The lyrics, “So hurry down the chimney tonight,” coincided with the women’s twirl and deep bend at the waist, teasing the eye with flaring capes and split-second glimpses of more skin.
Heat stirred in his belly. He definitely needed a better view, one that made it very clear to Grace that he wasn’t judging her by where she worked or what she did. He loved what she’d become. It had just taken him a little tap upside the head to realize that.
He picked up his beer and strolled down the center aisle, taking a seat in the front row. Leaning back, he settled into the lushly padded chair, threw his arm over the back of another, and propped his ankle over the opposite knee.
The gazes of all three dancers veered toward him. But not Grace’s. She remained perfectly focused, moving to the music and directing the women.
“I’ll wait up for you, dear, Santa Baby…”
“Three, four, five and six, seven, shimmy…” she called over Kitt’s sugar-soft voice, which sounded far more erotic now than when he’d first heard it.
All four women rocked their shoulders, and the capes fell in unison to their elbows, exposing bare, smooth chests, and jiggling breasts barely contained in red corsets edged in white fur.
Holy mother of God…
Heat flooded Josh’s veins and pooled between his legs. Pressure built in his chest until he wanted to moan with it.
The women leaning back in a provocative stance, rolling their upper bodies like an ocean wave. But Josh had frozen, hand locked around the beer bottle, throat tight.
Grace strutted across the stage in those fuck-me boots with a swish, swish, swish of hips, swinging the cape.
“Five and six, seven and drop,” she instructed the women on another turn, another kick, and the capes fell to the floor, exposing the outfit hidden beneath.
And Lord help him, he couldn’t form one thought. Not one fucking coherent thought.
All he could see was Grace. Her red corset laced up the front, cleavage showing through the V. The fur trim barely covered her nipples. Her breasts spilled over the top, bouncing with every move. Her skirt rode a good five inches beneath her flat belly button, the fabric accented with a wide black patent leather belt to match the boots, and exposed every inch of trim, toned, shapely torso from hip bones to rib cage.
“And roll…roll…roll…” Grace was saying, but Josh had lost track of the choreography.
This was beyond his hottest sexual fantasy. She was gorgeous, sensual, erotic, naughty, and sweet all at the same time. Everything a man could ever want all packaged inside a generous, compassionate, resilient woman.
Every turn, flip, or twist flashed the hint of a red lace thong beneath the skirt’s white fur trim. Every slow, sultry bend exposed her tight ass cheeks—completely bare but for a tiny strip of red lace disappearing between the golden curves.
A sharp spin turned all four women away from Josh as they strutted to the rear of the stage. Their black boots crisscrossed, their hips swayed. Then they all stopped abruptly, and on the next burst of orchestra music, all four women ripped their bodices open with both hands.
“Whoa,” he murmured, riveted to the power of such tight choreography between dance and music. But that thought skipped from his mind when they turned back toward the audience, exposing tiny, tiny, tiny red bikini tops. And as they strutted forward, all Josh saw were Grace’s perfect breasts, plump and high and deliciously mobile in a triangle of red. He wanted them in his hands again, beneath his tongue again.
He swallowed hard, his throat so dry the movement hurt. On their way to the front of the stage, they dropped the corsets to the floor. The fingers of his free hand dug into his thigh. His cock rubbed uncomfortably against his jeans, and his chest felt as tight as if he were wearing a corset of his own.
Josh dragged his gaze up Grace’s body—and found her gaze directly, purposefully on his. The sight speared his body with heat, the reaction so visceral she could have been reaching between his legs and cupping his balls.
Then she grabbed one of the gold stripper poles, hiked herself up with one hand in an effortless, smooth move that reminded Josh of the way she’d lifted her body up his the night before, and twirled slowly to the floor, still calling out direction.
“Spin, spin, spin, reach, pull…” Her words mirrored her spiral down the pole, her reach into her hair, her pull of whatever had been holding it up, and the sleek strands spilled in a copper waterfall.
When she reached the floor, her legs spread in an artful, erotic split around the pole, exposing her sex, barely hidden by a scrap of red lace. And her blue-eyed gaze kept drawing his own back. Back to eyes that screamed I’m strong and confident and I can take care of myself.