Page 12 of Strip Search

M iles Carvello

Jackie popped straight up in my arms. Her face was so close, I was distracted by her full lips. I wanted to kiss her again.

“Is she all right?”

“I don’t know. It could be a dead end. It could lead to another clue.” I didn’t want her to get her hopes up.

“What’s the lead?”

I told her about Paulie, Dee, and Zeke, leaving out the part about the drugs and pistol.

I liked that she was comfortable enough to stay in my arms and I was happy to keep hold of her.

My job didn’t afford a lot of downtime and I hadn’t had sex in a few months.

Now I was glad I’d waited. Jackie was special and one of a kind, even though her sister was pissing me off about how she was treating her family.

Although, it had brought Jackie to my club.

I was determined to make these few days I had with her into great memories that might lead her back to me the next time she could get away for a Vegas vacation.

“Do you think their disappearance has something to do with Lisa’s?”

She shifted to sit down next to me. I was shitty with aftercare, apparently.

I wanted to make her feel that she mattered to me, that she wasn’t just a horny fuck in my office.

I wanted her to know I didn’t do this with every new girl that worked in my club.

But Jackie wasn’t like the other girls. She focused on one thing with all her attention.

A few minutes ago, it had been my cock. Now it was her sister.

I was glad she wasn’t clingy, but I had expected to cuddle for more than five seconds.

I resisted the urge to kiss her so I could see the haze of lust take over her expression again.

But we had all night. I could be romantic and take her out for dinner and drinks, before spending the rest of the evening seeing how many times I could make her come again.

Once we tracked down Zeke and Lisa, Jackie was going to concentrate on having the time of her life. I would make sure of it.

“It seems too coincidental that the three of them disappeared right around the same time, but it’s entirely possible that they’re all unrelated instances.”

“Let me get dressed and we can go.” She hopped off the couch still wrapped in the blanket and headed to the door. But then she turned back. “Were you serious about firing me?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“So I don’t have to finish my set?”

“No.”

“Do I still get to keep my tips?”

I chuckled. “Yeah, and Darcy tipped you a hundred dollars.” It had come over the headset as we walked back to my office.

“I didn’t have sex in the VIP room,” she said.

“Good.” I didn’t want to beat the shit out of Darcy for something he had no clue about.

“I killed it tonight.” She grinned at me.

Both on and off the stage. “I know,” I said.

“Better than Lisa.”

“I don’t even remember Broadway’s first dance.”

Her face pinked up and I was entranced. Now, she blushed?

“So why did you fire me, then?” Jackie pouted and folded her arms over her chest.

I stood up and smiled when her eyes dropped to my half-mast cock. Yeah, I was ready for another go. But I had a feeling she would be distracted if we went for round two now. “I’m being selfish.”

“How?” She frowned.

“I want you all to myself.”

Blinking, she took a shaky breath. “I’d like that too.”

“Are you okay with a vacation fling?”

“Obviously.” She gestured to the couch. “But what if this lead of yours turns out to be nothing? Then I’m back to square one. Will you rehire me?”

“Do you really want to hustle men with your body?”

“I want to dance,” she said.

“Not what I asked.”

“No,” she said reluctantly. “But if every night was like this one . . .”

“It wouldn’t be.”

“I know, but if that’s the only way to see if that guy who was interested in Lisa comes back and to get the other dancers to trust me with what they know, I want to do it.” She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “Is that going to be a problem?”

“Yeah,” I said. “You’re a distraction for me. A fantastic one, don’t get me wrong. But I can’t run my club with you on the stage. I’m not wired that way. If you’re with me, then you’re mine.”

Jackie shivered and I started to reconsider round two. She could sit on my lap and grind on me to her heart’s content. I took a step forward to lead her back to the couch.

“My sister has to be the priority,” she said. But she was looking at my cock and licking her lips.

“Then, let’s go see what we can find at Zeke’s and Dee’s homes. They could be dead ends or we could find out something worth pursuing. And then I want to take you out to a nice dinner, maybe a show.”

She smiled and my heart stuttered. What the fuck was that all about? This was sex. Raw, hot, horny sex. When she smiled I should be thinking about her lips around my cock, not having my hormones flutter like I was a kid with his first crush.

“And then we’re going back to your hotel room,” I said, yanking her to me. Tossing the blanket aside, I slid my hand down the silky smooth skin of her belly. She parted her legs for me and I dipped just one finger inside her sticky wetness.

Gasping, Jackie clutched at my shoulders. I fingered her softly, aware that she might be a little sore after I took her so roughly. “And then, I’m going to explore every inch of you with my tongue.” I murmured in her ear, nipping at her earlobe.

Reaching out, she trailed her fingernails up the shaft of my cock. “I’ve got plans of my own for you and it involves you flat on your back.” She rubbed me just as slowly.

