Stiletto Secrets (21 page)

“Whatcha doin?” Lizzy asked as she slipped into the kitchen.

“I’m making chicken wraps, and then we are watching a movie while eating an entire tub of vanilla ice cream.” Emma glanced up at Lizzy and smiled before starting on chopping up the lettuce.

Emma looked up and saw the skeptic look on Lizzy’s face. “And what exactly are you so happy about?”

Emma shrugged. “Nothing.” And then she started singing again.

“OMG,” Lizzy blurted out. “You’re in love, aren’t you?” She narrowed her eyes. “Who is he?”

Emma rolled her eyes. “I’m not in love, Lizzy.”

“Um, you’re singing, dancing, cooking. I’d say you’re in love.” Lizzy grabbed a piece of feta cheese and popped it into her mouth.

Emma sighed, but it was a happy sigh. “Okay.” She spun around and faced Lizzy. “I might have met someone.”

“Might have?”

“Okay, I met someone. But it’s nothing serious.”

“By the look on your face I’d say it’s nothing serious
yet
.”

Emma smiled. “We’ll see.”

Lizzy walked over to the fridge and took out a bottle of wine, then grabbed a glass.

Emma stared at her, dumbfounded. “What are you doing?”

Lizzy shrugged and started to pour the wine. “Since I never thought I’d see the day that you actually have a smitten look on your face, I reckon it’s a good reason to celebrate with a glass of wine.”

Emma walked up to Lizzy and took the glass from her. “It’s a good enough reason for
me
to celebrate with a glass of wine, yes.”

“Urgh, you’re such a grownup.” Lizzy grunted, then took a seat by the kitchen counter. “So who is he?”

Emma gave Lizzy a sideway glance, and then decided what the hell, she might as well just tell Lizzy. It’s not like she would know him anyway. “His name is Nicholas Blake.”

“Holy shit!” Lizzy blurted out. “Nicholas Blake as in Blake Architects?”

Well, that backfired.

“How do you know of Nicholas?” Emma asked, surprised.

Lizzy stared at Emma like she just asked one dumb ass question. “Are you serious? Everyone knows Nicholas Blake. He’s only like the hottest guy in Chicago.” Lizzy narrowed her eyes. “Are you playing with me?”

Emma stared at her sister all wide-eyed, amazed at the fact that apparently Nicholas was like a celebrity among the young folk. “Okay, I would like to change the subject now.” Emma turned around and placed everything back in the fridge.

“OMG, you’re serious aren’t you?”

Emma spun around. “OMG, yes. I am.”

“OMG, my sister is dating the richest, hottest bachelor in the city.” Lizzy squealed.

“Shh. And please don’t say OMG again.”

Lizzy suddenly looked all excited, her eyes gleaming with curiosity. “Okay, spill it. I want all the deets.”

“There really isn’t much to tell yet, Lizzy.” Emma continued around the kitchen. “We just hooked up and we’ll see where it goes, if it goes anywhere.”

Emma turned around just as Lizzy took a sip from Emma’s wine. “Lizzy!”

“Oh whatever, it’s just a sip.” Lizzy put the glass down. “So, does he know?”

“Know what?”

“You know, about your
other
job?”

Emma cringed. She hated the fact that her nineteen-year-old sister knew about her stripping gig. Emma had tried so hard to keep it from her, but apparently not hard enough. Being a stripper wasn’t something Emma was proud of, it wasn’t something she wanted anyone near her to know, especially Lizzy, and now Nicholas.

“No.” Her tone was clipped. “He doesn’t.”

“Are you going to tell him?”

Emma placed the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink. She couldn’t tell Lizzy that Nicholas had actually met her stripping alter ego. It was all too…too damn fucked up. She took a deep breath before turning to Lizzy. “No, I’m not.”

“Are you going to stop doing it now?”

Now that was a question Emma didn’t know the answer to yet.

Actually, she did know the answer, and the answer was that she couldn’t afford to stop stripping. She needed the money, so no, she guessed she wasn’t going to stop.

Emma crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You know, you never told me how you figured it out?”

“Figured what out?”

“What I do on Saturday nights.”

Lizzy lifted her shoulders and started chewing on a raw carrot. “I just got suspicious with you having meetings every damn Saturday. So I followed you one night.”

