Chapter Seven

She shouldn’t be looking at him, but she couldn’t make herself stop. This was Seth! Her Seth! The thought came and went as her mind tried to comprehend what she was seeing. The image of him shirtless and mowing the grass had stuck with her for days afterwards, but this…this display would be etched in her mind for all eternity. She would be ninety and still be able to remember him like this. Good God! She was staring at his junk!

She should have left the minute she recognized him on stage, regardless of what Kara might have wanted. That opportunity had come and gone and now he was a few feet away doing things to another woman that had the entire table of women screaming and hollering. Why, oh why, had she allowed Kara to drag her into a bar—this bar, this male stripper bar—where Seth was next to naked?

“Tori,” Kara nearly yelled in an attempt to get her sister’s attention. Yes, that was Tori’s housekeeper dancing and allowing strange women to stuff money in his…She was still looking!

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he turned from the woman whose face was level with his crotch and his eyes met Tori’s. As shocked as she was, his ability to communicate with mere facial expressions screamed out his own shock, embarrassment and guilt over being…caught. He abruptly quit dancing with the woman and paused to stare at the floor as if making a decision about how to handle the situation.

Then his eyes met hers again and before she could exhale, he was standing in front of her. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her out of her chair. In one smooth move, he picked her up, wrapped her legs around his waist and backed her against the wall. Unlike the playful grin he had worn for the women at the other table, his face held no humor now.

His eyes met and held hers as he invaded every inch of space around her. There was nowhere for her hands to go so she laid them on his bare shoulders. He cupped her bottom and hips, holding her still as he moved against her. The expression on his face was one of pleading…for understanding, forgiveness or help. Which of those, she wasn’t sure. Perhaps a combination of all three.

“I’m sorry, Tori. I do like working for you, but I need money for Caleb so I work this job, too. Don’t go back to hating me,” he said, leaning in close so that she could hear him over the music, noise and women yelling.

He pressed himself as close to her as he could. The scent of his aftershave and the feel of his hands on her bottom and his chest pinning her to the wall was an assault on her senses. His eyes changed from a look of regret and guilt to liquid pools of heat as he stared her down while grinding her against the wall. His gaze finally left hers only to stare at her mouth before returning to her eyes to tell her what he was thinking.

The atmosphere between them shifted when his breathing changed. She could feel him harden where his body bumped against her own. As much as she might regret not taking advantage of this heat, she would regret it even more if she allowed herself to be played again…especially by Seth. Her heart preferred the safety of his friendship, even above his muscular arms and shoulders and the rhythm of his thrusts. It would cut her for him to leave here with someone else, for him to be with someone else, but she would survive it. Enjoying his body after two weeks of an unexpected friendship she hadn’t known she needed, just for him to walk away afterwards, would kill her.

He must have seen the denial in her face because he sighed in frustration just before she leaned in and said, “Put me down, Seth. You do not have to do this to get money from me.”

A look of pain crossed his face. “I can’t take it back, Tori. I said it okay? I said those things about you and I am sorry for it, but I can’t take it back. Maybe…I never really meant those things in the first place. Maybe I like the way you look after all, including your breasts. Maybe I like the way you feel in my arms. You are right, I don’t have to do this…but maybe I want to be in between your legs right now.”

He was serious! She could see it on his face, plain as day. He shifted her in his arms to better align their bodies and stepped back from the wall while her back remained propped against it. The gap between them meant their only connection, other than her legs around his waist and his hands holding her hips, was…Oh, God!

If bumping against her before was inappropriate, now it bordered on voyeurism for those in the audience cheering them on. Before she could pay attention to anyone other than him, he captured her gaze with his own and held it for a moment before looking down at where their bodies joined. His expression was so intent that when he looked back at her, she feared he had forgotten where they were. Launching herself off the wall, she wrapped her arms around his thick neck and then put her mouth against his ear.

“No, Seth. Not like this… I don’t want this,” she whispered.

