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“
Of course. You had to.”
Marci nodded. “So what did he say?”

“
That some of his friends
had booked her and there was nothing he could do about it. So I told
him there was something he could do. He could tell them to cancel her
and if they don’t, he shouldn’t go.” Beth folded
her arms and looked determined.

“
What did he say?” I
asked.

“
Nothing, because I left.
I’m so mad, I don’t know if I can go through with this
wedding to a man who would lie to me.”

There was a maid of honor dress
I’d paid two hundred dollars for, not counting the cost of the
dyed matching shoes and purse, currently in a garment bag in my
suitcase. Marci and Jen, as the two bridesmaids, had twin celery
green creations in their luggage. Stripper or no stripper, Beth and
John were getting married if I had any say in it.

“
You know what? I think we
all need a drink. Come on. We’re going across the street.”
I didn’t care if it was still light outside. It was time to get
drunk and calm this potential runaway bride. Otherwise we’d
have to open a storefront on eBay to sell our custom-tailored but
never worn wedding party dresses.

Across the street, Marci ordered
for us all. Moments after we sat four giant Hurricane cocktails
appeared on our table and I got my first taste of the New Orleans
tradition. Drawing a cold sip up through the straw, I knew my first
taste would not be my last because these things went down real
smooth.

A little too smooth. Before I
knew it, I was well on my way to being drunk and as irate as Beth
about this bachelor party. We all were. By the next round of drinks,
the four of us were ready to form a lynch mob, find John, and hang
him and the stripper from the nearest balcony.

“
I’m so pissed, I’m
tempted to call my ex-boyfriend and have a little private strip show
of my own tonight.” Beth pulled out her phone and planted it on
the table amid the glasses.

As drunk as I was, I still knew
that was a bad idea. I was determined to wear my ugly maid of honor
dress at least once since I’d paid for it so I swiped the phone
and shoved it in the back pocket of my jeans. “Nope. I’m
taking this.”

Beth shot me a glare. “I
have to do something to get back at him.”

Marci slapped both palms on the
table, rattling the eight empty glasses as well as the four half-full
ones. “I have an idea.” She focused on me. “Didn’t
you just take a striptease classes?”

“
Oh my God!” Beth’s
eyes popped open wide. “Marci, I know exactly what you’re
thinking.” She turned to stare at me too.

“
Well, I don’t. Would
someone like to fill me in?” I turned to Jen. She shrugged, the
straw between her lips as she drained her glass.

“
The text said the stripper
wouldn’t arrive until eleven, right?” Marci glanced at
Beth.

She nodded, and then spun back to
me. “Uh, huh. So Rose can get there at like nine and pretend
she’s the stripper. She can say her earlier job got canceled so
she could get there early.”

Jen pushed her empty glass away.
“That’s perfect. John’s never seen Rose. He’ll
never know.”

Maybe it was that I’d eaten
a bag of airplane peanuts for lunch. They were no match for the
alcohol in these freaking drinks I’d been guzzling like a man
lost in the desert, but I didn’t understand how this plan was
so perfect.

I raised a hand like I was back
in school. “Um, why am I going to pretend to be the stripper?”

“
To see how far that
bastard is willing to go with this whore they hired to strip for
him.” Beth’s eyes narrowed and I was starting to fear for
John’s life. I certainly hoped he didn’t leave any of his
weapons around the house.

I started to fear for myself too,
because the more I thought about this plan, the worse it sounded.
“But wait. If I do this, whatever he does isn’t going to
be with the whore. It’s going to be with me.”

“
I know.” Beth
nodded. “And you can come home and tell me every detail.”

I shook my head. “This
doesn’t seem like such a good idea.”

Beth’s hand clamped down
over mine. “Rose. You’re my best friend in the world. I
can’t marry a man who would let another woman…do things
to him two days before our wedding.”

Marci and Jen both voiced their
agreement. I was obviously outnumbered.

I drew in a breath. “All
right. What exactly do you want me to do?”

“
I need someone I trust to
test him. Offer him whatever he wants. If he’s the man I fell
in love with he’ll say no and leave. If he isn’t…”
Beth let the rest trail off.

If he wasn’t I’d be
the reason this wedding didn’t happen. I’d also probably
have some pretty terrifying images burned into my brain. Memories of
my best friend’s fiancé trying to have some sort of
inappropriate sexual contact with me because he thought I was a
stripper. But what could I do? I couldn’t say no to my best
friend.

I sighed. “Okay.”

“
Yay!” Jen clapped
her hands.

“
Yay?” I frowned at
her.

“
Sorry.” She cringed.
“I got excited. You know I like a plan.”

“
Stop getting excited. Our
plan has a few holes in it. First of all, let’s assume John is
a perfect gentleman, thanks me for coming and asks me to leave out of
respect for his future wife.”

Beth rolled her eyes. “Doubtful
knowing those friends of his, but yes, what’s the question?”

“
What happens when they all
recognize me walking down the aisle at the ceremony? Aren’t
they going to be mad? I don’t want them, or John for that
matter, to hate me for the rest of your married lives together.”

“
Crap. That’s a good
point.” Beth blew out a big breath and we all sat and pondered
for a bit…and drank some more.

“
Rose.”

“
Yeah?” I turned to
Jen, who was staring at the bar. I followed her gaze to see what she
was looking at. The bartender was cute, but nothing to get so excited
about.

“
Look at what’s in
that basket behind the bar.”

I did as Jen instructed and
squinted to see behind the bar through my Hurricane haze. “Masks?”

“
Masks.” Marci
smiled.

“
You can wear a mask.”
Beth perked up now that the plan was saved.

“
I’ll go get one.”
Jen took off, I guessed to sweet talk the barman out of a mask for me
to wear.