“Babe, why don’t we go upstairs to my apartment? We can start the search tomorrow. Right now, I don’t have the strength to let you go.”

She eased away so my fingers fell out. She stroked me a few more times before letting me go. “No, I need a few hours to recover. I want some serious wall-banging sex later. After I give you the best damn blow job of your life.”

Holy shit. I swallowed hard and couldn’t move as she wrapped the blanket around her like a toga. Jackie walked out of my office, tossing me a saucy wink over her shoulder.

She’d make me a fortune if I let her work prime hours. But she was leaving as soon as she found her sister, and for the first time in a long time I was feeling selfish enough to want something for myself.

I turned my Bluetooth back on and listened to the security chatter, hoping that would settle down my raging hard-on.

Nothing unusual was going on. I hadn’t even been missed.

Maybe I didn’t have to work twenty-four seven in the bar.

Jackie was a good way to ease into some kind of life-work balance.

And then I remembered that my uncle’s employees bailed on him before some assholes burned his place down with him in it.

It had been three years since I got that terrible phone call from the Las Vegas police department and I thought about it every damn day since.

I couldn’t afford to let myself be distracted and miss something important.

My uncle had enemies and that animosity should have died with him, but I was more than prepared to take the fight to some of them out of revenge as well as self-preservation.

The local gang was the Rivs and, after a rocky start when I first opened Dalton’s two years ago, we’d come to a mutual agreement.

However, I had to put about half of them in the hospital first. It almost came down to gunplay, but my reputation saved me.

Leonidas, the leader of the Rivs, had a few Eurotrash cousins who owned some clubs I had worked at.

Once I made a few phone calls, they told him to lay off Dalton’s.

My entire life savings was sunk into this place and I had loyal employees who relied on me to provide them a paycheck and a safe place to work.

I couldn’t let them down. Taking the back entrance out of my office, I got into the elevator and keyed it for the top floor.

After letting myself into my apartment above the club, I took a quick shower.

I probably should have brought Jackie up here instead of fucking her on the couch in my office, but we would have never gotten out of bed.

My cock still twitched from her touch and I would be hearing her eager screams in my head for a long time.

I threw on another pair of black jeans and a matching T-shirt. It was our club uniform, but it would be passable for a night on the town. Going back downstairs into the club area, I did a walk-through. It was getting busier and if it kept up, we were going to have a good night.

Darcy was still missing and I could only hope he was enjoying himself with any other stripper than Jackie.

Sienna gave me a nod as she gave one of the Aussie rugby players a lap dance.

She had ten-dollar bills sticking out of her bra and thong.

Say what you want about the Australians, they weren’t afraid to tip the girls.

Later on, that might piss off the Americans who wanted the most bang for their buck. Little did they know it took a lot more than a few dollar bills to buy the kindness of the dancers. On stage Lavender was giving it her all to George Michael’s “I Want Your Sex.”

Highway raised an eyebrow when I walked up to him. He exaggerated an inhale.

“You smell pretty, sunshine. Want to fuck?”

“You’re a charmer. I’m taking the night off. I’ll see you tomorrow. Lock up and don’t take any shit.”

“This isn’t like you.” He looked over my head at something. “But I can see why you’re doing it.”

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw a freshly scrubbed Jackie weaving through the crowd toward us.

She wore a sundress with big purple flowers on it and sensible shoes.

Her hair was back in a slick ponytail and she didn’t look anything like La Vie Bohème in her street clothes.

I wondered if she was back to wearing granny panties and her white cotton bra. I couldn’t wait to find out.

“It’s good to see you smile. You deserve some R&R,” Highway said.

“I wasn’t asking for permission,” I retorted. “Besides I’m not completely off the clock. I want to make sure these disappearances aren’t the harbinger of something more serious.”

“You’ve got to stop using that word-a-day dictionary calendar. I don’t know what those big words mean.”

Like hell he didn’t. Highway often pretended he was a dumb goon because it was easier.

“Give me a call if the shit hits the fan. I won’t be too far away.”

“I can manage it.”

Jackie linked her arm through mine when she was close enough.

She smiled up at me and I couldn’t resist a kiss.

Her leaving my office in a blanket and me leaving with her now was going to be all over the bar by tomorrow, but I didn’t give a shit.

I was staking a claim and sending a message.

The dancers wouldn’t think she was an outsider if they thought she was with me.

They’d probably even suck up to her, hoping to get in my good graces.

Ha, the joke was on them. I didn’t have any.

Or it could go the other way, if they thought she was getting special treatment because we were fucking.

That’s another reason I didn’t want her dancing again.

I was determined to protect my bar and Jackie from people like Ginny and the criminals that killed my uncle.

And unlike Uncle Johnny, I wasn’t going to hope that the police would handle it.

I planned to bring that shit right to the door of the motherfuckers who thought they could mess with what’s mine.