He stopped, released her legs and allowed her body to slide down his own. Once her feet were back on the floor, he stepped away. The look of pain on his face stole her breath. Just as she was going to say something to him, he turned away and began dancing with two other women. She’d known it would hurt, but she hadn’t expected it to draw blood. Her chest ached with the effort to draw a breath and swallow the pain.

After a moment or two, she finally turned to where Kara sat with her mouth hanging open. “We need to leave. It’s late and I need to pick up Zach.”

She heard Kara ask who exactly was watching Zach since Seth was here dancing, but Tori was already making her way through the crowd of women so providing an answer was impossible. It took all of her willpower to continue on to her car instead of turning around and going back inside to drag Seth away from the women now pawing him. It wasn’t jealousy, but rather like abandoning him, leaving him behind to fend for himself.

Seth was right. He probably did need the money, but she hated that he had to perform to get it. Yes, he was absolutely stunning so the gig suited him well. What those women at the club didn’t know was that he was more than just a hot guy to fantasize about. He was creative, fun, hardworking and generous to a fault.

The ride to his apartment to pick up Zach was a quiet affair because, for once in her life, Kara remained silent. Parking in front of his building, Tori assured Kara that she would be right back and was out of the car before hearing Kara’s response.

Ian opened the door to her knock. Seeing his powerful build standing in the doorway of the apartment in nothing but a long pair of shorts snapped her out of her sulking. It was late, really late, and in her emotional state she’d just shown up and started pounding on the door like a crazy woman.

Oblivious to the size difference between them and the fact that she was basically eye level to his navel, Ian cringed back from her. “Don’t hit me. I would have told you about Pole, if you’d asked. He and Caleb are the only liars and guilty ones up in here.”

“Pole?” she asked. Then deciding she didn’t want to know asked, “Where is Zach?”

“He fell asleep on the couch so I put him in Seth’s room,” Ian supplied, still curved in on himself as though he expected her to punch him at any moment.

“Will you stop?” she asked. “I am not going to hit you. I just need to get Zach and I will be out of your hair.”

He relaxed and then led her into the living room where she found Caleb looking at her nervously. His face spoke of his guilt. Seth must have called and warned them. She wasn’t mad at any of them, it wasn’t like she and Seth were dating and he’d been caught with another woman. The whole situation just made her feel bad. He was working night and day to take care of his brother while the women he danced for only saw a handsome face, broad shoulders, and a nice ass.

Those women didn’t see a man willing to cover for her in front of her sister to save her the embarrassment. The same sister who was content to only see him as Seth the exotic dancer, not Seth the man willing to decorate Tori’s house because she’d asked him. The two men who stood before her now with guilty expressions knew Seth, the good friend…the man she’d thought she knew prior to tonight. Why hadn’t he told her what his other job was?

“Now you see why I feel like I won’t ever be able to repay him,” Caleb said. “I’m injured, Tori, not stupid. I know he’s been paying my bills while I’ve been recovering. Whenever I ask, he tells me not to worry about it. To just focus on getting better, but I’m pretty sure he wiped out his entire savings account, money he was going to use for a down payment on a house, to pay my bills.”

Knowing what she knew of Caleb’s hospital stay, whatever Seth had paid hadn’t been nearly enough. She understood how Caleb felt. She wanted to help, too, but wasn’t sure how. Kayla had told Tori that she was already paying Seth more for working part-time than Kayla had paid Ronnie. The most painful part for Tori was that Seth didn’t consider her a good enough friend to confide in, at least not about the parts of his life where he danced—mostly naked—for other women.

“Look, this is a lot for me to handle in one night…and my sister is waiting in the car. I need to get Zach home, but mostly I just need a minute to think,” she said.

“I’ll carry the little guy down for you,” Ian offered and left the room to go and get Zach.

“Seth likes working for you and he really likes Zach. He is a good man. Don’t let what he does for living sway your opinion of him,” Caleb said.

