STRIPTEASED: A Standalone Reverse Harem Romance (Roommates Book 1)
STRIPTEASED: Chapter 19

Emma was as excited as a little girl on the day of the photoshoot for the cover of her book. Austin and Denver had arranged for us to use the dance studio where they sometimes rehearsed their routine at the gym, but we had to do it on Sunday evening, since the strip club wasn’t open then.

We got there at nine, when the gym closed, and then spent nearly an hour carting up Knox’s camera equipment, some portable spotlights we’d borrowed from the club, and a few assorted props from Austin and Denver’s dressing room that we thought might come in handy.

Veronica showed up once we got everything set up—naturally—but I couldn’t fault her since she’d given up her evening to help out.

After an hour of trying and failing to get the perfect shot, everyone was a bit cranky—myself included.

Austin and Denver had taken turns trying every pose we could think of, but nothing looked right. The problem, as far as I could see, was that Denver looked too sensitive, and Austin looked too smug. Neither of those things was much of a surprise.

“Come on, Austin, you need to smolder,” Emma urged. It was his turn in the spotlight, so to speak.

Austin shook his arms out and then stretched, as if resetting himself. He looked down for a moment and then slowly brought his head up, staring at the camera with one eyebrow raised.

Knox took several pictures.

“How’s that for smoldering?” Austin asked.

“That’s not smoldering, that’s smirking,” I said.

“No, it wasn’t,” he protested.

“Yes, it was,” several voices said.

“Can I try again?” Denver’s voice was mild. I got the feeling he wanted to soothe his brother’s ego more than he wanted to be in front of the camera again. We were all getting tired.

Veronica took her turn at directing. Though Knox was willing to take the photos, he never made any suggestions for how the twins should pose. “How about you put your hands behind your back… yes, and angle your right shoulder forward, and look off in the distance.”

“Like this?”

“No, because you’re staring at Emma. Pretend you see mountains a long way away.”

Knox snorted. “Better move, Emma, he’s still looking at you.”

Emma walked to the other side of the studio, a faint blush and a small smile on her face. But in a room in which one wall was one long mirror, it didn’t really do much good.

Veronica kept trying. “Okay, keep looking at those distant mountains… now turn to the camera. Look into it. Try to look through it, if that makes any sense.”

Denver did his best, and Knox snapped picture after picture. But no one seemed very encouraged.

“Why don’t we take a break?” Emma said. That was fine by me.

Denver got us all some water, while Austin sat on a folding chair, looking disgruntled. He wasn’t used to people not liking something about his appearance.

Emma and Knox had their heads bent over a laptop, examining the pictures Knox had just taken on some kind of cloud server. Veronica stood behind them, a slight frown on her face. “Will any of them work?”

“Perhaps,” Emma said, but she didn’t sound like she really meant it. A moment later, she was showing Knox some covers of recent romance books that were selling well. “If we could just get one like that, then I think we could call it a day.”

Veronica leaned forward, pushing Knox out of the way, which likely no one had ever done before. “God, that cover is great. That guy is the personification of tall, dark, and handsome.”

“We’re tall,” Denver said.

“And dark and handsome,” Austin added.

“Yeah, I know,” Veronica said with a wink. Wait a minute, which one of them was she winking at and why? “But you’ve got those awesome tawny eyes. What we need is someone with dark eyes. Dark, soulful eyes that seem like they can look right through you. Someone like… oh God, I hate to say this…”

She closed her eyes and shook her head. When she opened them, she looked directly at me. Emma nudged Knox, and their heads swiveled my way.

“What?” I said uneasily. “Why is everybody looking at me?”

“Hell no.” Like an idiot, I’d followed the twins into a nearby locker room. Once I realized what they wanted me to do, I eyed the distance to the door and tried to figure out whether I could get there before they tackled me.

“Come on, it’s not that bad,” Austin said.

“Don’t come near me with that thing. Who knows where it’s been?”

Austin held up a disposable razor in his hand. “It’s brand new. We keep a stash of razors and shaving cream in case we have to go from here straight to the club.”

