Iron Rods: 1 (Strip Club) (8 page)

Gangsta G lowered his head but raised a thin arm. “Me too,”
he murmured. “I gotta pay for college.”

Tatum eyed the other dancers, but they continued to pretend
they couldn’t be seen.

“Great. Give me a call tomorrow and we’ll get something
planned.” She looked at her watch. “That’s it for tonight, everyone. Thanks for
a great meeting. I’ll see y’all soon.”

The bright smile Tatum had held throughout the meeting
dissolved the moment the last employee exited the building. When the front door
banged shut, she turned to Bennett, her face an odd mixture of relief, hurt and
anger.

“You mind telling me just what the devil you were up to?”
she hissed.

Had his lack of attention during the meeting been apparent?
Surely nothing in his expression during the gathering could have given away his
wandering mind or lurid thoughts.

He met her reproachful glare, unwilling to concede anything.
“The last I checked, I was standing here watching you interact with your new
staff.” Thinking a compliment might help soften her glare, he added, “You did a
fine job. Only two strippers walked out. I thought maybe the entire bunch
might.”

“I meant in there.” She thrust a pointed finger to the black
door of the manager’s office. “One minute you’re showing me around, the next
you’re pressing me into the wall. After a blistering kiss, you walk away and
act as though nothing happened. That’s what I’m talking about.”

“Blistering?” he repeated, testing the word for himself. “I
pride myself on my kissing skills. I hope a blistering kiss is a good thing.”

Irritation sparked like fireworks in her green eyes. Damn
but the woman was beautiful, especially when her ire was provoked.

“Please don’t make me hurt you,” she growled as she
collected the bits of paper she’d written notes on while talking with the
employees. “I’m too young to go to jail.”

He couldn’t contain a laugh. The thought of Tatum physically
threatening anyone bordered on comical. She might be tall for a woman and have
a strong bark, but that was probably all she had in her arsenal.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I’m serious as a heart attack, Slick. If you came on to me
just to rattle me before the meeting, I want to know. I don’t like being toyed
with.”

The out-of-the-blue accusation caught him completely by
surprise, as did Tatum’s directness.

Kissing her as a tactic to throw her off?

Such a thing would have been brilliant if that was what had
happened in the manager’s office. It wasn’t. Kissing her had only been a simple
case of lust gone awry.

“What makes you think I would do something so underhanded?”
Granted, some of the ideas he’d devised to shut down the club were shady, if
not unscrupulous. But he hadn’t acted on any of them yet. Well, other than
interviewing her for the manager position. That had horribly backfired. Who
knew she might actually be able to handle the job? So far, other than the
interview, he’d been completely innocent. He hadn’t had time to put any other
plans into play.

“Your father.” Tatum didn’t bat an eye. “He warned me about
your wanting to tear down the club to build a high-rise. I’m letting you know
in no uncertain terms that I’m going to do everything I can to make Iron Rods
successful.” With an unsteady hand, she tidied her papers into a neat stack,
then set the pile on the table with a
bang
. “Now that we have that out
in the open, let me ask you again. What were you were up to when you had me in
the office?”

She had him on the defensive—a tactical position he had
hated from the moment his severely depressed mother had left him at Laughton
Academy at the ripe age of eight. After years of defending himself against the
bullying classmates, he’d learned how to turn the tables. His offense was one
that could seldom be bested.

“If you have to ask, I have to assume you don’t have much
experience with men.” He rose from his leaning position against the bar. “Is
that true?”

“You arrogant ass. How dare you ask me something like that?”

“So I’m clear,” he said, stepping next to her, then lowering
his lips to the shell of her lovely ear. “Are you upset that I kissed you or
that I stopped?”

Her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and her mouth
gapped open. “I-I…”she floundered. A stain the color of ripe strawberries rose
up her neck and spread across her cheeks.

“I thought so.”

Bennett acted on the impulse he’d suppressed when he’d seen
her dancing onstage. That same indefinable impulse that was driving him crazy. Without
a second thought, he picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. He might
come to regret this impetuous act, but right now he didn’t want to think about
the possible repercussions. He was too busy enjoying himself, something he
rarely managed to do.

