Iron Rods: 1 (Strip Club) (12 page)

He was close, so fucking close to her sweet spot.

As the pads of his fingertips traveled over her neatly
groomed mound, the light dew of moisture trapped in her springy hair and
panties became more pronounced. By the time he found her soft folds, his
fingers swam in slick wetness. He dipped into the entrance of her pussy.

Jesus!

She was soaking and hot. Ready for the taking.

A bolt of urgency struck. His cock jolted, anxious to slip
into her tight cunt.

With the palm of his hand, he pressed and rubbed her clit
while he slipped two wet fingers into her slit. Tatum’s hips swayed, moving
against him. Sharp and frequent gasps replaced her even breathing. She dug in
to the quilt, clasping the cover as though it were a lifeline. When he could
feel the walls of her pussy grasp and stroke his fingers, he pulled out.

Her cry of dismay filled the small room.

“What are you doing?”she asked, her voice little more than a
rasp. “Don’t stop.”

“And lose a chance of licking you until you come in my
mouth? You wound me.”

She pushed herself to her elbows. “I wound you?”

“I’ve already told you how much I enjoy eating pussy.” He
hooked the elastic band of her panties around his finger. Pulling himself from
the bed, he also adroitly slipped the garment down her legs. By the time his
feet hit the floor, the drenched slip of silk and string hung around one
sock-covered ankle. “Would you deny me my pleasure?”

“Never.”

Tatum kicked the panties, sending them flying. In an
instant, she’d peeled off her T-shirt and bra. Her breasts, beautifully round
and fully erect, were a sight to behold. The woman was absolutely lovely.

She flopped back onto the mattress. “Feel free to pleasure
yourself as much as you like.” She let out a laugh and lifted her head. “You
know what I mean, right?”

“I think I can figure that out.” Bennett rolled one sock off
her foot and carelessly tossed it over his shoulder.

“Although,” she added, a bloom of pink staining her neck.
“That is something that I would like to watch.”

His hands stilled on the remaining sock. “Me jacking myself
off?”

Tatum bit her lip and nodded.

“Noted.”

“Excellent.” She fell back and spread out her arms.

Oh yes. She did keep him on his toes.

Bennett joined her in her state of undress, leaving his
clothes in a pile near the door. When he decided to leave, finding his things
would be easy. With or without the aid of a light.

When he returned to the bed, he situated himself between her
legs, noting the beads of wetness clinging to the landing-strip of springy
curls atop her mound. The rosy folds of her labia glistened. Flaming arrows of
lust burned a path from the tightened muscles of his stomach to his aching
balls.

For a moment, he considered bypassing his favorite treat and
rolling on the condom he’d left on her side table but the notion quickly
passed. Who knew when he’d be in this fortunate position again?

Bennett nudged apart her legs as he bent to his task. He
rubbed his cheek on the inside of her thigh, then nibbled the tan skin.
Expecting the buck of her response, he held tightly to her adjacent leg.

He placed his mouth over the stiff bud at the apex of her
pussy. But rather than beginning his assault on the tiny nub, he purposely did
nothing. A little anticipation on Tatum’s part would only heighten her
experience.

After a beat, he flicked his tongue against her sensitive
clit.

Tatum moaned.

Another pause and then three more powerful swipes.

She placed a hand on the top of his head.

Four twirls around the hard kernel and a lick between her
heavenly folds.

Her nails dug into his scalp.

For every nip, scrape and stroke he inflicted, she
responded. For several minutes he played the game until she broke down.

“I can’t take any more. Please! I’m about to lose my mind.”

He chuckled.
Gets them every time.

Bennett latched on to her clit. The tip of his tongue lapped
at her, again and again, each stroke with increasing force. Tatum’s back
arched. Her body quivered. As she grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled, she
cried out.

He continued stroking her, lapping at her exquisite juices.

The tugging on his hair grew more insistent.

“Stop! Please, stop. I can’t take any more.”

Peering over the trim lines of her tummy, he found her
gasping for air. He couldn’t hold back a satisfied grin. “Since you’ve said
please.”

“Yes, yes, please. I think my mind exploded. My body feels
like I’ve been zapped by an electric fence.”

