Mistress Christmas Read Online Free Page B

once again, it’d taken two shots of schnapps to bolster her courage.
    Thank god Nick hadn’t been around. She’d managed to flirt with several patrons before ditching her sexy, sassy persona and heading home.
    After the way she’d bolted last night, chances were slim Nick would be back. He’d gotten way more bang for his hundred bucks anyway. Her discussions with other strippers cemented her mortification. How was she supposed to have known there was no touching, no kissing and definitely no orgasms during lap dances?
    Still, Holly had guts enough to face the naughty truth: even if she had known the rules, she would’ve done it exactly the same way. Dammit. How mortifying to have it bad for a man she’d met in a strip club? And she didn’t even know his last name? Her attraction to him mattered not one whit, because if Nick found out she wasn’t a hot-to-trot stripper, he wouldn’t be interested in her at all.
    “Holls, why is your face all red? You aren’t getting sick, are you?”
    “No.” Holly jerked her chin from Ivy’s hand. “It’s from the glass of red wine.”
    “Thank goodness you haven’t contracted the creeping crud floating around here. If I haven’t already told you a million times, I’ll say it again. Thank you for filling in again tonight.”
    “You’re welcome. Remember this favor when it’s tax season and I need an office drone.”
    Ivy grinned. “You’ve got it.” She tugged the bustier down, so the lace barely covered Holly’s nipples and handed her the velvet mask. “Same drill as before. Knock ’em dead.”
    The music started and Holly played her part, infusing the crowd with Christmas spirit. And truthfully, sitting at the bar surrounded by a dozen admiring men did wonders for her ego.
    She’d even stopped scanning the crowd for a tall, well-built cowboy with golden curls and knowing hazel eyes. She remained among the patrons through the first two stripper sets and only ventured back to the dressing rooms before her last stage strut.
    After she was announced and as she meandered past the first pole, she caught sight of that long, muscled body leaning against the closest wall. The heat in his eyes was powerful enough to ignite the fires inside her even from twenty feet away.
    In her distraction, Holly forgot to watch her step and stumbled over her own feet. Just when it looked as if she’d take a header down the stairs, Nick’s apparent cat-like reflexes kicked in and he caught her fall from grace before she broke her neck.
    “Hold on there, darlin’. I gotcha.” His hands firmly gripping her hips, he steered her to an empty barstool. “You okay?”
    “Um. Yeah. I’m fine.”
    Nick gestured to the bartender. “Bring her a glass of water, would ya?”
    “Sure thing.”
    Holly perched on the edge of the barstool, hooking her heels on the bottom rung, trying to quell her racing heart. “You must think I’m a total klutz.”
    “Not in the least.”
    A heavy pause lingered as she sipped the lukewarm water from a plastic cup. Almost as an afterthought, she said, “I didn’t think I’d see you tonight.”
    Those shrewd hazel eyes focused on her. “Why’s that?”
    She shrugged and studied the kaleidoscope of colors spinning across the walls by the stage.
    “You wondering if I’m here for more of the same?”
    “Even if you were, it wouldn’t matter.”
    “Shame. I’d pay twice what it cost me last night.”
    Warmth suffused her cheeks beneath the mask. She downed the remaining water in two gulps. “Thanks for keeping me from falling on my face. But my gratitude does not include a lap dance. Of any variety.” She stood without acknowledging him, even when the man cast a shadow across the width of the bar that was damn hard to ignore.
    “Holly—”
    “Mistress Christmas? Can I buy you a drink?”
    Holly glanced at the weaselly man who’d snuck along Nick’s right side. Plastering on a fake smile, she said, “Absolutely. I’m in the mood for a change