She let out a shriek, then beat his back with her fists and
kicked her legs with surprising force. The woman was incredibly strong.

“Mind toning down the show of indignation? I understand
you’re not easy. You made that perfectly clear. And I like the thrill of the
chase as much as the next guy, but if you don’t stop wiggling around so much, I
might drop you.”

Tatum pounded on his back even harder. “What do you think
you’re doing? Where are you taking me?”

Bennett made his way through the club and kicked open the
door to the manager’s office, easily splintering the wood into pieces. The
powerful release felt so damn good, he grinned.

The simple destructive act to a part of Iron Rods felt like
a tiny break from the chains of his miserable past. After years of restraining
his behavior for fear of bringing down the wrath of his grandfather or failing
to measure up to his father’s standards, he was finally letting go and acting
as he pleased.

Freedom. In that moment he was Bennett, just Bennett. Not
the grandson of the mighty Montgomery Ashton or the unwanted son of Lyle
Truitt.

“Are you insane?” she squealed. “You just destroyed that
door.”

“Replace it with a pink one. It will go better with your
decorating scheme.” With all the exuberance of a buccaneer claiming his
plunder, he slapped her ass. How could he not? Her tempting apple-shaped bottom
was unprotected and so close, he could bite it. Plus, damn it, he wanted to.
Wasn’t that enough?

If I’m going to cut loose, I’m going to do it exactly the
way I want. Nothing less. Nothing less.

Tatum yelped and her body stiffened. “I’m going to get you
for that if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Promises, promises.” When he reached the desk, he shifted
her from being draped over his shoulder to being cradled in his arms. Her
flaxen locks tumbled like yards of silk ribbon over his biceps.

She was such a pretty thing. Despite seeming tough as nails
on the inside, with a firm body that boasted muscles on the outside, she looked
soft and delicate in his arms. A piece of hard covered candy that would
hopefully melt once he had his mouth on her again.

Before she had an opportunity to protest, he bent over her,
seizing her full pink lips with his own. In that instant, Tatum’s frame lost
its rigidity, becoming a pliant mass of luscious mounds and supple curves.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back,
taking as much from him as he took from her. The awareness of her mutual desire
heated his blood and unleashed any remnants of restraint. He would take her,
here in the office, over and over again until they had had their fill and she
implored him to stop.

With a sweep of a hand, Bennett sent the stacks of papers,
pens and knickknacks on the desk flying. He needed space, just a little space,
to set her down, lay her back and indulge himself in her womanly flesh.

Tatum started and drew back. She searched his face, for what
he could only guess, then a sly smile played on her swollen lips.

“Feeling a little impatient?” A mischievous, slightly
imperious tone flowed in her husky voice.

“You have no idea.”

Speaking taxed his airless lungs. He labored to breathe and
steady his accelerated heartbeat. With each breath he caught the honeyed scent
of her skin, making his mouth water. He wanted to touch her, taste her, nibble
on every inch of her tanned body, then plunge his cock deep inside her. Now.

He nudged aside the heavy leather chair and set her on top
of the cherry wood desk. Eager to savor her, he grabbed hold of the bottom of
her T-shirt and slipped it off, then took a moment to appreciate the enticing
view. Pink, lacy and altogether feminine, the bra she wore accentuated her
small breasts, pushing up the perky swells until they nearly overflowed.

“God, you’re beautiful.” The words spilled out of his mouth
unbidden. And she was beautiful in so many ways. She didn’t possess the
polished looks of a sophisticated lady and most likely never would. Polished
and perfect wasn’t her style. Instead, she had been born with a natural
loveliness that didn’t require a face full of makeup, designer dresses or a
five-hundred dollar haircut. She was who she was, no more, no less.

His New York sensibilities wanted to reject this
recognition, question his motives and logic. But today, right now, his New York
sensibilities didn’t rule, he reminded himself. He wasn’t in the Big Apple any
longer. He was in Austin and he was a man with a half-dressed blonde staring up
expectantly at him, waiting for him to make his next move. Waiting to be
seduced. He aimed to please.

