Authors: Abby Niles
Stripped (12 page)
Madison felt the stirrings of the first real smile since last night. God, she’d missed this place, missed these people.
After the commotion died down, she pointed to the back door. “Why did Adam have me come in the back?”
“Oh, that.” Star waved a dismissive hand. “He had all of us come in that way tonight. We’re not supposed to be seen by the people outside until the event starts. This place has been rented out by some guy for a big bachelor party or something.”
That was a first. Adam typically didn’t do things like that because he hated turning away the regulars.
“When is it supposed to start?”
“Any minute now, I think.”
As if on cue, the opening to Ginuwine’s ‘Pony’ filled the dressing room. Madison looked toward the ceiling and frowned at the music. That wasn’t the kind of song they danced to. Then she noticed all the grins the girls were sending her. What the hell?
Not sure what they were grinning at, she looked behind her. Seeing nothing, she said, “What?”
They giggled. Giggled. They were acting so weird. Then she heard the screams—of lots of women. Like the kinds of screams you hear when a favorite musician starts singing your favorite song.
Even weirder. “What’s going on?”
Even more giggles.
“Come on.” Star looped her arm through hers and tugged her to the exit that led to the club.
“But I need to get ready.” She looked back toward her bag. All she had on was a pair of jean shorts and a black halter top. She wasn’t ready to do any work. Not that a bunch of women would care what she looked like anyway.
“You look fine.”
As she entered the club, the lights were low and a man was dancing on stage dressed in the same outfit Channing Tatum was dressed in when he did this performance in ‘Magic Mike’—oversized gray jogging pants, white wife-beater, red baseball cap and white tennis shoes.
“What the…why is there a
man
dancing?” Madison asked.
She was so fucking confused. Nothing about tonight was making sense. Adam didn’t run a male strip club. Or at least he hadn’t. The idea was completely laughable. To make it even more inconceivable the guy wasn’t even good. His movements were stiff. His pelvic thrusts were awkward at best.
Star tugged her to a few empty chairs right in front of the stage. As Madison sat in a seat directly in the middle, she felt really bad for the dancer. He was putting his all into the dance. From what she could tell, he needed more practice. A lot more.
As he tugged the shirt off, it got caught on the hat. He struggled for a moment, then finally freed it and whipped it over his head like a lasso. Oh this was just sad.
But the women around the stage didn’t seem to mind. They were screaming their heads off, tossing money on the stage. Not that he seemed to be trying to engage with the customers. He all but ignored them. Flashes were coming from the back of the room. She turned around and noticed a bunch of people with cameras.
Cameras were never allowed.
She jerked a thumb behind her. “What’s that about?”
“Newspapers,” Star whispered.
“What the hell? What’s Adam thinking?”
“The dancer requested it.” Then she impatiently motioned back toward the stage. “Would you pay attention? You’re being rude.”
Wow. Okay. Madison refaced the stage. The man had moved further down the stage and out of the shadows. Her heart stuttered a bit.
The fine blonde hairs on the man’s chest looked familiar.
As he stuffed the shirt down the front of the pants like Tatum had done and came closer to the front of the stage, her lungs ceased to function. He then dug the shirt out of his pants and tossed it right at her. She snatched it out of the air before it hit her in the face.
This couldn’t be happening. She had to be seeing things. There was no way that was Jaxon Sutherland on a stage.
Stripping.
As he stopped at the lip of the stage right in front of her, he squatted and rotated his hips in such an erotic way her mouth hung open.
Holy shit. Jaxon!
He stood, then turned so his back was to her.
Sitting up straighter, she knew what was coming next, but she couldn’t believe he’d go that far. Not with this many witnesses. No way.
But he did. He did a backflip right off the stage—somehow landing upright—then strode right over to her chair, put her legs over his shoulders and picked the chair off the floor. Shocked, she grabbed his head and squealed. He dropped the chair then grabbed her around the waist and hiked her higher until her crotch was right at his mouth.
She gasped as lust flooded through her body. It was so damn sexy to be manhandled by the man she loved.
