That’s so very Coco.
I weave through the crowds cheering on a battalion of firemen wearing nothing but turnouts as they shake their hips to the rap beat.
I laser in on my grandmother, my friend, and . . . the woman.
She’s not mine, no matter how high my pulse spikes when I see Bellamy. Once our gazes meet, her brown eyes sparkle.
Her hands are in the air, and she’s bumping shoulders with TJ. She leans into Coco, points at an oiled-up, dark-skinned dancer on stage, and gives an exaggerated thumbs-up.
Coco mouths a big Yes.
I join the crew at their table, where Bellamy welcomes me in the best way possible. The second my ass hits the red upholstered lounge chair, she climbs on my lap, wraps her arms around me, and presses a kiss to my cheek. She smells faintly of tequila.
“Enjoying yourself, sweetheart?”
She grinds her ass against my crotch. “A lot more now,” she purrs, but she only seems tipsy, not drunk. “I’m impressed you came down here.”
“Why are you impressed?”
She waves a hand to the stage. “Naked man-flesh everywhere.”
I point to the guys on stage. “They’re not technically naked.”
“They’re nearly naked,” she counters.
“Nearly, technically, completely. Don’t care. Why would any of the above bother me?”
“Most men wouldn’t join a woman at a strip club where hot, sculpted, well-hung, abalicious men are shaking their booties,” she says, threading her fingers through my hair.
“I’m not most men,” I whisper in her ear, then nip the lobe.
With a sexy murmur, she curls her arms tighter, like she owns me.
“Someone’s awfully possessive tonight,” TJ chimes in, but he’s looking at Bellamy.
“Very possessive,” Coco puts in with a smirk.
“And I’m owning it. Don’t go on stage for amateur hour, Easton,” Bellamy says, clutching at my shirt. “I don’t want any of the cute girls here throwing greenbacks at you.”
TJ cracks up. “You have nothing to worry about, honey. I’ve seen this guy at weddings. He can’t dance for shit.”
I narrow a frown at TJ. “Hey now. Keep some of my secrets, will ya?”
“Only some, my friend. Only some.” TJ lifts his glass of amber liquid. “Also, good to see you here again, bro.”
Bellamy smiles at me with curiosity. “Do you come here often?”
I laugh. “Let’s just say it’s not the first time TJ has convinced me to join him.”
“Or me,” Coco says, then returns to her tablet.
“Tell the truth, E,” TJ says, then curls a hand around my shoulder as he directs his attention to Bellamy. “This man? Easton took me here right after my ex dumped me.”
“You needed to get to your happy place,” I say with a shrug. Of course I was going to take him to the one spot in town where his busy mind and heavy heart could have the night off.
“My Happy Place!” TJ shouts, then grabs his phone, taps out a note, muttering to himself, but still audible enough for me to hear. “Future . . . book . . . title.”
I pounce on that. “Dude. Did you just dictate a work note to yourself while we’re out? You know the punishment.”
With a groan, he says, “Ah, fuck me.”
“Oh, what’s the punishment?” Bellamy asks, her tone dripping with intrigue.
“We get to pick a guy for him to try to kiss.”
Her jaw drops as she makes the connection, and then she slugs me. “That’s what your friends did to you the night we met.”
I plant a kiss on her cheek. “And the fuckers picked well. Admit it.”
She pouts, but she’s only pretending to be mad. “I want to pick for him.”
“Please pick,” TJ begs. “You’ll do a better job than Easton.”
She wiggles around on my lap, clearly excited with the task. “I’ll have someone for you in a bit. I’m going to take my time with this mission. But tell me—did coming here back then work for you, TJ? Did you get to your happy place?”
TJ swirls the amber liquid in his glass, a little contemplative. “I’m still working on that. But aren’t we all? At least I have good friends to get me through the hard shit.”
“I’ll drink to that too, brother.” I reach for Bellamy’s glass and clink it to TJ’s. I swallow some of her drink, then smack my lips.
“Bet your lips taste fiery,” she whispers in my ear, and heat flares from her words, her nearness. Just from . . . her.
I turn my head and catch her lips against mine in a scorching kiss that ends too soon.
“Give it up for Jack the fireman!” the DJ calls as the man on stage pumps his hips then yanks off his pants.
TJ hoots.
Bellamy cheers.
Coco nods sagely. “Indeed. Jack has excellent charisma.” My grandmother sounds like she’s appraising dogs at Westminster.
TJ stretches an arm out to tap Coco on the shoulder. “Put that on Jack’s pros list. But we need to see how he handles a G-string.”