Stiletto Secrets (9 page)

And then she rushed out of the room, leaving Nicholas, and their electric, intoxicating connection behind.

IT
was Sunday morning and not even dawn yet when Nicholas sat on the couch in his bedroom staring into open space. He hadn’t slept a wink that night, Cinderella running around in his head with her damn sexy stilettos and killer legs.

It was only after she stormed off yet again that he realized she had called him Nicholas. How did she know his name? Did she know him? Did he know her? What the fuck was happening?

“Fuck!”

He leaned forward placing his face in his palms. Nicholas had seen his fair share of strip shows, experienced countless nights with strippers, enjoying the way they flaunted their goods in front of him. And some of them were pretty fucking good. But not one of them affected him the way
she
did. Her voice, her sultry moves—and then when she let him touch her? Dear God he thought he was going to lose his damn dignity right there in his pants. Her skin was so soft, like silk, and when he lost all control, taking her lips like they belonged to him, he felt closer to heaven than he ever had before in his life.

He didn’t want to let go. He didn’t want it to end. He wanted to stay right there in that moment with her and drown in the whirlpool of sexual desire that raged between them. In that room with her he forgot all about the outside world, about the crap he had to deal with on a daily basis.

Nicholas rubbed his palms over his face trying to forget the way she felt, the way she tasted. It was driving him crazy. When she opened for him and he slipped his tongue in her mouth, it was ecstasy. She tasted so sweet, so deliciously divine, it was exhilarating, and it made him crave all of her, every damn part of her. He wanted to devour her inch by fucking inch. All he could think about, all he wanted while she moved on top of him was to be inside of her, to claim her, to make her belong to him, which was totally crazy since he didn’t even know her. In fact, he didn’t even know what she fucking looked like. But there was no denying it, whenever he stepped into that room with her, he could feel the crackle of electricity all around them, the pull of that undeniable sexual chemistry that had the means to bring him to his goddamn knees.

He knew that she felt it too. The way she reciprocated every move and every kiss, the way she allowed his tongue to ravish every inch of her mouth, she definitely fucking felt it. But then why did she suddenly pull away? And why the hell did she say what she said to him, telling him that she belonged to every man that walked through that door? Nicholas would never admit it, but the second those words left her mouth he felt a very strong pang of jealousy shoot like daggers through his chest. One word just popped into his head right at that moment:
mine
.

Every male instinct inside of him wanted to throw her over his shoulder and drag her firm ass out of there. Just thinking about her experiencing what they had with someone else made him want to go on a murderous rampage.

What the hell was that?

Why did he suddenly feel like a jealous boyfriend?

“Mr. Blake?” Nicholas heard Beth knock on the door. “Are you awake?”

Nicholas took a deep breath and tried to clear his head of everything Cinderella.
What was her real name?

“Mr. Blake?”

“Yeah, Beth, I’m awake.” Nicholas glanced at his bedside clock. It was 6.15 a.m.

“Your father has requested that you join him for breakfast at seven a.m. sharp.”

Nicholas got up from the couch. “Tell him I have three prostitutes in my room and that I won’t be able to join him since I still have four unused condoms left in my drawer.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Blake?”

Nicholas sighed. Breakfast with his father? Couldn’t there have been an option two like getting his nails torn off, or his balls waxed? It would be so much less painful than sitting across from his dad at the breakfast table.

“Tell him I’ll be there. Thanks, Beth.” Nicholas fell backward onto his bed and stared at the ceiling.

“Very good, Mr. Blake.”

“Beth?”

“Yes, Mr. Blake?”

“How many times do I have to tell you to please call me, Nicholas?”

“At least one more time, Mr. Blake.” He heard the smile in her voice, and he couldn’t help but smile too.

“Very good, Beth.”

Nicholas continued to lay there on his bed, his mind swirling with memories of the night before, of Cinderella. It was probably stupid, very stupid, but he knew himself, and he knew that come the following Saturday, he would be back at Cinderella’s Booth, wanting more.

After taking a long, cold—extremely cold—shower, Nicholas got dressed in one of his Armani suits and meandered down to the dining room. Usually he would be famished this time in the morning, but knowing that daddy dearest was waiting for him served as one hell of an appetite suppressant.

