DID YOU READ CHAPTER 1

Chapter 2

– Months Ago –

His best friend’s bachelor party had been that night. As the best man, Jason was in charge of the arrangements. He had a huge hotel suite for everyone to stay in, he hired a stretch Escalade to get everyone to the bars and to the strip club safely.

The night of the bachelor party, Jason had made a point to stay sober. He felt like he was responsible for everyone’s safety, and if the groom drank too much, like he was likely to do, Jason needed to be ready to step in. Luckily, one of their other friends was staying sober that night as well, which took a bit of the pressure off Jason.

Jason had put aside several thousand dollars to help pay for these activities. He didn’t want anyone feeling like they couldn’t have fun just because of money.

When they arrived at the strip club, the dozen guys showed their IDs and they were escorted to a set of tables reserved for them.

Jason had only been to a strip club once before, and that had been in New York City on a business trip almost two decades ago. In looking around, he was surprised with how big the place was, but also how they had used curtains, dimmed lights, and candles to make the atmosphere more intimate.

They had five small round tables pushed into a circle, all with little “reserved” signs. Their waitress made her way around to get drink orders, as most of the guys watched the stage, where a tall brunette was sauntering around a pole and leaning down to accentuate her full, squeezable ass, covered in only a sheer black thong. Her full breasts were barely concealed with a sheer black bodice.

The pole dancer had everyone mesmerized for several minutes. She slowly revealed her breasts, and then approached each person sitting at the edge of the stage, kneeling down to shake her breasts in each guy’s face, receiving cash in exchange.

When the waitress came back with their drinks, she had a helper – a brunette with her long hair spilling around her face in messy curls. Her black corset top pushed up her breasts, so that when she leaned over the guys to hand them their drinks, her breasts seemed to be on a dish, being served to them. Every guy at the table noticed this amazingly sexy creature, with her little boy shorts, and her smooth legs.

When she came around to him, she leaned in close to his ear and said in a sexy voice, “Here’s your water, Mr. Reynolds.”

He had fantasized about that voice. But he never imagined hearing it in this setting.

He looked up at her face, and finally noticed that he recognized her.

His first reaction was worry. Why in the world would Kayla be working here?

She was smiling at him, obviously pleased that she caught him at a strip club, and that he hadn’t recognized her at first.

He stood up immediately, and said, “Kayla, we need to talk.” He noticed that she was almost his height, and he looked down at the tallest pair of platform shoes he’d ever seen.

She giggled, and leaned in to whisper playfully, “I’m Cookie. We don’t use our real names here.”

He felt suddenly like his life depended on having a frank conversation with her. He needed to get her out of here. She was an amazing girl who didn’t need to work at a strip club, no matter how bad things had gotten. He thought back to the last time he’d seen Kayla. It was over a year ago. She had been living with her brother. She had graduated from massage school. He remembered that things were looking up for her.

But here she is.

He put a hand on her shoulder, and said more seriously, “Kayla, how long have you worked here?”

A bouncer quickly showed up and told Jason to get his hands off the woman. Jason held his hands up in surrender, and pleaded with Kayla to talk to him.

She dismissed the bouncer, and crossed her arms in front of her, further accentuating her display of cleavage. “This is actually my first day.”

His mind was racing. Even though Kayla was the same age as his daughter, he knew not to speak to her like a dad. At the same time, he couldn’t imagine how anyone would think it was acceptable to work here. What in the hell is she thinking?

He reasoned, “How much are you planning to make here?”

She raised an eyebrow, considering his question. “Look, I know you probably don’t like seeing me here, but I’m just going to work here until I make $10,000. And they say the waitresses can make $400 a night, so it won’t take me long to get there.”

As soon as he heard $10,000, he had made up his mind. “I’ll give you $10,000 if you leave right now.”

She laughed, “Not a chance.”

She started to walk away, and he grabbed her arm again. “Kayla, it’s free money. I can’t stand to think you’re working here to make ends meet, while Margo is off at college with everything paid for. It’s not fair.”

She scoffed, “Jason, life’s not fair. I accepted that a long time ago. I have a job to do, so I’m going to have to ask you to sit back down and join your party.”

He told himself to be reasonable and respectful.

“Kayla, please leave now. I will give you whatever you need. We can go to an ATM right now, I’ll give you $10,000 cash tonight.”

She was watching his face as he spoke.

He added, “I’m not joking about this. Walk out of here right now, and it’s yours.”

She looked over at his bachelor party friends. She tried to dismiss him, but she didn’t sound convincing. “You can’t just leave your party. Plus, they warn you about men offering you a lot of money to leave here with them. It’s against the rules. And I’m not comfortable with that arrangement.”

He thought quickly again. He said sternly, “I am not offering you that sort of arrangement, Kayla.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, but didn’t walk away.

He added, “How about this – leave this job right now, and come work for me. It’s $500 a week with a signing bonus. The only stipulation is that you have to leave right now.”

She looked around again, but he could tell she was getting closer to agreeing, but her pride was getting in the way.

Maybe he could use her pride to his advantage.

“Have you talked to Margo lately?” Kayla and Margo had been best friends in high school. Since Margo went away to college, they had fallen out of touch.

She looked aggravated, as if admitting that it was a low-blow. “No.”

