Page 59 of Seizing Mack
Chapter Twenty-Nine
~ Nick ~
Nick looked up at thestage, hardly believing his eyes as a stream of colorful expletives left his lips. Mack was up there, looking like his personal fantasy come to life. She was beyond fierce. Her hair was loose, flowing around her shoulders. Her shirt was gone. Above the camos that sat low on her luscious hips, a hint of six pack abs flashed beneath satiny, tawny skin. And above that, a plain black, front-clasp bra lovingly cupped what were surprisingly full breasts. Her shiny dog tags winked at him from her enticing cleavage as she did lewd — and incredibly hot — gravity defying things to the stripper’s pole while a bunch of guys hooted and egged her on.
Gyrating to Hinder’s “American Nightmare”, slicked with sweat, lost in total abandon, she was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. And holy hell, was that script a new tat running up the side of her body, covered with clear cling wrap?
“Yeah, that pretty much covers it,” Jay agreed, concern etched in his features.
“Explain this to me, Jay.”
“Well, Mack was still pretty pissed when I tracked her down and found her kicking the shit out of the equipment. I thought taking her out and having a few drinks, would take her mind off things for a while, you know? Give her a chance to cool down and vent. I didn’t expect her to drag me into the tattoo shop and watch while she got those words needled into her skin.”
Nick squinted at the calligraphic lettering, but couldn’t quite make it out. “What does it say?”
“Ad te ipso verum est. It’s Latin for ‘to thine own self be true’.”
Nick nodded. “Go on.”
“So then she said she wanted to come here. I’ve never been in here before but it has a rep for being popular among the armed forces crowd, so I thought she’d be comfortable here, you know?” Jay reached around and put his hand on the back of his neck. “As you can see, it worked.”
Nick snorted. Understatement of the year, that.
“Thanks for coming, man.”
“No problem,” Nick said. When Jay had called earlier and said Mack needed some help, he’d been in the car and on his way before he’d even hung up. He’d never expected this, though. “Did you know she could do this?”
Jay nodded and drank deeply from his beer. “There’s not a stripper in the tri-state area that doesn’t come to Mack’s Booty Camp to get sculpted and into shape.”
“Mack’s Booty Camp?”
“Yeah. I came up with the name. Anyway, the dancers, theyloveher, teach her all the best moves. She practices at the house, says it’s like plyometrics, gymnastics, and dance cardio all in one. Never in public, though. She’s too self-conscious for that.”
Nick looked doubtfully at the stage. That sure as hell didn’t look like a woman who had a problem with confidence.
“What did you do to her?” Nick asked. His eyes moved reluctantly away from the stage, taking in the riled-up group of military guys looking hungrily at Mack. That wave of possessiveness started rising up again, and things were going to get real ugly if he didn’t do something soon.
“Me? I didn’t do anything. I just bought her a few beers. They —” he pointed over toward a table of guys wearing Army tees “– started buying her shots a couple of hours ago.” Jay was silent for a couple of moments, then said, “Listen, I’m not sure I did the right thing in calling you. Mack is probably going to flip her shit, so if you want to bail, believe me, I understand.”
“Not a chance,” Nick told him firmly.
Jay nodded in approval. “I’ve seen the way you look at her, man.”
“Yeah?” he asked, not even bothering to deny it. “How’s that?”
“Like she’s the one you’ve been waiting for to start living again.”
Nick smiled, only slightly surprised that Jay had done his homework. Mack was a lucky woman. Everyone should have such fierce friends looking out for them. “You’d make a hell of a detective, Jay. Give me a call if that modelling thing doesn’t work out.”
Jay laughed. “Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Does Mack know?”
Jay’s smile faded. “Oh hell, no. Head in the sand, that one. Plus she’s in denial, convinced she’s undesirable.”
Nick choked. “Are you kidding me?”
“Wish I was. The step-devils must have really done a number on her, and let’s face it, most men are intimidated by her awesomeness. Not you, though. I know a man smitten when I see one. And newsflash? Mack murmursyourname in her sleep.”
