Saving You (3 page)

Besides, if Maddie was wilder than she used
to be, it was Jamison’s fault. He brought out the naughty in her as
much as a triple shot of whiskey.

Speaking of whiskey…

Maddie leaned over to where Naomi was
buckling herself into the van’s passenger’s seat. “Are you still
good to drive everyone back here and take me home?” She started the
van. “If you’re not, that’s fine, I just want to know before I tell
the bartender to make me a double Jack and Coke to soothe my
frazzled nerves.”

“
I’m fine to drive,” Naomi
said as Maddie carefully pulled down the alley, rain coating the
windshield in sheets. “I won’t be having more than one drink.
Jake’s at the station tonight and I’m on solo Noelle duty. She’s
been starting to sleep through the night, but it’s not a sure thing
and I don’t want to be buzzed getting up to make a bottle at three
a.m. Babies and hangovers don’t go well together.”

“
Doesn’t sound like a good
mix,” Maddie said. “That’s why I’m getting all my partying out of
my system before November.”

“
You and Jamison still
going to start trying around Thanksgiving?” Naomi asked.

Maddie nodded, but kept her squinted gaze
firmly on the road as she guided the van through the parking lot
and out onto Main Street, where water rushed in twin rivers down
either side of the street. “Assuming Jamison still wants to have
babies together after the past few days. He’s been such a turd
about the bachelorette party. He would barely speak to me tonight
when I was getting dressed, and usually he can’t resist this tube
top.”

Naomi chuckled. “He’s just protective of
Faith. He still considers her a kid, and thinks strippers are going
to scar her for life.”

“
She won’t be scarred for
life,” Maddie said with a frustrated sigh. “He’s being totally
ridiculous. And if her fiancé doesn’t have a problem with
strippers, I don’t see that Jamison has any right to put his oar
in.”

“
When has that ever stopped
him before?” Naomi asked, laughter in her tone.

But Maddie didn’t feel like laughing. Until
now, Jamison had always been a vehement supporter of her wild side.
He said he loved that Maddie was a sweet, hard-working, hard-loving
woman, who wasn’t afraid to let her hair down and get a little
crazy now and then. He’d gone skinny dipping with her in the creek
behind their house last week, for goodness sake—who was he to get
prudish about men bumping and grinding in a speedo?

“
I bet he’s jealous, too,”
Naomi added as Maddie did a U-turn at the end of Main and pulled
into a parking spot in front of The Horse and Rider. “I’m guessing
he doesn’t like the thought of you looking at other
guys.”

Maddie rolled her eyes as she shut off the
van and reached for her umbrella. “That’s ridiculous. Jake isn’t
jealous.”

“
No, but Jake has the
confidence of at least four men,” Naomi said, affection for her
husband obvious in her voice. “He’s positive I’m not going to see
anything better than what I’ve got waiting at home. And we’re an
old married couple now, too. That helps. I bet Jamison will be more
laid back after the wedding.”

Maddie frowned, but before she could tell
Naomi she didn’t want to wait until after the wedding for Jamison
to lighten up, Faith stuck her head between the van seats.

“
Speaking of weddings,”
Faith said. “I have a surprise for you, too, Maddie. So don’t run
off without telling me.”

“
You didn’t have to get me
anything,” Maddie said, grinning. “I was happy to do this for you.
Every girl should have a big send off with friends.”

“
I know, but you’re getting
married a week after me and Mick,” Faith said. “I think you deserve
some bachelorette fun, too.”

Maddie waved her hand as she unlocked her
seat belt. “I had my bachelorette party before my first marriage.
I’m all about marriage do-overs, but one bachelorette party was
enough for me. I’m too old to wear goofy hats.”

Faith shot her a narrow look. “Goofy hats?
No one mentioned goofy hats.”

Maddie grinned. “It all awaits you inside,
my sweet baby-sister-to-be.” She turned in her seat, seeing the
rest of the ladies in the van grinning, umbrellas already in hand.
“We ready to make a dash for the door?”

