Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
I look up at him, feeling a little sullen and dazed from the path my thoughts had taken. “Hm? Sorry, I think I need some coffee,” I say with a forced laugh as I stand up straight, taking my weight from Seth, and his brows furrow just slightly but enough I catch the worry there. “Managing this store on top of being a mom has made me single-handedly responsible for keeping the coffee shop next door in business, I swear.”
Crystal chirps, “Girl, you ain’t lyin’. We have two boys. And the business we’re opening in the space downtown is a workout studio. Pilates, barre, pole dancing classes—you name it, I teach it. If it weren’t for coffee and protein shakes, I wouldn’t survive.”
I feel my eyebrows shoot up my forehead. “Pole dancing classes?”
She smirks and nods. “Hell yes. You probably have no idea how strong a lady has to be in order to make it as an exotic dancer. We may make it look easy, but I promise—you know what a pecan looks like getting popped open by a nutcracker?” At my nod, she finishes, “These legs could do that to any meathead at the gym’s… well… meathead.” She giggles sweetly, even though there’s an evil little gleam in her eye. One glance at Antonio shows he feels nothing but pride in his woman’s strength.
Crystal continues, “Which takes a lot of working out and muscle building. And since I stopped performing professionally when I got pregnant with our first son but didn’t want to lose this body I worked so hard for, I decided to make an income by teaching new girls how to pole dance, which was a workout for myself as well. That was when we lived in Vegas. When we moved here, some ladies answered my ad about the classes who weren’t dancers but wanted to learn anyway, whether for themselves or to show off for their partner. And when they all loved it and said they’d be dropping their gym memberships to do my classes as their workout instead, I did some research and found out other small studios were offering pole dancing as an alternative form of exercise. I kinda just went off what they were doing, and now, a few years later, I have enough members that I need the bigger space. Luckily, it’s just right across the street from my original spot we got when we first moved to town.”
“Across the street? That means—”
Seth interrupts, his ADHD hyping him up, “She was in the place on the other side of our security office.”
“The one with the black-out curtains that are never open?” I ask, having wondered what that storefront was but had never taken the time to figure it out. My attention was always pulled to the other next-door neighbor of the Imperium Security office. Club Alias. Which also has an ominous-looking entrance.
“Yep. We didn’t think our non-stripper ladies would want to be stared at from the sidewalk while they’re trying to learn how to dance on a pole,” Crystal explains.
Antonio adds, “Or cause traffic accidents on the one-way street we’re on.” He chuckles. “One peek through the window and there would be a daily pile-up. Especially if my woman was the one on the pole, giving instructions.” He wiggles his eyebrows at her again, and she slaps his chest, rolling her eyes, even though I can see the pleased look in them at his compliment.
Another thought occurs to me then. “So that means your old space opened up. Do you know if it’s still available? My sister has been toying with the idea of opening a ballet studio for a while now.”
“As far as I know, it is. And even better, it wouldn’t be much work to change it from an exotic dance studio to a ballet one. Since we’re taking the poles with us and all.” Crystal smirks, and we all laugh.
With that idea in my head to ponder on and present to Astrid, my earlier sullenness disappears, at least for now. We close up shop and put out the lunch-break sign, the four of us strolling next door for some much-needed coffee and more fun conversation to get to know each other.
All the while, a part of me still can’t wait to get back to my store to feel up the sex doll.
CHAPTER 2
Twyla
“Guess who went poopoo on the pottyyy!” Astrid sings in greeting as she opens her front door to let me in, and I glance from her bright, excited grin down to the dark-haired four-year-old with black-rimmed glasses that match my own. Her hazel eyes twinkle as she smiles at me, minus her father’s mischief, since she’s a little angel child who is never anything but sweet to her mommy.
I kneel right on the threshold and open my arms, and Luna runs into them, squeezing my neck tightly as I stand and pick her up. “You went all by yourself?” I ask her, my tone telling her how proud I am. She’s had constipation issues since she was a baby, so going number two has been quite the obstacle, even though she’s been potty trained since she was two.