“You followed me?”

“Yup.” Lizzy continued to chew the carrot like following her older sister was no big deal.

“How long?”

Lizzy swallowed the mouth full of carrot. “How long what?”

“Have you known?”

“About a month.”

At that moment Emma felt really disappointed in herself. Her little sister had known about her secret life as a stripper for an entire month. Funny, Emma did it for Lizzy, to make sure she could take care of Lizzy. But now she only ended up placing more guilt and more worry on her little sister.

“Lizzy, I need you to know that it was my decision to do it.”

“Yeah, to help me. I’m not stupid, Emma. I know my trust fund isn’t enough to cover all the expenses.”

Emma reached for the glass of white wine and took a few sips. Silence fell over them and Emma wondered if she had underestimated her sister. If she had underestimated Lizzy’s strength, her determination.

With a careful gaze on Lizzy, Emma placed the glass down and said, “I saw Claire.”

Lizzy’s face paled a little, her eyes wide. “Where?”

“At a party Nicholas’ dad hosted.” Emma left out the part where she was the maid who only posed as Nicholas’ date. It was bad enough that Lizzy knew about her being a stripper, she didn’t have to know that Emma worked as a low class maid as well.

“What was she doing there?” Lizzy asked with a slight hint of malice in her voice.

Emma took a seat next to her at the counter. “It turns out that Claire has her eye set on Nicholas as well.”

“What?” Lizzy all but yelled out.

“Yeah. Claire is after Nicholas, and it seems like she has Nicholas’ father’s approval too.”

Lizzy turned to stare in front of her. “That little tramp.”

“She’s beautiful, Lizzy. I don’t know how I can compete with that.” Emma lowered her gaze to her glass and started twirling it around on the table.

Lizzy placed her hand on Emma’s and smiled. “You have something Claire will never have, my dear sister.”

“Yeah? And what is that?”

Lizzy smiled. “A heart.”

For a moment it actually felt like they had switched roles, like Lizzy had now become the big sister for a few minutes. Emma wasn’t sure about a lot of things in her life right now, but what she was sure of was her love for Lizzy, and her need to make sure that Lizzy had everything her heart desired.

“Thanks, little sister.”

Lizzy smiled, and then inconspicuously reached for the glass of wine. Emma swatted her hand away. “Don’t even think about it.”

She got up and kissed Lizzy on the forehead. “Come on, we have a movie to watch and ice cream to eat.”

* * * *

The following night Emma was standing in front of her bedroom mirror. She had never been so unsure about anything. She didn’t want to go, she didn’t want to do what she needed to do. But she had no choice. She had to.

The last thing she heard from Nicholas was when he texted her that afternoon saying that he couldn’t wait to see her on Sunday. Emma was so overcome with guilt and fear that she didn’t have the guts to reply. She felt guilty for having to do this, for having to go back there and strip for men she didn’t even know after being with Nicholas. But she also felt fear, scared that Nicholas might show up again at Cinderella’s Booth, which would prove to her that he was a two-timing bastard, and that he didn’t care about her at all.

Emma had never felt so nervous about a show night before. Her stomach was pulled into a thousand little painful knots. She was almost unable to breathe. But she steeled herself and justified what she was about to do by telling herself she was doing it for Lizzy, for a better future, which would hopefully come soon.

It was just past nine when she arrived at the club. Harvey was at his usual spot and smiled as warmly as ever when he let her in the back door.

As Emma made her way down the hall, she spotted Tracy walking around with her little clipboard getting all the girls organized.

“Tracy!” Emma called out and rushed over to the redhead.

“Hi, Cinderella. You ready?” She glanced at the clipboard. “I see you have a busy night ahead of you. Fully booked yet again.”

“Is there a Mr. Blake on the list?” Emma asked, and prayed to God that there wasn’t.

Tracy scanned down the list and then finally shook her head. “Nope. No Mr. Blake. Why? Is he bothering you?”

“No. I was just wondering.”

Tracy narrowed her eyes. “Do you want me to tell Harvey to have a look out for this Mr. Blake?”

“No, it’s fine, really. Thank you, Tracy.”

Emma experienced a sense of relief like she had never experienced before. He wasn’t coming. Nicholas wasn’t coming to see Cinderella, and that kind of made her guilt skyrocket straight up to the goddamn Milky Way.

