“You won’t make as much working the day shift,” Raul said. “But you’ll still make a hell of a lot more that you were at that bar.”

I nodded, trying not to look as completely terrified and out of place as I felt sitting in this club. “Day shift works better for me with my niece.”

Raul nodded. “Tilly sounds like a good kid. She’s lucky to have you,” he said, eyes kind. “Fay talks about her, both of you, a lot. She likes having you next door.”

Despite my nerves, I smiled. “We’re so lucky to have met her. She’s an amazing lady.”

“That she is.” He nodded, jaw tightening a little before he leaned back, tapping a finger on the table. “Okay, honey, we’ll give you a trial run. Fay likes you and that’s good enough for me.”

“You will?” I didn’t know what I was expecting Raul to be like. A business man, yes. I’d met him in passing, waved hello when I saw him going into Fay’s, but I hadn’t expected him to be this…nice. He wasn’t sleazy or creepy. His eyes hadn’t been on my tits the whole time we talked. I kind of expected him to take me to his office and get me to strip in front of him, to show him “the goods” like you see on movies or whatever. Instead he’d given me a Coke and we’d been chatting for the last hour. Raul had a way of getting you to open up to him without even knowing you were doing it.

I’d told him more about myself and my situation, excluding the Trent issue, than I had almost anyone since everything fell apart.

I swallowed the bolder in my throat. “You know I’ve never done this before, right? Fay told you I’ve never danced before?”

He gave me a steady look, gaze moving over my face, hair, but again like he was assessing, not being creepy. “You’re an attractive girl. My clientele come in here to look at pretty girls, they’re not judging you on your moves,” he said, saying similar to what Fay had. “You have a look, an edge. And I like the pink hair, makes you stand out. I think you’ll do fine. We’ll get you up on stage, see how you do, and go from there.”

On stage? Of course, I knew this was what came next, but still, I thought I might throw up.

“Steph!” Raul called to one of the other dancers. She’d been swinging around the pole on stage when I walked in. She had fiery red hair, and fine features. I tried but couldn’t decide on her age, maybe mid-twenties, possibly a little older? She was wearing a red sparkly G-string and a tank that she’d put on to cover her bare chest after she’d finished her set. The woman was beautiful.

She came straight over and grinned at Raul. “What’s up?”

“Get Willa something to wear, will you? I’m giving her a trial this afternoon. Give her some pointers, make her feel welcome.”

“Will do.” Steph turned to me. “Okay, honey, let’s go.”

My eyes, that I knew were as big as saucers, shot back to Raul. “Now? You want me to dance right now?”

He shrugged. “Unless you got somewhere you need to be?”

I didn’t. Tilly didn’t finished school for another three hours. I glanced around the room. I had no idea so many people spent their lunch breaks at strip clubs. It wasn’t packed, but there were still a lot of people here, especially for lunchtime on a weekday.

Could I really do this? Could I get up there and dance? Take my clothes off in front of everyone.

Raul gave me a knowing look. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Willa. Do this or don’t, it’s up to you, honey.”

But it wasn’t up to me. I had no choice. I needed money, and I needed it now. Trent had texted last night, reminding me what was at stake if I didn’t get him his cash. He said I had a week. That if I didn’t cough up some dough by then, he was going after visitation. Tilly had just started to settle. I wouldn’t let him use her like that, only coming back into her life to get at me, throwing her world into a tailspin all over again. He’d been in and out of her life since she was born. I wasn’t going to let him do that to her again. “No. No, I’ll do it now. Now’s good.”

“You’ll be fine,” Raul said, patting my shoulder, then excused himself and headed toward a bunch of guys who had just walked in. Taking a deep breath, I followed Steph through the dimly lit club, the music throbbing through me, as we headed out the back to the dressing room.

“You didn’t know you’d be dancing today?” she asked me.

I shook my head. My jaw seemed clamped shut and I was having trouble opening it.

“It’s going to be all right, I promise,” she said. “All you need to do is move to the music. It’ll get easier.”

I drew in a deep breath, but the nerves only increased. “Really?”

“I promise.” She smiled. “You have a kid?”

