In Bed with the Beast (Naughty Princess Club 2)

“Seriously? That’s crazy!” she tells me as I fling my arm back around her head and continue gyrating on her lap while the room goes wild.

“Yep. Herod was so impressed with the dance that he granted the daughter anything she desired. Obeying a request from her mother, Herodias’s daughter reportedly replied that she wanted the head of John the Baptist on a platter,” I add, getting up from her lap and turning to face her.

“That’s a pretty steep price for a lap dance,” the bride laughs as I put my hands on the back of her chair and bring my boobs right to her face, shaking them around.

“I know, right?!”

I glance over at Ariel, and she’s got her head in her hand, shaking it back and forth.

The song comes to an end, and the woman gives me a quick hug before getting up from the chair and asking who’s next. A loud chorus of screams almost makes me go deaf, but I can’t stop smiling at how much fun this is.

An hour later, exhausted and sweaty and back in my too-tight yellow dress, I take a huge wad of cash from the bride’s mother, and Ariel gives her a stack of our cards.

“You did good, kid,” Ariel says with a smile, patting me on the back as we head out to the driveway. “Next time, tone down the Encyclopedia Britannica shit a little and just concentrate on the tits-and-ass shaking.”

I roll my eyes at her as we get in the car, pulling my phone out of my purse and calling Vincent, telling him yes I’m finished, yes I’m fine, and no, I’m not calling him from the house because I’m already in the car.

He growls through the phone and my smile grows even wider, knowing he’s going to be extremely bossy when he gets home from work later.

Chapter 30: Fairy Tales are Bullshit

I practically skip into Charming’s, hugging an insulated lunch bag to my chest and looking around for Vincent with a huge smile on my face. It’s hard not to be completely giddy, having just come from the where I deposited more money in my account than I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ve successfully completed seven parties in the last week, and despite Ariel telling me to tone down my chattiness and penchant for fact-giving while dancing, that’s actually the reason I’ve been booking so many parties. All of the emails that have specifically requested me stated: “We want the princess stripper who gives fun facts during her performance.”

Everything seems to be falling into place with my life, and I want to pinch myself just to make sure it isn’t a dream. My dad and I talk constantly, and he doesn’t shy away from asking me about the Naughty Princess Club and how my jobs are going. He even did some research of his own and gave me a few random facts about stripping to use at my next party. Vincent and I are growing closer and closer, and even though we haven’t exactly put a label on our relationship, he’s finally stopped insisting he isn’t my knight in shining armor. He moved all of my things out of the spare bedroom and put them into his room, and told me to forget about his house rules and put whatever “girly shit” I wanted around the place. And with all of my newly earned money, and since Vincent almost went into beast mode when I told him I wanted to help pay the bills, I was able to leave a voicemail for the board last night, saying we needed to schedule an emergency meeting as soon as possible because I am definitely making enough money to keep the library running for a little while longer, until I can come up with a better plan or find a beneficiary. Since I never heard anything from Mrs. Anderson, I’m assuming all the yelling she must have done with her husband never resulted in anything.

“Well, hello there, lovely Belle. You are positively glowing.”

Eric emerges from the back hallway and greets me with a kiss on the cheek.

“I have a lot to glow about lately,” I tell him with a smile. “Is Vincent around? I brought him lunch.”

I hold up the insulated bag containing with the leftover fettuccini alfredo, which Vincent made all by himself last night, without any help from me.

“He had to run up to the liquor distributor because they messed up our order, but he should be back in a little bit.” Eric explains. “So, things are going well between you two I see.”

My smile grows even wider, and I nod my head.

“They are. Especially now that he’s letting me help him.”

Vincent is really coming along with these cooking lessons, and it’s so nice to see his fridge filled with Tupperware containers instead of takeout ones.