De La Fuente Family: Love in Montana Part 6

"Stop trying to fill me up. I've eaten more than I usually do." Sylvia reached up on tiptoes and planted a kiss to his lips before she used her thumb to wipe the lipstick from them. "I enjoyed what you made. It's been a while since I had more than a bowl of cereal, or a cereal bar at my desk with coffee when I run late." She glanced at her slim gold watch attached to her wrist. "Like I am now," she observed but made no move to leave.

His hands itched to take hold of her again, but he knew she wouldn't make it out of the door if he touched her. She took the decision out of his hands. With a smirk she closed the gap between them, and after a nibble on his earlobe, whispered, "I'm going to be wet all day thinking about you, and what you did to me." His lobe was licked before she pulled away, and he was left stunned at her teasing.

She grabbed her purse and grinned when she glanced over her shoulder at his frozen self.

"You liked that idea, huh?"

Swallowing to try to bring moisture to his dry throat, he coughed before he managed, "What guy wouldn't?"

With a serious expression covering her face, she admitted, "I've never been like this before. Where I want to say naughty things to see how you'll react. I know where I work in the evenings says I'm dirty, but I'm really not. I've always been shy with others, even Talya. You're different, and I'm not sure what to make of that."

"One," he stepped into her s.p.a.ce, "you are not dirty, and working at the club does not give you that stigma. Most girls who work at those places do it for the money and because of the thrill. Don't even demean yourself like that. It p.i.s.ses me off that you're on display for those h.o.r.n.y f.u.c.kers to get off on, in fact it makes me see f.u.c.king red. But with me, I want you open and honest. I don't like liars, and no matter how you think I'll react to something, I will always want your honesty, Sylvia."

"That goes both ways." Her hand crept up his chest, and a finger with a manicured pink nail swirled through his chest hair, which didn't help his arousal any.

"I'm always honest-sometimes brutally so. Which is why I'm going to tell you that you scare the c.r.a.p out of me."

Her eyes widened in surprise. He knew she hadn't expected those words to ever leave his mouth.

"You scare me because you're under my skin. Every time I close my eyes you appear, even when I'd rather you didn't." He sighed and the longing in his eyes made her melt against him but he pushed her away gently before he finished. "I can't pick you up tonight as I promised Zane we'd hook up, but tomorrow night I can."

Sylvia nodded as she tried to hide her excitement over seeing him again soon. "I don't want to hurt you, and I'm going to try hard not to, but this, with you, is a first for me." He smiled. "So go easy on me."

She chuckled, and reached for his groin, which bulged behind his zipper. "Does that mean I get free access to you, and what's beneath these clothes?" She squeezed and his eyes rolled into his head with pleasure.

She was dangerous. No other woman had ever aroused him as quickly or as hotly as the woman who had his family jewels in her hand.

"You haven't answered my question." She kissed his jaw and started to move down his neck with her teeth when he felt his zipper go down and her fingers stroked part of his bare c.o.c.k.

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her away. "We can't," he hissed between gritted teeth. "I have to get you home to change before work and we're cutting it close."

She quickly fastened his zipper and made sure nothing got stuck, but her face had lost the previous glow from his words.

He cupped her face with his hands and kissed her brow. "What I really want to do is strip you naked and keep you in my bed all day," he sighed, "but I can't do that." He kissed her quickly on the lips and stepped back to grab his keys. "Let's go before all my good intentions fly out the window."

Sylvia hesitated before following him from the apartment. At the elevator doors, she asked, "Are you sure you're free tomorrow evening?" Her voice didn't sound all that confident, which he should expect considering he'd always pushed her away before.

"I promise, Sylvia. We have a date tomorrow and nothing is going to stop me from seeing you." Their fingers intertwined as they stepped into the elevator.

Chapter Ten.

Sylvia hadn't told Eric that she had a s.h.i.+ft at Poles that night because she knew he hated her working there. So she'd felt relief when he told her he had something else planned. She only hoped Zane didn't get it into his head to come down to the club so he could drool over Bea because that would mean Eric showing up. That was all she needed.

She'd tried to sneak into the club, but had been recognized by a few of the regulars. They were harmless enough so she'd offered them a small smile before carrying on through to the dressing room.

The short corridor was dark and gloomy as always, which had never bothered her before. But since she'd started to receive the unwanted notes, her skin crawled with the thought of him lying in wait in the storeroom that was opposite the dressing room door.

With her breath in her throat, she dashed down the corridor and practically fell into the room much to the shock of the other girls. One of which was Bea, who didn't look too happy.