I nodded. “My niece.”

Steph opened a drawer and pulled out a Pepto Bismol-colored bra top and a matching G-string. They still had the labels on. Thank God for that.

“These will work great with your hair.” She smiled, wide. “I don’t have any kids, but I can guess how hard it is. Raul’s great to work for and he looks after us. Coming here was a good decision.”

I nodded again, not feeling good about anything right then. “I hope you’re right.”

“We’ll keep it simple for your first dance, okay? Put these on and you can borrow one of my dresses.” She pulled out a tiny black bit of fabric.

She told me the best way to take it off on stage, and that I could keep my back to the audience when I took off my top if I wasn’t comfortable, so they didn’t actually see my tits.

“Do you need to shave?”

My brows shot up. “What?”

“Your bikini line,” she said on a soft chuckle.

I felt my face heat. “Oh, no. I’m, ah, all good.”

“Excellent. Get these on and we’ll get you out there. The sooner you get this first dance over with, the better you’ll feel.”

Steph left to do something and I shakily got dressed.

I stood there and looked at myself in the mirror. My pale pink hair was a little wild and my lips were puffy from my nervous biting. My breasts were on the small side, my round ass more than ample on my small frame. I tried to look at myself critically. Would this body make me the money I needed? I didn’t have the kind of curves that Steph did. I was definitely no hourglass. Would the men out there find me attractive enough to throw money at me?

I did my best to slow my breathing, to get control over my racing pulse, but it was no good. There was no calming down at this point.

Ignoring the dread curling low in my belly was impossible. I’d never understood what people meant when they said that they listened to their gut. I did now. And right now, my gut was telling me I needed to get the hell out of there. Or maybe that was just the nerves. I had no damn clue what I was thinking at this point.

I just knew I had no choice but to ignore whatever it was.

There was a tap at the door and Steph poked her head through. “You ready, Willa?”

I nodded and she smiled at me, eyes warm, and held out her hand. Surprisingly, I took it, needing the contact, the support, and let her lead me out into the hall and to the back of the stage. I wasn’t sure how I managed to stay upright with the way my legs were shaking, not to mention the skyscraper heels she’d given me to wear.

You can do this. You have to do this.

I tugged on her hand, and she turned back to me. My mouth opened, ready to tell her I’d changed my mind, when an image of Tilly, of Rebecca, flashed through my mind. I’d do anything for that little girl, to keep her safe, even humiliate myself. So instead of making a run for it, I gave Steph a nod, and hoped like hell I wouldn’t throw up as soon as I stepped out there.

Steph pulled me up behind the stage, just off to the side. The song playing was coming to an end, the woman out there had the audience’s rapt attention as she gyrated on the floor topless. Her body was perfect, full and curvy as well. I watched as she crawled on her hands and knees to the edge of the stage, and guys shoved bills down the sides of her G-string. I stiffened, and Steph gave me a reassuring squeeze, then pointed out to the floor. Several big, burly guys stood by, expressions hard, gazes moving around the room in a detached, intense way.

“Those guys are there to protect us. Anyone touches something they’re not supposed to, security will be all over them.”

Okay, that was good.

The song ended and everything in me seized. The dancer on the stage strutted off. She looked at me and her eyes lifted to Steph.

“New girl,” Steph said. “Willa, this is Josie AKA Flame.”

Josie stood in front of me, topless, and did a little shimmy, making the bills in her G-string flutter. “They’re feeling generous today.” She gave me a wink. “You be fine, girl,” she said, obviously not missing the terror I was feeling, then walked toward the dressing room.

Another song started and Steph took my shoulders and looked into my eyes. “You got this, honey. It’s just three minutes. After this, it’ll be plain sailing, I promise.”

“Right,” I said, nodding. “Three minutes.”

I got this.

Steph gave me a little shove and I took a step out onto the glossy black stage. The lights were blinding and I could only see the guys closest to the edge, nothing farther back than that. That was good. The song was slower, moody. I recognized it. It was a song I liked.

Okay, Willa, you need to move now.

