Where the heck was Jaymeson? He was part of the show. We needed him to turn the stage lights on.

Within seconds I felt hands on my waist and Jaymeson was whispering in my ear. “You girls ready?”

“Totally,” Alyssa said. I could hear the laughter in her voice — she was having way too much fun with this one.

I adjusted my black corset and white leather hot pants. I had on a pair of sexy nylons and thigh-high boots. My hat was pinned to the side of my head. In practice it kept falling off, but Alyssa said it would be fine.

She was dressed in a white corset and tight black leather pants. Her hat was red to match her lipstick. If Demetri didn’t propose after this he was hopeless.

The guys didn’t truly get a bachelor party. So we were going to give them one, with our rules, and see if they survived it. We’d been practicing burlesque lessons for weeks. Not to mention the pictures we took and programs we set up. The party planning company put a stage in the living room — it was the perfect set up. We had champagne for Alec and Jaymeson, juice boxes for Demetri, poor guy, and tons of desserts for later, aphrodisiacs to be exact. Well, aphrodisiacs and the creepy weird cake that I was hoping Jaymeson wouldn’t enjoy too much.

Holy crap, it was like we were seducing them and torturing them at the same time. I laughed as I clenched the cane in my hands. Poor Priscilla nearly had a heart attack; she decided to hang and watch from the kitchen.

“Ready?” Alyssa whispered in my ear.

“Let’s do this,” I whispered back.

“One, two, three.” Jaymeson flipped on the stage lights. Two spotlights fell on us. I was standing back to back with Alyssa; we both had our hands on our foreheads and then the music started.

I dropped my boa.

Alyssa dropped hers as we strutted towards the front of the stage.

I pulled a ribbon from my hair; she pulled one from her wrist.

The only thing I could hear was the music playing and lots of cursing coming from the darkness in front of us. I hoped it was a good thing.

Chapter Ten

Alec

“I swear something just whipped me.”

“Yeah, it’s called marriage, you ass,” Demetri’s voice snapped in my direction. “What the hell is going on?”

Then suddenly lights flipped on.

Nat was standing on the stage. She looked like a sex goddess. Holy crap, I was going to die. I couldn’t breathe. I reached for something — anything, and took a seat in a leather chair I’d never seen before in my life.

Demetri did the same thing. His eyes focused on Alyssa so hard I thought he was going to go blind from watching.

Nat looked out at us and dropped a ribbon. I clenched the seat with my hands, turning my knuckles white. I wasn’t sure how okay I was with Demetri watching Nat strip and then I looked at him. He only had eyes for Alyssa, and by the looks of it, he was like two seconds away from taking her to Vegas.

The music crashed and crescendoed, Britney Spears’ Womanizer came on as Jaymeson ran out into the middle of the stage in nothing but a bowtie and leather pants. He danced between the girls, in a totally non-sexual way, and then pushed the girls forward as the music changed to something slower.

Nat walked purposefully towards me. With every click of her high heeled boots I think a part of my body ceased to function. My vision was blurred, my hands continued to grip the seat, and all I knew was that I needed her, now.

Jaymeson followed and pulled a curtain between the two chairs. I looked up. How the hell did they do that? It separated me from Demetri and then wrapped completely around us, putting us in an almost private room. And then a black light flicked on. Nat’s blonde hair was glowing. Her white hot pants were literally killing me.

But I was able to handle myself.

Until she straddled my lap.

Officially dying.

So she was trying to kill me? Was that it?

I ground my teeth together as she slowly started to move against me, and then she reached her arms above her head and grabbed some sort of rope, her wrists twisted inside it as she pulled herself up and did a Cirque de Soleil style move. Her body twisted in the air so fast I couldn’t keep up, and then she came back down onto my lap. I fought to keep my hands to myself.

Her lips touched my ear. “Happy bachelor party, baby.”

My mouth dropped open.

She’d thrown me a bachelor party? Only she was the stripper, the dancer, and the bride. Hell yeah.

Now I knew what Jaymeson was talking about.

Honestly I could have done without strippers, but to have my future wife be the one to taunt and tease me? Words wouldn’t really come, so I did what any red-blooded male would do. I jerked my future wife towards my body and claimed her lips, plunging my tongue into her mouth so I could taste the sweetness that was so uniquely Nat, the woman I loved so damn much.

Chapter Eleven

Nat

In all the time I’d known Alec, I’d never seen his face so flushed. His hands gripped my cheeks as his tongue massaged mine, and then he was reaching behind my bodice, his fingers running over the hooks of my corset. No undressing, the show wasn’t over. He just didn’t know what else we had planned.

With a laugh, I pulled back and smacked him lightly on the arm.

His eyes darkened even more as his hooded gaze went from lust to full-on-losing-his-mind.

“Sorry about hitting you earlier,” I whispered into his ear as my teeth grazed his neck. “It slipped.”

“Dear God, let it slip again.” His voice was hoarse as he moved his hands over my body.