8. Terra
TERRA
“So?” Candy demanded the minute Terra walked into the dressing room. “Did you take the bull by the horns or what?”
Terra stopped in the act of putting her purse down on the battered vanity counter and gave the younger woman a flat look.
She had known the teasing was coming—in fact, she’d been expecting it ever since the night she’d disappeared into the VIP lounge with Taurex—but apparently Candy had been saving up her best material.
“No, I did not ‘take the bull by the horns,’” she said dryly.
“Why not?” Crystal demanded from the other side of the long mirror.
She was leaning so close to her reflection that the tip of her nose was almost touching the glass as she carefully glued a strip of thick black false lashes into place.
“I would have. I mean, his horns were huge! Do you think they’re sensitive? ”
“How would I know?” Terra asked, feeling guilty. She couldn’t help remembering the flash she’d gotten when she touched the big Monstrum’s hand–the image of him kneeling between her thighs and lapping her pussy as she held onto his horns and moaned for him.
“Because you were alone with him for almost an hour!” Candy exclaimed. She was already dressed for her first set in a tiny blue plaid skirt and a white blouse tied beneath her breasts, which made her look like a very naughty schoolgirl. “Come on, Terra—we want details. Did you ride the bull?”
“No,” Terra said shortly. She normally didn’t mind joking around with the girls, but she felt defensive about how close she’d allowed herself to get to the big Monstrum.
“Well, did he ride you?” Crystal asked with a giggle.
“No!” Terra couldn’t keep the exasperation out of her voice.
“Did you at least find out if everything they say about Monstrum dicks is true?” Candy persisted.
Terra felt a completely unwanted rush of heat rise into her cheeks as she remembered the enormous ridge she’d felt under Taurex’s trousers when she had been grinding against him.
She hadn’t actually seen his shaft but she had certainly felt enough to know that the rumors about Monstrum Kindred being extremely well endowed probably weren’t exaggerated.
Unfortunately, Candy caught the blush at once.
“Oh my God!” she squealed, pointing at Terra. “Look at her face! Something happened!”
“Nothing happened,” Terra protested, opening her purse and pulling out her makeup bag. “At least, nothing I’m going to tell either one of you about.”
“So something did happen,” Crystal said triumphantly.
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.” Candy grinned at her. “Come on, Terra, don’t be so bull-headed.”
Terra stared at her.
“Seriously?”
Candy dissolved into giggles.
“I’ve been waiting two days to use that one!”
“Well, you can stop now,” Terra said dryly.
“Oh, no—I’ve got more,” Candy promised. “Maybe you should stop bullshitting us and tell us if you—”
“Enough with the bull jokes!” Terra exclaimed, though she couldn’t help laughing a little as she sat down in front of the mirror. “Lord, both of you need hobbies.”
“This is our hobby,” Crystal told her. She finally got the false eyelash attached and sat back to inspect her work. “Besides, you have to admit he was kind of hot in a weird way.”
“Kind of?” Candy put in. “Once I got over the horns and the ears, I thought he was actually really hot. I mean, did you see his body?”
“Oh, I saw it.” Crystal fanned herself dramatically. “If that man was any more built, he’d need a construction permit.”
“Okay, that doesn’t even make sense,” Terra remarked.
“It doesn’t have to,” Crystal said, laughing. “You know what I mean.”
Terra did know what she meant, unfortunately.
She had been doing her best for the past two days not to think about Taurex’s enormous, muscular body or the deep rumble of his voice or the way his golden eyes had looked when he watched her pleasure herself.
Most of all, she had tried not to think about the fact that she had actually come in the VIP lounge for the first time in her life.
She still didn’t know how she felt about that.
Part of her was embarrassed. She had always been able to keep Bunny Canyon separate from Terra.
Bunny smiled and flirted and rubbed herself against strange men because that was how she paid the bills.
Terra was the woman who went home afterward and washed off the glitter, checked Cody’s homework, kissed Lisa goodnight and sat at the kitchen table until one in the morning doing accounting assignments on her laptop.
The two parts of her life weren’t supposed to touch.
But with Taurex, they had.
For the first time, she hadn’t just been pretending to enjoy herself.
She had actually wanted him watching her.
She had wanted to rub against him and feel the hard length of his cock beneath his trousers.
She had wanted him to tell her what to do with the little vibrator and when he had increased the speed, she had come so hard she’d nearly collapsed in his lap.
That still bothered her.