Then I saw a gleam of silver in Denver’s hand. “Double hell no.”

Denver opened his hand to reveal a pair of tweezers. “You just have a few stray hairs around your brows.”

By now I was seriously contemplating making a run for it, but Denver’s next words stopped me.

“Do it for Emma.”

I sighed. If only he’d given any other reason in the world.

Denver was grinning, knowing he’d won.

Damn, shit, fuck. “Give me those,” I growled to Austin. “I’m not having you guys carve me up like a Thanksgiving turkey.”

Austin tried to hide his amusement as I grabbed the razor and shaving cream and headed over to the sink.

“Be careful around your nipples,” Denver said helpfully as I took off my shirt.

I tried to ignore them as I splashed water on my chest and then smeared the shaving cream around.

“Light, gentle strokes,” Denver said before I silenced him with a glare through the mirror.

Austin wasn’t as easy to silence. “If you want to, you could do your pubes. I don’t think they’ll show on the cover, but you never know.” I gave him the finger and continued to drag the razor across my pecs.

The area around my nipples took the longest time—going slowly there seemed like a good idea—but then I was done. Before I could reach for a towel, Denver said, “Armpits.”

I scowled. “Women don’t care about that.”

“It’s for a romance cover. Men in romance novels always smell good, let the woman come first, and don’t have unruly hair any place except on their head—if it’s a motorcycle gang romance.” Austin and I both stared at him, and he said, “What? I read a few romances to support Emma. Now it’s your turn to support her, so shave your damn pits.”

“I hate you.”

“Whatever you say.” Denver grinned as I applied shaving cream under my arms.

When I was done, I rinsed myself off, but I still felt sticky and gross.

“Rub this into your skin.” Austin tossed me a small bottle.

“Why do you have body oil with you?”

He shrugged. “We’re strippers.” That seemed to be his answer to a lot of things.

Reluctantly, I poured some oil into my hand and smoothed it over my chest, abs, and biceps. The recently shaved skin did feel really smooth—sort of like a woman’s leg, only harder. “Anything else? Should I perhaps brush on a coat of shellac?”

“If you have any, that’d be great,” Austin said.

“Just one more thing left to do.” Denver approached me with the tweezers.

“I already said no.”

“It’s just three or four little hairs that have gone astray. I’ll be finished in thirty seconds.”

“Or he’ll be blind in thirty seconds,” Austin quipped. “Either way, his chest’ll look great.”

“I’m not doing it.” I backed toward the door, but Austin and Denver flanked me, no doubt using their hive mind to silently communicate battle strategies. I hesitated. One-on-one, I was well matched with either twin. We’d roughhoused enough over the years to know that. But two against one wasn’t a fair fight. Though perhaps the oil would help—maybe their hands would slide right off my slippery skin.

Then Denver said three little words to me—words that were impossible to ignore. “It’s for Emma.”

Shit. And here I’d thought Austin was the evil twin. “All right,” I muttered.

I felt extremely foolish when I returned to the dance studio shirtless, with my skin gleaming. Veronica had left, for which I was extremely grateful. No way was I going to be able to strike a sexy pose with her around.

And I had to admit—the look on Emma’s face took away some of my irritation. She couldn’t take her eyes off me. She was probably immune to seeing the twins bare-chested since that was such a regular occurrence. Her reaction to my bare torso was gratifying and made my cock twitch.

My annoyance continued to fade until Austin turned to me. “Do 25 push-ups.”

“Who are you, my drill sergeant?”

“It’ll fill your muscles with blood and make them look bigger. Do 50, in fact.”

Man, he was bossy. I dropped to the ground and started the push-ups before he increased the number to 100. It was hard to believe anyone voluntarily hired him as a personal trainer. I saw Emma avidly watching and sucked in my stomach, exaggerating my movements. Austin noticed and chuckled.

He had me do a few more arm and upper body exercises before he declared me good to go.

“Sure you don’t want me to run a marathon or two first?” I grumbled.

