Chapter 1

Penny’s hand hovered over the ornate metal door handle at Ruby’s, the local strip club in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Actually, the only strip club in the small town. When she decided to run away from her privileged life in Oklahoma a year ago to raise her daughter far away from the judgment of her family, she never imagined most of the raising would be done by her new friend JL, who watched Sarabelle while Penny ran back and forth between two exhausting jobs, just trying to make ends meet.

Earlier in the day while waitressing at EE’s Diner, Jeffrey, the owner’s smarmy son, had gotten a little handsy, and when Penny had made it clear she didn’t appreciate his hand “accidentally” touching her butt, he’d gotten defensive and threatened to fire her. The fact that the threat of losing the crappy job scared her more than the creepy man touching her made her realize it was time for a change.

A major one.

Penny felt herself sinking and the harder she treaded water, the more tired her legs felt and the closer she felt to drowning. She needed a lifesaver immediately or she would not survive, and that thought made her even more despondent. Fortunately, during her midday break at EE’s, she had seen a flyer about an opening for a bartender at Ruby’s that paid double what she made now, which meant she could quit one of her jobs and spend more time with Sarabelle. The problem was that Ruby’s was a strip club and even though she wouldn’t be stripping, the thought of working there, after her highly sheltered, highly religious, and highly judgmental upbringing, made her feel like a failure.

Working at a strip club had never been the plan. In fact, it had been ingrained into her that things like strip clubs, which created “lustful” thoughts, were mortal sins and that strippers were the devil incarnate, luring men to make poor choices. In the last two years she’d realized how much of her upbringing had been based on hypocrisy and how clueless she’d really been, having been raised in a little bubble.

But even with all these eye-opening experiences, she still knew that she had been naïve to think she could survive all on her own when she’d never lifted one single finger in her twenty-one years of life. Heck, she’d never even washed clothes before Sarabelle was born. She was in way over her head and the fact that she was even entertaining working at Ruby’s was a clear indication. Penny braced herself, prepared to see naked women gyrating in the seedy club as men groped them. She expected drugs to be snorted on tabletops, liquor being poured and drunk off naked bodies, and sex to be had everywhere. The only man she’d ever seen naked was Lawrence, and that had been one time and it had been fast and painful and had resulted in Sarabelle. Regardless, Penny braced herself and opened the door.

And, bam!

“Oh, shit!” A woman shrieked as red liquid poured down the front of Penny’s white oxford shirt. “You okay?” the woman asked.

Penny looked down at her wet and stained shirt but instead saw two round globes still pressed smack-dab against her own breasts. The woman backed away and patted Penny’s chest with a napkin. “Sorry, sorry.” She continued to fondle Penny’s chest and then began wiping her own bare breasts. Flustered and embarrassed, Penny stepped back from the topless woman holding a now-empty glass and tray.

“Hey, it’s cool. I’m sure it’ll come right out. Don’t think it’ll stain, do you?” The woman seemed genuine in her concern and went to reach for Penny again in an effort to assist the already mortifying situation but Penny held out her hands to stop her. She looked around quickly; the place wasn’t at all what she’d imagined. It was dark but not seedy. Not smoky. There were groups of men having drinks in leather booths and there wasn’t so much a stage as various small stages with poles where women were dancing and chatting with the men who sat close by. The waitresses, such as the poor woman currently apologizing to her, were topless, but the bartenders at the big modern-looking bar a few feet away, were dressed. Scantily, but not nude—just as the ad for the job had said.

“Honey? You listening? Hello?” The woman snapped her fingers in an effort to get Penny’s attention. “Your shirt? You think it’ll come out?”

Penny shook her head to get her thoughts in order, then looked down at her chest. “Uh…yes, I’m fine.” Penny took the napkin from the woman’s hand and patted her drenched top.

“You okay? You lost or somethin’?”

“Yeah…no. I mean…” She really didn’t belong in a place like this. She had on pearls, for goodness sakes. Her oxford was buttoned almost all the way up, she had decided on modern slim-cut black slacks—it was, after all, a job search—and the plaid headband on her head holding her hair away from her face in a perfectly smooth coif definitely made her stand out. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, she held out the flyer to the woman.

“Joe!” She yelled over her shoulder. “You need to see Joe,” she said to Penny. “Joe!” She yelled again. A man, presumably Joe, leisurely walked toward Penny. He had a shaved head and tattoos that went up both arms, disappeared underneath the tight fitting black T-shirt with the Ruby’s logo, and then crept up his neck. He had gages in both ears, pierced eyebrow and lips. If he didn’t have a big toothy, dimpled smile, she’d have turned around and run away.

“Did Darlene spill a drink on you?” He asked, shaking his head almost as if he was upset, but by the adoring look he gave the nude waitress, it was obvious he was more amused than anything.

“In my defense, she stumbled right in and ran into me,” Darlene said and Joe looked at her with squinted eyes. “Honest,” she added, holding up a hand and then turning to Penny. “Tell him.” Darlene gestured for Penny to speak.

“Oh…uh, yes. I ran right into her.” It was difficult to talk when there were women completely naked a few feet away and a topless waitress a foot away whose breasts jiggled every time she spoke and pointed.

“I’ll let it go this time,” Joe said with a wink to Darlene.

