Stripped (28 page)

“I don’t want any of that,” he said earnestly. “I
want you. I can’t believe I’m so lucky that you –
you, Abby
– you love
me back. I want to make a life with you and the girls, and maybe even have more
kids. I know I won’t just be getting a wife, but a family, and that’s what I
want. Please don’t let your self-doubt get in the way of this. If you say yes,
I’d marry you tomorrow.”

“Oh, Chris.” Her mind swam with the idea of marrying
him. It was too beautiful to be true. But as she looked at his eager, hopeful
expression, she wondered if maybe it could be true. If maybe she was meant for
a happy ending.

“You already know I’m terrible at begging,” he said.
“Say yes, and you’ll never be sorry.”

She laughed lightly, reaching down to his bristled
cheek. Tears rolled down her cheeks not just because she was happy, but because
she realized for the first time that she could have something real, something
she’d envied in others and never foreseen having.

“I’d never make you beg me for anything. You’re my
dream, Chris. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

He swept her into the air, spinning her in a circle,
and she didn’t think she’d ever been so happy. As he sat her down, he kissed
her sweetly, touching his forehead to hers.

“I wanted to pick out the ring myself. I hope you
like it,” he said, opening the box.

“Like it? I love it, Chris. It’s perfect.” He
slipped the platinum band on her finger, and she admired the large, sparkling
oval diamond on it.

“God, I’m so relieved,” he said, sighing deeply as
he pulled her against his chest. “I’ve been a nervous wreck about this.”

“Now you’ll just move to nervousness about being
married.”

“I’m not nervous at all. I meant it about tomorrow.
I want you to have whatever you want. We can have a huge wedding here, or get
married at Reed’s beach house, or go to Hawaii, or anything else you’d like.”

“Here?” Abby looked around the sprawling warehouse.

“No, I meant here as in Chicago. We can get The
Peninsula if you’d like.”

“Oh … well what about
here
?”

“If it’s what you want, it’s what you’ll have. I’ll
call and buy the place right now and we can hire a crew right away to refinish
the floors and start working on it. It would be a cool spot, if we hire someone
to decorate it really nice.”

“If it’s going to be our place, it seems fitting to
get married here,” she said, admiring the room. “Are you sure you want to buy
it and open a studio? I might not make much money at first.”

“It doesn’t matter if you make any money at all.
I’ve got plenty. I want you to plan our wedding, oversee the reno on the studio
and apartment, and just be happy.”

“I want you to be happy, too,” she said, smiling up
at him as he pulled her into his arms.

“As long as I’ve got you, I will be.”

Chapter 14

6 months later

Though she was upside down, Abby slid her body down
the metal pole seamlessly. She felt, more than heard, the pulse of the music
flowing from the speakers. It guided her movements against the pole. She
flipped her feet down to the floor, gliding back to an upright stance.

“Anyone want to try that one?” she asked. A dozen
women stared back at her, their faces ranging from skepticism to amusement.

“I’m afraid I’ll fall on my head,” one woman said,
eliciting laughter from the other students.

“Casey, I think you’re ready for it,” Abby said to a
young brunette. “Everyone else, let’s do our basic moves again, to music this
time.”

She pressed a button on her remote and a sultry song
started. Abby laughed with Casey as she helped her skim down the pole upside
down.

“That was awkward,” Casey said as she stood back up.

“For your first time, it was good. I fell off so
many times before I stayed on like that,” Abby said.

The pounding of a hammer could be heard during the
soft moments in the song, and Abby smiled, knowing the contractor’s crew was
building the walls to her new kitchen. Their warehouse loft would be complete
in two more months, and she couldn’t wait to move in.

In the meantime, she and the girls had moved in with
Chris. His second bedroom was tiny, but they had managed to fit bunk beds into
it. Audrey and Sara would both have large rooms in the new apartment. They were
excited about living in the same building as the studio.

