Page 47 of Deceit
I followed suit, the tang of the alcohol burning my throat as I swallowed it.“Would you ever work here?”
Riley had told me all about her time as a pole dancer before she met Kai.From what she’d said, the club she used to work at wasnothinglike Sapphire, attracting clientele who couldn’t keep their hands to themselves. Unlike Kai’s club, you’d get thrown out if you so much as laid a fingertip on any of the dancers who were on podiums across the place.
“Like Kai would ever let me,”she replied, rolling her eyes.
“I thought Kai wasn’t the boss of you.”I grinned at her because all afternoon, while we were finding shoes to gowith our new dresses, she’d reminded methatMiles wasn’t the boss of me, and Kai wasn’t the boss of her.
“He isn’t, but the tanned ass isn’t worth it,”she said as a devious smile lit upher face.“Speak of the devil.”
I followed where she was looking, and tingles coated my skin as Kaimade his way toward us, my husband following behind him. Our gazes clashed, my core clenching as Miles’ dark eyes bore into me, the same way they’d done several hours earlier.
Until they hardened once more, and Miles changed direction, heading to abooth where two suited men were sipping champagne as they watched girls dance.
Rejection swamped me, cooling the flames licking my skin. I took anotherlarge sip of my drink, trying to ignore the pang of hurtthatcame from his dismissal as the men standing guard at our booth moved the rope to let Kai pass.
I kept my focus on the beads of condensation sliding down my glassinstead of watching as Kai pulled Riley into his arms and devoured her mouth, not giving a damn about the public show of affection. It was always the way whenever Kai kissed Riley. It was a public claiming, letting the world knowthatshe belonged to him.
“Ladies, you look beautiful,” Kai said.
I lifted my gaze to find him staring down at Riley, his arms clutching herhips like he was afraid to let her out of his grasp. As if realizingthathis cousin hadn’t echoed his sentiment, Kai looked around, a scowl forming on his face when he found Miles in deep conversation with the two men.
He turned back to Riley.“I’m not here to interrupt your evening, baby.We’ve got some business we need to deal with, but I’ll hang around in my office after so I can take you home.”
His hands slid to her ass as he leaned in to kiss her again. Not wanting tointrude on their moment, I looked to where Miles was, and a flash of envy shot through me at finding a waitress—who may have been wearing nothing for the lack of material her bra and hot pants offered—grinning at Miles with her hand on his arm.
It didn’t matterthathe was scowling back at her, nor did it matter if heremoved her hand from his arm and took a step back to put distance between them; the jealousy scorched me, ruining my good mood in a heartbeat.
When Miles caught me gawking, I pulled my gaze away, not wanting himto see the resentment I was sure was written on my face. Reluctantly, Kai let Riley go. She fell on the couch next to me, her cheeks flushed as she tracked him through the club. As soon as he reached Miles, the waitress quickly disappeared.
“What a complete dick,”Riley hissed, scowling at me.
“Um…Kai?”I replied, confused by her sudden attitude.
“No, Miles. Would it have killed him to come over and say hello to you?”Her scowl deepened as she glared at him. If looks could kill, Miles would have been nothing but a pile of smoldering ash.
I shrugged.“It doesn’t matter.”
Miles wasjustanother person to add to the list of people who ignored myexistence. Yet, for some reason,thatcut deeper than ever.
“It does matter,”Riley cursed, downing the rest of her drink.“You’re hiswife, he could at least show you some goddamn respect!”
“It is what it is, Riley,”I replied, trying to hide the dejection in my tone.
“Fuckthat!”She snatched my hand and yanked me to my feet.“Thatdickneeds a wake-up call, and that’s exactly what we’re going to give him.”
Before I could ask what she meant orevenprotest, she dragged me over tothe podiumjustas a new song started, her eyes twinkling with mischief under the strobe lights.
Abruptly, she released my hand and grabbed my hips, pulling me against herso our breasts were flush, and our faces only an inch apart. To steady myself, I clutched her bare arms.
“What are you doing?”I giggled as she began to sway her hips, movingmine at the same time.
“Dancing,” she replied innocently.
The beat of the music thrummed through my body, and despite the closenessbetween us feeling a little too intimate, I allowed myself to relax and follow Riley’s lead.
Our hips rolled together in time with the music, and when her hands slidfurther around my back, almost resting on my ass, I slowly glided my hands up her arms and circled them around the back of her neck. We were almost the same height, allowing us to stare into each other’s eyes as we moved.
A salacious grin tugged at her lips as we continued to grind together. Shesuddenly spun around, putting her back to my chest and rubbing her ass against my core. I grabbed her waist, moving her body to sway in time with mine, my confidence growing with every beat of the song.