With every step she took toward her little room of betrayal, Emma felt her heart bleed inside of her chest. She had fallen for Nicholas. She was in love with him. There was no use in denying it any longer. But here she was about to betray him in the worst possible way.

According to Tracy she was fully booked, which meant a real big pay check at the end of the night.

Maybe she could just do this one last time, just tonight, get the check and in the morning look for something else? That way Nicholas would never have to know, and she wouldn’t have to live with her guilt.

Yes. That’s what she was going to do. Get through one more night of unadulterated lies and deceit, and then give it up, for him, for them, for a chance at
something
.

Emma opened the door to her booth, walked in, closed the door and went to place her bag in the back of the room. Emma sighed the entire way there since every molecule of her being did not want to be there, did not want to do what she was about to do. Glancing at all the pinks and sparkles around the room, the bolted chair, the blindfold and handcuffs, Emma realized that she hated it all.

She also remembered the first night Nicholas walked in, how he had captivated her from the very first minute. Back then she had no idea that the dark-haired man wearing that thousand dollar suit would ultimately be the man to grab a hold of her heart. In just a few short weeks, Nicholas had managed to make her want more for herself and not just for those around her.

Emma slowly and reluctantly got dressed in a white lace corset, pulling the strings that weaved through the front tight, accentuating her breasts and hips. Emma pulled on the white stockings and attached it to the garter belt. Nothing about it felt sexy or seductive at all. Usually whenever she slipped on the lingerie, preparing herself for the show, she would feel that little thrill of sexy excitement. But tonight, not so much.

When she looked at the cabinet of stilettos, she couldn’t help but stare at the shoes Nicholas had made her wear both times he was there. Beautiful white high heels with a diamond bow on top. They weren’t the sexiest pair of shoes in the cabinet, neither were they the prettiest, but they were the most elegant.

Since this would be her last night, she wanted to wear those shoes one last time. So she picked them out of the cabinet and slipped them on. Even though this whole thing was extremely twisted, there was a part of her that loved the excitement of being Cinderella, of being someone Nicholas desired, and of knowing the secret Nicholas harbored without him knowing that she knew.

Confusing? Yes.

Exciting and erotic? Hell yes.

Then she heard the chime of the bell. She glanced at the clock. “I’m sorry, you’re a bit early. The first show only starts at ten,” she called from the back, not even bothering to check who it was.

She didn’t hear the bells chime again and she knew whoever it was, was still in the room.

Emma quickly placed her black mask over her eyes and walked out.

And then her heart stopped.

No, it didn’t stop, it leaped straight out of her chest and splattered on the floor right in front of her feet.

“Hello, Emma.”

She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move.

“Hunter.” She stared straight into the green eyes of the person she least expected.

Hunter cocked his head to the side. “Or is it Cinderella?”

Emma’s spine turned into ice, the cold spreading through her insides.

“Hunter, what are you doing here?” Emma gave a step back.

Hunter let his gaze travel down her body appreciatively. “I so totally get it now.” He smirked.

She grabbed a robe that had been lying on the chair, and quickly covered herself.

Hunter pouted. “Damn, Nicky is one lucky guy.”

He moved, and she watched as he started to stroll around the room, looking at the décor and then finally checking out her little cabinet of stilettos.

“I have to tell you, Emma, I really had no idea.”

There was only one question, one thing she needed to know to keep her from panicking. “Are you going to tell him?”

Hunter turned to her and stared at her with a wary expression. “No.”

She let out a breath.

“But you are.”

Emma abruptly looked up at him. “Hunter, I need this job.”

He held his hand up, silencing her. “I know, Emma. I’m not judging. But you need to tell him.”

She shook her head. “I can’t. I can’t tell him. I don’t want him to know about this. Please, Hunter.” If she had to go on her knees—in a non-prostitute way—she would.

“You know that he’s really beating himself up about this entire fucked-up situation?”

Emma felt confused. “What do you mean?”

He cocked his head to the side. “Don’t tell me you can’t see it?”

“See what?”

“He’s in love with you, Emma,” Hunter said, and Emma couldn’t stop the feeling of utter joy bubbling up inside her. “But the fact that he’s, I don’t know, lusting after Cinderella—
you
—it’s fucking with his head.”