Winter Jacket: Finding Home (12 page)

I kept my head down, unwilling to make eye contact with the club’s other patrons, as I followed the brunette down a corridor. We were flanked by a row of closed doors, like an office building or doctor’s office. The woman stopped in front of one of the doors and pushed it open.

I continued to follow her, paying attention to her non-verbal cues for instructions. On the other side of the door was a smaller room, empty except for a chair where I assumed I was supposed to sit.  

“If you’ll have a seat,” the brunette woman instructed, “your entertainment will be in shortly.”

I sat down on the padded chair. “Wait. You’re not ...” I didn’t know how to phrase it. “... for me?”

The woman’s smile was warm and accommodating. “Unfortunately, no, honey. I’m just the hostess. Can I get you something to drink while you wait?”

“No. No, thank you.”

“If you change your mind, there’s a call button over there,” she said, nodding toward an illuminated button on the near wall. “Your friends paid for a double song, but if you’d like extended time, you can arrange that with your dancer. As a reminder, there’s no touching,” she continued with the rules. “All the private rooms are monitored for the safety of our dancers.”

I nodded, familiar with the routine. “You don’t have to worry about me,” I promised.

Her smile reappeared. “Have fun.”

Left alone in the private room, I felt out of my element. A feeling of dread settled into my stomach, and I stared at the door that would lead me to freedom. I could leave at anytime, but I knew the razzing I would get from my friends if I ran away from a second lap dance.

Before I could make up my mind to leave or stay, the lights in the room dimmed even more and a bass-heavy song poured from invisible speakers: my dance had begun. The door through which the hostess had exited opened, and a tall, slender woman walked into the room. The lighting in the room was minimal, but I could make out a few details. Her hair was blonde, straight, and fell just below her chin. Behind her mask, which covered most of her face, her eyes flickered like candlelight. She wore a black leather halter top with matching micro shorts that looked like a second skin, and her height was exaggerated with the help of four-inch spiked stilettos.

Unbidden, my heartbeat quickened in my chest.
Damn it.
Nikole had done it again. She’d bought me a lap dance with a Hunter doppelganger.

The blonde woman took a step closer and my eyes went to the thinly muscled legs and the delicate curve of defined calf. My eyes flicked towards the exit next, but I remained glued to my seat as the half-naked woman stalked closer.

She remained silent, no idle chitchat or introductions. She straddled my lap, not resting her entire weight on my thighs, and my body stiffened at her intimate proximity. With the mask covering her face, I could read no emotion on her features. Wordlessly, she reached behind her back and unfastened the hooks that kept her barely-there top covering her breasts. As she unhooked the clasps, the material fell away, revealing her naked torso. Her breasts sat high on her chest, a pale creamy color with no sunbathing lines.

Taking me by surprise, the dancer grabbed my hands and placed them on her naked breasts. A strangled noise fell out of my mouth and I jerked my hands away. I clenched and unclenched my hands at my sides. I had only touched her briefly, but it felt like I could still feel the slight heft of the woman’s naked breasts in my palms.

“I have a girlfriend,” I said thickly.

“I’m sure she won’t mind.”

All the oxygen left my lungs when I realized I recognized the voice. While I had previously jerked away like her skin had burned me, my hands now clamped down on the woman’s naked thighs. If I was mistaken, I would be kicked out of the club, but I wasn’t wrong about this.

I still couldn’t breathe, but I managed a single-worded question: “How?”

Her arms settled around my neck and shoulders, and she pressed forward until her naked breasts were inches from my face. “Surprised?”

“Yes.”

“Nik called a few weeks ago to tell me about the surprise party. When she told me her idea to sneak me in here, I couldn’t pass it up.”

“But what about work?” Why did I have to be so practical? It was a curse. “I thought you couldn’t get the time off.”

“I switched shifts around. I’m on a red-eye flight in the morning.”

“So soon?” I pouted.

“I know it’s not ideal,” she said, nuzzling her nose against my cheek, “but it’s better than nothing, right?”

“You’re so god damn beautiful,” I breathed reverently.

“Why don’t you do something about it?” She wiggled a little on my lap, making me wish I hadn’t worn jeans. My hands fell to her hips. “Actually, you should probably let go,” she mused.

My grip tightened instead of relaxing. “Why?”

“Because the people watching on those monitors think I’m one of their strippers. I’d hate for you to get hauled away before we even get started.”

“We could go back to my apartment,” I suggested.

“Do you really want to waste time battling traffic?”

Reluctantly I let go. “No.”

“Smart girl,” she approved. Her half-smile turned into a full-wattage, mischievous grin. “Now remember, you can’t touch me, but I get to touch you all I want. Unless you wouldn’t like that …”

I could only manage to shake my head in response.

Hunter stood up, and I immediately missed the heat of her body and the scent of her skin. She started to sway on her stiletto heels in time with the gritty industrial music thrumming through the P.A. system. Her hands ran along her taut abdomen and moved up to cup her breasts. Her eyes closed as her fingers wrapped around her pert chest and she squeezed her own flesh.

I swallowed hard, feeling simultaneously tortured and blessed to watch the show. Hunter’s shin slid over my upper thigh and she settled once again on top of my lap.

“Miss me?” her voice tauntingly asked.

I could only grit my back teeth and clasp my hands against the bottom of the chair. Even though it was killing me not to touch the soft, but firm flesh currently grinding on my lap, there was no way I was willing to potentially cut this ‘dance’ short because I hadn’t had enough willpower.