A brow rose in question, Bea paused in the middle of getting dressed and waited. Sylvia knew Bea wouldn't let her disheveled arrival go unnoticed no matter how much she wished that Bea would.

"I thought I was late." Sylvia shrugged after offering her lame excuse, which Bea, clearly, didn't buy.

"Spill," Bea demanded. "Something is going on with you. You're skittish. If there's something wrong then I want to help." Bea moved closer and hesitated before she pulled Sylvia down on the bench seat with her.

Sylvia hid her surprise at the concern she saw on Bea's face.

"Look," Bea started, "I know we haven't really talked before, and that's on me. You now know the baggage I have following me everywhere I go, so I guess it doesn't matter as he found me anyway. I guess I'll always be looking over my shoulder."

"What about Zane?"

Bea blushed.

"Zane is..." her voice trailed off before a hardness filled her eyes. "It's complicated, especially as I'm sure he just wants to f.u.c.k me."

Sylvia smiled. "That's what I used to think about Eric, and now I'm not all that sure." She patted Bea's hand. "Zane seemed to be concerned for you the other night. More than someone who just wanted to f.u.c.k you would be."

Bea looked lost in thought so Sylvia tried to use her preoccupation to deflect the subject from herself. It didn't work.

"You were about to say..." Bea smirked, knowing good and well what Sylvia had been up to.

After a few seconds of debate, Sylvia decided to confide in her, "I've been getting weird notes. Here at work." She sighed. "I don't know who they're from but there is a man I suspect. They tend to say the same thing, that he wants me to do a private lap dance for him. He says a bunch of other stuff as well. I'm beautiful. He'd cherish me if I gave him a chance. He'd make sure that I never had to work in the club again." Her voice wobbled slightly near the end.

He frightened her now, which was why in the dark corridor she'd shot into the dressing room as though her a.s.s was on fire.

"You haven't told Yuri, have you?" Bea glanced at Sylvia and watched as she shook her head. "I didn't think so. You need to, Sylvia."

"No. I'm not telling him. I'm so close to having the money for the down payment I need that I can't lose this job." She stood and started to pace back and forth in front of Bea.

"You're not thinking straight. Yuri won't fire you because you're being stalked, and even if he thought about it, there's no way Talya would let that happen. So stop worrying, and tell the boss." Bea stood and intercepted Sylvia as she continued to pace. "He can't help you if he doesn't know," Bea added softly.

"Okay." She inhaled. "I'll talk to him later, before I leave. I don't have time now."

Wanting to forget all about the notes and wondering who watched her every night, Sylvia opened her locker and grabbed her outfit for the night.

It didn't take her long to dress, and once her purse and clothes were locked up, she adjusted the hem of the short shorts. No matter how much she messed with them, there was no way they were suddenly going to grow and cover her a.s.s.

She huffed out a loud breath in agitation only to hear Bea snicker in the background.

"Your shorts are longer than mine," Sylvia stated, disgruntled.

"I think Yuri likes your legs as they're always on display."

Over her shoulder, Sylvia frowned at Bea who now checked out her own a.s.s in the floor to ceiling mirrors that lined one side of the dressing room.

"Yuri only has eyes for one woman and that isn't me, as you know."

"I know." Bea turned to face her. "What's going on with those two? They've danced around each other for a few months now, since before you started working here. It doesn't make any sense that they're still doing it. They're both single from what I've heard."

Her feet were strapped into the dark purple satin high heel sandals, her favorite color, as she turned away so that Bea couldn't see the truth on her face. Sylvia replied, "Dating the boss doesn't make for a good working relations.h.i.+p."

Bea laughed. "You're joking right. Sometimes I think their clothes will incinerate with the looks they give each other."

Sylvia happened to agree but the conversation needed to be nipped in the bud before she blurted out something she'd been told in confidence.

"I need to get out there." It was the last thing she felt like doing and, really, she had started to lose her reason for dancing at the club since she'd first spent time with Eric.

Perhaps it was his idea of Poles that had put a damper on her work there. No one had come between her and her dreams before and she couldn't believe he had.

"You need to stop daydreaming and get out there," Bea observed.

"I know." Sylvia sighed, wis.h.i.+ng her life wasn't so complicated.

With two jobs and her heart involved with a man who she wasn't sure would be around in six months time, she was tired. Exhausted would be a better word to use. She rarely had any free time and it had now started to play heavily on her body.

Trying not to think further than that night, she offered Bea a small smile as she left the room and headed toward the stage.

The club had been packed when she'd walked through on her arrival so at least the tips should be more than usual, which was a plus. She just hoped that the guy who she suspected of sending the notes wasn't around. He gave her the creeps, whether or not he was the one responsible.

