Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
Casey had never in her life performed in front of a crowd, had never worn a bikini at the beach, and had never had so many men staring at her like wolves ready for their next meal. It was at once terrifying and exhilarating.
Her body was on fire from her ride on the poor man who’d helped her out of the cake. And, if she wasn’t mistaken, he was just as affected as she was. Her gaze went to the hard ridge behind the fly of his jeans.
Heat traveled up her neck into her cheeks.
Oh, yeah. She’d gotten him that far, all by pretending to ride him like a horse. Or, as the song went, a cowboy. Now that she was on a table in front of them, she was at her most vulnerable. She’d never been a good dancer. Dressed as a stripper, she would be expected to bump and grind with overly exaggerated hip movements and, maybe, touching her toes to give them a view of her rounded bottom. Hell, she didn’t have the body to pull this off. Her hips were too broad, and her thighs touched. Not to mention, her breasts were overflowing the tiny white bathing suit bra she’d worn beneath the midriff shirt.
Casey twitched her hips back and forth the way she thought strippers would. Gripping the Velcro tabs on the sides of her shorts, she hesitated. Beneath the shorts was nothing more than a G-string up the crease of her butt cheeks with a tiny triangle of material covering her front.
She dropped her hands to her sides and shook her head. No. She couldn’t do it.
“Take it off!” the men yelled as one.
She caught Jacob’s stare.
He shook his head. “Don’t do it, Candy,” he said softly.
The guys didn’t seem to hear him.
One started the chant, “Take it off!” The others joined in. “Take it off!”
She was supposed to be a stripper. To do it right, she had to take it off.
Again, Jacob shook his head.
Casey’s eyes narrowed. Did he think she wouldn’t, just because he’d told her not to?
Her gaze swept the small crowd of rowdy men, smiling, laughing and nudging each other with their elbows to get closer to her and the table she danced on. What did she have to lose? They thought she was the blond-haired stripper named Candy. When they saw her the next day, she’d be back to her usual brown-haired, neatly prim and proper wedding planner, Casey. The two women were so diametrically opposed, they’d never guess. Her fingers found the tabs. Her gaze met Jacob’s, and she yanked the shorts off her hips and swung them around her head. Aiming for him, she let loose.
Jacob’s hand shot up into the air and caught the shorts in his fist.
Casey lifted her chin, swallowing her pride and turned her back to him and the men, showing her ass in the G-string. Then she bent to touch her toes, giving them what they’d come for and thanking her lucky stars that she’d chosen that morning to shave her legs all the way up to her hoo-hah.
Fingers touched her bottom as bills were tucked into her G-string, startling her into straightening too fast. Unsteady as she was on the platform heels, she wobbled, teetered and tumbled toward the ground.
Arms reached out to catch her. She fell hard against a black T-shirt, her face smashed into a rock-hard chest. When she glanced up to see who’d caught her, she was glad to see it was her cake rescuer, Jacob.
Changing her voice to sound like a Candy, she said, “My hero.” She batted her heavily lashed eyelids.
Jacob stared down into her eyes. “Those shoes are killers.”
She gave him what she hoped was a coquettish smile. “You like them?”
“No.” His gaze shifted from her eyes to the other side of the patio in the direction of the bar and the front entrance. His brow furrowed. “Damn.” He set her on her feet. “Gotta go. I’m sure the guys will take good care of you.” He hurried past her, breaking into a jog.
Casey looked from Jacob to the men and back. Without him to catch her when she fell, she felt exposed and vulnerable. When the men started toward her with money in their hands, Casey turned and ran after Jacob.
“Hey, babe,” Teller called out. “Where ya going?”
“Don’t leave yet.” Logan waved his one-hundred-dollar bill. “I got money burning in my hand.”
Casey called over her shoulder. “Keep it.” She ran after Jacob and caught his arm. “Did I offend you?”
He looked down briefly. “No, but the groom is leaving. I’m his designated driver.”
Her eyes rounded. “Of course. Go.” Then she frowned. “Wait. How much have you had to drink?”
“One beer,” he said, still moving and picking up speed.
She shook her head and ran faster, the heels making it more difficult. “I’ll drive.”
“No way,” Jacob said over his shoulder.
“I was paid to make sure the groom got back to his hotel safely,” she said. “Give me a minute to get dressed, and I’ll drive you two in my vehicle.”
“I haven’t had enough to impair my driving.”
She met his gaze, her eyes narrowing. “I’m driving.” Casey hurried ahead to catch up with Hawk as he waved down a taxi pulling up to the curb.
“Hawk,” Casey called out. “Wait. I’ll drive you to the hotel.”
With his hand on the open door of the taxi, Hawk paused and glanced over his shoulder, his brow furrowing when he saw her running toward him.