Just as he reached the dining room door, he glanced at his wristwatch. It was twenty past seven. Nicholas smiled knowing that with a mere twenty minutes he had probably irked his father to no end.

Nicholas pushed open the door. “Good morning, Father.” He sauntered over to the table. “I trust you are well this morning?” Nicholas had to bite back his laughter since he could see the annoyance already clouding his father’s old, wrinkly face.

“You’re late.”

Nicholas poured himself a cup of coffee and took a seat at the end of the table, all very nonchalantly. “I do apologize for that, Tiffany just wouldn’t leave.” He faked a hint of irritation, and then placed his hand on his chin pretending to be deep in thought. “Or was it Trisha? Hmm, I don’t quite remember now.”

His father continued to stare at him with a deadpan expression. “Are you done?”

“Oh no, I plan on doing Tiffany again tonight,” Nicholas replied cheekily. “But I think twice would be the limit for me. I bore easily.” He met his father’s glare with his own.

They continued to stare at each other for a few more seconds before his father finally cleared his throat and seemingly decided not to play the bantering game with Nicholas any longer. “I am hosting a charity dinner on Wednesday night. I expect you to be there.” Robert placed his napkin on his lap like the sophisticated bastard he was.

“Where else would I possibly be?” Nicholas asked with oozing sarcasm.

“And I trust that you will be on your best behavior.”

“Of course. Am I not always?”

Robert glowered at Nicholas, but then turned his attention back to the plate Beth had just placed in front of him. “You will also take the opportunity to apologize to Claire for your very rude behavior in your office the other day.”

Nicholas threw down his fork. “I will do no such thing. And if this charity dinner is one of your plots to shove Claire in my face, it won’t work, Dad. I am not interested in her.”

“Well you should be. She’s a fine young lady, and she’s perfect for you. You should thank your lucky stars that she actually finds you—how did she put it?—
strapping
.”

Instantly annoyed, Nicholas jerked off his chair. “I am not marrying that gold digger of a woman, and the sooner you realize that, the better.” Nicholas turned around to leave.

“What about your breakfast?” Robert called after him.

“I lost my appetite.”

Nicholas stormed out of the mansion knowing that his father had once again managed to fuck up his day, and probably his week.

* * * *

“Well, well, well,” Adam muttered as he checked out the dining hall. “Your father had really outdone himself with this dinner party.”

“Don’t be fooled. He didn’t do a fucking thing besides bark out orders,” Nicholas sneered.

Adam leaned closer to Nicholas. “Who are all these people?”

“I have no idea. It’s supposed to be a charity dinner, but I don’t buy it.”

Adam frowned. “What don’t you buy?”

“He invited Claire.”

And then Adam’s face lit up with understanding. “Ah, I get it.”

“Yeah.”

“Oh,” Adam nudged Nicholas on the shoulder, “what happened to you on Saturday, man? That was so not cool dropping out of our men’s night out. Hunter was pissed.”

Nicholas cleared his throat. “I had other things to do.”

“You mean you had
someone
to do?”

“It wasn’t like that.” Nicholas smoothed his hand through his hair. “I just…I had to go see someone.”

Nicholas hadn’t told Adam about his little obsession with the Cinderella stripper. He kept that little disturbing piece of information to himself. Adam would have a field day with it if he knew Nicholas had developed a
thing
for a stripper. Nicholas would never hear the end of it.

Adam cocked a brow and eyed Nicholas with suspicion. “Who is she?”

“No one.”

“Bullshit. Out with it. Who is it?”

Fuck. Now Adam would never stop until he pulled the truth out of him. Whenever Adam caught the scent of some or other secret, he was like a bloodhound and he would sniff and bark until he got every last drop of information.

“Fine. But don’t you dare judge me, okay?”

“OMG, you fucked Claire didn’t you?”

“What? No.” Nicholas frowned. “And since when did you start saying OMG?”

Adam feigned a look of confusion. “What? I didn’t say that.”

“You should lay off the groupies, man.”

“Whatever. Now talk.”

Nicholas eyed Adam, contemplating if it was a good idea to divulge his little secret or not.