She had started teaching her sisters to dance, and
it brought Abby more joy than she had expected. Audrey loved it, and they were
planning to send her to a fine arts camp in the summer so she could learn from
advanced instructors.

Though she had thought her pole dancing days were
behind her, Abby loved teaching it to her students. They often drank wine,
talked and laughed while they worked, and it was always a good time. Helping
women reach their inner divas was rewarding.

Abby heard cat calls from some of the women, and she
figured one of the hot construction workers was walking by again.

“I’ll dance on his pole anytime,” a middle-aged
woman said with a grin.

Abby glanced over and smiled, too.

“Hey, that’s my job,” she said. “He’s my husband.”

Chris was leaning in the doorway, watching her. She
smiled as she remembered their first dance as a married couple in this very
room two months ago. He had gone all out, having it transformed into a
sophisticated, elegant venue that rivaled the fanciest reception halls in the
city. The sprawling room had been filled with thousands of calla lilies, white
lights and tall topiaries.

A lock of blond hair hung down his forehead, and
Abby was eager to brush it back. His worn jeans and t-shirt reminded her that
it was Saturday, his day off, and they would be taking the girls bowling when
she finished her class.

He had switched to day shift at the hospital, and
Abby still reveled in going to bed with him every night and waking up with him
every morning. Even after two months, it still felt like a dream sometimes. The
Greek God she had admired at a bachelor party was now her husband. The
realization never failed to make her smile.

“Okay, guys, stay if you’d like, but I’ve got to go,”
Abby said, looking at the clock and realizing class had ended five minutes ago.
“Good work today.”

“Hi,” Chris said, giving her a peck as she walked
over.

“You can do better than that,” she chided with a
grin. “My students think you’re hot, so show them that you are.”

His brows went up with amusement as he reached for
her. Abby inhaled sharply with surprise as he picked her up and pressed her
into the brick wall. His eyes met hers for a second before he covered her mouth
with his own, kissing her deeply. She wound her fingers into the waves of his
hair. His mouth wandered from her mouth down her jaw to her neck.

“I’m sweaty,” she said self-consciously.

“You taste good,” he murmured. She gave a low moan,
aroused by the feel of his hard body against hers.

“I want a turn!” one of the women from the class
yelled. Abby laughed, and Chris kissed her again. It was a slow, lingering kiss
that made her sorry when he pulled away.

“The girls are waiting in the front office to go
bowling,” he said. “Justin’s meeting us there, so we’d better get going.”

“Okay,” Abby sighed. “Can we continue this later?”

“Of course. Nothing I like better than satisfying my
wife. Maybe we should toss your pills, because getting my wife pregnant would
be off the charts hot.”

“Already?”

“Not if you aren’t ready yet. But I am whenever you
are.”

“Ready to get me pregnant or ready to have a baby?”

“Both. But I know you said you wanted to wait, and I
respect that. And the girls may need more time to adjust to having me around
and moving before we think about it.”

“They’ll love having a baby around. I’ll be ready soon.
Let’s get the apartment finished and get moved first.”

Chris leaned his forehead against hers.

“I love you, Mrs. Reneau,” he said softly. “And I
still love watching you pole dance, too.”

“You’re lucky I got over your initial rejection of
me.”

“I never rejected you,” Chris said, laughing. “I’m
glad it worked out the way it did, though. I wouldn’t have wanted us to start
out that way. Your body’s not the best part of you, Abby. Not even close.”

Abby was gratified as she looked up at him and knew
he was right. Hearing Chris say he loved her never got old. Her life was better
than she had ever dreamed it would be. But she knew that it wasn’t Chris’ love
that had freed her from her old life – it was finally learning to love herself.
For the first time, she knew she was setting a good example for her sisters.

She smiled as she saw Audrey and Sara waiting
anxiously by the door in her front office. Her students poured out the exit
door and Abby switched off the lights. When she caught up with Chris, she
reached for his hand, and as he grinned down at her, she wondered if the
floaty, cloud-nine feeling would ever pass. She doubted it.