“That’s a good thing?”

Tatum lifted her hand, giving him a thumbs-up.

“Then I hope you’re ready for more.”

Bennett stood and picked up the foil pouch he’d placed on
the nightstand. Taking his time, he ripped the small pouch and carefully rolled
the latex condom over his stiff cock.

Tatum had already rolled on her side. Head perched in her
hand, she let her gaze travel over his naked body.

“Yes?” he asked, grabbing a pillow and tossing it near her.

“I like watching you. You’re very sexy.”

He’d been called sexy by many women, but her declaration
struck him as completely genuine. Not just a come-on line used so often to fill
the quiet voids. A sensation as though he’d just finished drinking warmed
cognac flowed down his chest and heated his stomach.

“So are you.” He crawled onto the mattress and situated
himself on his side facing her. He pressed soft kisses on her forehead, her
eyelids and the end of her pert nose. “And you taste absolutely delicious.”

She bit her lip. The light blush that had started on her
neck rose to her cheeks, making her all the more adorable.

He sought her mouth and showered her with lingering kisses
while positioning himself on top of her. Her body radiated warmth, adding heat
to his already fevered skin. The tempo of his heart increased when his cock
slipped between her legs, finding the hot, slick apex. A jolt rocketed through
him as he drew himself up, slipping his dick through her wet folds. The time
had come to let himself go.

He placed the tip of his penis at the drenched opening of
her cunt then plunged, not stopping until he’d buried himself deep inside her.
Her breath caught and her muscles stiffened. After several long strokes of his
shaft, she relaxed and slowly rocked her hips, grinding her pussy against him.

When she twined her legs around his and tilted her pelvis
high, Bennett reached beneath her and grabbed her ass, using her as an anchor
to push his cock even deeper. He covered her lips with his, sampling her sweet
mouth and tasting every moan.

The tight channel of her pussy coaxed and pulled with each
rhythmic movement. Tatum’s back arched and her body writhed. Her nails bit into
his shoulders.

As the walls of her cunt contracted around him, milking his
shaft and testing his stamina, her undulations grew more frenzied. Her groans
more labored.

Willing himself not to come, Bennett strained against the
urgent need to find release. Through this most carnal of acts, he had to
possess her. Convey with each thrust of his cock and every kiss from his lips
the things he could not tell her. Things he could barely admit to himself. The
strong feelings she provoked were unwanted and had no place in his life, yet
they were there. God help them both, they were there.

Tatum’s back arched. Her hold on his back became a death
grip. He rammed his cock once again and her climactic cry filled the small
bedroom. Bennett grunted as he joined her. Every muscle in his core quaked
while wave after powerful wave of ecstasy poured from him. When the last
shuddering tide ebbed, he withdrew and fell beside her.

He lay quiet for a moment, listening to the pounding of his
heart and feeling the sweat from his exertion roll down his chest. After
several minutes, Tatum pulled back the bed covers and slipped in.

The moment of decision had finally arrived. Would he stay or
would he go? Either way his conduct would speak louder than any word he could
possibly say.

Once again, his body and his mind fought for control.

He glanced at his pile of clothing near the bedroom door.
Going back to his condo was the right decision. Though there was nothing there
but cold sheets, he would be signaling a limited involvement with Tatum.
Despite the growing feelings he had for her, their relationship would be
sexual. No more, no less.

Bennett turned away from the door and took in Tatum. The
tall Texan with the brassy attitude beckoned. Yet staying meant crossing an
invisible line into some type of relationship. Was he ready? Could he ever be?

Tatum patted the empty space beside her. With one quick
motion, she played her hand, indicating she wanted more.

He nodded and snuggled in beside her, feeling as though he
had just tumbled over a cliff and was falling, headfirst, into a great abyss.

“Hello! Anyone home in there?”

Tatum started at the sound of her roommate’s voice. How long
had she been daydreaming? She looked through the windshield of Heather’s car.
On her right, the Austin Motel sign that resembled an erect penis protruded
from the side of the hotel. Farther up on her left was the granddaddy of live
music in Austin, the Continental Club.

