Love & Marry (6 page)

A naughty idea occurred to Nicole, and a mischievous smile crossed her lips. “I can guarantee you’ll have a good time at The Adonis Factory.”

Breanda’s face turned as red as her hair. “Oh, Nicole! I couldn’t go
there
. What would people say if someone saw me at a place like that?”

“If they know that Albert walked out on you, they’ll probably say, ‘Good for Brenda’.”

She fidgeted with some items on the counter, and Nicole could see that she still had a pink blush on her cheeks. “My friend Debbie said that the men at The Adonis Factory take it
all
off,” Brenda whispered.

Nicole had never actually been to the male strip club, but the idea intrigued her, and it was for a good cause. “So,” she said. “We’ll never know if that’s true until we check it out for ourselves.”

The corners of Brenda’s mouth tilted up into a smile. “Okay,” she said. “But I’m wearing a hat and sunglasses.”

“Good enough,” Nicole said. “I might have to do the same.”

Nicole looked at the clock. It was five minutes until closing, and it couldn’t come soon enough. A steady stream of customers had made it a good day money-wise. Sales of greeting cards, romance novels and chick flick DVDs had been high on the list.

Nothing more had been said about the girls’ night out, and Nicole wondered if Brenda would back out. Maybe it was a bad idea to suggest the strip club. Brenda might be too straight-laced for a place like The Adonis Factory.

While straightening the magazine rack in the reading area, Nicole turned toward the window that faced out into the mall. She saw Albert walking toward the store, holding a single, red rose.

“Brenda,” she called out. “I believe someone is coming to see you.”

“Who?” Brenda asked.

Brenda started walking toward the front of the store and then stopped in her tracks. “What are you doing here?”

He raked a hand through dark hair that was streaked with gray. He held out the rose toward her.

“I came to apologize,” he said. “For the way I walked out last night.”

Brenda hesitated for a moment before closing the distance between them and taking the flower from his hand. “I don’t think you could’ve hurt me any worse, Albert.”

At once, Nicole felt as if she was eavesdropping on a private moment. “Excuse me,” she said. “I have things that I need to take care of in the office.”

A few minutes later, Brenda stood in the doorway. “Nicole, if you don’t mind, I think I need to cancel our girls’ night out.”

Nicole nodded. “Of course.”

Brenda stepped closer to the desk. “He’s not coming home tonight, but he and I are going out to eat, so we can talk about what’s going on with him. Don’t you think that’s a good idea?”

She felt humbled that Brenda was asking her advice. The woman was almost old enough to be her mother. “I do,” Nicole said. “And Brenda, I hope Albert will realize what a good wife he has.”

A tear dropped from Brenda’s eye, and she patted Nicole’s hand before leaving the office.

Nicole walked out with them and gave Brenda a hug before she left. She looked at the digital clock behind the cash register. It was time to close up and go home to her back massager and a glass of wine. She locked the door and then turned the lights off in the front of the store.

“Hey,” a masculine voice called out.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she turned the lights back on. “Who’s there?” she called out.

A head popped up over a shelf in the DVD section. His thick, black hair was neatly cropped, and a grin spread from one dimpled cheek to the other. “I guess I let the time get away from me,” he said, and his hazel eyes twinkled.

What a cutie
, she thought. With her luck, though, he was probably unavailable.

“Can I help you find something?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “I was looking for a DVD of the last season of
Star Trek: The Next Generation
.”

She strolled over to the DVD section to get a better look at him. He was built like an athlete. His faded jeans hugged a nicely shaped butt. She glanced down at his hands. No ring. That was promising. Her mood shifted into high gear.

“Are you a
Star Trek
fan?” she asked.

He nodded, and his eyes traveled from her shoes to her head and back again. He stepped closer and her heartbeat took off at a jackrabbit’s pace. “By the way,” he said. “My name is Jeff.”