“Okay, fine. You remember my birthday party right?”

Adam smiled victoriously. “Of course, it was fan-fucking-tastic. I told you it was going to be good.”

“Shut up. Now focus.” Nicholas stepped closer. “The stripper you booked me with that night, Cinderella?”

“Yeah?”

“You didn’t happen to give my name when you made the booking did you?”

“Nope. Just Mr. Blake. Why?”

“No reason.”

“What the hell is going on? Would you spit it out already?”

Nicholas could see that Adam was now burning with curiosity. Fuck, he hoped like hell he wouldn’t regret this.

“I went to see her again.” Nicholas kept quiet and waited for Adam’s outburst, but nothing.

Adam just stared at him for a few seconds and then poured the last of the scotch in his glass down his throat. “Okay, tell me more.”

Nicholas bit his lip when his mind drifted to the woman that had him wound up tight. “I can’t get her out of my mind, man. When I’m with her it’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.”

“Yeah, that’s what it’s supposed to be like with strippers that are worth more than their cheap perfume.”

“I’m serious, Adam. It’s different.”

Adam pulled his mouth in a straight line. “That’s what they are supposed to do. They are supposed to make you feel like you’re the only man on the goddamn planet.”

“It’s not like that. There’s something there, from both our sides. I know she feels it too. When we’re together, it’s fucking electric, man.” Nicholas felt the heat boil up inside of him just thinking about it.

“Dude, did you fuck her?”

“No!” Nicholas rubbed the back of his neck, and then took a deep breath. “But I want to, really fucking bad.”

And then Adam stared at him. And then Adam burst out laughing. “This is brilliant!” Nicholas watched while Adam blatantly made fun of him. “Why are you laughing?” he asked, deadpan.

“I’m laughing because now you will never be able to make snarky remarks about me fucking any strippers ever again.” Adam composed himself a little. “You, my friend, just passed over to the dark side.” Adam reached out and placed his arm around Nicholas’ shoulder like he was actually proud of him.

Nicholas grinned. “You’re a real dick you know that?”

“I know, that’s why I love using my dick so much. You should show yours the same courtesy.”

Nicholas laughed and then he looked up just in time to see Claire enter the hall.

Suddenly all eyes were on her. Nicholas had to admit that she was a very beautiful woman, and when she walked in wearing a red, tight fitting gown, her long blonde hair hanging over her shoulders, he could see why all the other men pined after her. But he could see right through her soft eyes and charming smiles.

“Dayum.” Adam stared at Claire while she sashayed into the hall. “I have to say, my friend, I would love to go to town with that.”

Nicholas shouldered his friend. “You’d love to go to town with every woman, Adam.”

“Oh come on, are you telling me that you don’t find that woman beautiful?”

“She’s very beautiful, but it’s only skin-deep, my friend.”

Adam still stared at Claire with obvious lust in his eyes. “I don’t care. Skin-deep works for me.”

“Man whore.”

“And proud of it.”

Nicholas turned around. “Come on, let’s get drunk and stir up some mayhem.”

Adam clapped his hands together. “I knew this would be my kind of party.”

While standing at the bar, Nicholas pretended to be in deep conversation with anyone and everyone close to him in a bid to ignore Claire and his father. Whenever he spotted Claire walking in his direction, he would redirect and go to the opposite side of the room and demand some or other person’s attention, talking about politics, the weather, anything as long as it kept Claire from approaching him. That damn woman was so persistent; after an hour of dodging her he was exhausted.

“Adam?” Nicholas whispered when he found his friend among the crowd of people he didn’t even know.

“What’s up?” Adam approached him with a scotch in hand.

“This isn’t working, man. I can’t ignore her the whole night.”

Adam searched the crowd for Claire and then spotted her talking to a few people on the other side of the room.

“Maybe you should just fuck her and get it over with.”

Nicholas choked on his mouthful of scotch. “What? Are fucking insane?”

“Hey, looking at that body of hers I can almost guarantee that you will enjoy it. Can you imagine the curves hidden under that dress?”

“Adam. Focus.”

“Okay, okay. Let me think.” Adam seemed deep in thought for all about three seconds before he said, “Urgh, you know what would have been perfect?”