“Are you done with your tantrum, or do you want to interrupt my TV watching for anything else?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.
“Do you think this is all a game?” he growled.
A sad chuckle escaped before I could hold it in. “A game? Are you serious? You kidnapped me, invaded my privacy, and now I have to live with a stranger who doesn’t want to be anywhere near me. I’m scared for my life and my kids’. So no, I definitely don’t think this is a game. It’s my life, and you are doing your best to stomp all over it.”
The ticking in his jaw stopped and his eyes softened. “We won’t hurt you.”
I scoffed and got up, leaving only a hairbreadth between us. “And I’m just supposed to trust you and your gang?”
“We’re not a gang. And you have my word that nothing will happen to you or your kids.”
I poked my finger in his chest, my anger getting the best of me. “Your word means nothing to me. Nothing.” Another poke. “I’m sick of guys like you thinking they can walk all over me. Do you think because I work at a strip club, I’m an idiot?”
He grabbed my finger and held it. I was too caught up in my rant to care that he was now holding my hand against his chest.
“I’ll have you know I had a perfect GPA in school. I had a scholarship to college,” I continued to rant.
“I never once thought you were stupid,” Sebastian said, his voice raspy.
“Doesn’t really matter though, what you think. I’m still at your mercy.”
“Listen to me and listen good. I never go back on my word. If I say I’ll do something, I will. And I’m telling you now, I will do anything I can to keep you and your kids safe.”
My shoulders slumped, my head drooped, and I pulled on the hand he was still holding. He didn’t let go, and my head snapped back up.
My lips parted to yell at him some more—because I had nothing else left at this stage—when he silenced me with a kiss. He kissed me with a desperation that left me breathless and aching for him. It was demanding, urgent, and drugging. Simply perfect.
I leaned in, unable not to, and wound my free arm around him, holding on tight. I returned his kiss with reckless abandon, forgetting what we were even talking about to start with.
When he pulled back, dislodging my tight grip on him in the process, I nearly lost my balance. He put his hand on my arm to steady me, then let go as soon as I was standing on my own two feet again.
“This can’t happen again,” he said and stalked out of the living room.
The front door slammed shut, and I was left to wonder what the flying ducks had just happened.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“I’m not sure what you would call that move.”
“Dying possum.”
“Wet cat.”
“Sloth on a pole.”
“Terrified frog.”
The pole slipped through my fingers and I landed on my head—for the twentieth time that day. I was at Pepper’s, trying to work on a routine. Sebastian thought I’d gone in early to help go over the inventory.
I didn’t correct him and was all too happy for him to disappear into the office as soon as we made it inside. He hadn’t said a word to me since our kiss. I didn’t know kissing someone could feel like my whole world had been tipped on its head. Too bad he didn’t seem to feel the same way.
Now the girls were helping me put a routine together for Monday, and I was screwing it up with all I had. Turned out I was useless when it came to pole dancing. I couldn’t even hold the easiest pose.
So far I’d let go of the pole and fallen off every single time. And I was pretty sure I had a concussion. My head was pounding, and my hands were hurting from sliding down the pole. We’d been at it for the past hour. And as impossible as it seemed, it appeared I was getting worse.
“Maybe you shouldn’t attempt any move that puts you upside down,” Elle suggested.
Tia threw up her hands and came closer. “That cuts out about 90 percent of all moves. There’ll only be three positions left.”
I blew hair out of my face. “I’m sorry, but I was never good at dancing. Or gymnastics. Or really moving in general.”
Tia guided my hands up over my head and curled them around the pole. “Hold on like that. Now lift your legs. Maybe you can do a plank.”
I blinked, trying hard not to laugh. Never in my life had I been able to do a plank. Horizontal or vertical. Not that I’d tried the pole position before.
“Come on, lift those legs,” Tia said, tapping my thighs. One thing I learned about three seconds after walking up on stage with the girls was that they had no boundaries.
My butt had been in their face, they’d adjusted my boobs, lifted me with one hand on each butt cheek, and Elle moved my body every which way, not caring if she was holding on to a boob or an arm.
They were lucky I’d had two kids and didn’t care who might catch a glimpse of my lady cave anymore. Because I was sure I’d flashed them a time or ten since I was only wearing tiny shorts.
I tightened my grip on the pole and lifted my legs. They came a few inches off the floor before they stopped.
“That’s it?” Star asked, disbelief all over her face. “Did you even lift them?”
I put my feet back on the ground and released the pole. “I had abdominal separation after Lena, and things haven’t gone back the way they were supposed to. My abs
