Love to Hate You (Hope Valley #9) - Jessica Prince Page 0,24
and your man bought it and changed it up?”
“Yup.” She lifted her cocktail glass toward her lips to suck back more of her mojito but missed the straw the first two tries. Needless to say, we were all a bit tipsy.
“And you and Gypsy were dancers there when it was a strip club?”
“Yeah. But Gypsy wasn’t just a dancer. She was the headliner. You should’ve seen her! That girl can move.”
I leaned back in my chair. “That’s . . . so . . . cool!”
McKenna’s chin jerked back, like she hadn’t been expecting that kind of reaction from me. “Really?”
“Hell yeah! You know, I took one of those pole classes at a gym back in the city thinking it would be really easy and fun, but I’ll tell you what . . . that shit is hard! It takes some serious skill to do what you guys did. And in full hair and makeup like that? While looking sexy?” I blew out a raspberry and shook my head. “Me and the rest of the women in that class were flopping all over the place like fish out of water. There was nothing sexy about it.”
“You know, Whiskey Dolls still has some poles for a few of the numbers the girls do. If you want, I could teach you.”
My eyes bulged out as I shot forward and grabbed her hands in mine. “Really?”
“Yeah, totally! It’ll be fun.”
I let out a squeal that drew the other women’s attention. “What’s going on down there?” Dani, the sweet, beautiful owner of Muffin Top—the best coffee and pastry shop in the whole US of A, according to my new friends—asked.
“Mac’s gonna teach me to pole dance,” I answered, doing a little hip roll in my chair.
“Oh Lord.” Roxanne rolled her eyes. “With her face, those legs, that ass, and all that hair, you teach that girl to work a pole, the single men in this town are likely to spontaneously combust.”
A giggle bubbled up and burst past my lips before I could stop it. After years of being made to feel like I wasn’t good enough, compliments like that made my chin lift a little higher.
“Ooh! We should totally set Hayden up with someone!” Nona insisted. “Hope Valley is the perfect place to find a hot, single man.”
“No, no,” I cut in. “Really, that’s not necessary. I’m not looking for a relationship at the moment.”
My words fell on deaf ears. “My vote’s Dalton,” Sage announced. “He’s fine as hell. He’s got that sexy country boy vibe, and his deep voice is like velvet.” She shivered playfully. “But if any of you tell Xander I said that, I’ll deny it to the grave.”
“What about West?” Gypsy asked. “He’s got that boy next door thing going for him.”
“If the boy next door knew how to rip your panties off with his teeth,” Rory added, earning a high five from Gypsy and a laugh from the rest of us.
“Really, guys. The last thing I want right now is a relationship. I want to get Ivy settled and make sure she’s handling these changes okay.”
Eden leaned across the table and placed her hand on top of mine. “No one says you can’t do both. You can do that and have a little fun for yourself. You’re a hot, young woman. You deserve some fun.”
“Hey, you know who’d be good for her?” Dani asked, pulling everyone’s attention away from me.
I used that to my advantage and stood from my chair, moving toward the bar to order another drink instead of waiting for the waitress to come around and have to listen to my new friends pick out a guy for me.
Standing at the bar, I rested my elbows on the top and waited for the bartender to free up so I could wave him down and place my order.
“Hi, there.”
I turned and looked to my right to the man who’d just come up to the bar beside me. “Hi.”
“You’re new here, aren’t you? I’ve never seen you before.”
“Man, is this town that small?” I asked on a giggle, making the man smile. He had a nice smile with straight white teeth. He was also good-looking. Not on Micah’s level, but more on par with Alex.
He shook his head good naturedly. “Sorry, that probably sounded pretty weird, huh?”
“Nah. It wasn’t that bad. And yes, I’m new. Moved here about two weeks ago.”
“Well, welcome to Hope Valley. Hope you’ve been enjoying it so far. I’m Greg.”