I thread my way through the crowd of mostly men toward the doorway on the other side of the dark room. Boots & Chutes has gone overboard with the western theme—saloon-style doors separate the bathrooms from the main room, and the wooden signs on the restrooms read Gunslingers and Fillies. From behind the Fillies door, I hear the muffled sounds of female moans intermingled with male grunts. Classy.
“So, did you?”
I whirl around at Sabrina’s voice. She stalks up to me, her arms crossed tightly over her chest in a way that causes her cleavage to spill over her bra.
“Follow you here, you mean?” I flatten my lips. “No, darlin’， I did not.”
She studies me for several seconds before nodding. “Okay. I believe you.” Then she turns to walk away.
Oh hell no.
“Sabrina,” I say in a low voice.
She stops. “W-what?”
Something inside of me melts when I hear the crack in her voice. She keeps her back to me, her spine like a metal rod. By the time I reach her, any indignation I felt over her unfair assumption has faded away. I gently touch her arm to shift her around so we’re facing each other.
“Sabrina?” I keep my voice soft, safe.
She visibly swallows. “This is where I work.”
I give a slow nod. “This is where you work.”
“That’s it? You’ve got nothing else to say about that?”
I stroke her bare shoulder with the pad of my thumb, gratified to feel her shiver. “This is your place of employment. You get paid to work here. You use those paychecks to pay your bills, I’m assuming. What else do you want me to say?”
But I know what she expected from me. Judgment. Contempt. Maybe a lewd comment or two.
I’m not that man, though.
She keeps watching me, until finally a small smile plays on her gorgeous lips. “I’m waiting for the part where you tell me you never come to these places, your friends just dragged you here against your will, yada yada.”
“I’d be lying if I said I’ve never been to a strip club. But I kind of did get dragged here tonight—I voted for the sports bar. And the only reason I even came to Boston was because…” I trail off, because the last thing I want to do is scare her off again.
“Because what?”
Fuck it. I shrug and say, “I was hoping maybe I’d run into you.”
Sabrina laughs. “Boston’s a big place—you really expected to randomly run into me?”
“Expected, no. Hoped? Abso-fucking-lutely.”
That gets me another laugh.
We stare at each other for a beat. My voice comes out gravelly as I murmur, “You unblocked my number.”
“I unblocked your number,” she agrees.
Then she moistens her bottom lip with the tip of her tongue, and I swallow a groan. Fuck, I want to kiss her.
“I should…get back to work.”
There’s only the tiniest sliver of reluctance in her words, but a sliver is all I need. “When do you get off?”
“Two.”
“Do you want to hang out when you’re done?”
She doesn’t answer right away. I stand there, holding my breath, hoping that the raw, overpowering lust I feel for her doesn’t show on my face, praying that she’ll say—
“Yes.”
9
Tucker
I wait for Sabrina in the parking lot. Almost all the cars are gone, except for a half dozen that probably belong to the employees. The guys went back to Brody’s apartment a couple hours ago, where they’ll probably stay up all night drinking. I told them I was meeting a girl for a late bite, which got me a high-five from Hollis even as he griped about what a shitty person I was for not making sure she had a friend.
After they dropped me off at an all-night diner a few blocks from the club, the site of my supposed date, I killed an hour by grabbing a burger and chugging some coffee so that I wouldn’t fall asleep within five minutes of seeing Sabrina. Then I walked back to Boots & Chutes, and now I’m leaning against the driver’s side of Sabrina’s Honda, monitoring the front entrance in anticipation.
When she appears, my excitement kicks up a notch. She’s wearing a wool coat that goes down to her knees. Below that, her legs are bare.
My dick twitches as I wonder if she’s still wearing those booty shorts. Then I chastise myself, because I could tell how embarrassed she was earlier by the skimpy outfit.
“Hey,” she says as she reaches me.
“Hey.”
I want to kiss her, but she’s not sending any c’mere, big boy signals. I need to touch her, though, so I step closer and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.