The answer to the question plaguing his mind since Saturday
night was too close to fixate on her lovely face or her enticing tits though.
With awkward fingers, he popped the buttons to her cutoff jeans, then slid the
shorts down over her hips and her toned legs.

A little triangle of bubble-gum-pink cotton covered her
mound. From the looks of things, she kept herself extremely well-trimmed.

Currents of lust zipped down his stomach, tightening his
groin and heightening his desire. His cock reared behind the confines of his
slacks, demanding immediate attention. He resisted the urge to ravish her on
the spot. Not an easy task. He ached to rip off the pretty underwear barring
him from full access to her sweet spot and then fuck her. Hadn’t he waited long
enough to release the lust he’d harbored since meeting her?

“I have to shave down there.”

“What?” He barely absorbed her admission through the carnal
impulses dominating his thoughts.

“I’m a dancer. It’s what we do.” Embarrassment etched itself
in the fine lines of her forehead. Once again her cheeks flushed red.

He shook his head. “You lost me.”

Tatum covered her face with a hand and pressed her knees
together, closing the tantalizing apex between her legs.

His breath hitched and his stomach plummeted like the stock
market during a panic. Had he already screwed up this opportunity with her? Did
she change her mind about wanting to hook up?

Her shoulders slumped. She removed the hand blocking her
view and exhaled on a drawn-out sigh.

“I wear a lot of leotards and close-fitting costumes, so I
have to keep things down there to a minimum.”

“What?”

She frowned and nodded toward her panties, conveying a
silent
duh
. “You were staring at my underwear like I’m some kind of
freak. I’m not. I’m a professional. Almost all professional women dancers have
their nether regions shaved. It’s not all gone, but most of it is. Don’t
judge.”

Nether regions?

He coughed back a laugh as relief surged through his veins.
She wasn’t going to bolt and leave him the most sexually frustrated man in
Austin after all.

“Oh, I’ve judged, all right,” Bennett taunted. “And I score
you a very respectable nine out of ten.”

“Only a nine? Not a perfect ten?” She placed both hands
behind her and reclined, emphasizing her dissatisfaction.

“Always room for improvement. And like I said, I’m keeping
it respectable.”

His gaze slid from her dimpled knees up her taut thighs and
then lingered on the exquisite pucker protruding beneath the smooth center of
her pink underwear. Just below the delectable crease he noted a wet spot
spreading across the fabric. His dick jerked at the evidence of her desire. She
was ready for him, all damp and hot, and he was more than ready for her.

As much as he’d like to shred her pretty little panties with
his teeth and bury his face between her legs to lap at her nub and sample her
juices, he placed his need in check. Who knew if he’d ever have another chance
at Tatum. After this reckless evening, when they’d both come to their senses,
sex might be off the table. If they were smart, it would be. No, for now he
needed to take his time, relish every second this golden opportunity afforded
him.

Spreading her legs wide, Bennett positioned himself in the
welcoming gap. Tatum responded by placing her hands slightly behind her bottom
and leaning back, giving him full access to the buffet of her glorious body.
Her generous gesture would not go unrewarded. Bennett bent over her, but rather
than zeroing in her mouth, he aimed lower, finding his target just above her
collarbone.

His lips met the warm, sweet-smelling curve of her neck. He
nuzzled closer, very much aware of how the five o’clock shadow on his cheeks
would abrade her delicate skin. Pleasure and pain. The best ingredients for
incredible sex.

When his mouth found her pulse, he stroked at the wildly
beating point with the tip of his tongue before applying his teeth for a gentle
bite. She moaned and lifted her chin, elongating her graceful neck. A subtle
request for more.

Request granted.

With increasing firmness, he nibbled and sucked, taking
pleasure in her heated flesh and responsive groans. Following the natural
contour to her shoulder, he stopped long enough to slip her thin bra straps
onto her arms before continuing down her chest to the swell of her breasts. He
lowered his chin into the narrow valley between her tits, then turned his head
left and right several times while planting moist kisses on the heaving mounds.