A Chance Encounter

We haven’t had sex again since Sunday night—when he gave me two of the most amazing, mind-blowing orgasms of my life—because I’ve been too exhausted after working seven-hour shifts on my feet, but he holds me in his arms and plays with my hair until I fall asleep.

He told me today while we were hanging out, he’ll be leaving for the last part of his tour on New Year’s Day and my first thought was how much I’ll miss him while he’s gone. He’s quickly become part of our life, part of our routine. Even Kendall wakes up and goes in search of him to play karaoke with her.

“Jack and Coke?” I confirm. It’s what he’s gotten the last two nights, but I just want to make sure.

“Yep,” he says with a soft smile.

After I make and serve him his drink, I check on my customers, before I head back over to him. He always sits at the end of the bar, in the darkened corner where he can’t really be seen, and for that I’m grateful. The last thing I need is him being put on blast. The club has a strict no cell phone/recording policy, but who knows what would happen if people got wind of Easton frequenting. Because of me wanting to go to law school, Dante is nice enough to always pay me under the table so it can never be traced back to me working here, but if Easton gets caught here and is linked to me, all that effort to protect my reputation will go down the drain.

I lean against the bar and he stretches across it, kissing me quickly. “How’s work?”

“Good.” I shrug. Between the holidays and snow, it’s been on the slow side. It’ll pick up after the first of the year, but until then the tips are sucking. “I finished signing up for my last semester of classes during my break.” It’s crazy to think after this semester is over, I’ll not only be a college graduate, but I’ll also be a mom to two.

“Congratulations,” he says, taking a sip of his drink.

“Hey, Soph,” Clarissa calls out. “Dante said to tell you, you can take off. It’s slow and I can close up.”

I glance at the clock and see it’s 2:00 a.m. With how dead it is, I won’t miss out on much money, so I might as well get home a little early and get some extra sleep. “Thanks!” I clean the dishes then grab my till and bring it to the back to cash out. Once I’m done, I meet Easton by the front door.

He puts the hoodie on his leather jacket up and grabs my hand, guiding us outside into the cold. Since he drove, we jump into his car, and he takes me home.

After I check on Kendall, who’s asleep, and say hi to Naomi, who’s packing, I quickly shower and change into my pajamas. When I come out, Easton is changed into a pair of sweats and a T-shirt he keeps here now.

“Naomi looks ready to move,” Easton notes, sliding into the bed.

I lie on my side, flopping my leg on top of his. “Yeah.”

“How will it work with her watching Kendall?” He runs his fingers through my hair and my eyes flutter closed in contentment.

“During the week, she’ll stay here since Kendall has school, and on the weekends, she’ll spend the night there.”

“How many days a week do you work?”

“Six. The club is closed on Sundays.”

Easton sighs and I can tell he wants to say something, but I’m thankful he doesn’t. The last thing I need is to feel guilty for the number of nights I work. “Law school isn’t cheap,” I explain, “and they offer no financial aid. Once I graduate, after I’m home for six weeks with the baby, I’m going to look for a job at a law firm, but they pay crap.” I laugh humorlessly. “Who would’ve thought a strip club would pay better than a law firm…”

Easton laughs as well, but it sounds forced. I hold my breath, waiting for his lecture to come, but I’m shocked when instead he says, “I’m going to miss you, Dash.” He kisses the top of my head and I snuggle into his chest. “I’ll be counting down the days to when you and Kendall come to my show.”

“I’m going to miss you too,” I tell him, as I breathe in his delicious scent, hoping to memorize it. I went years without needing a man and now I can’t imagine going days, let alone weeks without Easton.

“More presents?” I ask, when Easton walks through the door holding three boxes in his hands, two of which are wrapped with large red bows. “In case you haven’t noticed, Christmas was over several days ago.” I know he knows this because he helped me take down my tree and put all the ornaments away while Kendall explained the meaning behind every single one to him.