Private Dancer. Kimberly Dean

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СКАЧАТЬ from her daydream. She hoped her bra hid the fact but –

      His gaze dropped lower to the sign and one dark eyebrow lifted.

      Alicia froze, that familiar sense of fire and ice sweeping through her. Oh, dear Lord. Had he seen her? All the way from across the street?

      Had he seen her – humping a stick of wood?

      Mortification washed through her, but he wasn’t even trying to hide the way he was looking at her. His intimate gaze was sleepy but steady, and a muscle ticked in his jaw. She might not have a lot of experience, but her feminine instincts recognised the prickling of her skin and the weight in the air between them. The look was one of lust. Pure, unbridled and white-hot. She swallowed hard when she felt her body respond. Heat settled in her breasts and her nipples beaded tightly. Low in her belly, she felt a clench.

      ‘Free to demonstrate,’ she heard vaguely. ‘But realise that there are other businesses you’re disturbing …’

      The conversation continued around them, but Remy Hunt just continued ogling her, practically making love to her with his eyes. Only he wouldn’t call it that. Something warm and heavy coiled tight in Alicia’s belly. This man hadn’t said a word, but she’d got the message loud and clear.

      This stranger wanted to fuck her.

      The word sounded coarse in her ears, but her body liked the rough sound of it. Her skin sensitised and thighs squeezed. She was so surprised by the intimate reactions it gave her the power to look away. Shaken, she stepped back.

      Only he took a step forward until he was only an arm’s-length away.

      Her heart skipped, and she cast a glance at Colin. Pink dotted his cheekbones, but he averted his gaze. A tight sound squeezed out of the back of her throat. She sent a beseeching look towards Paul, Steve, Jeanne – nobody seemed to notice what was happening between her and the club’s manager. They were intent on Sebastian Crowe and seemingly ready to pounce.

      What was an uncomfortable encounter was turning unstable. She needed to pay attention and defuse the situation – although she had no idea how to defuse a situation like Remy Hunt. The words ‘noise ordinance’ crept into her consciousness.

      ‘Father, they’re right.’

      The words were hoarse when they passed her lips. Out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn she saw the Hunter smile.

      She cleared her throat. She’d warned her father about this. ‘Anything above sixty-five decibels and we can get ticketed.’

      Her father’s mouth worked. ‘They can ticket me all they want. I follow the law of God.’

      ‘And they’ll impound the sound equipment.’

      Those words got through to Paul, at least. He’d borrowed the sound system from a friend. Her father’s new follower leaned over to whisper in his ear.

      Alicia flinched when she felt a hot touch to the back of her hand. She whipped her head around and found Remy Hunt still watching her, but now holding out the microphone.

      She looked at it in his hand. As she watched, his thumb moved suggestively up and down the side of the moulded plastic. It swirled around the silver knob atop the device and her lips flattened. There was no mistaking that gesture.

      She snatched the phallic symbol from his hand, but was horrified when she heard him chuckle. She looked at the death grip she had on the microphone and nearly dropped it. She hadn’t wanted it because he’d made her think of his cock. A cock, she quickly amended. Any cock … penis … manhood …

      Her cheeks flared and she quickly hid the microphone behind her sign.

      That only drew his attention back to her breasts that were now hard and feeling twice as heavy.

      Alicia licked her lips.

      And regretted that, too.

      Damn the man. What was he doing to her?

      Determinedly, she focused her attention on the discussion going on between her father and the Satin Club’s owner. Reverend Wheeler looked flustered and upset, while Sebastian Crowe looked controlled and relaxed. With his sunglasses in the way, she couldn’t see his eyes. As she watched more closely, though, the lines around his mouth deepened.

      For some reason, the subtle reaction made her shiver. It was an intriguing mouth. Firm, yet lush for a man. With that nose, the contrast was sexy.

      Sexy. The word rang in her thoughts and she tried to push it aside.

      These two did offer temptation, she realised. A dark temptation she’d never encountered before so up close and personal. They were both attractive, in a wicked, forbidden way. Her spine stiffened in defence even as her hand turned a bit sweaty against the microphone.

      Her father was right about these two.

      ‘I’m simply saying you should know all the facts before you start to judge,’ Crowe said, his voice reasonable and calm. The line at the corner of his mouth sharpened, though, and Alicia felt that hot, tight sensation in the pit of her stomach slide even lower. ‘Have you or any of your people experienced my club?’

      ‘We would not set foot inside that devil’s lair!’ Paul snapped.

      ‘And you couldn’t, because you aren’t a member,’ Crowe continued, unfazed. ‘We screen our clientele. This is a gentlemen’s club. We offer a respite for businessmen looking for an escape from today’s pressures, emails, phone calls and negotiations.’

      ‘You have whores stripping and showing their wares.’

      Alicia gaped at her father. When had the focus changed from the men who paid to enter the club to the women who danced there?

      Crowe pulled himself at least an inch taller and that calm composure slipped away to expose a grittier underbelly. ‘My employees are not whores. They are dancers. Artists.’

      ‘Showing their naked bodies is not an art form.’

      ‘Are you saying that the female body that God created is not beautiful?’

      Her father was taken aback. ‘I … I …’

      ‘Praise his name with dancing,’ Crowe quoted. ‘Is that not what the Bible instructs?’

      Alicia blinked.

      ‘Don’t you quote the Bible to me,’ her father snarled. ‘It is an abomination coming from your lips.’

      Crowe slowly turned his head and Alicia felt pinned. Hunt’s gaze hadn’t moved from her either. She’d felt it stroking over her, hot and slow, even as she’d hid behind her sign. But now she’d drawn the attention of both men. Both stalking panthers.

      ‘Isn’t your own daughter a dancer, Reverend Wheeler?’

      Her father sputtered in surprise before slashing his hand through the air. ‘She doesn’t do that anymore.’

      Alicia sucked in air so hard, it hurt her tight lungs. She didn’t know what surprised СКАЧАТЬ