“Tyler …”

“You’re beautiful and sexy, Sloane. Even in your jeans and T-shirt. But in this, you’re breathtaking. Enjoy it. Better yet, let me enjoy it.”

I frowned at my reflection. I did look seriously hot. Hotter than I’d ever looked before, that was for sure, and I couldn’t deny that it was tempting. So very tempting.

“Besides,” he said, standing and coming to me. “There will be dancing, and this dress was made for it.” He drew me into his arms, one hand holding mine, the other at my back. As he hummed something smooth and classical, he led me around the room, and even there, in a dressing room with no real music, it was almost magical.

“You see?” he said, his grin just a little bit wicked as he dipped me, making me cry out, then laugh in surprise and delight. My back arched, my leg extended out, and he pressed a kiss to the side of my neck.

He pulled me back to my feet, running his hand along my bare thigh as he did. “That slit is a very important selling point.” His fingers continued along the length of the slit until he reached my sex. I was slick and wet, and I groaned when he thrust his finger inside me. “Definitely a selling point,” he murmured.

“Tyler …” My protest was thin and weak.

“Hush,” he said, dropping to his knees. He lifted his hands, pushing the material up on my hips so that the top of the slit framed my sex. “I have to taste you,” he said, then laved his tongue over me once before tilting his head up to face me. “Don’t make a sound.”

Oh, dear lord …

I reached out, steadying myself with the side of the mirror as he drew in close once again, his hands now inside the skirt, holding tight to my thighs, his tongue so intimately stroking me.

He teased my clit with tiny, fluttery strokes, then stroked me, gloriously hard, before sucking and teasing.

My knees were weak, and I had to take one hand off the mirror to bite the soft pad at the base of my thumb simply to quell the need to scream in both pleasure and frustration. Pleasure at the riot of sensations he was sending through me. Frustration that I could do nothing more than stand there biting my lip when I wanted to cry out and beg him for more, beg him to lay me down and shove the dress up and bury himself inside me.

His tongue continued its sweet torture, and I clung to the side of the mirror, feeling the climax build, knowing I was close, so close, and any moment I would completely shatter.

And then he backed away. “I think that’s far enough.”

I gaped at him. “Excuse me?”

He stood up, then kissed me, long and deep. I tasted my own arousal and moaned against his mouth, my hips crushing against him as I writhed, shamelessly seeking my release.

“Mine, remember?” he said as he broke the kiss and backed away. His expression was smug and very devious. “I want you wanting. I want you desperate. I want you so ready for me you’ll come with the slightest of touches, and then again and again when I fuck you.”

My body trembled from his words. “Bastard.”

He laughed. “I’ve been called worse.”

“You know I’m going to make you pay.”

He bent down to pick up my bra and shirt, then unbuttoned the shoulder. “Sweetheart, I sincerely hope so.”

Since there was no winning this battle, I got dressed, stifling a frustrated moan as the jeans rubbed provocatively against me. I glanced at Tyler, certain he was aware of this new distress, but he very wisely didn’t meet my eye.

I picked up the dress, turning it over to look for the tag. “There’s no price,” I said.

“Trust me. There’s always a price.”

In this case, the price was five digits, and I about had a heart attack.

“For a dress? And you spent it?” We were back on the street, heading toward Michigan Avenue so we could catch a taxi back to The Drake. “I could buy a car for that.”

“Not a very good one.”

“How the hell am I going to wear it? I’ll be afraid to breathe on it.”

“You’ll wear it because I want to see you in it. And later, I want to see you out of it.”

Such is the irony that had become my life, because just two short hours after spending over ten thousand on a dress, I was wearing next to nothing as I moved through a strip club doing the pre-performance mingle-and-chat routine. The kind of chatter that had me saying simpering nonsense and them mostly staring at my tits.

I wore short-shorts that revealed the curve of my rear and a push-up bra that accentuated the curve of my breasts, and in a few minutes, I’d replace that with my naughty executive outfit—which, once I took it off, showed off everything.

The thought made me long for Tyler, and I paused in my conversation with a Philadelphia businessman to scan the room for him.

I found him by the bar, going over what was probably an inventory with one of the two bartenders. As if he could feel my eyes on him, he looked up, and his smile held such warmth that I felt it all the way to my toes.

He shifted his gaze to a far corner, then nodded at a solitary man sitting in one of the plush chairs nursing a drink. The lunchtime crowd tended to sit at the stage, so this man was unique simply by virtue of being alone.

Charley, Tyler mouthed, and I nodded.

I said something polite but dismissive to my man from Philly, then swung my hips to give him a little show as I moved across the room to where Big Charley sat.

He was aptly named. A huge man with dark hair except for silver sideburns, he was ruggedly handsome, like a Hollywood version of a lumberjack. He looked up as I approached, his eyes going to tits then crotch in a way that I was starting to get used to.

“Hi, sugar,” I said. “You’re all alone over here.”

“Just enjoying the scenery,” he said. A glass half-filled with golden liquor sat on the table next to a money clip that was thick with bills.

He lifted his glass and I caught the scent of bourbon. He tossed it back, then smacked his empty glass down on the table. “I have to say, the view is definitely improving.”

I laughed. “You’re sweet.” I cocked my head, studying him. “Wait a sec, you’re Charley, aren’t you?”

For a moment, he looked startled. “I know I’d remember you, darlin’. So how do you know me?”

“Oh, I don’t,” I said. “But my friend Amy said you were the sweetest thing. She said Big Charley always sits off by himself and he’s just as nice as he can be and handsome as all get out. That’s you, right? You were one of Amy’s most favorite customers.”

“That’s me,” he said. “How is she? Moved to Vegas, didn’t she?”

“Yes, and the mean thing hasn’t called me since she got there. I can’t remember where she said she was working. Did she mention it to you?”

“Afraid not.” He held up his glass to one of the passing waitresses, indicating he wanted a refill. “I’d offered her a job, actually, but she turned it down. Said she was going to dance in Vegas instead.”

“Dance? Well, that narrows it down, doesn’t it?” I said, then laughed.

“Why are you looking for her. Worried?”

I shook my head, not inclined to delve into Candy’s worries or my concerns with a stranger. “Not worried so much as frustrated. She promised a friend she’d come by and see her, but Amy tends to flake out, so I’m guessing the lure of Vegas was too much for her.”