Page 25 of Sexy

“Girlfriend, you are delusional. I’ve seen him just as much as you and he does not look even remotely interested in a Sugarplum Fairy. But that stripper in the show, now that fairy can dance. Mmm, mmm, mmm.”

“You’re not helping, Claudio. I have confidence right now that this is gonna work out. I need your support.”

He eyes me up and down and then tilts his head and gives me a sidelong glance. “You do have confidence. Where did that come from?”

“Gee, thanks. I’ve always had confidence. But now I feel like I have a plan. You said he sees me as a sister. Which I don’t believe,” I say, before he can put the kibosh on my momentum. “But maybe there is a smidge of truth to that. So all I have to do is change his mind and make him see me as a desirable woman. Right?” I beam a smile at him.

He scratches his head with one dainty fingernail. “OK. You know I’m on your side, and if you feel Cole is your forever man, then I’m there for you, sweetie. But—”

“No buts! Now let me get ready. I only have thirty-five minutes to turn into the woman of his dreams.”

“Fine,” he says, leaning in to kiss my cheek. “I’m gonna go stalk that hottie and see if he’ll let me lick his abs.”

I just shake my head. But my tryst with Novak really has given me a new perspective. Seduction is a skill. All I need to do is learn it. And I’ve got good tips to try out today.

Cole will be mine.

It’s only a matter of time.

Chapter Ten

The ringing phone on the nightstand wakes me from the most restful sleep I’ve had in weeks. Fuck.

I smile. That was a good fuck. I left her up there all sweaty and flushed from the sex and then came back to my room and passed out. I was up all last night putting together that proposal. And it looks like it was worth it. Because Tiffy Preston was impressed enough to give me a brand-new once-over.

Not that I care about her. I don’t. And now that I’ve had her, I can forget about her. She won’t be firing me for dating show patrons. And she doesn’t know about any of the other stuff I’m doing. So good. It was an excellent move taking her up on that roof. And I mean that in every way possible.

The ringing phone makes me turn over and pick up the receiver from the nightstand. Room phone means front desk. “Yeah?” I say, annoyed.

“Mr. Novak,” Kristen from guest services says. “You have a visitor down here. Her name is—”

Shit. It doesn’t matter who the girl is, it’s someone I don’t want to see again. Once is enough. “Tell her I’m unavailable at the moment.”

“Sure thing, Fletch. Sorry to bother you. I know you don’t like to get calls. But she’s feisty. And she looks mad.”

“Thanks for the heads-up, Kristen.” I hang up the phone and check the time. I’m hungry. I skipped breakfast this morning and now it’s well past lunch. So I force myself to get up and take a shower.

I think about work as I wash up. Not this stripper job. That’s not work. Katie, she’s work. I mean, the stripping pays decent. But the contracts, those are priceless. Katie is my only client at the moment, but I need her. So I better come up with a plan to get her the man of her dreams so I can keep things moving forward. We’ve got daily calls for the next week to plan shit out.

I get out, towel off, and then tug on a pair of jeans, a Mountain Men t-shirt, and my boots. Time to head out and see how my little world is turning downstairs.

I get to the bar a few minutes later and greet Sissy at the bar. “Hey, Sis. How about a Dos Equis and a large order of chicken nachos?”

Sis winks at me. “You got it, Fletch.”

I wait for my beer and then turn around on my stool so I can see the whole bar and adjoining restaurant. This place isn’t always so busy, but the Shakespeare Festival runs all summer in the Village up north, and people swarm to that shit, so the casinos are hopping right now. I grew up here, so I’ve seen every Shakespeare play live, ten times over. If I’m having a dry spell with the stripper-lovers from the show, I can usually pick up a girl by quoting that old bastard.

Good stuff. Tahoe is filled with good stuff. And if I can just get this last little bit of shit together, I’d be able to enjoy it more.

But it’s within reach. Finally, I feel like life is about to go my way. And I can’t wait.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

I study the room and the people as I wait for my food. Girls—plenty of lookers. Guys, mostly gamblers, and mostly local. Some rich professional types, here to play golf and pretend that they brought the family for the boating. And an energy in the air. An energy I have come to appreciate since I took this gig as a stripper.

It was a good move.

“Hey, Fletch,” Britt, one of the day waitresses, says as she drops off my plate of nachos. “How’s things?”