“This time? Honey, I haven’t gone one day in the last five years without screwing somethin’ up. But you love me anyway.” She kissed Joe’s cheek with a loud smack and walked away.

Joe tipped his head, motioning for Penny to follow him. He pulled a chair out for her. “You asked for me?” he said, sitting down next to her.

Penny showed him the flyer with the want ad. “I was hoping the job was still open. I’d like to apply, please.”

Joe cocked an eyebrow and leaned back to assess Penny. Immediately she reached for her pearls and began to fumble with them, like she did whenever she was nervous. “You don’t look like a stripper.”

Penny gasped and shook her head. “Stripper? Oh, no. Bartender. Says here that no stripping is required. I have experience, about a year. I work down at the Pier. I…uh…”

“Relax, honey. What’s your name?”

“Penny. Well, Penelope Richards, but everyone calls me Penny.”

“Penny.” He repeated it and then sat back and crossed his arms, scrutinizing her again. “No offense, honey, but again, you don’t look like you belong here. Shit, you look like you’re about to take off runnin’.”

Damn it! She needed this job. Her eyes watered, which was something that had been happening more and more lately. She never used to cry. Probably because she never had reason to cry. Everything had always been handed to her on a silver platter. Literally. Her parents actually served their food in a formal dining room and used silver serving platters and fine china. “I know I don’t look like I fit in, but I will. I can. I promise. I’m a very hard worker and I promise to be committed to this job. I don’t do gossip, I mind my own business. I get along great with everyone. I won’t lie, I’m not the best bartender, but I’m a fast learner.”

“Okay.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “You seem hard up for work. You also seem kind of desperate. Desperate people are always either the best employees or the worst. Someone gave me a chance one time, I can do the same for you. But you have to do something for me.”

Her eyes opened and she held her breath. This was it. This is where he was going to ask for some sort of sexual favor. That’s what these tattooed strip-club people did, right?

“Relax.” He said, and she drew her eyebrows together in confusion. “Relax. That’s the favor I need from you. You’re really wound up.” He squeezed her shoulder and smiled. He had a devastatingly wonderful smile. It made her immediately feel at ease. “How soon can you start?”

“As soon as possible,” she said. Joe gave her a tentative work schedule and her hourly rate, as well as an approximation of the tips the bartenders normally received. Instead of working six days a week, she could cut back to one day at the Pier and four days at Ruby’s, and quit EE’s Diner all together. “Do me a solid, though, if you’re going to quit the Pier, give Patsy enough time to find a replacement, yeah? Patsy’s good people, I don’t want to leave her in a bind.”

“Okay, no problem.”

“Come on back with me, I’ll give you your uniform, some paperwork, and show you around.” Joe led her to the back where she passed by more girls dancing and a group of men drinking and flirting with a stripper who was giving one of the men a lap dance. Then he led her to what he called the “girls’ changing room,” which was lined with different outfits. One wall was set up with mirrors, a long table and a lot of makeup, hair products, blow-dryers, and flat irons. Toward the back of that room were lockers and a closet. He opened one and handed her some shorts, much like the ones she wore at the Pier, and a very form-fitted black spandex top with a plunging neckline and Ruby’s logo written on the back. “Here you go, that’s your uniform and here’s a T-shirt so you don’t have to go home all sticky and wet.”

Her eyes widened and her face immediately reddened. He snorted out a laugh. “What was the first and only rule?”

“Relax?” It was meant to come out assertively but sounded more like a question.

“Yes, relax. Lighten up. I was talking about your wet shirt. By the color, I assume it was some sort of fruity drink. You’re probably all sticky.”

She glanced down. “Oh.” She took the shirt and looked back at him. “Oh, yeah. Thanks.”

“I think you may have a dirty little mind there, honey.” He smiled, handed her some papers, and walked out to give her a chance to change into the shirt. “See you in two weeks. Make sure you bring all those filled out. If you can start earlier give me a ring.”

A few minutes later, with a handful of uniforms and a whole lot of relief, she walked out of the changing room and toward the front door.

“Oh, you got the job!” Darlene said as she walked by, looking at the uniform in Patsy’s hand.

“I did.”

“Great! See you soon.” Darlene strutted away looking perky and happy. It amazed Penny how the woman was so comfortable with her body she’d practically strutted away. Penny was still looking over her shoulder in awe of Darlene’s confidence when she began to walk toward the door.

Bam!

“Motherfuck—”

“Sorry!” She shrieked as another drink was spilled on her. She hadn’t even started and she’d probably get fired soon.

She looked up to see a man who seemed somewhat familiar. “Oh, no. I am so sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was walking and—”

“Penny?” She looked over the man’s shoulder to a very familiar Texan who’d been the object of her affection since moving to Tarpon Springs.

“Travis?” She said, then she put two and two together. “Oh, and you’re Iggy?” she asked the man who was wiping his shirt.

“You’re that cute little bartender from the Pier, aren’t you?” Iggy said.

“Yes. Well, not the cute part, but the part about me working at the Pier.” Why did she have to be so awkward. She exhaled loudly and continued. “You’re Iggy, right?” She said again with an apologetic smile.

“Yep. And you know Trav—” He started to point to Travis but Travis interrupted.

“She knows who I am.” A strong, calloused hand took her forearm and pulled her toward him, possessively.