By the time she got Zach home and in his own bed, she was exhausted, physically and mentally. Kara had again been quiet during the ride home and had gone straight to bed, which was unusual. Whatever it was that prevented Tori’s half-sister from taking this opportunity to degrade her, she was thankful for it as she crawled into her bed. Kara would never voluntarily work a job, especially as a stripper, to help Tori out in any way, shape or form. Seth might be broke from all Caleb’s medical bills, but both of the brothers were wealthy in ways they didn’t even realize.

As tired as she was, she lay awake until sometime after one in the morning. It was humid outside, which made it even harder to fall asleep since her body was still on fire from Seth’s touch and the look in his eyes as he’d danced against her. He probably did those things to hundreds of women, many of whom he probably slept with after the fact, but she refused to be one of many where he was concerned.

She could smell his cologne even now.…

“Tori…” his voice whispered. The dreams about him were becoming more real with each passing night. “Tori, I need you to wake up. I need to know that you don’t hate me for tonight.”

She jerked upright and pulled her blankets up around her shoulders. He was standing in the doorway of her room…with his clothes on.

“How did you get in here?” she whispered back.

“You gave me a key. You said I could use it whenever I needed,” he whispered and then leaned his head against the doorframe. “I guess that was before tonight. I’ve spent the past two weeks over here, every day but Sundays. This place feels so…you. I’m sorry. I should have called or waited until the morning, but I couldn’t sleep and…Is this it then, Tori? Am I fired?”

“I, um, I’m not decent,” she said quietly. “Give me a minute to get dressed and we can talk. I can hardly sleep either.”

“We do some of our best talking when one of us is half-dressed and no words are spoken.” He laughed lightly. Then instead of leaving, he stepped into her room and closed the door behind him. Walking over to her bed, he turned on the small lamp on the nightstand.

His eyes raked across her bare shoulders briefly before meeting her gaze. “Scoot over.”

She could feel her heartbeat lodge in her throat and she waited for it to come out of her mouth, but managed to scoot over just the same. He propped a couple of pillows against her headboard after kicking his shoes off. Then he lay back against the pillows, so that he was mostly lying down with his head slightly elevated. She remained sitting forward, afraid to move. She was mostly naked except for her panties.

“I should have told you about the dancing, especially after you told me about wanting things to be perfect for Kara. I guess I ruined the whole perfect thing for you, didn’t I?”

Talking was impossible with him stretched out on her bed, even in jeans and a T-shirt, when a little less than three hours ago he’d been basically having sex with her while she was fully clothed and him in his underwear. Now she was the one in her underwear with him fully dressed. Glancing over her shoulder at him, his eyes said that he was finally ready to share something about himself. How could she call herself a friend if she turned him away when he needed to talk?

“No. You didn’t ruin anything. My mother ruined that for me years ago. I am the product of one of my father’s many affairs…a bastard if you will. Kara is his legitimate daughter, which she points out to me every chance she gets. My mother dumped me and ran when my father refused to leave Kara’s mom to marry her. Long story short, I’m the black sheep,” she explained.

Then the answer to Seth’s issues came to her as clear as crystal. For once, being the black sheep would work to her benefit. The gold at the end of the phony rainbow of a relationship that she had with her father, if she could even call it a relationship, would finally serve a purpose. It was simple really and a better way of thumbing her nose at her father’s prestige and money than anything she had ever daydreamed about. Looking at Seth now, she knew he would never allow her to do something like that for him, but once it was complete, he wouldn’t be able to change it.

“My parents are divorced. Caleb and I don’t get along with our dad very well and we haven’t even spoken to him since I was in high school. He has a new family now and they live out in Colorado. My mom lives in Arizona. I only ended up here because of Rusty,” he said.

Then she felt it—the backs of his fingers skimming along her lower back. He appeared lost in thought and completely unaware that his touch was making every hair on her body stand up. Swallowing the attraction she felt for him, which felt as if it was choking her, she said, “Go on.”

