Santa Baby~Chapter 9



Later that night, Meredith Danner burst through the doors of The Pink Flamingo with one thing on her mind: finding Belle and drilling her for details about this new--very hot--guy in her life.

She rushed back stage and pushed through the crowd of girls. "Belle! Oh, Belle-yoohoo!" She waved her hand frantically when she spotted the petite blonde at a dressing table. "Belle, honey, we must find a place to talk privately before our shifts start. I have to know what happened with that guy today."

Ears pricked up all around the room, and an exotic looking brunette that was dressing beside Belle, stepped forward and grabbed Belle by the shoulders. "Guy?" She asked, raising an elegant black eyebrow. "Guy? Belle Black, spill. Spill it now. How dare you even think of harboring sexy secrets from all your gal pals!"

Belle shot Meredith a glare and made a mental note to kill her later, then shrugged and turned around to face her public. "It's nothing." She replied matter-of-factly, in a tone that her own daughter used often for pouting. "He's just a guy who happens to like my daughter."

The brunette giggled, revealing a lusty, sexy laugh that drove the men wild. "Honey, they are all just guys. Now, tell us how you met this guy who happens to like our Madison."

Always anxious to share a secret, Meredith leapt forward and took the stage. "Oh, you guys, it's so romantic. He almost ran over her." She barreled on past the questions that suddenly started. "And you should see him. Oh! He's so handsome, like a fairy tale prince, only...sexier. And bigger!"

Belle raised a skeptical eyebrow. "What do you mean by bigger?"

This comment got several giggles and a couple of gasps. Meredith only slapped her new friend on the back, companionably, and chuckled. "Get your head out of the gutter, Belle. I only meant that he seemed a little taller than a normal fairy tale prince."

"Sure you did."

The brunette butted in again. "All right, there are some details that we must know about this new beaux of your's, darling. Such as, eye color? Hair color? A rough description of facial characteristics." Her dramatically dark eyes narrowed wickedly. "A very detailed description of his body structure, including a nice account of his ass, shoulders, and abs."

"Jenifer! I can't believe you. Besides, I haven't really noticed any of that kind of stuff. I mean I guess he's pretty handsome--" Belle glanced up when Meredith grabbed her hand.

"Pretty handsome?! Oh Belle, are you blind? The man is a god! My Lord, honey, I can't believe you haven't noticed. I won't believe you haven't noticed."

And of course, she'd noticed, Belle mused. She'd not only noticed, but she could probably draw a fairly accurate composite sketch of the man. Meredith was right. He was a god. "I just don't pay much attention to stuff like that."

Jenifer, the exotic brunette, scoffed, then turned back to her mirror and applied a fine line of black eye liner. "Sure, you don't, honey. And I don't notice that Alex has a nice ass and the face of an angel. None of us notice things like that." There was a murmur of sarcastic agreement across the room that had Belle grinning. When had these people become her friends? Had it happened suddenly or had they always been there and she'd just refused to notice?

"All right, all right. Shawn Brady is a god. He's head-over-heels in love with my little girl and she with him, and that single fact could have me falling in love with the man. He's roughly six-foot-two, has gorgeously dark eyes, his lips are amazingly luscious, and his hair just begs for me to run my hands through it." She shrugged and decided that since she was among friends she wouldn't hold anything back. "The moment I saw him I wanted to rip his clothes off and ravage him."

Her audience drilled her with questions then, and had her grinning foolishly and feeling young--truly young--for the first time in years.

When she walked out into the club and immediately saw Shawn, all of that giddiness melted away into something else. Something entirely different. Something called desire.

He was leaning against the bar, his dark eyes skimming over the crowd as though he were looking for someone. Perhaps, for her. One hand held a Corona bottle and the other was thrust deep into the pocket of his dark-colored levis. He had pulled a simple long-sleeved T-shirt on and obviously hadn't bothered to comb his hair. He looked--casual, she decided, and all too sexy to be safe.

He spotted her at almost the same time and was already headed in her direction. He was sure now why he was here. Aware of the exact force that kept pulling him back. And that force, he saw with some disapproval, was dressed in a black cat suit that left nothing to the imagination.

When he reached her, he ignored her cheery hello, and merely grabbed her by the arm and dragged her in the direction of the stage.

Belle desperately tried to ignore the looks and whispers that half the people in the club were giving them, as she was pulled across the restaurant, but when she saw Jenifer give a little wink, the straw finally broke the camel's back. She jerked her arm away from him. "Asshole." She hissed, immediately heading in the opposite direction.

It took two steps for him to catch up, and this time he didn't bother finding a more private location for what he had in mind. Knowing that he was being rough--too rough--he dragged her against him and crushed his lips down on hers.

