Andre drops his shirt just as it hits me where I am, and what I’m watching. They are strippers. I don’t know why, but I turn and run straight back out the door of the strip club, ignoring Kaiden shouting for me to come back. I can’t even think straight.

The bouncers look a little surprised as I burst out the door and duck under the rope. I know the city well enough to find my way back to Liz’s apartment, and that’s the only thought running through my mind. Not the sight of Andre’s perfect chest and the way he moved his body. Not the way Todd looked as he danced and the way the shirt he was undoing stuck to him, showing off his impressive chest.

Why the hell did Kaiden bring me here? The image of Andre and the slow, teasing way he took his clothes off will not be something I can forget. The way he danced near Todd, both of them in time to the music and making all the woman in the room cheer.

“Ellie, wait,” Kaiden shouts behind me, and I feel his hand on my arm as I stop in the middle of the street. A drunk couple walk past us as I turn to look at him, and he lets go of my arm.

“Why did you run?” he asks, and I give him my best ‘are you stupid’ look.

“You’re strippers! My baby’s father is a stripper, and that’s not the way I should have found out!” I whisper harshly. 

“Yes, we are strippers, and we own that club, but come on, it’s not that bad,” he says and moves closer.

“Why don’t you come back? I really wanted to bring you, not just to show you who we are, but we may have a job for you,” he says, his tone gentle, and it matches the soft look on his face.

“I’m not stripping for you,” I say and glare at him as I cross my arms. He laughs, and a few people look over. Holy ducks, he has a really nice laugh.

“You might strip for me one day, and I will be a very lucky man, but that’s not tonight. No, tonight I want to show you the office, and the accountant job we have open,” he says, and my red cheeks feel like they are burning. Nothing about that sentence was playful, no, it was sinful.

“I’m pregnant, you shouldn’t want to hire me,” I say and shake my head.

“That’s the very reason we should, and you’re family to us now. Andre and all of us are like brothers and well, we want to keep you around,” he says and moves even closer. So close I can feel how warm he is as he blocks the cold wind.

“We?” I ask, and he moves his head close to the side of mine, way too close, but I hold still as his soft lips brush the top of my ear.

“We,” he repeats my word, but it’s far more sensual and makes me close my eyes. After I take a deep breath, I force myself to open my eyes, and Kaiden is still so close to me. His lips inches from mine, his eyes searching me for something. 

“Ellie,” he whispers my name like a prayer, and just when I think he is going to kiss me, a girl’s, loud giggling interrupts us. I glance over in shock as I’m pushed out of the way and a blonde bombshell squeezes herself in front of me, so she is facing Kaiden. The woman has long, curly, blonde hair, and she is wearing a tight, red dress that matches her red heels. Holy ducks, I don’t know the woman, and I’m pissed off that she pushed me out of the way, but I want her shoes. They are some seriously hot heels.

“Kaiden, are you dancing tonight?” she asks, and Kaiden surprises me with his next words.

“Not tonight, my pregnant girlfriend needs me.” 

Did he really just call me his girlfriend and kind of imply my baby is his?

“Oh, hello,” the woman turns and gives me a fake smile as she looks me over. 

“Never mind, I will go and see Andre,” she says, and I swallow the stupid amount of jealously I feel as I watch her walk off. Kaiden catches my eye for a second and frowns at whatever he sees.

“We don’t sleep with the girls that come to the club, we are not that kind of strippers. Anyway, she is–“ he tells me.

“Sure, you don’t,” I cut him off, as I watch the woman disappear into the club. 

“Doesn’t mean they don’t try to get to know us,” Kaiden says, and I stare up at him as he smiles at me.

“Let’s go back home, and I will cook us something, food always makes things better,” he tells me, and as much as that sounds great, I don’t think I can. It was a bad idea to move in with them, I don’t know them, and finding out they are strippers could be just one of many things I find out that I don’t like.

“I think I should–“ I get out, but I stop mid-sentence when I realise that I don’t know what I want. Walking away from them now seems like a choice, and it’s something I need to think about.

“Give us a chance? At least talk to me before you run,” he says, and I look up to meet his eyes.

“Okay,” I find myself saying and watching as his face lights up. 

I have a feeling I might regret this.