She slipped her hand into his and held her breath while a warm tingle of pleasure worked it’s way up her arm. “I’m Nicole, and I hate to tell you this, but I don’t have that DVD in stock.”

She felt flirtatious, which took her by surprise. It’d been a long time since she’d allowed herself the luxury of being playful with a handsome stranger. “However, I happen to own the set you’re looking for.”

He grinned, and his eyes softened. “So what are my chances of borrowing them?” he asked.

“Would you like to discuss it over dinner?” she asked. “That is if you don’t have any plans.”

He straightened up, looked down and shoved his hands into his pockets. Not a good sign. Her heart sank.

“It would have to be a quick bite,” he said. “I have to be at work at eight.”

The wheels in Nicole’s suspicious mind started spinning.
Was he telling the truth or just trying to back out gracefully
?

“I’d like to see you when we could spend more time together,” he said. “I don’t work on Sundays or Mondays. Could we go out one of those two nights?”

She smiled and said, “Give me a call here at the store.” She might be crazy enough to flirt with a stranger, but she wasn’t trusting enough to give him her home number, yet.

While Nicole counted up the cash drawer and filled out her deposit slip, she thought about the plans she’d made with Brenda. She hadn’t wanted to go solo her first time at a male strip club but maybe it was better that way. If things got a little too hot for her taste, she could slip out.

She dropped the day’s take into the night deposit box at the bank and then swung by her apartment to eat a sandwich and change clothes. She searched her closet for something special to wear. Most of her “night on the town” clothes were a size too small, but she found a pair of black, velvet pants that still fit. She added to it a v-neck, white sweater with pearl buttons down the front.

Since the booze was half price for Ladies’ Night at The Adonis Factory, the crowd was loud and loaded. The air was heady with the odors of a hundred different brands of perfume. She nudged her way up to the bar and was greeted by a young man wearing a red, satin bowtie, matching thong and a smile.

“What’s your pleasure,” he asked.

She glanced down as his large thighs and other parts. “Holy cow,” she said.

“Pardon me?” he asked.

Her hand shot up to cover her mouth. She hadn’t meant to say that aloud. “I’m sorry. I meant to say strawberry daiquiri.”

She retrieved her drink and found a small table off to one side of the stage near a convenient exit door. More young men, dressed in the same fashion as the bartender, danced on platforms at either end of the stage. Women ran up to them and stuffed dollar bills into the strings that held their thongs in place. A woman who looked middle-aged stood next to one platform in a red lace tank top and leather mini-skirt. She mimicked the dancer’s moves. “Oh, baby,” the woman said. “I’d like to untie those strings with my teeth.”

Nicole took a huge gulp of her drink and fanned herself with her hand.
It’s so hot in here
, she thought while she shimmied out of her coat.

“Bring on the show!” a heavyset lady in the front row shouted.

She surveyed the crowd and didn’t see anyone that she knew.
Thank goodness
, she thought. The house lights dimmed and the stage was flooded with beams from multicolored lights overhead. Familiar music started to play, and men dressed in uniforms from the original
Star Trek
series strutted across the stage. One by one, they ripped off their red shirts as their names were called out by the Master of Ceremonies.

The gold lamé curtains parted, and the M.C. shouted, “And here he is ladies. The one you’ve been waiting for.” The crowd went wild. Bras and panties flew onto the stage. “Captain…on…the…bridge.”

This had to be good
, she thought. She leaned over to her left in order to see around the woman who was jumping up and down in front of her. “Take it off,” the woman was yelling.

A tall guy with thick, black hair emerged from the slit in the curtains. He was gyrating his hips to a jazzed up version of
The Next Generation
theme song. Her pulse quickened when the spotlight hit him, and she could see his face. Her breath caught somewhere between her lungs and throat. She dropped back and slunk down into the seat. It was Jeff, the guy she’d met at the store.
So this was where he had to be at eight
tonight
.

He yanked off the green shirt that he wore and revealed the well-toned muscles of his chest and abdomen. Part of her wanted to stay and see the rest of him, but her conscience won out. She
had
to get out of there before he spotted her.