"About time," Robert snarled. He worked behind the scenes and growled at everyone. She'd never seen anything but annoyance on his face or in his eyes.

"I'm not late." There were two minutes until her stint on stage, providing the clock on the wall behind Robert held the correct time.

He ignored her as usual and indicated with his hand for her to get her b.u.t.t on stage.

The initial part of her routine took a lot out of her because all she wanted to do was run back to the dressing room and hurl with stage fright. It always took her between thirty to sixty seconds to ease into her routine. To feel relaxed and able to forget she had an audience. She needed to forget so that she could dance for herself.

Her outfit today was of a Vegas showgirl. The shorts showed off the curve of her a.s.s, and they sparkled brightly with the silver sequins that coated them. The bra matched and barely covered her nipples, so she prayed the audience wouldn't get more of a show than she had planned.

Swinging her leg around the pole, Sylvia nodded to Robert and the music began, Happy Pills by Norah Jones. She loved this song, and the music had a great beat for her routine.

Her body flexed and s.h.i.+fted against the pole while the audience went silent and watched her. The nerves were her constant companion, so she closed her eyes and imagined herself dancing with Eric as the only member of the audience.

Her legs wrapped around the pole as she pulled herself higher, her right leg curved high and gripped the steel before she arched her back and went hands free.

The audience stayed silent, and as her eyes snapped open, she viewed the licking of lips as they watched her. Her skin crawled so she glanced away and hurried to finish her routine.

Happy Pills came to an end and just before the lights went off, she spotted the guy glaring at her at the side of the stage.

She stumbled back, her mind spinning from the emotions a.s.saulting her...fear...nervousness...repulsion at the looks of desire on the men's faces. Her eyes widened in shock as she stepped back again, her heel finding nothing but air and then she tumbled into the darkened crowd as she cried out.

The landing was jarring and just before her lights went out, she caught sight of him as he hovered over her.

Chapter Eleven.

The past thirty minutes, as Eric and Zane dashed to the emergency room, had caused a fear in him that hadn't let up. Eric wasn't all that sure he liked it.

Zane, for once, had realized the seriousness of the situation after the call from Bea. She'd been frantic and had no idea how to get a hold of Eric, which was why she'd made her first ever call to Zane. His friend had hid his disappointment that the call had been because of Sylvia being injured and not to talk to him.

Eric had never seen his friend so infatuated with a woman before, and he started to wonder what the h.e.l.l they'd drank because Zane wasn't the only one besotted.

Which was why he'd dashed to the hospital with Zane in tow.

All Zane had been able to get from Bea's frantic call had been that she was unconscious and the paramedics had been called.

They'd arrived within minutes of her being taken in to a cubicle to be examined so he'd missed seeing her, which clawed his gut. He wanted the right to be in the room with her. If he'd been thinking on arrival, he'd have said she was his fiancee to be with her. A sure sign he was in over his head with her.

The waiting room was quiet with only a few others silently waiting for news about their loved ones. All of them had eyes filled with worry, including Sylvia's friends. Her friend, Talya, showed up five minutes earlier with Yuri, and, for once, Bea had allowed Zane close and snuggled into his side, her hand swallowed up in his larger one. Eric was the only one without comfort because his woman was the one being treated.

"Who is waiting for news on Sylvia Taylor?" a female voice asked.

Eric's head shot up; he met the doctor's eyes, and froze. His body felt as though it was laden down with lead, and then she smiled.

He got his a.s.s in gear and walked over to her along with the others, and waited.

"Is any of her family present?" The doctor queried, a frown marred her brow when she realized there wasn't. Her gaze landed on Eric when the others stared at him. "She's your girlfriend?"

He nodded, "Yes," even though it was stretching the truth slightly. The need to be with her was so strong that he would have stretched the truth further if it meant he'd be in her room soon.

The doctor nodded. "Sylvia has a concussion due to the lump she sustained when she hit the floor. There's some bruising on the left side of her shoulder blade, which probably looks worse than it is. X-rays came back clear. She's upset at the thought of staying in over night, but unless there's someone willing to monitor her for twenty four hours, I can't release her."

"We live together and I'll be there," Talya offered, and it didn't go unnoticed that Yuri had his arm around her waist as he kept her in the shelter of his body.

"Let me talk to her. If she will, I want her to come home with me," Eric said. He glanced at Talya. "I want to look after her."

She offered him a small smile and nodded.

"When can I see her?"

"You can follow me back there." The doctor paused. "One at a time."

She walked off and Eric followed without a second thought because he was so much closer to seeing Sylvia, and then, there she was.