Casey leaned into the open passenger window of the cab and handed the driver one of the twenties she’d plucked from her G-string. “I’ve got this. Go get a burger.”
The taxi driver grinned, his gaze going straight to her cleavage. “I might just stay for the show.”
She gave him one of her eat-shit-and-die glares and jerked her thumb. “Get going.”
Hawk backed away a step, swaying slightly. “I might have had a few too many, but I’m not too drunk to know that I’m not getting into any vehicle with you. I promised Kalea I wouldn’t touch the stripper. I’m keeping that promise.”
“Glad to hear it. She’ll be impressed.” Casey pulled her key fob out of her bra and clicked the unlock button on her SUV. “I’m driving. You can sit in the back seat. If you’re worried Kalea will find out, you can tell her I’m going to the hotel with this guy.” She tilted her head toward Jacob.
“Is that so?” Hawk’s lips spread into a wide grin, and he clapped a hand onto Jacob’s shoulder. “Good for you, man. I didn’t think you were going to let me out of your sight long enough to enjoy the evening.”
“And I’m not going to let you out of my sight until you’re tucked into your own bed in your hotel room,” Jacob said.
Thankfully, he didn’t deny Casey’s claim that he was taking her back to his hotel room. “I’m driving,” she said. “My SUV is over there.”
“I have my own vehicle.”
“Play it safe. Even if you haven’t had much to drink, I’d rather you didn’t end up in jail when you have a wedding to attend on Saturday.” She drew in a breath and let it out. “Casey tasked me with making sure the groom and groomsmen got back to the hotel to sleep off whatever mischief they might have gotten into. Please, let me do my job.” Again, she tried batting her lashes, a skill she’d never quite mastered. Something big and wispy fell into her eye, making her blink uncontrollably.
Jacob reached out and plucked the offensive item from her cheek. He lifted her hand and laid one of her fake eyelashes in her palm. “You can drive after you remove the other one.”
She stared down at her lash, her cheeks burning. Then, with a quick movement, she ripped the other lash off, wincing when the glue held on a little longer than she expected. “There,” she said and lifted her chin toward Jacob.
“That’s better.” He nodded toward the SUV. “Lead the way. And oh,” he held out the shorts she’d flung at him, “you might want to put this on. If we are pulled over, we wouldn’t want our driver charged with indecent exposure.”
She grabbed the shorts and covered her naked butt with them, pinching the Velcro into place. “Now, can we go?”
Jacob glanced at Hawk. “You all right with letting Candy drive?”
“As long as she’s better at driving than she is at dancing,” Hawk said, a slow smile spreading across his face. “No offense.”
“None taken,” Casey said. “Follow me.”
“Gladly,” Hawk said.
Jacob frowned.
“What?” Hawk held up his hand. “Kalea said I couldn’t touch. She didn’t say anything about looking.”
Casey shook her head and marched as best she could in the platform heels to her SUV. She removed the shoes before climbing in behind the steering wheel. No use risking a wreck because she wasn’t wearing the proper foot gear. Thankfully, she’d stored all her clothes in the trunk and wouldn’t have to return to the bar to get anything. She was afraid that if she left the two men alone, they’d leave without her. She wanted to make absolutely sure the groom made it to his hotel room before she let him out of sight. Her promise to the bride, her best friend, hinged on her making this wedding perfect.
Her business depended on it. Nothing like a little pressure to make her night more complicated. She resisted the urge to pluck the string out of her butt crack and slid into the driver’s seat of the SUV.
Jacob held the door for the groom to drop into the back seat. Then he shut the door and climbed into the passenger seat beside Casey.
She would rather have had him sit with the groom in the back seat. Already, she’d been too close to this man too often that evening. Every time they touched, she felt tingly, like an electric current was coursing through her veins. The more distance between them, the better she could concentrate on what needed to be done to pull off this short-fused wedding.
Yes, distance between her and Jacob was what she needed.
As soon as she saw Hawk to his door, she’d skedaddle back to her own apartment and get a restful night’s sleep. Thankfully, all the preparations were scheduled or done. All she had left to do was a rehearsal and to make sure the bride and groom arrived at the church on time on Saturday.
She had this wedding in the bag.
What could go wrong?
Jacob sat in the passenger seat, wanting to call Casey out on her disguise. He bit down hard on his tongue to keep from doing it in front of Hawk. Kalea had hired Casey to plan her wedding. Did she know Casey was taking on more than wedding planning? Did she know her wedding-planner best friend moonlighted as a stripper?
“You have a ten sticking out of your…” Jacob pointed to her crotch and then sat back, his gaze on the windshield in front of him.
Casey glanced down at the juncture of her thighs, ripped the bill from beneath the shorts and looked like she would fling it at Jacob. At the last second, she retracted her hand and stuffed the bill in the cupholder. She pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main drag in front of the Big Wave and headed in the direction of their hotel.