She crouched down and headed for the exit while covering the side of her face with her coat. She heard a woman yell out, “Beam me up, Scotty!” Whistles and screams went up from others in the audience.

Nicole breathed a sigh of relief when she made her way back out into the lobby. She stopped to compose herself and came face-to-face with a life-size poster of the man she’d almost taken to dinner that night. In the picture, he was clad in a tiny, black Speedo and nothing else. She strained to keep her eyes from settling on the ample bulge at the apex of his muscular thighs.

I need a breath of fresh air
, she thought and stepped out into the crisp, February breeze. When she felt cool enough to put on her coat, Nicole looked down at the purple, day-glo stamp on the back of her hand.
Oh, what the heck
, she thought.
It’s about time I sought out some new life and explored new worlds.
With that, she did an about face and marched back into the club. She squeezed through the crowded lobby and waved the back of her hand to the ticket taker. Once back in the main room, her shoulders dropped when she saw that another act had taken the stage.

She headed for the bar and found an empty stool. She was about to place her order when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Allow me to buy you a drink.”

Nicole spun around on the stool. Jeff stood in front of her. He was now clad in a t-shirt and jeans, but the images of his near-naked body remained in her mind.

“But not here,” he said. “There’s a more
intimate
place a couple blocks from here.”

She swallowed and inhaled a deep breath.

“I hope I haven’t shocked you out of wanting to go out with me,” he said.

She shook her head. “Shocked? No. Just surprised. What are the odds that I would meet you in my store tonight and now…
here
?”

“You never know,” Jeff said. “When things are meant to be.”

This is crazy
, she thought, even as she hopped off the stool and took the hand he offered.

“So is McNally’s Bistro good for you?” he asked.

She nodded.

“I’ll get my jacket and meet you out front,” he said.

Somehow she managed to put one foot in front of the other and walk back outside only to come face-to-face with his huge…poster again.
What am I doing
?
I’m going out with a male stripper
, she thought. A chuckle worked its way up into her throat. She laughed at her luck where men were concerned and at what Brenda would say when she told her the story. She laughed until tears streaked down her face. A woman entering the club stopped and gave her a strange look.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” she said, and the woman nodded in return.

“Happy Valentine’s Day to you, too,” Jeff said from behind her while he draped his arm across her shoulders. “Ready for some fun?”

“Yes,” she said. “Yes, I am.”

* the end *

Copyright Disclaimers: The song
But Not For Me
is from the 1930 musical
Girl Crazy
by George and Ira Gershwin.
Star Trek
is a registered trademark of Paramount Studios. All characters from
Star Trek
are the property of Paramount Studios.

Don’t Miss L.K. Campbell’s Historical Western Novella

Young widow Annabelle Miles hopes to make a fresh start in the Dakota Territory where her aunt owns a gold mine. When her stagecoach stops for the night, she accidentally witnesses a clandestine meeting to sell a diamond mine. The next morning, Annabelle learns that one of the men she saw has been murdered. U.S. Marshal Luke Johnson arrives to investigate the crime and finds himself taken with the widow Miles. It doesn’t bode well for romance when Luke arrests Annabelle’s Aunt Julia as the suspected mastermind behind the phony diamond mine scheme and the murder.

Part murder mystery, part romance,
The Law & Annabelle
will take you on a wild ride through the old west.

Chapter 1

1882

Three days on a train bound for Chicago had taxed Annabelle’s nerves and her senses. She had thought the odors from the train were bad enough, but the small room she rented for the night was situated downwind of the stockyards. She sat down on a tiny cot and removed the creased envelope from her purse. She unfolded the paper and reread her aunt’s letter.

Dearest Annabelle,

Ruth wrote to me of your engagement, and I’m sure that by the time you receive this wedding gift, you will already be a blushing bride. Mail doesn’t move too swiftly out here.