The women let out an enthusiastic whoop as
Kitty reached for the sliding door and the party dashed through the
hammering rain toward the bar. They made it into the cool darkness
of The Horse and Rider without anyone slipping on the sidewalk and
ten minutes later were ensconced in a gigantic circular booth,
sipping pink Lady Slippers while Faith opened her party gifts and
Ghost Town Double Wide—the Rider’s house band—played a set of
girl-power-inspired country songs.

Melody March, the lead singer for the band,
was amazing on stage and by the time Ghost Town neared the end of
their set, the entire party was dancing in the middle of the floor,
shimmying and shaking while couples wheeled around them, grinning
at the women cutting loose. Even Faith—in a bright orange
construction cone hat that warned “caution, bachelorette on the
loose”—was up and moving to the music with a big grin on her face,
a fact Maddie considered a major triumph after hearing Faith talk
about how much she hated dancing for the past three weeks.

And then the band took a break, the curtain
on the stage closed, and the bar backs hustled out to set up
platforms that extended from the center of the stage and would
serve as the makeshift catwalk.

“
Oh my God,” Faith said,
already blushing as the girls crowded around her, ushering her to
the end of the catwalk, where a chair had been set up in her honor.
“I have to sit up on stage?”

“
You’re the woman of
honor,” Maddie said, shooing her up onto the catwalk.

“
I’m going to die of
embarrassment!” Faith cast a panicked glance over her shoulder, but
before Maddie could respond, Willy John, owner of The Horse and
Rider, spoke out over the sound system—

“
Ladies and gentleman, you
were told when you entered the bar tonight that there would be some
very special, adult-only entertainment on display this evening,” he
said, the humor in his voice leaving no doubt how amused he was to
be hosting male strippers for the first time in The Rider’s
history. “So get ready to put your hands together for The Johnsons,
here to help Faith Miller celebrate her bachelorette party!
Congratulations, Faith!”

The room burst into applause, feminine
shouts, and a few enthusiastic whoops from the more intoxicated
patrons.

As the lights went down and the ruckus grew
increasingly loud, Willy John’s voice—offering the male patrons a
safe haven in the back room where the game was on—was almost too
faint to be heard.

Club music thumped through the room, a stark
contrast to the country western that had echoed through the space
before. Moments later, the curtain parted with a whoosh and a
cowboy clad in nothing but a speedo, chaps, and a cowboy hat came
strutting across the stage and down the catwalk. Women crowded
around both sides of the platforms as the cowboy wiggled and
writhed, stopping to do a few pushups halfway down the catwalk and
let one of the bolder members of the audience feel his flexed
bicep.

By the time he reached Faith, she was
laughing so hard her chair was shaking. And when the cowboy ripped
off his chaps with an enthusiastic thrust of his pelvis, Faith
covered her mouth and giggled even harder, making the cowboy grin
as he did a dance just for her.

He kept to his word, however, and made no
bodily contact with the bachelorette, and a good thing, too.
Judging from how red Faith’s face was getting, she would have
spontaneously combusted if the man had actually touched her.

The cowboy was followed by a construction
worker, a cop—who was a gymnast as well as a truly amazing
dancer—an Egyptian Pharaoh, and a firefighter who did some very
interesting things with the hose he carried as a prop. Faith
giggled the entire time and all the other party-attendees seemed to
be having an equally entertaining experience. Everyone was smiling
and laughing, Melody got up the nerve to stick a dollar in the
construction worker’s hat, and Kitty took things a step
further—slipping a crisp five into the side of the cop’s briefs and
laughing hysterically as the man paused to do a few extra thrusts
in her direction.

By the time the firefighter—the last
act—strutted back down the catwalk to join the other men in a
finale dance, Maddie was certain the strippers had been a huge hit
and wished Jamison could have seen how much fun everyone had. He
hadn’t believed her when she’d said she was hiring strippers
primarily for laughs, but the tears streaming down Faith’s smiling
face as she stepped off the catwalk at the end of the show were a
testimony to Maddie’s belief that nothing gave a girl a good giggle
like a bunch of semi-naked men dancing in tight underwear.

“
Damn, that was fun,” Faith
said, sucking in a breath that emerged as another laugh. “I haven’t
laughed that hard since my cousin dressed up in drag for Mardi
Gras.”

