Page 6 of Taken by Moonlight

“What kind of sex do you like,Peyton?”

This from Kelly, I should have known that the most experienced and savvy of the strippers wouldask.

“I don’t have time to date,” Imuttered.

Carmen’s brown turned contact lens blue eyes widened. “You’re one ofthem!”

“One ofwhat?”

“A virgin.” Carmen whistled. “I don’t think I’ve known a virgin since I was in middleschool.”

“Elementary,” Kellyinterjected.

“I’m not a freak.” I pulled the collar of my shirt close together and buttoned it. Norm didn’t like it that way, but tonight I felt especiallyexposed.

“Are you a lesbian?” Kelly looked fascinated, as if I suddenly confessed I was an alien fromMars.

“No. I just haven’t dated much or found a guy worth doing it with.” This was embarrassing. Too proud to admit I didn’t want to get involved because I wanted something like what my folks had – a lifetime’s worth of love. Mom had confessed to me that Dad was her first, and then theymarried.

An old-fashioned marriage, with a deep love that would have lasted a long time if they hadn’t died in that car wreck four yearsago.

“A virgin working in a sex and strip club,” Carmen said, kicking back in her chair and placing her stiletto heels on thetable.

“Gentlemen’s club,” Icorrected.

“Oh they’re gentlemen all right, until you get them in bed and then they are all ferocious beasts who want to pound you into sexual oblivion.” Kelly winked at Stephanie andCarmen.

I swallowed hard. “You’rejoking.”

“Never have your first time with an alpha shifter, my dear.” Kelly pushed back from the dressing table. “A rugged, fierce alpha like Dante could tear an innocent apart. The first time is painfulenough.”

“Wait until the second time.” Carmen winked atme.

As they drifted out of the dressing room, Stephanie lingered. I liked Stephanie. She was single, like me, and stripped because of the money, not because she thrived on the male adulation, like Kelly andCarmen.

Stephanie touched my arm. “Don’t mind them, honey,” she said. “They’re jealous because you have something theylack.”

A hymen, I almost blurted out. “Debt,” Ioffered.

“Class. You’re real and natural and not fake. Not a square inch on you, and males gravitate to that after they tire of the champagne and cosmetics and lights. At the end of the day, they want a real female to go home to, to snuggle in bed with and make babies, not a doll like weare.”

She sounded sad and resigned. I went and put my arms around her, wanting to give her reassurance. Stripping was a hard way to make aliving.

“You’re not a doll,” I blurted out. “You’re a real person, Stephanie. Don’t ever degradeyourself.”

A sad smile. “I do this to pay my bills. I can’t go home again,Peyton.”

After a brief hug back, she hurried away, out of the bright lights of the tiny dressing room into the lower lights and grinding music in thelounge.

I looked at myself in the mirror, the small, almost delicate features not now marred by chalky makeup. The long ash brown hair curling at the ends, spilling past my shoulders mid-way to my waist. Not unattractive, but not striking and beautiful,either.

You have nothing to worry about. There are dozens of wealthy, powerful shifters out there and no one wants you. You can safely stayanonymous.

Andpoor.

Not like Kelly, who sometimes brought home $2,000 a night or more. Even Stephanie, shorter and less curvaceous, never walked out of Crossroads with less than $1,500 in herpocket.

Or G-string.

No one wanted me, the chubby waitress desperate to pay off a shady loan, an obscure human psi who could read shifter auras. The males in the club were too busy ogling the busty, slim strippers who made them howl for more, and arousedthem.

For sex, nothing more. Especially for thewerewolves.

Weres always mated within their own species. Propagation of the bloodlines, and all that. They could mate with humans, but few did. Psi humans like me were more desirable, for it meant the offspring would carry the stronger werewolf gene and become shifters. Especially when the psi human had two psiparents.

But who would want a Plain Jane likeme?