“My mom basically raised Caleb and I all by herself, so when I first graduated high school I went into the Army because it was one less mouth for her to feed. After my first tour, I came home content, but the only work I could find was dancing. I did that for about a year and a half, but when Caleb was a senior in high school and started talking college, I knew mom would need help with that so I re-enlisted. That’s when I met Rusty, Ian and Ronnie. We’ve been together ever since.” He smiled at her as his fingers continued to caress her back.

Reaching behind her, she adjusted the pillows on her side so that she could lean back as well and stop the torment of his fingers. The man had every inch of her skin on full alert. She made sure the covers stayed tucked around her undeveloped breasts. When she relaxed back in the same position as him, she made the mistake of turning her head in his direction. Their faces were mere inches apart and he was wearing that grin.… Soon enough she was grinning, too. She couldn’t stay mad at him for long.

“I managed to pay off most of Caleb’s college and still put a little money back, and was thinking about trying to get a house and split the payments with Ian and Ronnie since Rusty has his own house. Then Kayla came along, which just left Ian and I. So with Caleb graduated from college and struggling to find work, I invited him out here to stay with us,” he said. “That was not one of my better suggestions. He was coming out here so I could teach him about dancing. I should have known he wasn’t cut out to be a dancer, but fate stepped in and made sure that didn’t happen after all.”

His expression displayed his guilt and before she could stop herself, she reached over and ran a finger across one of his eyebrows and down his cheek. “His accident was not your fault, Seth,” she whispered.

When she pulled her hand back, he leaned forward and kissed her bare shoulder. His warm breath against her hyper-sensitive skin made her nipples pebble. For once she was thankful for fitting an A cup comfortably. The hardened tips weren’t as obvious.

“You are so different from any woman I’ve ever met,” he whispered.

“How so?” she asked.

“Most women want me for the way I look or the way I give them pleasure. For sex, or some form of it. For the first time in…maybe ever, a woman I want doesn’t want me for anything other than as a friend. Which is probably why I’m sharing my entire life story with you right now,” he said with a laugh. “I shouldn’t have done that with you tonight. I’m sorry if I embarrassed you or messed up your visit with Kara.”

She watched a play of emotions run across his handsome face. If not for what he’d just said, she would have kissed him. He had finally accepted his status as just her friend so to kiss him, no matter how much she wanted him at the moment, would mess up what they were doing…being friends. Right now that meant more to her than the shivers racing across her skin.

“I’ll make you a deal. I’ll forgive you if you can find a way to chase Kara back to her palace in California.” She finally giggled and rolled onto her side facing him.

“Well, it won’t involve any bump and grind, that I can promise. She’s a man-eater and she scares me a little bit.” He laughed. Then he leaned up, slid his arm under the pillow she was laying on and pulled her over so her head was laying on his chest. Wow. He smelled fantastic.

It felt so good to lie against him. He was warm and big enough that she tucked into his side just perfectly. As they lay there enjoying the silence, she felt his whole body relax. Looking up, she noticed he slept. As if he wasn’t sexy enough awake, watching him sleep actually fully aroused her. She drank in the sight of him as he lay there handsome as sin with one arm above his head and the other one wrapped around her shoulders. She gently reached across him and turned off the light. He’d come over in the middle of the night…just to make sure she didn’t hate him.

Now that he’d made up with her, he slept like a baby. She smiled and snuggled back down into his arms. She was enjoying having a male friend, especially since it was Seth.

***

“Mommy, me and Seth are going to the gym and then to the store. Love ya, bye,” Zach yelled. The slamming of her bedroom door had her sitting upright and then clutching the blanket to her as she looked at where Seth had been sleeping. His side was empty. She got out of the bed and headed into her bathroom just as she heard Seth’s car start. She walked back over to her window, moved the blinds around that Seth had hung up and watched as he backed out of the driveway and headed down the street with Zach in the backseat.

She made her way back to the bathroom, still wrapped in the sheet, and was just about to close the door when Kara came barging into her room without knocking.

