Page 11 of Sassy Bennett Doesn't Do Romance

“Right, that’s it.” I decide. “Take your shirt off.”

“What?”

“Take your shirt off. We’ll make things even so you can stop being all weird around me.”

“I’m not …”

“You are. Top. Now.” I click my fingers at him.

He laughs, clearly assuming I’m joking. I step towards him and take the hem of his t-shirt in my fingers, the grey material surprisingly soft to touch.

“Fine,” he rolls his eyes at me. He pulls the shirt off in one movement, and my eyes bulge.

I could tell he was fit, but I wasn’t expecting him to have a defined six-pack. He throws his shirt on the counter and raises his eyebrows at me.

“Nice.” I click my tongue in appreciation as I look him up and down. “You could get a job stripping, too.”

“Oh yeah?” He jerks his body ridiculously, attempting to dance.

“I take it back. Stop, please.” I laugh and put my hand on his abs to get him to stop dancing like an uncoordinated monkey.

Colt grins and covers my hand with his, sliding it over his muscles. He switches his dance tactic and rolls his body seductively, guiding my hand down towards his v line. He was messing with me before. This boy can dance, and he dances like a goddamn male stripper. A flash of what it would be like to sleep with him enters my head. I whip my hand back as though scalded. Colt laughs, a cheeky glint in his eye.

“Who’s shy now?” He teases, still in my personal space. I think I’ve underestimated his innocence.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” I scowl. He laughs again and I’m disappointed when he steps away to put his shirt back on.

Once he’s dressed, I can look at him normally again. When he’s fully clothed, he’s hot, but his sweetness makes me want to run a mile. When his chest is on display, he doesn’t appear so sweet anymore and it makes me want to do naughty things to him. I’ll make sure he’s always clothed when I’m around.

“Seriously though, you’re really talented.” He looks at me, and I’m glad my plan of him taking his shirt off has got him over his earlier awkwardness.

“You think so?” I enjoy the compliment. I’ve been told that before, but coming from him, it seems better somehow.

“Definitely. You could dance circles around the other girls.”

“That’s funny. I didn’t realise you noticed there were other girls on stage with me.” I tease. The memory of him staring at me while I stripped crashes back into my mind. I’ve always been very professional on stage. Stripping is my job, but something about the way Colt watched me turned me on while I danced for him. That’s never happened before, and it has unnerved me.

“I sure noticed another girl at the end of the act.”

I scoff. He’s referring to when I kissed Vixen. “I got in trouble for that at first.”

“Why?”

“Darren said it ignited the audience too much. He thought he might have to do some serious crowd control.”

“The guys got pretty wild.” Colt agrees.

“Then he saw how many extra tips we got and he was ok with it after all.” I roll my eyes. Money talks with Darren, it’s the only thing he cares about. Lucky for me, Vix loved my spontaneous kiss, too. It helped us stand out from the other girls, which is the goal for us dancers.

“Why do you wear a wig when you dance? It’s not like you seem bothered when people recognise you.”

“We all wear some kind of disguise,” I shrug. “Not because we’re ashamed of stripping. It just helps keep the drunk dudes away after the show. If they recognise us out on the street after watching us strip for them, they can get pretty creepy. I hated the wig at first, but now I love it. It’s part of my stage persona. I put it on and I’m ready to go.”

Colt watches me and grins.

“What?” I ask, frowning.

“This is the most you’ve ever said to me.”

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