Instead, I stood there like a statue, startled by the lights, by the eyes on me, by the ones in the back that I couldn’t see. I needed to move.

God, I needed to move.

Tilly. This was for her.

I bit my lip, my nerves at fever pitch now, but I forced myself to move farther out onto the stage.

I was shaking, so hard the guys closest had to see.

Move! My mind roared.

Then someone was behind me. I jumped and started to spin around.

“Move your hips, honey,” Steph said against my ear. Her hands slid down to them and she started moving, encouraging me to dance with her. There was a hoot from the crowd, and I hoped like hell they thought this was part of the performance.

“Think of the man of your dreams, Willa. You’re dancing for him. Only him,” Steph said, her hands moving up my sides.

I’d been trying to think of anything but the fact I was here, that I was about to take my clothes off in front of these strangers, and she wanted me to picture the man of my dreams? I didn’t know how. I’d never allowed myself to think like that, not even when I was a teenager.

“Think of him, honey. He’s watching you, wanting you,” Steph said against my ear. “Show him what you’ve got.”

Jude’s face popped into my head without my say-so.

And God help me, I clung to it. I let the image give me strength, let those soft brown eyes, that I saw clear as if they were right in front of me, give me courage. I sucked in a deep breath when I started to feel the music move through me, and tuned out the faces, only seeing those eyes. Jude’s eyes. Imagining them moving over me, encouraging me, making me feel beautiful.

I started to get into it, letting myself get lost in the music.

Steph’s hands slipped from my hips, and then she moved sensually around me, backed away, did a little half dance, walk around the stage and disappeared out the back.

I was on my own, but that was okay. I kept Jude in my mind as I tugged the straps of my dress over my shoulders, sliding the stretchy fabric down, doing a little ass shake as I took it to the floor, reaching for the pole to steady myself as I stepped out, and kicked it aside.

There were more whoops and wolf whistles.

I didn’t know anyone here. They didn’t know me. I was just a woman, a woman they knew nothing about. I could be someone else. I could pretend that the nightmares of my life weren’t mine.

I moved closer to the edge, using all of my body now, my hips, my hair, and all the while I saw Jude in my mind, watching me, wanting me.

I felt…I felt like for the first time in a long time, I had the control. That I was in control. It wasn’t something I expected to feel. I liked it. Needed it.

I went down to my knees, remembering what Josie did, and moved like a cat, twisting, gyrating my hips to the music, then crawled to the edge. I tried not to stiffen when the first bill was slid down the side of my G-string, forcing Jude’s face front and center again, and then I kept going, letting them give me their money.

Letting the cool touch of those bills against my skin ease away my nerves.

Jude

Jesus fucking Christ.

We’d come to Stilettos for a meet with Raul. He was a guy with a lot of contacts and helped us out at the agency from time to time. He was also the closet thing Van and Hunter had to a father.

When Willa had walked out, I’d sat there, stunned, everything else around me ceasing to exist. My next instinct, which was fucked up, had been to storm the stage and drag her off it.

Now? Now, I couldn’t take my eyes off her, and I wasn’t the only one. I didn’t like that. Which was also messed up, but apparently I had no control over it. No, I had the strong and fucked up urge to pluck every fucker in the club’s eyeballs out for daring to look at her.

Van glanced at the stage for the hundredth time, and I growled, actually growled. His eyes slid to me.

I shook my head.

His brows shot skyward.

“Don’t look at her.”

Raul frowned. “Something I should know?”

“No.”

The guy didn’t look convinced. “Her first dance. Rocky start, but she’s got the hang of it now.”

“You want to fill me in?” Van asked.

When I said nothing, Raul leaned in and said something to Van, obviously doing the filling in for me, telling him who she was to me. My tenant. My fucking tenant. I had no say in what she did. I had no right to act like a caveman. She wasn’t mine. That didn’t seem to matter right now, though.

I rose to my feet and moved to the stage, ignoring the looks from Van and Hunter, and Raul's frown.

The song was coming to a close, and I watched as she crawled to the pole in the center of the stage and slid her hand up the smooth surface, climbing to her feet. Holding it, she moved her hips deeper and my mouth went dry, even as I dragged my hand over my mouth, sure I was fucking drooling.