“Is he living here, Tori?” she asked indignantly. Then after realizing what she had just said, she took a deep breath. “You know I would never judge you, but if Daddy finds out you are living with a man, he’ll cut you off completely.”

As much as she wanted to tell Kara that she couldn’t care less if Daddy stopped funneling money into her trust fund, since she had never touched it, she remained silent. For once, the man who had treated her like a second-class citizen her whole life, when he’d been the one responsible for her creation in the first place, would actually do something to help someone. He just didn’t know it and he didn’t need to know it…yet. And neither did Kara.

At Tori’s continued silence, Kara straightened. “As much as I was looking forward to a nice visit, something has come up at home and I have to get back. I don’t suppose you could book me a flight? You know I’m technologically challenged.” Right. Kara needed to get back to tell on Tori to their father as if they were both still children.

“Let me grab a shower and I’ll come down and help you book a flight and then we’ll spend time together right up until you have to leave.” Tori smiled.

Kara pasted on a smile in return, then turned and left the room, closing the door behind her. Tori prayed that fate would ensure one available seat on at least one flight out of Dayton. By the time Seth and Zach made it back, Tori had seen Kara safely encased in a taxicab heading toward the airport. If Tori had known all it took to ensure Kara’s visits lasted less than a weekend was to sleep with a stripper, she would have done it years ago. Apparently sex with the stripper was optional, but not a requirement for offending Kara.

Seth and Zach spent the afternoon cleaning the pool outside while she set to work on her plans for spending her daddy’s money. She started with contacting her old boss and felt like a teenager sneaking around to call a boyfriend as she watched Zach and Seth through the window to ensure neither came inside and overheard her conversation. After that, she moved on to calling in a favor to the CFO for the health network who owed her for coming to his home to retrieve vacation pictures he thought he’d lost off his wife’s computer.

By the time Seth had to leave for work, which she tried in vain not to think about, she had successfully set the ball rolling. She hoped that within a week she could eliminate some of the worry for the beautiful man standing in front of her, who had become one of her best friends in less than a month.

Her good deed would also get rid of the ball and chain around her own neck that came in the form of a balance statement once a month. As many times as she’d tried to tell her father she didn’t want his money—didn’t need his money—this might very well make her point and help Seth all at the same time. Her father couldn’t buy her silence or forgiveness, but he could pay for Caleb’s medical bills.

“Remember, three books tonight, boy,” Seth yelled at Zach who was heading up the stairs to his room. Then turning back to face her, he said, “I realize you managed to get rid of Kara on your own so you may not have forgiven me yet, but I have a favor anyway. Can you take Zach over to play some video games with Caleb for a while tonight? Ronnie’s out of town at another competition with Addie’s cheer squad, Ian has a fight and Rusty is doing something on the base. I’ll be at a club in Richmond tonight so I shouldn’t be too late.”

“What do I get out of this deal? Zach gets to hang out with Caleb playing games while I sit around being bored. Hardly seems fair.” She laughed.

Stepping up to stand so close to her that she could feel the entire length of him against her, he said, “You may not want to have sex with me, but maybe I could interest you in a different kind of pleasure. I’ve been told I give a mean foot rub. It’s a talent I learned from Ian of all people. Interested?”

He thought she didn’t want him. What gave him that idea? Was that why he had finally backed off with the flirting and the sexual advances?

“No, Seth. Not like this… I don’t want this.”

Her words…had he taken her to mean that she didn’t want to have sex with him…ever?

A small part of her was disappointed that any chance she had of experiencing what would probably be the most amazing sex of her life—with Seth—was gone. She reminded herself that she was dating Tim, and she stood the best chance of having a lasting relationship with Tim. At least Seth hadn’t been mad about being turned down. In fact, he almost seemed relieved. Maybe he wasn’t really attracted to her after all. Maybe in all reality she was too flat chested for him.

“Okay, how about a back rub instead?” he offered when she didn’t respond.

“We’ll play it by ear. How about that?” she nearly whispered.

“Okay.” He smiled and then leaned down and kissed her full on the mouth.