South Congress. They were already heading down South
Congress Avenue and driving toward the darkening rain clouds coming in from the
southeast. They’d passed the last landmark she was cognizant of several blocks
before on Barton Springs Road. Her brain had been off in la-la land for several
minutes. Not good. Not good at all.

Tatum shook away her lustful meandering thoughts and turned
from the passing scenery to face Heather. “I’m sorry. What were you saying?”

“I was asking about how y’all found the general contractor
to renovate the club.” Heather glanced at her rearview mirror, then signaled to
pass a car backing into an empty stall in front of Jo’s Coffee. “Is he someone
y’all know?”

“Ah, no. I mean, I don’t know him personally.” Focus. She
had to find her focus. Get her mind off Bennett and center her attention on the
renovation plans she and Heather needed to review with the contractor. “He’s
someone Lyle Bennett knows. Some man named Dan. Dan Camden, I think.”

“Never heard of him.”

“Me neither. Lyle said he used to work with Dan back in the
eighties when they were both strippers. They lost track of each other when Dan
suddenly took off after a bad breakup. I guess Dan moved back to town and
reconnected with Lyle a few months ago.”

“Your guy went from stripping to construction?” Heather
slowed down for a pedicab driver struggling to haul a young couple up South
Congress hill. The strong wind blowing in didn’t help the poor man’s sluggish
progress.

“From what Lyle tells me, Dan worked construction while he
danced at Iron Rods.” Tatum glanced at the block that used to be home to
several food trailers and frowned at the hotel that had taken their place. Like
many of the unusual businesses on this wonderful street, the trailers had once
helped keep Austin weird. They were gone now, as was their great food and the
quirky dining experience enjoyed by so many who visited the area. If Bennett
had his way, Iron Rods, another Austin landmark, would be a thing of the past
too.

“Most of the strippers have full-time jobs outside the
club,” Tatum said. “Lyle worked construction too until he became the manager
for Iron Rods. Sometime after that he made his fortune and started the holdings
company, leaving the management of the club to a crazy cooter named Cotton.”

“And the rest is history. The history you get to write,”
Heather said in her happy singsong voice, her big hazel eyes dancing.

Too bad Austin didn’t have a professional football or
basketball team. Her perky roommate would make a great addition to any
cheerleading squad.

“With some help from my friends, especially you. The designs
you put together for Iron Rods are absolutely phenomenal. We’re going to have
women lining up just to be in such a beautiful club, regardless of the fact
half-naked men are dancing inside it.” Her excitement bubbled up like a freshly
drawn beer. The pieces of the Iron Rods recovery puzzle were coming together.
Success couldn’t be far behind.

“Nicko Guerra, my friend from college, is coming back into
town in a few days to visit his family and help me teach some dance routines to
Steele and Gangsta G for their auditions,” Tatum continued. “Nic’s been working
as a stripper in Dallas for a while, and I’m going to need all the help I can
get to get those two prepared.” Especially with that damn stripper pole.

“Have you talked with the sorority presidents from the university
yet?”

“I’ve set up meetings with most of them for next week.”

“Asking them to help judge the auditions for the strippers
you’re going to hire is pure genius. Those girls will be so vested in Iron
Rods, they’ll have everyone in their sororities clamoring about it.”

Tatum had to admit, the marketing scheme was one of her
better ideas. As was her idea to set up an attendee registration on the club’s
website. Anyone gifting money to birthday girls, brides-to-be or those
celebrating a special occasion need only forward money to the designated Iron
Rods account online. The club took ten percent of every gifted dollar, and the
party girl received the rest in cash. Brilliant if she said so herself.

A flash of lightning streaked across the darkening sky as they
drove farther south. Seconds later thunder, distant but menacing, rumbled in.
The weather mimicked Tatum’s stomach, which steadily strengthened its uneasy
churning and rolling the closer they got to Iron Rods’ ugly purple building.
Bennett would be at today’s meeting with Lyle and the general contractor.
Although she’d spent quite a bit of time with Mr. Perfect in the past two
weeks, being near him always seemed to make her insides sizzle despite the
aggravating mishmash of emotions heaving in her belly.