Willa was small, fine-boned—my gaze slid to her round ass—and I gritted my teeth, so hard I was surprised they didn’t shatter. Yeah, I was acting like a major creep, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was a perfect little package. Hot as fuck, but it was her face that had me mesmerized. Her expression. I wanted to know what she was thinking, who she was thinking about. Then I wanted to hunt him down and kill him.

She spread her legs farther apart and looked over her shoulder at the crowd. She looked directly at me, but I knew she couldn’t see me, not with the lights, not from where I was standing. I groaned under my breath as she reached around and tugged on the string of her bikini top at the neck, then lower on her back, letting it fall…

I stalked toward the back, to cheers and wolf-whistles.

She didn’t turn around, and I was happier than I should be about that. I didn’t want these losers seeing her tits. I fucking hated the idea. But again, I had no claim over her, I didn’t want one, did I? Of course I fucking didn’t. Still nothing could have stopped me from moving down the hall, ignoring the nods from bouncers, dancers that knew me, knew that I was tight with Raul, and headed backstage.

I came around the corner in time to watch Willa reach for the wall, she was breathing hard. Her face was flushed, her bare chest, that she was still covering with one arm, rising and falling with her rapid breaths.

I didn’t know why she was here, what had brought her to this point. I knew she needed money, but I didn’t know why she was willing to go this far to get it. Not that there was anything wrong with stripping, I just didn’t see it as something Willa would do. But then, what did I really know about her? From what I’d seen, this hadn’t been easy for her, not at all, but she’d done it anyway. And for that, I was impressed. Willa was strong, determined. Brave.

She slid on a robe that was handed to her and turned to move to the dressing rooms, stumbling to a stop when she saw me. Her eyes flared, then she blinked up at me like she wasn’t sure if I was actually standing in front of her. Her face flushed darker and I sucked in a rough breath. Excitement, fear—fuck, heat—all rolled into one, slid across her fine features.

Willa was beautiful, delicate, and I suddenly wanted to pull her into my arms and tell her how amazing she’d been out there. How brave I thought she was.

Our eyes stayed locked; that heat was still blazing from her eyes. It had nothing to do with the random guys who had watched her dance tonight. I’d seen it, the change while she moved. She’d been deep inside herself, thinking of something, someone, to get through her first dance.

And I felt…fuck, jealous, of whoever that was.

It made no sense, and neither did me striding toward her, like I was now, moving in so close her back ended up against the wall. She stared up at me, but she wasn’t scared, and she sure as hell wasn’t angry. Her breathing grew heavier, looking at me with a dazed, fucking sexy-as-hell expression that had my cock straining against the zipper of my jeans.

All I could think of was tasting her lips. I didn’t care about the asshole she’d been dancing for. And for once, that mouth wasn’t set in a stubborn line, or firing smart-assed comments at me. So, I leaned in, unable to stop myself, breath huffing out of my nose. I nudged it against hers, our lips barely an inch apart, waiting for her to shove me back, waiting for her to tell me to fuck off. She didn’t.

Her hand lifted, curled into my shirt at my abs, and instead of shoving me back, she pulled me closer.

There was no stopping what came next, no chance in hell.

I claimed her sweet mouth.

Christ.

Her lips were soft, full, and tasted like cherries. One of my hands went to her tiny waist, the other to the wall above her head, so I didn’t haul her off her feet like I was desperate to. I moved my lips over hers, somehow holding back, not devouring her, ignoring the roar in my head and the fire shooting down my spine. I knew that would be the wrong play with her, that pushing too hard, too fast, would bring this…whatever the fuck we were doing, to an end. I didn’t want it to end, not yet.

Her lips felt cool against mine and when her tongue darted out and slid over my bottom lip, it’s scalding heat was an intense contrast. I groaned, my gut fucking curling in a knot so tight, it knocked the wind from me. My fingers flexed at her hip and my control slipped when I opened for her and that sweet little tongue slid against mine. I jerked her closer, growling low when her hand slid up over my abs to my chest.