“Don’t you want to know where we’re staying?” Hawk asked from the back seat.
Casey glanced into the rearview mirror. “I know.”
“Good, because I’ve already forgotten,” Hawk said.
Jacob shot a glance over his shoulder.
Hawk leaned back his head and closed his eyes.
Jacob let go of the breath he’d been holding. As long as Casey got them to the hotel all right, the rest of the night should be a slam dunk.
A black cat darted out into the road.
Casey slammed on her brakes in time to spare the cat’s life but not in time to keep it from crossing in front of them.
She shot a look in his direction. “You’re not one of those people who believes in bad luck, are you?”
Jacob frowned. “No.”
“Good.” She pressed her bare foot down on the accelerator, and the SUV lurched forward.
Though he’d said he didn’t believe in bad luck, he’d been in operations that had gone south for no apparent reason. No matter how much they’d planned and trained, nothing seemed to go right. But a black cat crossing his path? He shook his head. Nonsense. At the same time, a cold chill rippled down his spine. It was just a cat.
A black cat.
The ride to the hotel went smoothly from that point. When they arrived, Jacob got out, opened the back door and woke Hawk, who’d tipped over in the back seat and was snoring louder than a freight train. “Kalea has no idea what she’s getting into,” he murmured.
Hawk sat up and rubbed his hand over his face. “Is Kalea here?”
“No, she’s in her room getting her beauty sleep for your wedding on Saturday,” Casey said, hopping on one foot as she pushed her feet into her high-heeled platform shoes. “She has her spa day tomorrow. Come on. Let’s get you to bed so you can sleep it off.”
“I didn’t drink that much,” Hawk said.
“Sure, you didn’t.” Jacob hauled Hawk out of the back seat, looped the man’s arm over his shoulder and wrapped his own around Hawk’s waist. “Think you can make it to the elevator?”
“Seriously, Jacob. I’ve got this.” Hawk drew his arm away from Jacob and squared his shoulders. “Need sleep. Getting married Saturday to the best girl ever.”
“Yeah, yeah. Tying the knot. But sleep first. You can’t show up to your rehearsal drunk. Kalea would have my hide.”
Hawk grinned. “She’s one tough cookie. You don’t want to make her mad.”
“No, I don’t.” Jacob turned Hawk toward the front entrance of the hotel and gave him a gentle nudge. “Come on, Romeo. It’s time for bed.”
Casey smiled at the friends. “Need a hand?”
Jacob cast a glance over his shoulder at the pretty wedding planner. He liked her better as a brunette. The blond wig did nothing for her. “We’ve got this if you want to head home.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to see Hawk to his room. I promised to make sure he got back all right.”
“Don’t you trust me?” Jacob asked.
“I trust you.” She smiled. “After all, you rescued me from the cake.” She tipped her head toward Hawk. “It’s him I’m not so sure about. How much did he have to drink?”
“I only had one beer.” Hawk held up two fingers.
“I saw him pour three. But I was a little distracted.” His gaze raked over her body. A little distracted? He’d been more than a little distracted by the wedding planner who’d played stripper for the night. If his hands weren’t full of his best friend, he’d be tempted to take Casey in his arms. “The guys might have helped him to more while I wasn’t monitoring.”
She nodded and followed him into the building and past the front desk to the elevator.
The night clerk’s eyes narrowed as she moved past him. “Uh, miss, we don’t…uh…we don’t allow…” He shoved a hand through his wiry red hair. “We’re a family hotel. I can’t let you…you know. You can’t go in with them.”
Jacob shoved Hawk into the elevator and reached out to grab Casey’s hand. “She’s my fiancée. Put your tongue back in your head, boy. She’s taken.” Then he pulled Casey into the elevator with him and punched the button to close the door.
The clerk followed them to the elevator, his brow furrowed, his face a splotchy red. “But, sir, she can’t go with you two. It’s against the rules.”
“I told you, she’s my fiancée. We’ve been to a costume party.” Would the door ever close?
“If you’ve been to a costume party, where’s your costume, sir?” The young man put out his hand to stop the door from closing.
Jacob glared at the clerk. “I don’t do costumes. And she’s with me. Don’t fuck with me if you know what’s good for you.”
The clerk pulled back his hand. “My manager isn’t going to be happ?—”
The door finally closed, and the elevator car moved upward to the fifth floor.
“Whew,” Hawk said. “I thought you and the punk were going to trade fists.” He leaned against the rail and scrubbed a hand over his face. “I was gonna have to leave it to you this time.”
Jacob frowned. “You feeling all right?”
“I’m fine. Just fine.” Hawk smiled and slid down the wall of the elevator to sit. “I just need a little sleep. Gettin’ married Saturday. Rehearsal’s ’morrow.” He tipped over sideways and closed his eyes.
The bell rang, and the door slid open.