I’m not only fooling around with the enemy, I’m falling
for him.

Bennett wasn’t actually a gunman lurking in the grassy
knoll, preparing to shoot her down at first opportunity. But he had flat out
told her of his desire to close down the club and build a high-rise. The man
assigned as her mentor was a risk to her professional redemption.

Would he be so bold as to blatantly sabotage her plans? Put
a torch to the building? Infest the place with rats? Surely not. Once the club
opened and he saw how popular and profitable Iron Rods was, he’d change his
attitude. Of course he would. Then she could have as much steamy, guilt-free
sex with Bennett as she wanted. Maybe even see about taking their relationship,
if that’s what they had, to the next level.

The scenario couldn’t be any better for all parties, even
the staff. Everyone would come out smelling like a rose.

When Heather pulled into the Iron Rods parking lot, Tatum
spotted Bennett, clean-shaven and oozing masculine sexuality, standing by his
car and talking with a man she didn’t recognize. The slick New Yorker wore his
usual dress shirt and slacks that had a crease running down the front so sharp
it could cut wood.

As usual, Bennett was perfect. Positively glorious in every
way. The blackening skies over Austin might be threatening rain, but the way
her belly loop-de-looped when she spotted him, one would think sunshine and
rainbows poured out of his tight ass.

Tatum opened the passenger door, her arms filled with the
design plans, while a burnt-orange dually truck drove into the lot. The
driver’s shock of shoulder-length white hair and handlebar mustache meant only
one thing—Lyle Truitt was here. Her cavalry had just arrived.

Lyle stepped down from the monster truck in Western boots
and a straw Western hat. In between these staples of Texas clothing were khaki
cargo shorts and an eye-popping red Hawaiian shirt with white hibiscus flowers.
He looked absolutely bizarre in a very Austin way. How could anyone not adore
the kooky old man?

“Dan Camden, you old son-bitch. You made it.” Like a thirsty
island vacationer beating a path to a tropical drink, Lyle marched to the
stranger chatting with Bennett and engulfed the man in a bear hug. “I’m so glad
you gave me a call when you came back into town. You haven’t changed a bit.”

The heels of Lyle’s boots gave the old man a slight height
advantage over Dan, who would have appeared shorter anyway because of his
stocky frame. The man thumping Lyle on the back wasn’t heavyset though. His
body boasted lean muscles that only years of working hard labor could have
produced. From the looks of his darkly tan skin, most of that hard labor had
been out in the sun.

When the two old friends finished their greeting, Lyle
turned toward Tatum. “Young lady, this here’s Dan “The Man” Camden, general
contractor and stripper extraordinaire.”

Tatum shifted the rolls of drawings cradled in her arms to
take Dan’s outreached palm. They shook, then the contractor lifted her hand to
his lips and kissed it on the backside. He raised his gaze two or three inches
to meet hers and grinned, displaying a mouth full of straight, white teeth.

“
Enchanté.
” Dan gave her a quick once-over and shook
his head, causing his long, brown hair to dust his broad shoulders. “Lyle said
the new manager was a tall drink of water, but he didn’t mention anything about
a pretty lady. It’s a pleasure.”

The pleasure was all hers. Though creases had formed deep
valleys at the corners of his brown eyes and the notch in his nose suggested a
break in the bone at one time, the charming Dan Camden was a ruggedly handsome
man. From what she could tell from his appearance and putting two and two
together from Lyle’s stories, Dan had to be somewhere in his mid to late
forties. But the faded jeans molded to his thick legs and the paint-splattered
T-shirt stretching across his wide chest made him the fittest forty-something
she’d ever seen.

“This is my roommate, Heather Cheatham,” Tatum said,
finishing the introductions. “She’s the mastermind behind the design scheme for
the club.”

Thunder cracked overhead and lightning lit up the black sky.
A sudden gust of wind blew through, pushing over the tall weeds surrounding the
parking lot and nearly knocking Tatum off her feet. Fat raindrops plopped one
by one to the ground, and their numbers were increasing.

“I reckon we’d better get inside before we get soaked,” Lyle
said, raising his voice to be heard over the approaching storm.

