Stripped Read Free Page B

it.
    Just minutes later the doors opened and the girls gracefully walked down the stairs into the club. It wasn't as full tonight, the girls quickly made their matches and were sitting down in laps and getting men drinks. I stood near the back wall unsure of what to do with myself. I had such purpose last week, I picked my mate and had made the match before I even left the dressing room. But tonight I couldn't seem to hone in on anyone. I decided maybe a little liquid courage would help me and I walked over to the bar tapping on a couple men’s shoulders as I made my way past. But no one offered me a drink or raised a glass to me, by the time I got to the bar I was feeling completely defeated.
    “A glass of wine please,” I said to the bartender.
    “You’re back.” I heard the whisper in my ear as he placed his hand on my lower back.
    I turned around and was met with Hudson James's beautiful dark eyes. “I am. Are you surprised?”
    He smiled at me still not releasing his hand from my body. “A little. I thought after your run-in with the police you might take a few weeks off.”
    “Then you don't know the rules as well as you think you do. There are no weeks off.” I paused and took a drink from his hand. Smelled like scotch. I downed the whole glass in just one gulp. “Good choice of drink. I notice you don't have your group of miscreants with you tonight. Flying solo?”
    He took the glass back from me and put it on the bar behind me. “Easier to get your attention when I'm on my own. He took my hand with both of his and kissed it lightly. “What's it going to take to get you to spend the night with me?”
    I smiled. “I don't know that you have that kind of leverage.”
    “You haven't even given me the chance to show you what I have in my bag of tricks. Request anything, and I'll make it happen.”
    I chewed on my lower lip, I had the distinct feeling that I really could ask for anything and Hudson could bring it to me in an instant. “I want to go to dinner.”
    He raised an eyebrow, “Is that all?”
    I nodded. “Dinner with no strings.”
    “That’s ballsy. Most girls here and would love some strings attached to me.”
    “Well lucky for you I'm not like most girls.”
    He smiled smugly. “No you're not.” He got close enough to me that I could feel the moisture from his lips on my ear lobe. “Tell me something you've never told anyone else. Then we go to dinner.”
    He was playing a game. But I was better at it.
    “I don't have secrets.”
    “Everyone has secrets. It's what makes them valuable.”
    “Fine. I have a tattoo. On the inside of my upper thigh. It's a star.” I tried not to laugh but the look on his face made it impossible. “I got it when I was sixteen. I thought it was a total badass until I realize that you have a lot of nerve endings at the top of your thigh, especially on the inside. I screamed the entire time it was done, it's not even colored in a result, and I cried every time I did squats for a month. And no one else knows that about me. Your turn.”
    “I don’t remember agreeing to tell you something in exchange.”
    “And I don't remember accepting your invitation to dinner.”
    He put his finger below my chin and lifted my lips up just below his but they didn't touch. I couldn't deny the heat was rising through my body like I was on fire. He was so devilish and bothersome at the same time.
    “Fine. I don't have any tattoos. But I also probably didn't go to high school like you did. So there was no peer pressure to get one. And private tutors frowned upon you leaving class to get something put on your body. Besides nothing my world is permanent, and I like it that way.”
    “Nothing?”
    He shook his head, his hand still under my chin. “Nothing.” We stayed like that for another moment before he released his hand and tilted his head at me. “Dinner?”
    I nodded mostly because I was intrigued. Something about Hudson James left me reeling every time he walked