Like the movie, he carried her to the stage, laid her on her back, then kept his face planted firmly in between her legs as he gyrated the lower part of his body.
He stood up then, tugged off the tennis shoes then reached for the hem of the pants.
She couldn’t let him go that far. Not with the newspapers here. He was trying to make a statement and he’d made one. He didn’t have to go any further.
She held up her hand. “Jaxon, stop. You’ve done enough.”
Without taking his eyes off hers, he tugged his pants to his ankles. Air whooshed out of her lungs and her body sizzled. Standing in nothing but the red cap and matching red G-string, he was magnificent.
He turned, and flexed his tanned ass muscles. That was enough.
He was all hers.
She was claiming him.
She would not deny him, or their love, ever again. To hell with anyone who tried to belittle her past or where she’d come from. Jaxon had just proven he didn’t give a fuck about any of it.
He moved to the top of her head then dropped to the floor right above her, his cock inches above her face and moved his body in a slow sensual wave. Then he moved down her body until his lips were positioned above hers, then he kissed her, slow, deep. Not caring there was a room full of people, because in the moment, it was just them.
“I love you, Madison,” he said.
She cupped his cheek in her palm, not afraid to say the words any longer. “I love you, too, Jaxon.”
“Now
I’ll
be the talk of the town, not you.”
With that, he stood and helped her to her feet. To the cheers of the crowds, they trotted off the stage and into the back room. She waited to see if anyone would follow.
“No one is going to bother us,” Jaxon said.
“How do you know?”
“Billionaire, remember?”
She laughed at that. “How did you get Adam to close the club on a Saturday?”
He scrubbed the back of his head. “I paid him a shitload and promised to leave him the fuck alone about trying to buy him out. The ‘fuck alone’ were his words.”
“Sounds like him.” She smiled. “Where’d the women come from?”
“The girls took care of that.”
She bet they did. Madison chuckled. “And the dance?”
“I’ve been here all day practicing. The routine was their idea, they thought it would be the easiest for me to learn since I could watch it.” He sent her a horrified look. “I watched that damn scene over and over again.”
She went over to him and kissed him on the lips. “I can’t believe you did all this for me.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist. “I needed to show you that your past doesn’t matter to me. When this all started, I made the stripping a big deal. So when last night happened, and I saw how embarrassed and hurt you were, I wasn’t going to try and convince you with words. I needed to show you. Now I’m a stripper, too.” Fear entered his eyes. “Tell me it was enough. Tell me I’m not going to lose you.”
“I believed you deserved someone who belonged in your circle. Last night was a reminder of how different we really are.”
“Fuck different. You’re good for me. You’ve shown me a simpler way of life.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “I love money. I love spending it. I love making it. I won’t lie about that. But, you’ve taught me that the best things in life don’t have a big price tag on them. They come from the love of a good woman and her two kids.”
Tears filled her eyes. Had anyone told her when she went to work for the insufferable Jaxon Sutherland that she would find the love of her life, a true partner in every sense of the word, she would have laughed. But she had. “I’m yours, Jaxon. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Thank God,” he whispered before claiming her lips in a soul-searing kiss. Only an hour ago she’d thought she’d never feel them against hers again. Now she had the man she loved back in her arms and she was never letting him go again.
As they broke apart, she played with the hair at the nape of his neck, becoming thoughtful about the future they were going to have. “You’re going to teach me to relax and splurge some, aren’t you?”
“Hell yeah, I am. I can’t wait to spoil you a little.”
She smiled. What he didn’t realize was he already had. Anything else was just a bonus.
THE END
About The Author
Abby Niles is the author of the contemporary MMA series, Love to the Extreme, and the paranormal series, The Awakening. She is also the author to the geeky romantic comedy, Defying Convention, where Live Action Role Players (LARPers) set out to teach their favorite author a lesson, but end up playing matchmaker instead.
Abby lives in North Carolina with the love of her life and their combined gaggle of kids. When she’s not writing, she’s trying to catch up on an endless pile of laundry and find time to get some much needed reading in.
Also by Abby Niles
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