Not needing to be told twice, the group raced to the red
front doors of the club and rushed inside just as the sky opened, releasing a
welcome downpour. Lyle switched on the interior lights. Any fantastical dreams
of the club being completely renovated by magical elves since her last visit
were dashed as she took in the familiar ugly sight. The sooner Dan “The Man”
got to work, the better.

Aware of Bennett’s close proximity, Tatum raked her fingers
through the tangles the blowing wind had whipped into her hair, trying to tame
the long locks. How was it she never seemed to be at her best when Slick was
around? She glanced in his direction and noted not a single jet-black hair was
out of place.

Bennett’s gaze locked with hers. The heat behind his eyes
melted her insides, sending a trickle of warm cream to her new panties. Chances
were they wouldn’t be alone together for him to see her outrageously priced,
but oh-so-pretty purple satin undies. She’d worn them anyway, just in case
,
and felt incredibly sexy just having them on.

“What happened to that door? Looks like a tornado hit it.”
Dan asked, pointing to the door to the manager’s office as he walked in.

Tatum’s back tightened as the evidence of her lustful first
encounter with Bennett was there for the entire party to see. “I accidently
broke it trying to move in some furniture. We’ll get a new one, right?”

“Sure. No problem. Easy fix,” Dan responded before uttering
a low, “Whoa, Nelly,” as he passed the end of the wall used to separate the
entryway from the main stage area. “Speaking of things not changing a bit. The
place looks exactly the way it did when I worked here years ago. I think you
were using those crappy tables and chairs then too. Not even the bar has
changed.” He ran a hand over the top of his shaggy head. “You want the
renovations done by when?”

Lyle’s long mustache twitched. “What are you talking about?
It ain’t all that bad.” He adjusted his straw hat, stomped over to Dan and
placed his fists on his narrow waist. “It just needs a woman’s touch. That’s
why we have the ladies here to give it a facelift.”

“Facelift?” Dan let out a dry laugh. “More like a complete overhaul.
You sure you don’t want to just tear it down? Might be easier.”

Bennett turned to Tatum, his eyebrows raised and lips curled
on one side, the smug expression communicating,
I told you so
.

Tatum hugged the redesign plans to her chest, grabbed Heather’s
hand and pulled her to Lyle’s side. “Luckily, that won’t be needed. We’ve got
the ideas sketched out, Lyle has the funds to make it all happen and now we
have the construction know-how. In a few short weeks, none of y’all will
recognize this place.”

“That’s right. So let’s get started,” her roommate chimed in
with her usual spirited enthusiasm. Heather withdrew the longest paper roll
from the stash in Tatum’s hold and spread it out on the bar.

Dan clapped his hands, sending the loud sound throughout the
cavernous room before rubbing them together as if he were a miser preparing to
count his money. “Well, all right then. Let’s see what these fine ladies have
in mind for this old monument to decadence.”

Starting with a general outline and then focusing on the
details, Tatum and Heather reviewed the design plans, making sure to indicate
the Iron Rods staff would be meeting with Dan in a few days to share their
ideas for the layout of the bar, the women’s restroom, and the DJ booth. By the
time they finished, Lyle’s Hawaiian-shirt-covered chest puffed out as though he
were a proud rooster.

“Damned fine work, ladies. Damned fine.” The old man beamed.
“I can imagine the club’s transformation already. Beautiful, yet sensual.
Opulent, but not overdone. Yes, indeedy. The changes to Iron Rods will make it
a showcase in Austin. We’ll be bigger than Austin City Limits, Esther’s Follies
and Hippie Hollow combined.”

“Hippie Hollow? I completely agree. And being more famous
than a nudist beach on Lake Travis really is saying something. If we can
eventually rival the nightly bat exodus from under the Congress Avenue Bridge,
we’d definitely be sitting on a gold mine.” Sarcasm sweetened Bennett’s voice
like saccharine. He looked at his watch. “Lyle, if we’re done here, I’d like to
take a few minutes to talk with you about the land deal in Bastrop. I’m meeting
with the city’s planning director and city engineer in two hours. I need to
know how you want to proceed.”