Page 44 of Killer Kiss

Uncomfortable? Uncomfortable was noticing the swell of her tits beneath that low-cut shirt. Uncomfortable was the hint of a lace bra peeking out from beneath. Fuck! Why did I have to notice that? Now it was all I could see.

She trailed her fingernails across the back of my hand so lightly it sent shivers down my spine. “What can I do to make it up to you?”

I was going to Hell, because my very first instinct was to tell her to get on her knees and make it up to me like that. I almost groaned out loud at the very thought of those dark-brown eyes staring up at me, my dick in her hand, her pink tongue running over her lips as she prepared to take me in her mouth.

It was too fucking much.

I needed bleach for my brain.

And yet the words that came out only made things worse. “Eve and Lyric are running a pole class. Nobody showed up today.”

Ophelia blinked. “Um, okay?”

“You’re now their first student.”

She barked out a laugh. “What?”

The idea hadn’t been fully formed when I’d first opened my mouth, but it came together the longer I thought about it. “You said you wanted to make it up to me, didn’t you? This is how you do it. I had to walk in here tonight and look at Eve’s and Lyric’s heartbroken faces because not one person had showed up for their class. They felt like shit, and when they feel like shit, so do I. I ain’t got time for that. So you’re now their first student.” I eyed her. “And don’t ask for a fucking discount because I know you can afford it, Miss I Drive a Porsche Around Saint View like Someone Ain’t Gonna Try Stealing the Wheels.”

Her mouth dropped open. “I don’t dance.”

“That’s kind of the point of a class.”

“It’s a stripper class!”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “It’s a pole class, not a lesson in taking your clothes off.”

Fuck me if my damn traitorous gaze didn’t roll down her body at the very thought of what was beneath her outfit. “Bring a friend too.”

“What? No!”

I shrugged. “Why? Because it’s here, in Saint View, run by the people you think are the scum on the bottom of your three-hundred-dollar shoes?”

“I don’t think that!”

I couldn’t help antagonizing her. I was kinda enjoying it. “Your sister was one of us. Is that what you think of her?”

“Of course not! I love Fawn.”

“Prove it then. Take the class. Support the people who supported her when your fucking family threw her out.”

She narrowed her eyes at me and jabbed one sharp fingernail into the center of my chest. “I’ll take the class, Augie. But don’t you ever fucking say I threw her out. She wanted to leave, and I was the one who made it possible for her to do so. You know nothing about our family. Not one little thing. If you did, you wouldn’t have said that.”

I let her go because she was probably right.

And because, fuck, watching her walk away was so damn sweet.

13

AUGIE

“Take it off! Take it off!”

It was a rowdy group of women with pink cowboy hats who started up the chant, but the rest of the room quickly caught on and continued it.

Phoenix glanced over at me from his side of the stage where he rolled his hips in time with the beat. His single raised eyebrow questioned what the fuck I was doing.

He was already down to a tiny G-string that was half off his toned ass. We normally would have both been naked by now, but I was still firmly clad in my jeans.

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