At least I’d be anonymous
as I embarrassed myself trying to pretend to be a stripper. That
covered what I’d be wearing on my eyes, but there was still the
rest of me to consider.

“
What else am I going to
wear?” I glanced down at my outfit. Jean, a sexy sequined tank
top and high heels were good for the bar, but it didn’t exactly
scream stripper.

“
I think I’ve got
that covered.” Marci surprised me by saying that. She wasn’t
exactly into fashion. She was more the Birkenstock type. “Finish
your drinks. We have to get back to the room and get Rose ready.”

“
To hell with that. This is
New Orleans. We can order a round to go.” Beth turned to look
for a waitress.

“
Take-out alcohol?” I
asked.

“
Oh, yeah. I’ll take
you to the drive-thru daiquiri place tomorrow.”

Why hadn’t I ever been to
this town before?

When our take-out order arrived,
I accepted the to-go cup happily. I needed all the liquid courage I
could get. The girls pushed out the door and I, slightly wobbly in my
heels, followed.

Chapter 3: The Bachelor Party

Liquid courage or not, I was
shaking like a leaf as I stood outside the hotel room door where this
bachelor party was allegedly taking place. I tugged one more time on
the corset, willing it to get a tad bigger so my breasts wouldn’t
spill out quite so much.

When Marci said she had my outfit
covered, I had no idea so much of me would be uncovered. She’d
come prepared with a gag gift for Beth. A red corset with matching
lace thong panties. That sorry excuse for underwear was currently
scratching the hell out of my butt crack beneath my jeans. My friends
had allowed me to wear my pants here as long as I promised to take
them off inside so I looked like a stripper. Nice of them, I suppose.

I heard sounds of a party. The
raucous noise typical of a room full of too many men and too much
alcohol.

What the hell had I agreed to?
Behind this door was a bunch of guys I’d never met, and they
were all about to get up close and personal with quite a few of my
personal assets.

Meanwhile, the girls were waiting
outside the hotel to waylay the real stripper should she show up
early. That would be all I needed, an irate exotic dancer out to get
me for stealing her gig. I’d left them there with another batch
of take-out Hurricanes. Hopefully they wouldn’t pass out and
miss her arrival.

After touching the mask to make
sure it was on good and secure, I raised my hand to knock, but
lowered it again. I was definitely not drunk enough to do this. I
clutched my purse tighter under my arm. Did strippers even carry
purses?

The door swung wide and a tall
man with the broadest chest I’d seen in a long time stood
holding an ice bucket. A wide grin spread across his face. “The
stripper’s here!”

His announcement was met with a
cheer loud enough to get this party kicked out of the hotel—at
least I hoped it would and save me from all of this. He glanced past
me and down the hallway. “You alone, doll face?”

“
Um, yeah.” Crap. Was
I not supposed to be alone? I scrambled to cover. “Why? Did you
book two of us?”

“
No, just one. But you
girls usually come with security. You being here alone is even
better.” He grinned and leaned close. I could smell the alcohol
on his breath as he whispered, “Just so you know, we want all
the extras tonight. Even the stuff your boss said you weren’t
allowed to do. I’ve got cash and I sure won’t tell him if
you don’t.”

He winked and sent a chill down
my spine. I was so far over my head it was ridiculous. I considered
telling him I had to leave, but he’d already grabbed my arm and
dragged me into room. The slam of the door behind me sounded like the
final nail in my coffin. My only hope now was John would indeed be a
gentleman.

I spotted the groom pretty fast.
He was the guy in the stripped polo shirt with the identical twin
standing next to him. The only difference was Tim had on a T-shirt. I
could tell which twin was John because he wore an expression on his
face that said he wasn’t at all happy to see me. I took that as
a good sign. He didn’t want a stripper. I sure as hell didn’t
want to be one. Perfect.

“
I thought she wouldn’t
be here until eleven.” John put down the longneck bottle of
beer he’d held and glanced at his watch.

Time for my lie. Crap. What was
it again? “I, uh, had my earlier job cancel on me.”

“
And we’re happy you
did. You wanna go into the other room and change?” Ice bucket
dude eyed my outfit and pointed toward the door on the other side of
the room, which I realized was the bedroom.

John’s friends had booked a
suite and entertainment for this shindig. All I’d done is walk
Beth across the street from the hotel to a bar. The maid of honor in
me started to feel inadequate in comparison.

“
Okay.” Still stunned
I was actually going to do this, I turned toward the bedroom.

“
Hang on. Here. Help
yourself to a little refreshment.” Ice-bucket dude thrust a big
red plastic cup full of something that reeked of alcohol into my
hand.

“
Thanks.” I took it
and I aimed for the other room, happy to escape.

I didn’t notice John had
followed me to the bedroom until he grabbed my arm and splashed the
drink all over my hand. He closed the door behind us. “What did
he book you for?”

“
Um, what?”

“
O’Hagan. The guy who
met you at the door. What exactly did he hire you to do tonight?”

This was it. The big test. John’s
reaction to what I had to say could change his future with Beth
forever. I put the cup on the dresser and braced myself for the big
reveal.

“
He said he wanted
everything. Even the stuff my boss said I’m not supposed to do,
and he’d pay cash.” I spilled it all. It would probably
be the only time I’d tell the truth tonight.

“
Fuck.” John mouthed
the curse, and then glanced back at me. “Sorry.”

I shrugged, happy with his
reaction and already planning how I could tell Beth what a good guy
he was. “No worries.”

He ran his hands over his face,
looking stressed. Finally, he shook his head. “Okay. Do
whatever he wants you to.”

“
To you? Or to all of
them?” Both were horrifying concepts but this was something I
hadn’t anticipated. I would pretend to be a stripper and come
on to John for Beth’s sake, but doing
whatever
to a room full of drunken high school friends and assorted Marines
was quite another story.