PRIVATE DANCER
Kimberly Dean
Table of Contents
Chapter One
The spotlight was bright as Alicia stood on-stage, pinned in its crosshairs. The light felt hot on her face and even hotter on her body.
Awareness blistered inside her.
There was nowhere to run. No place to hide. She felt like a bug under a microscope.
A vulnerable, prized bug.
The brightness made it difficult to see, but she could feel the attention focused on her. The hungry, lustful eyes of a crowd of men. If she listened hard, she could hear their short, panting breaths.
Around her, music began. Its hard-driving rhythm caught her in the chest and she gasped. The beat reverberated between her breasts, and her nipples tightened. They felt hot and pinched. Shy. The bass started creeping through the floor and into her feet. It jumped higher and higher, grabbing her thighs and encouraging her to move. To dance.
‘Come on, baby. Show us what you’ve got. ’
It was time for her solo.
Her heart beat faster in her chest, excited and scared at the same time.
She’d never done this before. Of all the solos she’d performed in her life, she’d never stripped off her clothes while going through the motions.
Yet that was what she was here to do.
Unable to fight the tug of the rhythm any longer, she swept her arms over her head. Her hips swayed back and forth timidly, and then with more vigour.
A wolf-whistle cut through the air. The male approval was clear.
She was going to end up dancing with a pole.
‘Oh, man. Look at her,’ someone groaned.
She couldn’t see who was admiring her, but she could see that pole. The gleaming brass fixture stood at the end of the long runway in front of her. Her knees went a little weak when it glinted under another spotlight, almost as if winking at her. Daring her to come play.
Her palms became damp and she swept them over her undulating hips.
There was just something about that pole. Something hard, challenging and outright sexual.
‘Enough with the teasing,’ a rough voice growled from the darkness. ‘We paid to see skin. ’