“I’ll get his feet if you can get his arms,” Casey said. She squatted and grabbed Hawk’s ankles.
“Don’t bother. I’ve got this,” Jacob said. “Just dig his room key out of his pocket and hold the door.”
Casey rummaged in Hawk’s back pocket for his wallet, extracted the hotel room key card and held the elevator door.
Jacob pulled Hawk up by the arm and hauled him across his shoulder. He grunted with the dead weight but held steady enough to get him out into the hallway.
“What’s his room number?” Casey asked.
Jacob gave her the number and followed her to the door. She waved the card in front of the reader, and the light turned green. She pushed the door inward, stepped inside and held it open for Jacob to carry Hawk inside.
He dropped the man onto the king-size bed and straightened. “Should we pump him full of coffee?”
Casey shook her head. “No. Let him sleep it off. The rehearsal isn’t until tomorrow afternoon.” She pulled off his shoes and tucked a pillow beneath his head. “He should have plenty of time to work off the hangover.” She walked toward the door. “I’d better get going.”
Jacob followed her out of the room and closed the door behind him, slipping the key into his front pocket. “Wait just a minute.”
Casey stopped with her finger poised over the elevator button. “Excuse me?”
He stalked toward her and stopped when he was standing toe to toe with her. “I wanted to say thank you for helping me with a man you barely know.” He leaned an arm against the wall behind her and touched the long strands of blond hair. “You really take your job seriously, don’t you?” His fingers curled around one long strand, and he twisted it up to brush the ends against her cheek.
“Everything I do, I do with purpose,” she said, her voice a little breathless.
“Including pretending you’re a stripper?” he asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she whispered, her eyes widening.
He tugged on the hair, and the wig slipped sideways.
She reached up too late to stop the wig from falling off. Instead, she patted her hair, which was held in place by little pins and clips.
Jacob chuckled. “Well, hello, Casey, the wedding planner.” He pulled one of the pins loose, and a lock of dark brown hair fell to her shoulders. “I like you better as a brunette.”
She stared up into his eyes. “You don’t have to like me at all.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “And what if I do, anyway?”
“I…uh…” She shook her head and licked her lips.
The motion of her tongue sweeping across her bottom lip blew his self-control.
He leaned down and brushed his mouth across hers, tasting her. When she put up no resistance, Jacob leaned into her, pressed the length of his body against hers and deepened the kiss.
Her body stiffened, her palms rising to lay flat against his chest.
Jacob continued the kiss, prepared to withdraw if she pushed against him.
Her hands curled into his shirt, her fingernails digging lightly into his skin. Then she raised her hands to encircle his neck and tug him closer.
That was all the encouragement Jacob needed. He swept past her teeth to caress her tongue with his. He bent to run his hands over her buttocks and down to the backs of her thighs, lifting her to wrap her legs around his waist.
Her crotch rested on the ridge beneath his jeans, making him swell even more.
“Do you know what you’re doing to me?” he said, his mouth hovering over hers.
“I kind of have an idea,” she murmured and shifted against his arousal. Her tongue shot out and connected with his, bringing him back into her. What had started as a way to “out” her had moved into more than just a reveal.
He spun, carried her across the hallway to his door and leaned her against the panel. Lifting his head, he stared down into her eyes. “Where are we going with this?”
She held out her hand. “Where’s your key?”
He fished beneath her leg for the wallet in his back pocket and flipped it open. She removed the hotel room key and a foil packet, a smile sliding across her face. “Do you always come prepared?”
“Always,” he said.
She felt for the card reader and ran the key card over it, never once losing eye contact with him.
Jacob saw the light blink green and pushed the door handle down, releasing the latch. “Last chance to change your mind.” He hesitated in the open doorway, holding his breath.
Casey cupped his cheek. “I’m not going to change my mind, but I have conditions.”
His brow dipped. “Conditions?”
She nodded. “They’re easy.” Her finger brushed across his lips. “Never kiss and tell.”
“My lips are sealed.” He captured her finger and sucked it into his mouth.
She met his gaze directly. “And no strings.”
In most situations, Jacob wouldn’t have hesitated a moment with her second condition. Something about this woman and her dedication to the plan made him hesitate for a nanosecond.
Her brow furrowed. “Is there a problem with my conditions?” She smiled. “I would have thought it was a slam dunk.”
“No problem,” he said when he came back to his senses. “I’m on board.”
“Then let’s kiss on it.” Her smile spread across her face. Then she wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him in for a kiss that sealed the deal.
Jacob pushed through the door and kicked it shut behind him.
For a man who wasn’t into weddings, Jacob was well on his way to fulfilling his promise as his friend’s best man. He’d gotten through the bachelor party and brought Hawk back to the hotel unharmed. All he had to do was get the man to the wedding on time on Saturday.
The rest of the night was his, and it was looking up.