^“So, you ready to start your new job?” Dom asks, as he comes in the room, with Kaiden following him. I haven’t seen them today, only Andre for a few minutes before he said he was tired and had to go to sleep. I offered to do an online food shop, but Andre shut that idea down. He said they all take turns shopping, and it’s Kaiden’s week. He said I can do a shop after I’ve been paid by them, and he also made sure to get my mobile number. I was surprised that we had forgotten to exchange numbers.

“Sure, who is dancing?” I ask them. Kaiden has on jeans, a white top and a black jacket. His hair is styled to the side but somehow seems messy. Dom has a suit on, and he looks incredible. It takes me a few tries to pull my eyes away. I wonder if it’s one of those suits that have Velcro in them, so when they rip them off, they don’t waste clothes. The only reason I even know about that is because I’ve have spent way too long watching Magic Mike on YouTube on my phone, and other strip dance videos. At least, I think I’m prepared for what I’m going to see tonight.

“Andre and I, tonight,” Dom answers, and I nod my head as words escape me. I might have seen Andre with all his clothes off, but Dominic is like every girl’s, geeky-boy dream.

“Ready?” Andre asks, coming into the room wearing loose black trousers and a grey top, it feels cramped with them all in here, and all their eyes are on me as I stand up.

“Ready,” I say and catch Andre’s eyes. I watch as his jaw tightens, and he looks away from me. I feel like he’s upset with me, and the way he looks at me proves I might be on to something. I don’t get a chance to say anything as he turns to walk out, all of them have their coats and shoes on. I quickly shove my coat and my boots on.

I follow the guys out of the house, and Andre stops by the door.

“You’re coming in my car, Ellie,” he tells me, and I nod. I see Kaiden and Dom get into Kaiden’s car as Andre opens the door to his car for me. I slide into his car and strap myself in as I wait for him. The drive is awkward before I finally snap and say something.

“What have I done to upset you?” I ask him, and his hands tighten slightly on the steering wheel.

“Nothing, Ellie,” he says as he pulls into the street with the club on it. The street is a little empty, the clubs just starting to open, and the big number Four is flashing outside and giving me a little light to see Andre.

“Really? Because I’m not that stupid, no matter what you think. I know I upset you when I ran out of the club last night. I didn’t run out because I didn’t like what I saw, no. I ran out because I was in shock. I didn’t expect that, and it’s not fair for you to blame me,” I say as he parks.

“You liked what you saw?” he asks as he pulls the keys out of the car, and his warm, blue eyes meet mine. I gulp before I answer, the memory of him slowly pulling off that white shirt and the sexy way he moved. What was there not to like?

“Yes,” I say in a whisper, and he moves closer, our mouths inches away as he searches my eyes.

“I haven’t stopped thinking about you, Ellie,” he tells me and moves his lips closer, they briefly brush mine before my door is opened, and I jump back.

“Everything alright?” Kaiden asks me as I unclip my seatbelt. I slide out of the car at the same time as Andre, but I don’t meet his eyes.

“All good, let’s go.” I say, and Kaiden slips his hand into mine. I don’t stop him, but I do see Andre’s eyes narrow on our hands. I’m surprised he doesn’t say anything as he moves to my other side as we walk up to Dom, who is opening the shutter doors to the club. Once he unlocks them and pushes them up, he opens the main door and holds it open for us. I also see how Dom’s eyes narrow in on my hand in Kaiden’s.

None of us say a word as we walk in, and I hear Dom locking the door behind us. Andre runs ahead and switches the lights on. The place looks just like it did last night, the same big stage and the circle of tables spread around it. I didn’t notice before, but there are glass bowls full of what look like little, red, glass balls in the middle of the tables. The floor is a shiny red and sparkles like the sparkly, white floor on the stage. The two poles on the stage are black, and the walls are all the same dark-red as the floor. The long bar is made of glass at the bottom and you can see all the different kinds of drinks they have here. The wall has tons of bottles, too. There are two doors next to the stage, and both say, ‘Staff Only’ on them. I didn’t see it before because I was too distracted with the hot men on stage, but above the stage is ‘Four’ in red letters.

“What do you think?” Andre asks me as he comes to my side, his fingers skimming my hand, but he doesn’t move to take my hand like Kaiden has.

