Waking Up to You Overexposed

Epilogue



Three Months Later

THOUGH THE COLD WINTER air outside buffeted the city with an early blast of winter, inside Leather and Lace, everything remained hot. As usual.

The club was packed this Saturday night, every table full, mostly with men, but a few daring women were in the audience, too. Leather and Lace had started earning a reputation as a “couples-friendly” club and more pairs were coming in. Laughing and partying as they entered...quite often whispering and cuddling seductively as they left.

Nick had thought that a fine idea...until tonight when he’d looked up and had seen his brothers Joe and Luke walk in, their wives on their arms. That had given him a momentary heart attack, but once he’d sat and had a drink with the quartet, he’d realized something: Rachel and Meg were excited beyond belief, not at all judgmental and certainly not jealous that their future sister-in-law was about to strip in front of a bunch of men...including their husbands.

He hadn’t understood it at first, until his brothers had confessed that their wives—as well as Tony’s wife, Gloria, and Nick’s sister, Lottie—were all taking the pole-dancing classes Izzie was now teaching at a Chicago dance studio. Mark’s pregnant wife was on a waiting list for a future class.

He had to grin every time he thought about it. Now that she’d stopped working at the bakery, Izzie had found herself a full-time job teaching the housewives and professional women of Chicago how to stay healthy while learning to be ultra-sexy.

“I can’t wait to see her. I mean, she’s done her routine for us at the gym, but to see her here, in front of an audience...oh, sugar, just you watch and see what I’m going to be doing in a couple of months.” Rachel leaned close to Luke, curling her arm around his, and whispered something that made his brother cough into his fist.

Okay. This appeared to be a good thing. And obviously Izzie was aware they were coming, so he didn’t have to go track down his fiancée—and star performer—and give her a heads-up.

Leaving his family to their drinks, he ran another sweep of the room, touching base with Bernie and the other bouncers. He’d had to hire another bartender to work on weekends and both guys were rushing around pouring shots of high-end liquor and now, making froufrou drinks for their female patrons.

Harry would be proud, if he’d been here to see it. But the man had come in less and less, leaving the management to Nick.

“Hey, boss, somebody to see you,” one of the bouncers said.

Glancing up, Nick saw four men approaching the bar. Even if he hadn’t known them, their postures and bearing would have told them they were brothers in a way that only those who’d been there would understand.

“Semper fi, man.” He nodded to the first, recognizing the black hair and even stare of an old friend...a good man to have at your back when the situation turned rough. Reaching for the extended hand, Nick shook it, saying, “Been a long time, Joel.”

The man nodded. He’d gotten out four years ago, just before Nick had been deployed to Iraq. “I figured I’d come in and see why this was so much better than coming to work with me.”

As Nick greeted the rest, another of the men, also an old Marines friend, glanced toward the stage where one of the girls was doing her thing. “I think I’m catching the vision,” he mumbled.

“What can I say?” Nick shrugged. “I’ve settled down, become respectable.” His mouth widening in a grin, he added, “And the little woman didn’t want me doing anything as risky as working security with you guys.”

Joel’s big shoulders moved as he chuckled. He had a pretty good sense of humor considering he was one tough son of a bitch.

Nick gestured to one of the hostesses, asking her to get his friends a good table. But before they walked away, he murmured, “Seriously, thanks for offering to let me in. But I’m pretty happy with what I’m doing.”

Joel nodded. “Got it. Still, if you ever change your mind...” He reached into the pocket of his black leather jacket and pulled out a crisp white business card.

Nick read it. Then he looked back at his friend, offering him a short nod. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

Reaching out with his elbow bent and arm up, Nick grasped the other man’s hand again in a brothers-of-the-field handshake, then watched the group head to their table.

He could have been one of them. Hell, he and Joel even looked like they were in the same line of work since they were both dressed in black from head to toe. Old habits sure died hard.

But he didn’t regret it. He hadn’t been lying when he said he liked what he was doing. A lot. Maybe not forever, but for now, working with Izzie doing something nobody had ever expected either of them to do was suiting him just fine.

“What time you got, Bernie?” he asked the bouncer, who stood nearby, on constant, vigilant guard.

“Eight-twenty,” the other man said.

Hmm...about forty minutes before the Crimson Rose’s first performance of the night.

Forty minutes. That might be enough time to tell the woman again how crazy he was about her. And how very glad he was that she’d stayed in Chicago with him.

When he got downstairs, walked into her dressing room and caught her standing behind her screen wearing nothing but her G-string, however, he reconsidered that idea.

Forty minutes wasn’t going to be enough. Not nearly.

“Hey, lover.” She smiled at him in the mirror.

He smiled back. “Hey, Cookie.”

Never taking his eyes off her beautiful face, Nick reached behind him and closed the door, flipping the lock to keep the world out. And to shut them in the wild and sultry one he thrived on with the woman he loved more than life.