Final Sample Sunday for STRIP

Hey reading family. Okay, so here’s a final peek into STRIP, Heavy On The D book 2. It will release sometime this week! Insert hip thrust! Lol. This sample picks up right where last week’s sample left off so if you haven’t read last week’s sample, find it HERE.

Enjoy!

Lincoln

“Hello?”

“Patience, is everything okay?”

I heard ruffling on the other end; then, her sultry voice brought delight back to my ears. 

“Yes. Yes. Um…” More ruffling. “I’m sorry, I think, I fell asleep on you, Mr. Black.”

I grimaced. “Damn. That boring, huh?”

“No!” She rushed to add. “I don’t mean it like that.” Her breaths were heavy as she explained. “I… I’m just exhausted, you know. I had a long day, then fell asleep and woke up in the middle of the night and sent you that text. I am sorry. I promise it’s not a bad thing.”

I smirked. 

“It sounds like it, though, doesn’t it?” She added.

I laughed. “A lil bit.”

“Well, if anything, it was the smooth timber of your voice that lulled me to sleep. How about that?”

“Better.”

She laughed, deep and throatily. 

“Good.”

“I’ll let you get some rest. I only called back to check on you and make sure you were okay.”

“Oh, I am. Thanks for checking. Normally I wouldn’t care to stay up, but my girls have an all-day extravaganza planned for my birthday tomorrow, so, yeah, I need the rest.”

“Your birthday’s tomorrow?”

“No. It’s, um, next weekend, but I have plans, so they’re taking me out tomorrow.”

I didn’t know whether to be disappointed in her plans, especially if they had anything to do with Robert Finnegan.

“Are you and Robert getting back together?” I heard myself ask. That was none of my business, but since she’d offered information about their past relationship before, I was brave enough to ask.  

“Oh God, no.”

I was thankful for her answer.

“I wouldn’t get back with him if he were the last man on earth.”

“That’s good to know.”

“Is it?”

“Of course. You don’t deserve what he did to you. No one does.”

“Amen to that.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what do you have planned?”

She hesitated, and I wondered if this was about a different guy. Whispers from one of my best friends, Eric, came rushing into my thoughts. 

During an impromptu conversation we had when Michael and I, my other friend, tried to coach Eric to come clean about his experience at The Den. 

Eric avoided the details while throwing up that I had a thing for Patience. 

“She just got out of a bad relationship. I’m only trying to be her friend. It’s what she needs.” I said.

“What she needs is a good, upstanding man who will love her madly and won’t break her heart.” He pointed at me. “That’s you. But until you admit that to yourself, you’ll miss out. And what happens when she decides to let another bozo be that person?”

While I was attracted to Patience and interested in getting to know her better, I didn’t want to be her rebound. Those never worked, and one of us would end up with a broken heart, especially if she decided to get back with Robert Finnegan. 

“Can I be honest with you, Mr. Black?”

“All the time.”

“I’m visiting The Den.”

The line quieted as my thoughts jogged around what she’d just laid on me.

“The Den—all-male strip club Den?”

“That’s the one.”

I was hot suddenly, my skin a thermal of heat.

“Without your girlfriends?”

She laughed softly. “Yes again.”

I knew The Den had a hidden layer of activities happening there. It was where Eric and Patience’s friend, Asia met during Asia’s visit to The Den. And though Eric didn’t give up the specifics, I knew enough to know that sex was on the menu.

“Interesting.”

“Does that turn you off?”

She was bold, and I loved it and, at the same time, wanted this to be a lie.

“Not at all. As you know, that’s where our friends met.”

“Technically, our friends met in junior high school, but I get what you’re saying. It’s where they unknowingly reconnected. What a fairytale, right?”

“Something like that.”

She laughed. “I understand your hesitation. Most fairytales start with the man and woman meeting, getting to know one another, and falling in love, right?”

“Usually.”

“Sometimes it happens the other way around. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”

I smirked. “No, there isn’t.”

“Honestly, I thought you were going to say hell yes for a second, there.”

I chuckled. “Why is that?”

“You seem like the type who wants to meet and fall in love first.”

“Or I could be the type to break your back first.”

I heard shuffling on the other end then, “Could you?”

“Is that a request?”

More shuffling. 

“You tell me if it’s an offer.”

Heat moved through me, and I sucked my teeth and wondered if she was testing me. 

“If and when I bed women, it’s usually with strings attached.”

She moaned slightly. “That’s too bad.”

My brows rose. “Too bad?”

“Yeah. Unfortunately, it’s all I’m looking for right now.”

I can admit, her frankness through me for a loop. 

“Is that why you’re visiting The Den next weekend?”

There was no hesitation in her response. 

“Yes.”

My muscles flexed inadvertently, my jaw locking, then I sucked off my teeth. 

“What if you unintentionally find your prince charming at The Den, like ya girl, Asia did?”

“Then he’s fucking me first. Hard. Long. Deep.”

My dick rose, and laying in the bed with one hand holding the phone to my ear, I pulled my other arm from behind my head and grabbed my erection, trying to calm my libido. 

“You’re wild.”

“I can be.”

I chuckled. 

“It’s up to you to find out, though. Good night, Mr. Black.”

“Good night, Ms. Addison.”

We held the phone, silent a minute; then she dropped the line. 

An exhale ushered from my lips. Patience was playing hard to get in the most sinful way possible. She wanted the D before she wanted my heart. Or maybe she didn’t want my heart at all. 

Thinking about Patience’s last relationship, I could understand why she wasn’t interested, but didn’t she know all men weren’t the same?

Show her.

I glanced at the time and locked my jaw again.

“Fuck it.”

I dialed Eric, and the line rang four times before he answered groggily.

“This better be an emergency.”

“It is.”

“What’s up?”

“Can you get me in with, Daniella?”

Silence.

“Hello?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I’m not.”

“It’s almost four am., this couldn’t have waited until morning?”

“They’re closed during normal business hours,” I pointed out.

He sighed harshly. “Do we need to have a meet-up? What is this really about?”

“Why do you ask so many damn questions?”

“Hey, you called me, remember?”

I smirked. Eric was the only one of us three that needed details about anything we were doing. Well, except that one time when Michael and I pushed him for info about the activities at The Den.

“I’m trying to be available for one person. Patience. She’s going next weekend, and I need to be there.”

A low chuckle came from the line. 

“I’ll call Daniella and connect you two, and you can contact her whenever you need to, brother.”

“Thank you.”

“See, that wasn’t so hard to admit, was it?”

“Shut up.”

He laughed as I disconnected the call and rolled over, stuffing my face in the pillow. Thoughts of what Patience would look like deep in the throes of passion assaulted me and kindled my flame for her. 

 There was one issue. I was into her. I wanted more from her and hoped that if I got the chance to bed her, that she wouldn’t push away from me when it was over. The fact was, I wanted what she didn’t, and I couldn’t figure out if going on this quest for her love was unhealthy for me or in my spiritual alignment.