Beautifully Broken

“Not really,” he replies. “You’re here more often than not anyway. Why would you pay to keep a place that you barely live in?”

“Because I need to know that I can. I need to know that I have somewhere to go if—” I close my mouth before I step in it any further.

“If what, Kat? If we don’t work out? Is that the problem? You think we won’t make it?”

I release a deep sigh. “Gavin, can you blame me? The people in my past don’t exactly have the best track record. I’m just trying to protect myself. It’s what I do.”

He frames my face with his hands and kisses my forehead. “Baby, I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

Frodo wriggles out of my arms as Gavin pulls me into a hug.

“I still can’t move in with you. I’m not going to risk your job any more than we already are.”

“Screw the job; I can get another one.”

I shake my head. “Gavin, I know we haven’t exactly gone the traditional route with our relationship, but I just don’t want to push it. Okay? I want to be with you. I have no intention of going anywhere either but I’m not going to bend on this. It’s too soon to live together.”

It’s his turn to sigh. “I guess I should gather up Frodo’s stuff then, huh?”

I pull back. “I can’t have pets in my apartment.”

Gavin takes my hand and presses his house key into my palm. “Well, then you’ll need this to help take care of him. He can stay here.”

I clutch the key to my chest. “You’re not mad at me?”

He wraps his arms around me again. “No, Kat. I’m not mad. Disappointed, but not mad. Just feel free to use the key whenever you want. I mean it.”

I kiss him lightly on the lips. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

I trace the hard planes of his chest with my index finger. “You still haven’t opened your present.”

He smiles. “Where is it?”

I pull the sweater over my head to reveal my naked torso. Gavin’s eyes darken when I pull at the red ribbon tied into a bow around my breasts. I start walking backwards down the hall toward his bedroom.

“I believe you mentioned something about bows. Care to unwrap me?”

I barely have a chance to squeal before he scoops me up and closes the distance to the bed.

THE PITIFUL PRINCESS IS PACKED TONIGHT. There are more couples than normal, apparently thinking a strip club was the best place to ring in the new year together. This is my fourth VIP dance of the night and there are still two hours before last call. People are definitely in a mood to celebrate by splurging for extras. I’m currently grinding on a thirty-something woman’s lap while her husband watches, clearly turned on by the whole scene. I can tell she’s a first timer—her face is beet red and she’s sitting on her hands, not quite sure what to do with them.

I slowly untie my bikini top and place

it around her neck. “Are you and your husband having a good time tonight, honey?”

I talk to the women a lot more than the men because it seems to lower the awkwardness over receiving a lap dance. As far as I’m concerned, she has nothing to be ashamed of. Most couples come here because they’re trying to spice things up in the bedroom. If anything, she should be proud that she’s open-minded enough to keep their relationship healthy on a sexual level. Not that I’m saying strip clubs are the answer, mind you. Different strokes for different folks and all that.

She blushes further and averts her eyes away from my breasts. “Um, sure. The girls here are all very beautiful.”

“Thank you,” I say. “So are you. Your husband is a lucky man.”

“You got that right,” he says with a big smile.

The woman smiles back at him with obvious affection. “Our ten-year anniversary is today. I wanted to surprise him with something…different.”

I face the husband and loop my arm around his wife’s neck. I roll my body against hers while giving him the sultry expressions that a client expects. “Happy Anniversary.”