She looked around. “Please don’t tell her that I’m working here. She would never understand.”

He said as nicely as he could, “Leave with me right now, and no one ever has to know you worked here. Please, Kayla.”

She looked around again. She bit her lip, thinking.

That was the first time Jason felt a strong attraction to her. When she absentmindedly bit her lip, drawing his attention to their pillowy softness and fullness.

She looked back at him. “When my shift is over, I’ll come to your house and we can talk.”

He shook his head, and allowed himself to sound authoritative. “No. It’s right now, or not at all.”

She bit her lip again, and thought some more.

Finally, she nodded, and gave him a conspiratorial half-smile. She said quickly, “I have to go get my stuff. Meet me in the parking lot in 5 minutes.”

He couldn’t even smile, he was so relieved. Maybe he didn’t believe her yet, but he hoped for the first time since their conversation began, that he could convinced this beautiful woman not to ruin her life by working here.

Jason paid the waitress in advance for several more rounds of drinks. He asked their sober friend to play the designated chaperone. He told the guys he’d see them in the morning for​ breakfast.

He walked outside, and spoke with the driver of the stretch Escalade, deciding he could take them home and be back without being missed.

Then he checked his watch, and began to really worry. Ten minutes had passed.

The parking lot was full of cars. At that moment, no one was entering or exiting the club.

The silence seemed to make the time go by more slowly. There was no wind.

He waited.

Finally, he heard a door open and then shut.

But he didn’t see anyone.

Then a short figure in baggy clothes and a big duffle bag walked out from the side of the building.

Jason finally smiled.

He opened the car door for her, and watched her walk over. She didn’t get right into the car. Instead, she hesitated. She looked up at him, and said, “This is a bad idea.”

He took her bag, and motioned her inside the car, trying not to focus on how much more beautiful she looked now, without makeup and without the stripper clothes.

Once the car was in motion, he asked, “Why is this a bad idea?”

She shook her head. “It just is. This is never going to work. I just need to figure out a way to make good money, pay my bills, and keep going to school. I’m crashing with a friend until I have enough to fix my car and get an apartment.”

She looked at him, with her eyes full of worry. “Look, I agree with you that I shouldn’t work there. That’s why I left, but… Jason, I can’t take your money.”

He waited a moment, and then responded, “I want you to stay with me.”

She looked tempted, but cautious.

He added, “I won’t accept you paying rent, but you could help out in exchange. And I’ll pay you to help.”

Before she could respond, he added, “Ever since Margo left, I’ve been paying a cleaning service to come to my house once a week. I pay them $200 a visit. I also order out every meal. Last time I looked at my expenses, about $1200 a month goes to food.”

She obviously didn’t believe him. “Jason, that’s bull shit. How is it possible to spend that much on food for one person?”

Embarrassed, he thought about it. Where did that money go?

He began thinking aloud, “I eat out a lot… well… almost exclusively. I buy some groceries, but then I never eat them. So that’s a waste.”

She was thinking, doing the math in her head. “You eat out for breakfast too?”

He shrugged. “Um, is Starbucks considered breakfast?”

She laughed. It was a beautiful sound.

“And for lunch?”

“I work downtown. Sometimes it’s lunch with clients. Sometimes it’s the deli. Lately, it’s mostly that new Italian place on Main Street.”

She was looking at him like he was an alien. “And dinner? You get takeout every night?”

“Well, not every night. Sometimes I order two or three different meals, and heat up the extra one the next day.”

That laugh again.

He was curious. “How much do you spend a month on food?”

“Lately, I’ve been budgeting $300 a month for groceries. No eating out for me.” Then she added offhandedly, “My meals are better than restaurants anyway.”

There was silence for several moments.

Kayla had started looking around the limo, she said, “I’ve never been in one of these before.”

After another silence, Jason went back to their conversation. “If you kept the house tidy and made a couple meals a week…” He looked at her to see how she was responding so far. She was listening.

“Then that $2000 of the budget is all yours.”

She looked at him suspiciously, but didn’t say anything.

He added, “Tomorrow I have to go check on my friends in the morning, but after that, we will go get your car, and we’ll go get your stuff from your friends.”

She didn’t argue. She didn’t say anything.

He wanted to pull her over to him and hug her. He could tell she needed to be loved, needed to know she mattered to someone, needed to be held.

He asked, “Where are you going to school?”

Quietly, she responded, “At Cinci.”

He wasn’t expecting that response. He thought she’d be at a community college, just because academics had never seemed to be her thing. She was a year older than Margo, and had decided to do her GED instead of completing high school. So at 17, she enrolled in massage school, and had started working in that field, while most her peers were sitting in high school English classes and going to prom.

“That’s great. Do you like it?”

She shrugged.

Then she looked at him, “Jason, why are you doing this?”

It was his turn to shrug.

He finally added, “I just want to help.”

Kayla looked skeptical again. “Yeah, but you’re not my dad. You don’t have to help me.”

He reached his hand out, placing it on hers. “Kayla, I am not trying to be your dad. I just want to be a friend. If you’ll let me.”

The worry in her eyes made her look much older than she was.

He waited for her response, and when she finally turned to him and said, “OK,” he felt a huge relief.

This wonderful, beautiful, much younger woman was going to let him into her life.

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