarrassed or anything.”

Lucy made a high-pitched feral sound as she adjusted her cleavage one more time, grabbed her drink, and stalked away after Jayne.

Beck shook his head as he turned back to his beer. “I swear that little gal is a feisty thing.”

Ben laughed. “Probably feistier than she wanted to be.”

Camilla smiled at him and rolled her eyes. Beck said, “Huh, Ben?”

Ben wiped down the bar and replied, “We’re gonna have to work on your pick-up lines and compliments, Beck.”

Beck shrugged and lifted his beer to his lips. “I was never good at any of that.”

Patrick rubbed his eyes, looking utterly disgusted. “No shit? I’d never have guessed that.” He looked over at Lucy with regret and shook his head.

Although The Dancing Pony was predominantly a country and western nightclub, for special occasions, the patrons enjoyed when Ben and Ethan mixed the music up a little. Ben chuckled when Camilla perked up at the beginning guitar chords of one of the rock songs. She gave him a big Cheshire cat grin and began shaking her luscious ass to the beat as AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” pounded over the sound system.

Holy hell!
Judging by the way she’s moving, she’s danced professionally to that one before.

She didn’t make a move or any indication that she wanted to swarm the dance floor with the other girls, just kept on gyrating as she mixed her drink order. When she’d set everything on Corinna’s tray, she kept dancing, laughing when one of the customers at the bar cheered her on, and Quinten caught his eye. His friend shrugged and smiled, looking like she had him wrapped around her finger just as tight as she had Ben.

Quinten gestured at the dance floor, and Ben nodded. They approached Camilla, and she squealed when they lifted her bodily up onto the bar and passed her to Tom and Bill on the other side. She giggled the whole time and turned to blow them a kiss before dancing off to party with her friends for a few minutes.

Quinten sighed as they stood there and watched her, carefree and happy as she rocked to the beat. Quinten leaned against the counter next to Ben and flipped his bar towel over his shoulder. “I
loooooove
making that little gal happy.”

Camilla raised her arms over her head and did one of those trademark sinuous stripper moves. Ben and Quinten both groaned at the same time, and Ben laughed but never took his eyes off of her. Ethan, Jack, and Adam were standing nearby watching over the girls, including his.

The tune changed to another familiar classic, “Black Magic Woman” by Santana. Camilla made her way back to the bar, and Tom and Bill helped her back onto the bar top so she could get back to work. She turned to watch the dance floor and looked down at Ben and Quinten with an excited expression on her face, pointing at the center of the crowd that was forming.

They helped her down on the other side, and she breathlessly said, “Did you see?”

Noting the excited sparkle in her eyes, Ben said, “See what, sugar?”

From her position between them, she said, “You can’t see her from here. Shoot!”

Quinten craned his head and asked, “Can’t see who?”

“There’s a belly dancer on the dance floor right now! And oh my God she’s
good
!”

All the customers at the bar left their seats en masse to gather around the dance floor to watch, so Ben took the opportunity to reach for the ladder against the wall in his office and open it for her so she could see over the crowd. She gestured for him to come up with her, and he watched for a minute and then looked at Camilla.

Camilla nodded enthusiastically and said, “Holy shit, right? I
have
to meet her!”

Quinten poked him in the leg. “I wanna see.”

Ben batted his hand away. “Just a minute. Dave’s playing the long version of the song. You’ll get to see.”

Ben watched as the dance floor gradually cleared for the unknown woman. She wore her dark hair in gypsy-wild curls, and her features were disguised by a mask. All the men and most of the women were riveted as they watched her dance. She had on a traditional belly dancing costume which revealed her curves and her dark olive skin to great advantage.

Ben looked over the crowded club and saw Cody, Heath, and Spencer sitting at their table. Presley Ann was yacking up a storm in their midst, and they sat mesmerized by the woman on the dance floor. As the rhythm reached a peak and then climbed to an even greater crescendo, she seemed to become one with the music, gyrating, twisting, and shaking her hips. Her hair flew in a great dark wave around her as she seemed to lose herself in the erotic flow of the song.

All three men sat there with their mouths slightly ajar, not hearing a word Presley Ann said, never taking their eyes from the dancer. The skirt of her costume consisted of numerous red and orange silky scarves which revealed her legs in brief glimpses as she moved. Her top was of the same colors and showed off her assets to maximum effect, going by the lustful gazes she drew from many of the men.

Camilla looked at him with concern in her eyes at the same time he turned to her, and she said, “I have no idea who she is or if there’s someone here with her.”

“Don’t worry, sugar.”

He climbed down from the ladder and signed to Rogelio as Quinten climbed up with Camilla. Rogelio nodded and smoothly made his way through the crowd. Mike needed to stay at the door, but Rogelio might need help. Ben caught Eli Wolf’s eye, and the former bouncer nodded in understanding at the sign. He was glad he’d learned American Sign Language while in college because it came in handy at times. This was their fail-safe for when the club was busy and there were women who might need a little protecting. Rachel, Eli’s wife, stayed with Grace and the others, and Eli made his way with his former coworker to the edge of the dance floor.

“Wow! She’s really something, huh, baby?” Quinten said. “Can you do that?”

“Bet I could learn! I have to meet her! I could really use her skills in the dance classes we’re planning.”

Quinten and Camilla watched raptly as the dancer finished her song and the people in the nightclub cheered wildly for her. Even though he was on ground level, Ben noticed when Cody, Heath, and Spencer stood up and clapped for her as they made their way toward her. Ben smiled, wondering if the belly dancer had any inkling of their interest in her.