“It’s nice,” I say.

“Nice? I’ve heard you have to worry when a woman says something is ‘nice’ or ‘fine’,” Kaiden says, and I turn to him with a small smile.

“I have never been to a strip club, so I have nothing to compare it to. So yes, it’s nice,” I say, and he chuckles.

“Come on, smartass, I’ll show you the office and the private room we have,” Kaiden says.

“I need to get ready, but will you come and watch one dance?” Andre asks, and I look him over slowly. I can do this, I need to do this because I’m having his baby, and this is his job. I don’t want to upset him by saying no, and I can always look away.

“Okay,” I say, and his face lights up as he smiles. Holy ducks, he looks hot when he smiles, and my cheeks light up with the memories we have between us.

I let Kaiden lead me towards the door left of the stage and he holds it open for me as he lets go of my hand. The room is small, with a wooden bar on the one side with stools lined up in front of it. There are two sofas and a chair in the room but not much else. The floors are wooden and it has freshly-painted white walls.

Kaiden walks in the room and moves towards one of the two doors in the room at the back.

“This is the office, and that one is for the changing rooms. Unfortunately, the only staff toilet is through the changing rooms. I don’t think you’ll want to use the public ones we have out there,” he tells me, and I nod. I walk into the office, and Kaiden switches the light on for me. The room is a good size with a large desk and a big comfy-looking chair. There are two filing cabinets and three piles of papers on the desk.

“So, basically, I’ve been doing the accounts, and I’m shit at it, so there may be a few messed up parts,” Kaiden tells, me, and I chuckle.

“It can’t be that bad,” I say, as he goes around the desk and switches the computer on. It’s a modern computer with a big screen and a fancy-looking wireless keyboard. The mouse is wireless as well and lights up in a few colours.

“Come here, then,” Kaiden waves me over, and I take my coat off, leaving it on the hook by the door.

“There’s nowhere to sit,” I say as I move next to his chair. I squeal like a little girl when he wraps an arm around my waist and gently pulls me onto his lap, my hands falling to his shoulders. I know I must be blushing like crazy as he looks down at me with a cheeky grin.

“There’s plenty of room on my lap, you’re tiny,” he says and then looks over my head at the screen. I squirm a little to get comfy, and I hear him softly swear.

“Is something wrong?” I ask him, and he chuckles.

“No, I just didn’t think this through,” he says, but it’s quiet and not meant for me to hear.

“Think what through?” I ask.

“That having a sexy woman wriggling on my lap while I’m trying to teach her about the work accounts, would be a distraction,” he chuckles out.

“Oh,” I say, and he laughs.

“‘Oh’, is right,” he replies, and I force myself to look at the screen as he moves to start loading the accounts. About an hour later, I finally have a good understanding of where they are, but there is a lot of work to be done and none of the expenses have been put in for the last two months. There isn’t one Excel sheet in the site, and there’s an email account full of receipts.

“Looks like I’ll be spending the next few weeks catching up,” I say with a sigh. This is a lot of work, and it will take ages before I can even touch the normal things. I lean back when I feel Kaiden playing with my hair, and I look up at him.

“Just take it easy, you’re pregnant, and I don’t want you exhausting yourself,” he tells me, his tone is kind and gentle.

“Okay, Kaiden,” I say, and he smiles. Kaiden is really something to look at, with his deep-green eyes and long, dark lashes. I can see how women love him and like to see him lose his clothes.

“How did you get into dancing?” I ask him as he continues to twirl my hair around his finger. He gives a slight smile, and I know it’s because I choose to call it dancing rather than stripping.

“I don’t talk about it with anyone,” Kaiden says, and I nod. I try to get up, but his arm tightens around my waist.

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t tell you, it’s just not something I like to talk about,” he says, and I glance up at him.

“I had a great upbringing, the perfect parents, and a perfect life. We had a big house and more money than we needed,” he tells me before he stops and clears his throat.

“Except it was never perfect, my mother just kept me hidden from it all. I didn’t know how bad my father would beat her up, or that he had been doing far worse to her, for years,” he tells me and pauses when I take his hand in mine.