I was about to drag her off her feet and press her into the wall, take that mouth and fucking own it, take that ample ass in my hands and kneed it, when she suddenly shoved, hard.

I lifted my head, goddamn dazed, and our eyes locked. Hers were wide, confused, still sexily stunned. I’d never seen anything sweeter in my life. I’d messed up, though; kissing her was a huge fucking mistake. She’d just looked so damn lost, so freaked, so beautiful and alone after her dance, and I’d just… Shit, I’d wanted to what? Make her feel better? Let her know how strong and amazing and maddening I thought she was?

There were a hell of a lot of other ways of letting her know that shit, and kissing someone was definitely not the most obvious. I took a step back and shoved my fingers through my hair, watching as reality came chasing back, her expression changing, the sexy flustered look vanishing, like it had never been there.

“What are you doing here?” she rasped.

Her lips were puffy, fuller from having mine all over them, and I forced myself to look away. I planted my hands on my hips so I didn’t reach for her again. “I’m here with some of the guys from my agency.”

All color drained from her face—then I watched her spine straighten and the last traces of softness leave her eyes. “Social club outing, huh?”

“The guys who own the agency think of Raul as a father. He’s a good friend to the rest of us. He also helps us out from time to time with cases, which is why we’re here.”

She crossed her arms, hardening her features. “So…I guess you saw the whole show then?” That fuck-you expression never left her face as she said it, even as her skin flushed darker.

My dick throbbed from the memory. “Yeah, I saw.”

She looked wounded for a split second. “Were you entertained? Did you have a good laugh?” Her lips narrowed into a thin line and she looked away.

“No, why the fuck would I laugh?” I gently cupped her delicate jaw and applied the smallest amount of pressure, wanting her to look at me again. Her eyes were closed off, void of fucking everything when I had them on me again. “Christ, Willa, I think you’re amazing, so fucking brave.” I needed her to know, didn’t want her to be embarrassed or ashamed for doing what she needed to. For doing whatever it took to make sure her niece had everything she needed.

She blinked. “What?”

“It takes guts to get up there.”

Her eyes narrowed. “And you just had to come back here and tell me?”

“Well, yeah.”

She huffed out a laugh and shook her head. “By kissing me?”

“That hadn’t been my intention when I came back here…”

“No?” She crossed her arms defensively. “Then what was your intention?”

This wasn’t going well, not at all. I’d shoved my big foot in my damn mouth again.

“Let me guess?” she said before I could come up with an answer. “You’ve changed your mind. Now you’ve seen the goods, you want something in return for the generosity you’ve shown me and Tilly, right?”

Christ. “You really think that?”

“I’m not an idiot,” she fired at me.

I planted my hands on my hips. “No, I haven’t changed my fucking mind.”

“You just had your tongue down my throat. All roads are kinda pointing to Bullshitsville, Mr. Landlord.”

“Jesus,” I muttered. “I would never extort sex from any woman, and I’m getting a little pissed that you keep accusing me of that shit.”

She stared up at me for several long seconds. I could see her mind ticking over while she tried to work out my angle. “What are you going to do about it, kick us out of your house?”

The anger had lessened, fear sneaking in, clear through the attitude she was trying to keep up.

What the hell had happened to make her distrust everyone, to expect the worst. I wanted to know more than I should. If I wanted to gain her trust—and for some fucked up reason, I did—there was only one way to go about it, and that was being honest with her. “Woman, I didn’t need to see you dancing in a G-string to know that you’re beautiful. To tell you the truth, I don’t know why the fuck I came back here. I just wanted to make sure you were okay…then I saw you, and…” I shrugged. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have kissed you like that.”

Again, she stared at me, like she was waiting for the but, the condition, for the other shoe to drop. When one never came, the rest of her anger seemed to dissolve and she looked unsure, vulnerable.

She backed up a step. “Okay. Well…apology accepted.”

I dipped my chin, not sure what to say without shoving my foot deeper in my mouth.

Hers opened and closed, then she spun away and ran for the dressing room.

I watched her go, until the door closed behind her, and sucked in a sharp breath.

I could still taste cherries.