Walking into a strip club ought to make Minka feel out of place or on display. Okay, so I don’t know what a chick feels in these situations, but Minka ought to reveal something beyond the coolly indifferent expression she sports.
“I might look but no touching,” I say, leaning up close to her.
“Don’t fucking care.”
“You’re breaking my heart,” I tease even though a little part of me wishes she was a little territorial. “These girls have nothing on you.”
Minka glances around before focusing her gaze on a blonde shaking her ass on a secondary stage. “I’d do her.”
All the blood rushes from my brain to my now painfully hard dick. “You’re killing me.”
“I can live with that.”
When Minka walks to the bar, I mosey up next to her and sniff her fragrant hair.
“You remind me of a dog I had,” she mutters, barely audible over the sound of Poison blaring from the speakers. “We got him fixed, and he settled down.”
“I know how to settle me down,” I say, sliding my leg against hers. “And it doesn’t involve snipping off my nuts.”
Minka ignores me and smiles at the brunette bartender. Her nametag says “Ruby,” and her dark expression tells me she’s tough for a broad likely in her twenties. Minka’s smile isn’t returned.
“Can I get you a drink?” Ruby asks.
“Malibu Rum for me.”
“Amaretto,” I say, standing so close to Minka that her ass bumps against my stiff cock.
Glancing back at me, she mutters, “Really?”
“Don’t blame me, Apples. You brought this one on yourself.”
“Do you want anything else?” Ruby asks after we pay for our drinks.
Minka nods. “Do you know Stacey Brooke?”
Ruby’s expression hardens. “She’s dead.”
“When she wasn’t dead, did you know her?”
“Not really.”
“Are you sure? It’s a small town.”
“I don’t live in Common Bend.”
“Where are you from?”
“I live in a little place called none of your fucking business. Now, do you want anything else to drink?”
Minka smiles at Ruby and walks away. I follow my dark-haired vixen to a table. She sips her rum and glances around the club.
“I have a confession,” I say, taking her hand.
Minka yanks it away immediately. “Is all of this bravado your way of overcompensating for being lame in bed or having a small dick?”
“Don’t worry about me satisfying all of the hot desire you’re nursing for me.”
“You’re overcompensating again.”
A smile slowly spreads across my face as I imagine us in bed. I wonder how loudly Minka will moan when I make her come. No way is she the quiet, shy type.
Minka pulls me away from my fantasies. “So, what’s your confession?”
“You make my dick hard.”
“I already knew that.”
“I guess you do, but do you know I haven’t stuck my dick in another woman since we met?”
Minka stares at me, and I swim in the darkness of her eyes. She finally snorts.
“Is this your way of asking me to get you medical attention?” she teases, but I hear something besides mockery in her tone.
“You’re crazy about me,” I say, winking at her. “I don’t blame you. A woman like you probably doesn’t often meet a man worthy of her lust.”
“You don’t travel much, do you, stud?”
“I travel plenty. What’s your point?”
“I’ve met a lot of men worthy of my lust.”
“Any of them capable of handling you in bed?”
Minka bats her eyes at me. “Oh, any man can do that. I’m a real pussycat between the sheets. Don’t even use my claws.”
“You’re sexy when you lie.”
Finally giving me a fucking smile, Minka kicks my leg and then stands up. “We’re here to do a job. I’ll endure your tiny dick when we get back to Houston.”
“That wasn’t my secret, remember?” I grumble while standing and following her.
“That’s not how I remember it.”
“Sure, Apples,” I say, slapping her ass as we return to the bar.
Minka grunts when my hand makes contact, and I expect a punch in retaliation. Instead, she sidles up next to me at the bar stools.
“We’re back,” Minka tells Ruby.
“So I fucking see. What do you want?”
“We have concerns you’re the one who sold out the Chatty Cathy prostitute. Why’d you go and get a mom killed like that?”
Ruby’s expression twists into something between rage and guilt. I glance at Minka, who never looks away from her target. I find her fascinating to watch, and soon worry my dick might suffer permanent damage from staying hard for so damn long.
“Look, I told Stacey to keep her mouth shut,” Ruby whispers, barely audible over the loud music, “but she was drunk off her ass that night, and she wouldn’t shut up.”
“Did you snitch her out to her killers?” Minka asks. “I can see the benefit to you to tell the powers that be who’s publicly bitching about them.”
A flustered Ruby glances around. “I didn’t need to rat out Stacey. Everyone heard her.”
“Who’s everyone?”
“Deputy Teller’s brother was sitting by the main stage when Stacey hit her highest, drunkest notes.”
Minka nods. “Where did they find Stacey’s body?”