"No, I've been divorced for almost a year now."
I blew out the breath I hadn't known I was holding. "Sorry to hear you got divorced."
Sort of.
"My marriage to Madeline was over a long time before we got divorced. I was just too stupid to see it. I was busy trying to patch it up, and she was busy with the pool boy."
"Ouch."
Andrew shrugged again. "If it wasn't for the alimony payments, I wouldn't have any contact with her at all. I'm sad that my marriage is over, but I'm not sad to see the last of Madeline. I just wish I'd figured out how toxic she was before I put a ring on her finger."
"So..." I wasn't sure how to ask this, especially since he'd been married to a woman. "You were married to a woman. Does that mean—?"
"I'm bisexual."
"Oh, thank god." I pressed a hand to my chest. "I mean I could always use a friend, gay or straight, but..." My face heated up, and I was positive my cheeks were bright red. "I mean—"
"You were kind of hoping for more?"
"Maybe?"
"I kind of was, too." Andrew's grin made me feel better and less like an idiot. "We have a strong connection, Dalton. I realize we've just graduated from texting to talking, but I'm not opposed to seeing where this goes. I just want to take it slow."
"I'm good with slow." I just had one thing I needed to be sure of. "But how are you going to feel about getting to know someone who takes their clothes off for a living?" It had ended more than one relationship for me in the past.
"Do you sleep with the people you take your clothes off for?"
My eyebrows snapped together as I growled, "No!"
"Then I don't see what the problem is."
"I'm a stripper, Andrew. Granted, a lot of us label it as exotic dancing or whatever, but it still boils down to the same thing. I dance on a stage in front of horny men and women, and they toss money at me to watch me dance and take off my clothes. A lot of people say they can deal with that, but they can't deal with the cold reality of it. I don't want to start something with you and then have you freak out because you can't handle it."
"Do you allow them to touch you and kiss you as a lover would?"
"No, there are laws about that. They can look all they want, but they can't touch, not even during a lap dance. I know some of the dancers go farther than that, but I never have. My private life is very separate from my work life, and I'm a dancer, not a prostitute."
"Then, again, I don't see what the problem is."
"I hope you continue to think that way."
It was really going to suck if he changed his mind.
"I can't promise that I will, but I can say that, as of this moment, I have no issue with what you do."
That was at least honest.
"I love dancing, Andrew, but I was never good enough to get into one of the dance schools. This way, I can still dance and keep a roof over my head." Something that was very important. "It allows me to make a living doing what I love."
"Dalton, you don't have to justify it to me."
I guess that was what I was doing, but I'd always had to justify it with people I'd been involved with in the past. At first, they were excited that they were dating a dancer, but it never stayed that way. Eventually, they'd start becoming possessive and jealous, and then the accusations would begin. Once, the fists had started flying.
I was a little skittish, but I had reason to be.
"How long have you been dancing?" Andrew asked.
"Oh, um, about five years, I guess."