“One day I found out. I was thirteen and big for my age. I beat the crap out of my father, put him in a coma because I walked in on him,” he stops, and I squeeze his hand. I just don’t know what to say. He clears his throat before talking again, but he doesn’t look at me.

“Anyway, when the police asked my mother what happened, she said I had gone crazy and wouldn’t admit that he was hurting her. I was sent to a youth detention centre when my father died from the injuries I gave him. My mother never visited me in the three years I stayed there, and when I was released–” he stops.

“Well, I was sixteen and had no one to turn to. I was homeless for around two months until Eric found me. I met Andre, Todd, and Dom when Eric moved me into his apartment,” he says, finally looking down at me. I cannot imagine Kaiden hurting anyone enough to kill them, but I don’t judge him for it. Anyone in his position would have done the same thing, and I wish his mother had defended him like she should have done. I guess she was scared, and years of abuse can cloud anyone’s mind.

“I’m sorry, but thankful that someone gave you a home,” I tell him.

“Eric was a father to me, everything a real one should have been,” he tells me.

“This Eric was?” I ask.

“A crazy, old man who owned a few nightclubs and strip clubs. Eric had told us his family was rich but dabbled in illegal things. When a lot of them died, he still had a lot of money and just started taking in people who needed help. There were other guys who he had gotten other jobs for, and they moved on, but we worked in his club and looked after him as he got older,” Kaiden says with a smile, I can see how much he must have cared for Eric.

“So, is he?” I ask gently, the way Kaiden described him suggests that he passed on.

“Yes, he passed away around two years ago, and we inherited this club. Andre inherited a house from his parents, and he offered to let us move in. By that point, we all had a lot of money from the work and could have bought our own houses, but we just didn’t,” he tells me.

“I’m sorry you had to go through all that,” I tell him softly.

“Tell me something about you, Ellie,” he asks me as he goes back to playing with my hair, his finger skimming down my back and making me shiver.

“There isn’t much to tell,” I say, and he smiles like he doesn’t believe me. There is stuff to tell, but it’s not interesting. Honestly, my life was boring when I was stuck in a dead-end marriage and rarely left the house other than to go to work.

“Well, what about your childhood?” he asks.

“My parents are, well, they are good parents most of the time. I had a decent childhood, but they’re clouded in their beliefs,” I tell him. My parents love the church more than most things, including me. If they aren’t speaking to me because I got a divorce, I think they will disown me when I tell them I’m pregnant and living with a house full of strippers.

The thought of their horrified faces drifts into my mind and makes me chuckle a little.

“So, why is someone as beautiful as you, single and living with us?” he asks me.

“I was married until three months ago. I walked in on my husband of eight years fucking his secretary, so it was over,” I tell him, and his eyes widen.

“What a fucking douchebag,” he says. He looks fuming mad, and it makes me smile. Those were close to the words I called Drew.

“It was a good thing; our marriage was over years ago, and I had become a pretty thing he kept on his arm at parties. I don’t know why I didn’t leave him sooner,” I tell him, and we both go quiet for a little bit. I wonder what he’s thinking.

“Why do you think you stayed?” he asks me.

“Because I had, and still have, no idea what love is,” I tell him, and he looks down at me. His expression is clouded in disbelief and something else.

“Ellie, you may not know what love is, but you’re so easy to love,” he says and kisses me as my eyes widen.

His lips move gently across my own as his hand finds the back of my head, his other hand pulling my waist closer against his hard body as the kiss deepens, and I part my mouth to let him take control.

“Andre is going on stage soon,” the words are spoken behind us in a clipped, angry tone, and Kaiden breaks his lips away from mine.

“Dom,” he says looking behind me, and I hear a door slam shut.

“I–” I say but can’t finish the story.

“Don’t overthink this, I’ll talk to Dom,” Kaiden says and brushes his lips against mine before he leans back.

“Andre wants you to watch him, you should go,” he says with a small smirk. I don’t get him, why would he kiss me one minute and then send me off to watch another man strip.

“Okay,” I say to him and get off his lap. I walk a little shakily to the door, my mind still reeling from that kiss.

“I hope you enjoy the dance,” Kaiden says behind me just as I walk through the door, and I choose not to reply.

I hope I do, too.