Hunter ran her palms down my arms and leaned forward as if to kiss me, but took a detour at the last moment to brush her soft lips against my cheek and against the top of my ear. Her warm breath tickled my neck, my hair, and sent a chill down my spine. She quietly moaned and groaned as she worked her hips on my lap.

“Did you practice for this?”

“There wasn’t much time,” she admitted. “I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make it; I was only able to switch my shifts a few days ago.”

Her fingers snaked under my shirt and tickled along my abdomen. It wasn’t so much a lap dance anymore—more like pre-paid groping.

“How is it possible to miss another person so much?” she wondered aloud. She ran her fingers through my hair, dragging her short, polished nails across my scalp and pulling a quiet groan from my mouth.

“I don’t know, baby. But I’m right there with you.”

She swept my hair away from my neck to suckle on my sensitive skin. She bit down gently, but firm enough to cause my head to tilt backwards. My eyes closed and my mouth opened as I sucked in a sharp breath.

Hunter’s hands wandered over my body as her mouth continued to occupy my neck. Even through the thick denim of my jeans, I could feel her nails scrape their way across the inner part of my thighs. The feeling sent a chill down my spine and promptly warmed my core.

I felt, rather than witnessed, Hunter’s fingertips slither to the outside of my legs and push their way to rest on my waist; it was there that they lingered teasingly. Not long after that, her touch skipped up my ribcage; her thumbs brushed against the underside of my breasts. She dared her fingers to go higher and to expand the boundaries, only stopping short of going through with the act due to the unwelcomed eyes that observed our intimate deed from behind dark lenses.

Hunter grunted in frustration when she pulled her hands out from beneath my shirt. “There’s probably cameras everywhere,” she complained bitterly. “And I’m not about to give anyone a free show.”

She stood once again and settled back on my lap, this time with her naked back facing my front. She held onto the armrests, keeping most of her weight off of my lap. The muscles of her thin runner arms twitched and tensed.

She ground her backside into my lap. Her back pressed solidly against my chest and her head fell back to lean on my shoulder. I could feel the heat pouring off her like a volcano shedding molten lava. She smelled sweet, like lilacs, with just the faint scent of cigar smoke in her blonde hair.

“Do you think anyone would notice if we never came back to the party?” she panted in a whispered breath.

I swallowed hard and nodded. “Probably.” I could practically hear the taunting I’d receive at work the next day. “But who cares?”

CHAPTER SEVEN

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, enjoying the scent of the salty ocean spray. I wrapped my arms around myself, hugging my body to keep off the chill of oncoming twilight. After Hunter had collected her carry-on bag from Nikole’s SUV and had changed into an outfit that covered more of her body, we drove out to a nearby beach to watch the sunset. Her flight back to Minnesota was in a few hours. I wanted to demand that she extend her stay, but she had work and responsibilities to return to. I would have to be content for now with the surprise visit, regardless of how short it had been.

“I found another blanket in the back of Nik’s car,” Hunter said, breaking through my silent musings. She wrapped the blanket around my shoulders and wiggled underneath the cover as well.

We sat in a comfortable silence, cuddled together and enjoying the calming sounds of crashing waves and even the shrill protests of birds circling the sky.

“This doesn’t feel real,” I announced to the ocean.

“I know.” Hunter leaned into my shoulder and I played her hair, the strands of silken gold between my fingers. I heard her long exhale. “I’m going to be dragging tomorrow at work, but it’ll be worth it.”

I squeezed the woman in my arms. “I still can’t believe you flew all the way here for only a couple of hours.”

“Me either,” she admitted. “The things we do for love.” She sat up straight and pulled away, depriving me of the softness of her skin and her intoxicating scent. “Have you decided if you’re going to stay?”

“No. Not yet. It’s still really early. The pilot won’t air until mid-October, and until then, I’ll have no idea if the show itself has a future, regardless of if I want to be a part of it.”

We were silent for a moment before Hunter spoke again. “Well, the trip wasn’t a total loss, I guess.”

I cocked my head to the side and looked quizzically at my girlfriend.

“If I ever get bored with nursing,” she clarified, “at least I know I could have a future in the adult entertainment industry.”

I smiled knowingly and leaned forward for a soft kiss while I rhythmically brushed the pad of my thumb over her denim-covered knee. I heard my phone jangle from the open windows of Nikole’s car before the kiss could threaten to build into something more.

“I should probably get that,” I said with regret. “I bet Troian’s wondering what happened to us.” I stood up from the blankets and Hunter’s embrace.

She raised her eyes towards me. “Don’t be long.”

I jogged over to Nikole’s vehicle and retrieved my ringing phone through the open driver’s side window. The call was indeed from Troian, and I braced myself as I pressed the answer button.

“Hello?” I could hear the thump of heavy bass in the background and assumed she was still at the 323.

“Where are you?” Troian asked.

“At the beach.”

“Do you have Nik’s car?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you get my text?” I had messaged her when we’d taken off so she didn’t think we’d been kidnapped or that Nikole’s car had been stolen or towed.

“No. This building is like a black hole,” she complained. “I’m probably missing a mountain of work messages as we speak.”

“They’ll still be there in the morning,” I reminded her.

“I told you I didn’t have time for a party,” she said crossly.

“You’re supposed to make time for important things and people in your life.”

I turned and looked longingly at my girlfriend. She remained sitting on the shoreline with her legs crossed and her eyes closed. Her achingly beautiful face was illuminated by the red and orange glow of an extinguishing sun.