The initial shock of the move left Belle staggered enough, but her reaction to the heat, the taste, and the feel of his lips had her steeped in desire almost instantly. The tray that she'd been planning to hit him with clattered to the ground as she molded her body to his, wrapped her arms around his neck. This time she heard no murmurs, saw no curious faces...just him. There was only him.

When he pulled away, she had to hold onto him to keep from collapsing onto the dirty floor of the club. He held her there, against him, for what seemed like hours to Belle. Then she felt the soft whisper of his breath against her ear and slowly came back from the heaven she had ascended upon.

"Christ." Was the only good thing Shawn could think to say as he rested his forehead on hers and watched her eyes flutter open. "I've been waiting to do that from the first moment I saw you."

She scrunched up her nose and scowled at him. "How original." But he caught her chin in his hand and had her gaze landing back on his. "I have." He said firmly, before pressing his lips back to hers. "And don't forget it."



Santa Baby~Chapter 10



Before she could respond to any of it, he was pulling her back towards the stage once again. She gave a passing thought to her job, then realized that her boss was Alex Turner for God's sake, and he would probably give her a raise for sneaking out of there and doing--well, whatever they were going to be doing. Because he was dragging her with such raw enthusiasm, her lips curved into a satisfied feminine smile. She was going to enjoy this. After all, it'd been quite a while since a man had looked at her quite like that.

Hell, had any man ever looked at her like that? Like he could have eaten her alive? Maybe, he would still, she thought as they slipped behind the stage curtains. It was empty. Thank the good Lord that it was empty.

He pressed her against the wall so fast that she didn't have time to react, then like they'd been before, his lips were on hers, hot and lethal. Flaming and violent. Hungry and torrid.

Her mind was reeling, her body was numb to anything but his touch. Then, as quickly as the storm had descended, it subsided and she was left baffled and wanting more. "Umm, Shawn?"

His hands wandered up the sides of the black cat suit, enjoying the feel of it. Silk and skin, were there ever two textures that did so much to a man's mind? A man's body? He took a steadying breath and tried to remember why he'd come to The Pink Flamingo that night in the first place. He'd already seen both Belle and Madison once that day. Was he really that out of control that he had to see them again? Twice in one day? He rested his forehead against hers and sighed. "What the hell are we going to do about this?"

Do? Something had to be done? She let her initial reaction to the question slide and played with the dark curls that tickled his shirt collar. "Well--" She began, wetting her lips. "I was hoping, we could do some more of this--"

Just as their lips were meeting again, Alex stormed onto stage. "Shit, Belle, where'd you--" His words would never escape the tightening of his throat, when he saw them together, locked around each other with hungry looks in their eyes. "Well--this is--shit." He said again, knowing very well that his face had turned beet red.

Belle immediately jumped back out of Shawn's reach, mortified. "Al, oh God, I'm sorry. I--I--" She threw a desperate glance at Shawn, and he stepped forward, more-than-willing to play lawyer for a few minutes.

He extended his hand to Alex and offered his best smile. "Shawn Brady. I'm guessing your Belle's employer."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "If by employer you mean boss, then yeah, I'm Alex Turner. I own this dump."

"Well, I'm terribly sorry for pulling Belle away from her work, but there was something I had to discuss with her that couldn't wait. I hope you won't blame her for taking a break."

Eyeing Shawn suspiciously, Alex shook his head. "No, it's no big deal." He turned his blue eyes on Belle. "Five more minutes, Belle baby, it's wild out there. Nice meeting you, Brady."

"Like wise, Turner." Shawn waited until Alex was gone, then snaked an arm around Belle's waist and pulled her back to him. "I don't think your boss likes me very much." He whispered, nipping her ear and sending her body back up to heaven again.

"Yeah, Alex is a little protective of me. Kinda like a big brother."

"Baby, the look he was giving me was not one of a protective big brother. It was the look of a jealous ex-lover. Have a history with Mr. Alex Turner?"

God, if he would stop touching her, she might be able to think. His hands were skimming up her back and his lips were still working on her neck, up towards her jaw line. "With Al? Oh, no. It's not like that with Al. I mean sure, he wants to sleep with me, but I've sworn off guys like him. They're bad for me."

"Hmm." Stopping his gentle exploration of her skin, he lifted his face and gazed down at her. "Do you have any idea what I want to do to you up on this stage? Any idea at all?"

"I might have some idea."

He kissed her again firmly on the lips, before pulling away and holding her at arm's length. "Well, keep that in mind, and we'll be sure to finish this later. 'Night, Belle." Satisfied that he and she both would have a restless night, he nodded then disappeared back out into the club.

She stared after him, baffled with dreams of what was to come dancing in her mind.