A growl was already rumbling in his chest. “You're a couple hundred short and you're going to be even shorter when I take you off at the knees for touching my...the girls. Rules say hands off.”
She had to think quick if she was both going to make some money from the schmoe and his friends and get some nookie from Aleksei later. Good thing she was smarter than her hormones.
“Now boys, don't be fighting over little ole’ me. As you can see, there's plenty to go around.” She shook her tush in Earl’s face and grabbed the tips for the lap dance right out of his fingers. Slowly, she slid the bills into her top, drawing every man's eye to her best assets.
Aleksei's eyes had that distinct blue glow around the edges that only Troikas had. Seeing it here and now in front of everyone at the club had her heart skipping a beat. Helena knew what he really was. At first she hadn't seen him as anything other than a man, but Heli's romance with Kosta had opened a whole new world of wolves and packs and claimings and matings.
She'd almost forgotten he was so much more than a mere mortal. That fact should scare her. It apparently had frightened Earl and his friends, because they all shut the hell up.
Helena found herself all hot and bothered, wanting to give this lap dance to Aleksei, even though he was butting in on her business and threatening her damn livelihood. She couldn't let that slide.
“Aleksei, love, can you ask the DJ to play some Def Leppard for me so I can show our customers the good time they just paid me for?”
“No.” He crossed his arms and glared at the frightened little bunnies the group of men had become.
Sigh. She turned to Schmoe Number One and booped him on the nose. “I'll be right back, so get your lap all ready to go, honey.”
Schmoe grinned all creepy like and unbuckled his pants. Whatever, after this he wasn't likely to do much with Aleksei glaring at him from across the room.
Helena grabbed Aleksei by the front of his too-tight tee and dragged him away from the table. “Look, wolf-boy. You need to calm your tits. I can deal with these assholes.”
Instead of the apology or even the denial she expected from him, he said nothing. His eyes went straight to her chest when she said the word tits and that glow was back in his gaze. Was he drooling?
He was totally drooling. No way she should let him know she secretly loved that he was lusting after her. Nope. Not in a million years. She snapped her fingers to break his lust-filled stare. “Hey, eyes up here.”
Aleksei's eyes snapped up and he raised one eyebrow all sexy-like. He'd known exactly what he was doing and enjoyed every second of it. He wanted her to know it too. “Lisichka, I know you can handle the assholes. I'm here so you don't have to. I would very much enjoy if you'd let me snap them in half so they can never look at you again.”
If any other guy said anything as stupid as that, she'd be rolling her eyes and walking away. So why in the hell was it sexy as sin hearing it come out of his delicious mouth? She could damn well take care of her own independent ass. At the same time, it had her insides going all swoony that he wanted to protect her.
His protectiveness might be getting her all hot and bothered, but it didn't pay her rent. “Hey. This is a fake relationship, remember. You have no claim on me, so don't be killing my customers or scaring them off. Get a hold of youself. I gotta go. I've got a lap dance to perform. If you’re so worried, watch.”
Yeah, she'd just told her big fake boyfriend who was already acting ten kinds of jealous to watch her give another guy a lap dance. He was in for one hell of a show.
Helena threw one more glance over her shoulder just to make sure he was watching her saunter away from him. His gaze was firmly planted on her ass. She gave it a little extra wiggle.
The schmoes had gotten drinks in her absence. Those shots had better loosen up their wallets. “Okay, sugar. Let's get your engines revved up, shall we?”
Earl spread his legs, his belt buckle still undone and waved her over. “Get that fat ass on my dick.”
It took all she had to smile. What a douchecanoe. “You mean this culo caliente, cabron?”
He probably didn't even have much of a dick for her to even sit on.
Aleksei did though. Ack. No. She should not be thinking about how big and hard and...holy crap. Now she couldn't think of anything else.
Helena spun around so the schmoe couldn't see her face, because she certainly didn't want him to think she was having carnal thoughts about his junkie-junk. She started in on her basic lap dance moves, strutting up the chair, doing a twirl and positioned herself with her ass in his face. She gave a twerk, a little shimmy and slide, but her head was not in the game.
Until she looked up and saw Aleksei staring right at her.
The guitar riffs that marked the beginning of her favorite song to dance to filtered through the club. Oh, yes. She was ready to pour some sugar on him. In the name of love.
She locked eyes with Aleksei and all thoughts of Earl were gone from her mind. Every bump and grind she did now, was for one man alone. Aleksei Troika.
Fuck, she was in so much trouble.
You Ain’t Nothing but a Horndog
The gold short shorts Helena wore were driving him crazy, but watching her plump ass rubbing across this dickhead's crotch had him seeing red. Those damn chains dangling across the front of the barely-there leather top she had on were hypnotic and it was the only thing keeping him from going full-on wolf right here in the middle of the Naughty Wolf.
He'd like to wrap those delicate links around his hand and yank them right off. They were drawing way too much attention to her tits which were already about to fall out. Nobody but him should get to see her nipples, dammit.
Except if he did anything to interfere with her dancing, not only would she chop off his balls, she wouldn't be able to do her job. And she was damn good at her job.
He gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes to glare at the schmoe so he knew not to even think about laying a hand on Helena again. If Aleksei had to follow her around the club all night and watch each and every one of her lap dances, well, that was a sacrifice he was willing to make. Yes. A terrible, terrible sacrifice.
He'd happily scare the patrons into tipping her well, too. His wolf growled inside, wanting to pick her up and take her away. It was not on board for watching her grind and twerk all night. The only thing the wolf wanted was to mark her, claim her, make her his mate. Right the fuck now.
The man knew he couldn't.
The man had to watch her turn another guy on, get him hard, whisper sweet nothings into his ear.
The man had to– Grr. She spun around and let the dickhead get a full view of her chest while twerking her ass right at Aleksei. His eyebrows snapped together, and he had to grind his teeth as she shoved her tits in this guy’s face.
Helena danced around the chair and then put her hands on the dickhead's legs and shimmied her ass back and forth, back and forth over the guy's lap. She moaned low and her eyes fluttered shut. Was she getting turned on?
Dickhead looked up at the ceiling and groaned. “Fuck yeah, sweet cheeks. That's the way to earn your tips.”
Her lids slowly re-opened and her pupils were shot with lust. But it wasn't for the asshole. Her gaze was directed straight at Aleksei. She parted her lips and licked them, so slow, until they glistened.