Page 7 of Tripp

What the hell is wrong with me?

The song picked up tempo and her lithe body contorted around that damn pole with expertise. Her shirt was wide open, exposing her full, natural breasts for everyone to see. She took a spin around the pole, jumping and hooking her legs above her head before slowly sinking down toward the floor.

She was magnificent.

I was knocked back from my fantasies when I saw her approach, her eyes locking with mine as she came closer.

I found it difficult to breathe, as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. I was stuck in place, entranced by the woman in front of me, and the gleam in her eyes proved she was aware of my new predicament.

A small smile tilted up her full, luscious lips as she watched my reaction. Reaching up, she grabbed her shirt and slowly let it slip off her shoulders, then off completely. Keeping her gaze pinned on me, she grabbed her breasts and pinched her nipples, twisting her hips to the beat of the music.

I couldn’t look away.

What I really wanted to do was jump onto the stage and whisk her away, but not before covering her up. I couldn’t stand that there were at least a hundred pairs of eyes raking all over her exposed flesh. It was driving me insane, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

Was there?

Before I could entertain my odd thought, she sank to her knees and crawled toward me, engulfing me further in her web. It wasn’t until she was a few feet away from me that I noticed something different about her. From afar, she appeared every bit the stereotypical stripper, playing her part to make her money, but up close, her bluish-gray eyes told a different story. They held an innocence, an inexperience which just didn’t seem plausible. It was the oddest contradiction.

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. If that were true, then I could see that all of her hopes and dreams had been dashed, yet she forged ahead, seeking a light that might be just within her reach.

Hope and desperation battled for dominance behind her beautiful pupils, the dueling emotions rather intriguing. I tried, but I couldn’t look away. I thought I heard Hawke’s voice yell for her to take it off, but I ignored him, even though I wanted nothing more than to punch him in the face for watching my woman get naked.

My woman?

So entranced with my new feelings, I hadn’t realized she was so close. Her soft palm caressed the side of my face, her touch pushing all of my other thoughts to the side, and causing my lungs to seize up. I knew right then that if she continued her silent assault on my senses, I was gonna cause quite the scene. Picking up on my body language, the tick of my jaw and clench of my fists quite obvious and telling, she removed her hand and moved back, eventually lying on her back and spreading her legs wide in front of me. In front of everyone.

I’d never wanted to fuck a woman more than in that moment. I kept picturing burying my cock inside her, feeling her clench around me as I made her come over and over again. Absently, I reached down and palmed my dick, trying to calm my arousal so I didn’t embarrass myself in front of her and every other fucker present. Even though I tried to will my dick to soften, it only became harder, painfully straining against the fabric of my jeans.

I almost lost it when her fingers hitched inside the waistband of her tiny skirt, shimmying the material down her long, shapely legs until she was wearing nothing but a thong. After thirty seconds of pure torture, she rose to her feet and stepped back toward the center of the stage, her fingers dancing over her skin, continuing to tease and torment me.

She continuously honed in on me as if I were the only man in the room, something I quite liked, although I knew it wasn’t true. The final beats of the song faded before she’d had the chance to remove her last piece of clothing. Indulge was a fully nude club, but right then I’d never been so happy to see one of our dancers break the rules.

She disappeared from the stage, taking with her our brief yet binding connection.

Reece

Catching my breath backstage had nothing to do with the exertion I’d endured during my performance. Instead, it had everything to do with the man who’d thrown me into another world. Dammit! I’d been so distracted with him that I’d never removed my thong. Rules of the club were to get completely naked, and I broke that rule. I sure as hell hoped I didn’t get fired because of it.

Pushing aside my building paranoia at the thought of losing my job, I reverted back to thinking about the man who’d distracted me. It was weird to acknowledge, even to myself, but the painfully handsome stranger made me feel things I hadn’t felt in years . . . if ever. He seemed different than every other man present, locking eyes with me like he wanted to expose his innermost secrets. A strange thread of connection quickly formed between us, still lingering in the air even without being in his presence.

Shaking my head, knowing my thoughts were utterly ridiculous, I tried like hell to forget about Mr. Tough and Sexy as I prepared for the rest of my evening, which thankfully was close to being over.

After quickly freshening up, I ventured back into the lounge area to search for someone who was receptive to a private dance. I’d become rather popular during my short employ at Indulge, so I never encountered any problems earning my keep. The entire time I searched for my next customer, my eyes flitted around the spacious room in search of the gorgeous stranger who’d made my heart leap in my chest just moments earlier. But I didn’t see him. Maybe he’d done both of us a favor and left.

Berating myself for acting like some kind of lovesick puppy, I squared my shoulders, raised my head high and plastered on the most seductive smile I could muster. Striding across the room and looking for my next customer, I eyed a table full of businessmen. They seemed harmless enough, as harmless as men could be with naked women surrounding them and alcohol flowing freely.

Circling the table, I stopped next to a good-looking, dark-haired, younger guy, touching him on the shoulder to garner his attention—not that his eyes weren’t already on me the entire time. “Hey, handsome. Do you want a private dance?” There was no way he would turn me down, not with the lust-induced haze he battled while leering at me. I shut down my inner voice, deciding I needed to right the wrong of not shedding all my clothes earlier. Besides, there had been many times when I’d had to grind up on a fat, ugly man, so when I encountered the chance to entertain someone pleasing to the eye, I jumped all over it. Figuratively as well as literally.

Grabbing my hand tightly, he said, “You don’t have to ask me twice, sweetheart.” He rose from his chair, practically knocking it over in his haste. “Let’s go.” His friends egged him on as I led him across the club, the smell of alcohol around him evident but not quite at an alarming level.

As we headed toward the private rooms located in the back of the club, my eye caught sight of someone off to the right, sitting in one of the more secluded sections of the establishment.

Him.

The one who drew me in with nothing but his mesmerizing green eyes.

The one who spoke to my soul.

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