Not because she hadn’t enjoyed it—she had enjoyed it more than any sexual experience she could remember—but because she didn’t understand why she had reacted to him that way.
Taurex had insisted that he hadn’t done anything to control her, but he had somehow been able to look inside her mind. What if he had done something else without realizing it? Or worse, what if he had known exactly what he was doing and simply lied?
Then why did he leave when you told him to? a little voice whispered in the back of her mind. If he’s such a problem, why hasn’t he been back? He left you alone when you asked him to, didn’t he? So what’s so bad about him?
Terra frowned at her reflection. She didn’t have an answer for that.
Taurex could easily have overpowered her.
Hell, he could probably have carried her out of the club tucked under one arm and no one but Marty would have been big enough to even try to stop him.
But when she had told the huge Monstrum to get out, he had gone.
He hadn’t argued or threatened or tried to touch her again.
He had simply apologized, left two thousand dollars on the chair and offered her a job.
The business card he’d left was still in her purse. Terra had nearly thrown it away three separate times but somehow…she hadn’t.
“So are you ever going to see him again?” Candy asked, breaking into her thoughts.
“No,” Terra said, a little too quickly.
Crystal gave her a skeptical look in the mirror.
“Uh-huh. Riiiight.”
“I’m serious,” Terra said, trying to make herself believe it. “He was a customer. I danced for him. That’s all.”
“You spent almost an hour with him,” Crystal pointed out.
“Because he paid for the time,” Terra countered.
“And then he gave you how much?” Candy asked.
Terra hadn’t meant to tell them, but Candy had seen the wad of cash when she came back to the dressing room and had eventually worn her down.
“Two thousand dollars,” she admitted reluctantly.
Crystal whistled.
“Girl, for two thousand dollars, I’d let him put a saddle on me. Or I’d put one on him.”
“Crystal!” Terra exclaimed.
“What?” She laughed. “I’m just saying.”
“No saddles, no horns, no riding the bull and no more talking about Taurex,” Terra said firmly. “Can we please find another subject?”
“All right, all right.” Candy held up both hands. “No more bull.”
“Thank you.”
For a moment the three of them were quiet. Then Crystal said,
“You know, technically, because his business is importing alien stuff, maybe you could say he’s in a bull market.”
Candy shrieked with laughter.
“Oh, you!” Terra threw a makeup sponge at her, laughing despite herself.
The three of them were still laughing when the dressing room door opened and Marty came in.
His arrival changed the mood immediately.
The manager rarely bothered coming backstage unless one of the dancers was late for her set, someone had caused trouble on the floor, or a customer with enough money had made a special request.
Terra stopped smiling when she saw the expression on his face.
“What?” she asked. “What is it?”
Marty looked directly at her.
“Bunny, you've got a VIP.”
Her stomach sank but she tried to keep her face neutral.
“I’m not doing VIP tonight.”
He frowned.
“What do you mean, you’re not doing VIP?”
“I mean exactly what I said.” Terra turned back to the mirror and began applying mascara. “I did one the last time I worked. I’m not doing one tonight.”
“You haven't even heard who it is.”
“I don't care who it is.”
“Viktor Orlov.”
Her hand stopped with the mascara wand halfway to her lashes. For a moment, nobody said anything, then Terra lowered the wand.
“No,” she said.
Marty sighed.
“Terra—”
“No.” She screwed the mascara wand back into the tube and turned to face him. “Absolutely not.”
Marty frowned.
“But he asked for you specifically.”
Terra shrugged.
“Then tell him I’m not available.”
“He already knows you're here.”
A small unpleasant shiver went through her.
“How?”
Marty shrugged.
“He saw you come out on the floor earlier.”
Terra had gone out for less than five minutes to get a bottle of water from the bar before coming back to change for her set. Apparently that had been long enough.
“Well, then tell him I’m not doing VIP dances anymore,” she said.
Candy and Crystal exchanged a glance. Terra hadn't officially made that decision until this exact moment, but suddenly it seemed like an excellent one. She had enough money to last her for a while. There was no need to do something she hated so much.
Marty crossed his arms over his chest.
“You’re not doing VIP anymore? Since when?”
Terra lifted her chin defiantly.
“Since now.”
His frown deepened.
“Come on, Terra. Don't be difficult.”
She crossed her arms over her chest.
“I’m not being difficult. I’m telling you I’m not going into a private room with that man again.”
“Why not?” Marty demanded.