She was intoxicating.
By the third week, I should have forced myself to stay home when she was on shift. And fuck me, I’d tried. And failed. I couldn’t give up our time together. I was like a junkie, and just sitting with her was my hit. Who was I kidding? It was everything about her.
The way she smelled.
The way she felt.
Everything that made Kitty Ortega the goddess she was.
I had to pivot and try something else, or I was going to sully her with my dirty hands.
On the fourth week, I had a Kindle waiting for her, thinking that would get her to back off and not snuggle into me. I wished I had a camera installed in that private room so I could have captured the smile on her face. But it was okay. I had it embossed in my soul and knew I would never forget the way those usually sultry eyes softened and something I’d never seen shone through.
Not only did I pay for her to read and relax next to me, I paid for the books on her e-reader, always having the account loaded with a hefty gift card.
And just like that, it became our routine.
She danced on the stage, far away from any man’s hands. Then, before a man could even look at her when she hit the floor, she’d come to the private room for the rest of her shift, escorted personally by me or two of my biggest bouncers at her sides.
We didn’t miss a night.
And I loved every quietly twisted moment of it.
I paid for her to sit and read.
Together.
And when last call was announced through the speakers of the club, my heart ached knowing our time was coming to an end.
I was quietly and manically obsessed with Kitty Ortega.
I was bleeding money every night she was on the schedule, and fuck me, but if it were up to me, I’d have her there seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. Not that I cared about the money. I was more than happy to hand her access to every single one of my accounts and add her name next to mine on every deed of property I owned if it made her smile in my direction.
She would have it one day anyhow. What was mine would always be hers.
Hank had called me for a reason.
I was great with investments.
And I knew at the end of everything, Kitty would be the greatest investment and adventure of my goddamn life.
The nights she wasn’t at work, I wasn’t either.
Not that she knew that.
I was a depraved motherfucker.
The kind of money I had helped me access things not everyone could. The people I had grown up with and did business with didn’t judge when their hands were as dirty as mine. There wasn’t a step she took without me knowing.
I was certifiably insanely in love with a dancer who didn’t know what to make out of me.
Shit, most of the time, I wasn’t sure she liked me. But that was okay. I’d get her to fall for me. To love me. Her time was coming. Kitty might not know it yet, but she was about to purr for me. Not for a night or a fling, but for a lifetime.
And I was twisted enough to do anything to make that happen.
