Stripped(74)

“I wanted to pick out the ring myself. I hope you like it,” he said, opening the box.

“Like it? I love it, Chris. It’s perfect.” He slipped the platinum band on her finger, and she admired the large, sparkling oval diamond on it.

“God, I’m so relieved,” he said, sighing deeply as he pulled her against his chest. “I’ve been a nervous wreck about this.”

“Now you’ll just move to nervousness about being married.”

“I’m not nervous at all. I meant it about tomorrow. I want you to have whatever you want. We can have a huge wedding here, or get married at Reed’s beach house, or go to Hawaii, or anything else you’d like.”

“Here?” Abby looked around the sprawling warehouse.

“No, I meant here as in Chicago. We can get The Peninsula if you’d like.”

“Oh … well what about here?”

“If it’s what you want, it’s what you’ll have. I’ll call and buy the place right now and we can hire a crew right away to refinish the floors and start working on it. It would be a cool spot, if we hire someone to decorate it really nice.”

“If it’s going to be our place, it seems fitting to get married here,” she said, admiring the room. “Are you sure you want to buy it and open a studio? I might not make much money at first.”

“It doesn’t matter if you make any money at all. I’ve got plenty. I want you to plan our wedding, oversee the reno on the studio and apartment, and just be happy.”

“I want you to be happy, too,” she said, smiling up at him as he pulled her into his arms.

“As long as I’ve got you, I will be.”





Chapter 14

6 months later



Though she was upside down, Abby slid her body down the metal pole seamlessly. She felt, more than heard, the pulse of the music flowing from the speakers. It guided her movements against the pole. She flipped her feet down to the floor, gliding back to an upright stance.

“Anyone want to try that one?” she asked. A dozen women stared back at her, their faces ranging from skepticism to amusement.

“I’m afraid I’ll fall on my head,” one woman said, eliciting laughter from the other students.

“Casey, I think you’re ready for it,” Abby said to a young brunette. “Everyone else, let’s do our basic moves again, to music this time.”

She pressed a button on her remote and a sultry song started. Abby laughed with Casey as she helped her skim down the pole upside down.

“That was awkward,” Casey said as she stood back up.

“For your first time, it was good. I fell off so many times before I stayed on like that,” Abby said.

The pounding of a hammer could be heard during the soft moments in the song, and Abby smiled, knowing the contractor’s crew was building the walls to her new kitchen. Their warehouse loft would be complete in two more months, and she couldn’t wait to move in.

In the meantime, she and the girls had moved in with Chris. His second bedroom was tiny, but they had managed to fit bunk beds into it. Audrey and Sara would both have large rooms in the new apartment. They were excited about living in the same building as the studio.

She had started teaching her sisters to dance, and it brought Abby more joy than she had expected. Audrey loved it, and they were planning to send her to a fine arts camp in the summer so she could learn from advanced instructors.

Though she had thought her pole dancing days were behind her, Abby loved teaching it to her students. They often drank wine, talked and laughed while they worked, and it was always a good time. Helping women reach their inner divas was rewarding.

Abby heard cat calls from some of the women, and she figured one of the hot construction workers was walking by again.

“I’ll dance on his pole anytime,” a middle-aged woman said with a grin.

Abby glanced over and smiled, too.

“Hey, that’s my job,” she said. “He’s my husband.”

Chris was leaning in the doorway, watching her. She smiled as she remembered their first dance as a married couple in this very room two months ago. He had gone all out, having it transformed into a sophisticated, elegant venue that rivaled the fanciest reception halls in the city. The sprawling room had been filled with thousands of calla lilies, white lights and tall topiaries.

A lock of blond hair hung down his forehead, and Abby was eager to brush it back. His worn jeans and t-shirt reminded her that it was Saturday, his day off, and they would be taking the girls bowling when she finished her class.

He had switched to day shift at the hospital, and Abby still reveled in going to bed with him every night and waking up with him every morning. Even after two months, it still felt like a dream sometimes. The Greek God she had admired at a bachelor party was now her husband. The realization never failed to make her smile.