“
Yay!” Maddie clapped her
hands as she and the girls headed back to their booth for another
round. “I’m so glad you enjoyed it.”

“
I loved it,” Faith said,
looping her arm through Maddie’s. “I will never, ever forget it.
Thank you so much, Maddie.”

“
You’re welcome, little
sis.” She turned to pull the taller Faith in for a hug. “Now,
should we have another Lady Slipper, or would you prefer a cold
beer after all that hot stripper action?”

“
Actually,” Faith said,
swiping the last of the tears from her face. “I think you should go
get your present before it’s too late. It’s waiting in the
manager’s office down the hall from the bathrooms.”

Maddie’s brows pulled together. “Why in the
manager’s office?”

“
It was too big to bring
out to the table,” Faith said, a naughty twinkle in her eye that
made Maddie laugh.

“
It’s not a blow up man
doll, is it?” Maddie asked. “Jamison will freak out if I bring home
anything more raunchy than a penis lollipop.”

Faith’s smile widened. “Just go and see.
We’ll be here when you get back.”

Maddie narrowed her eyes one last time, but
finally started toward the bathrooms. “You guys be good while I’m
gone,” she said as she backed away. “Or at least good enough.”

The other women lifted their glasses and
Naomi called out. “We won’t cut the cake until you get back.”

With a thumbs up, Maddie hurried past the
stage, where the bar backs were disassembling the catwalk.
Top-Forty country music was playing over the sound system until
Ghost Town Double Wide took the stage for their second set, and a
few enthusiastic couples were already spinning around the edge of
the dance floor.

Maddie quickened her step, wanting to be
back with the other women before the band took the stage so she
could get some more dancing in—it had been way too long since she’d
cut loose on the dance floor. A minute later, she was pushing open
the door to the manager’s office, ready to grab her gift and head
back to the party.

As soon as she got a look at what awaited
her inside, however, her jaw dropped and all thoughts of rushing
back to the party evaporated faster than spit on a hot Georgia
sidewalk in July.

Chapter Three

There, on the left side of the office,
dressed in a Roman gladiator stripper’s outfit with nothing but a
leather loincloth and some strategically placed armor, was her
husband-to-be, a shit-eating grin on his face and his bronzed skin
oiled so that every delicious muscle popped, accentuating his
already drool-worthy body.

“
What have you done?”
Maddie asked, grinning so hard she could barely form the
words.

“
I’m your surprise.”
Jamison flexed his bicep and shot her his most wicked smolder.
“Faith and I have been planning it for a week.”

“
I thought you were angry
about the strippers!”

“
All part of my plan, hot
stuff.” He prowled across the room to lock the door behind her
before taking her by the hand and drawing her over to the chair
he’d placed to the left of the desk, near a boom box. “I had to act
cranky to throw you off the scent. The scent
of…manliness.”

“
Oh my god,” Maddie said,
snorting as he hit play on the boom box and a sultry
bump-and-grind, much sexier than the club music the strippers had
used, filled the room. “You are so bad! You are the worst! I was so
mad at you, and it was all a dirty trick.”

“
Hush, woman, you know you
love me.” He pressed her gently into the chair and braced his hands
on the back, leaning down until his face lingered inches from hers
and his Jamison scent filled her head, making her tingle all over.
“Now, are you ready for the lap dance of your life?”

Maddie’s breath rushed out as Jamison kneed
her legs apart and her black skirt rose higher on her thighs. “I
think so,” she said, voice shaking as things low in her body began
to twist with longing. “But I have one question first.”

“
What’s that?” Jamison
asked, nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck, sending her
tingles sizzling into sparkler territory.

“
Do I get to touch the
merchandise?” she asked, reaching out to trail her fingertips down
Jamison’s oiled abs to the top of his loincloth, dragging her nails
back and forth along the top.

“
I’m counting on it.” He
shifted his hips, bringing her hand into intimate contact with
where he was already hard. “Because this show isn’t stopping until
I’ve made you come in this chair.” He kissed her neck. “And on the
floor.” He raked his teeth over the sensitive skin at her shoulder.
“And up against the wall, with this sexy little skirt shoved up
around your hips and your panties—”