But then Emma said, “You look incredible,” and I forgot to be grumpy. The flash of what may have been jealousy on Austin’s face was a bonus.

“Can we get on with it?” Knox growled.

I took my place and blinked. The stage lights were incredibly bright. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Just try to look hot,” Denver suggested. That wouldn’t be difficult given that the damn stage lights were putting out heat like crazy.

Feeling ridiculous, I struck a few poses, trying to remember the romance covers Emma had shown me. Knox gamely took pictures, but I didn’t think I was hitting the mark any more than the twins had.

Denver frowned. “We need to loosen you up.”

“Got any tequila?”

I was joking, but Denver snapped his fingers. “I’ve got the next best thing.” He picked up his phone. A minute later, the familiar sounds of salsa music filled the air. “Go dance with him, Emma. That’ll help him relax.”

“What?” Emma asked. I was perversely pleased that I wasn’t the only one the twins were putting through their paces tonight.

Denver looked over at me. “You can dance the salsa, right?” I nodded. The Mexican half of my family would disown anyone who couldn’t. “And I taught Emma the basic steps in one of our YouTube videos. Go on,” he urged Emma.

She stepped tentatively forward, and I smiled. Finally, something I might actually enjoy was happening. Emma had on jeans, which might inhibit the movement of her hips, but her blouse, white with ruffles, left her creamy shoulders bare. It actually reminded me of a certain type of traditional Mexican dress. Either way, it looked quite pretty on her.

She smiled up at me but seemed unsure where to start. But that was my job. I took one of her hands and held it at shoulder height. Then I put my other hand lightly on her back. She laid her arm on top of mine, her hand resting on my shoulder, and we were ready to go.

Denver turned up the music. I counted out eight beats, and we started to move. I advanced into her space and she stepped back—her footwork wasn’t bad. Then she moved forward and I yielded, watching the way her hips swayed from side to side. I spun her around, then turned myself, then twirled her again.

“You’re really good,” she said, her hazel eyes beaming up at me.

“So are you.”

“Denver’s a great teacher,” she said, a bit bashfully.

I leaned in close so that the others couldn’t hear. “The way you’re moving your hips? That’s something that can’t be taught.”

She blushed, and I took a second to glance over at the others, feeling a bit smug when I saw the way they were watching hungrily.

We danced more easily now, and Emma got bolder, making bigger movements, grinning up at me in a teasing way as she glided around me. God, this was fun. And hot. Super hot. I wanted this to go on all—

“Stop,” Denver said sharply. “Emma, over here.”

Before I could even protest, she was gone, dashing over to Denver’s side.

“Stand behind Knox where Tonio can see you,” Austin ordered, and she hastened to obey.

My chest rose and fell as I tried to catch up with what was going on. Knox was clicking away with his camera.

“Look straight ahead, Tonio. Look at Emma.”

I could barely see her with Knox in the way, but Denver seemed to realize that. He lifted Emma up, almost as if he were carrying a child on his hip, and suddenly, I could see her face over Knox’s shoulder.

“She’s right here,” Austin said to me. “The woman you share a bed with. The woman who moves so well with you on the dance floor. The woman you think about every day. She’s right here, and you know you want her.”

God, did I want her. So fucking badly.

“She’s so close,” Austin continued, “but still not close enough. Show us that you want her more than anything.”

I stared at her flushed face. Those sweet pink cheeks. Was she pink all over? I wanted to find out so badly. I wanted to take her home, lay her down on my bed, peel off her clothes, and kiss every single inch of her.

She’d been with my friends—my best friends—and that was fine because that’s what she wanted. But I wanted her to want me, and I was pretty sure she did. The way she’d moved in my arms… the way she’d looked up at me… the glint in her eyes as she pressed her hips against mine… Oh yeah, I was pretty damn sure she wanted me. And I sure as hell wanted her.

“I think we’ve got it,” Knox said quietly, and Emma cheered.

I blinked, coming back to earth with a thud, and wondered what the hell had just happened.

Denver walked over and clapped me on the back. “Now that’s how you smolder.”

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