Sucker Punch (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #27) - Laurell K. Hamilton Page 0,166

might have asked what put that look on her face, but I had to let it go and concentrate on the night in question.

“Jocelyn says you went to a club.”

Brianna flashed that smile again. This time the look in her eyes was more than mischief—something untamed, naughty, not evil but a look I’d seen before on people who really were wild. Not the get-drunk-or-high-and-do-things-you’ll-regret wild, but the kind that doesn’t need an excuse, just an opportunity. Nathaniel had that look, and so did Nicky. I had to fight not to glance at him. If that was really part of Brianna’s personality, she was going to have a tough time being a traditional wife and mother.

“Dare I ask what kind of club the three of you went to?”

“Strip club,” Brianna said. The two words had a relish and happiness to them that seemed to fill her up until a little wiggle ran down her body so she moved on the couch without using hands or feet, just her wiggly core.

I dated women as well as men, and I suddenly couldn’t help thinking that Brianna might be interesting in a nonbusiness kind of way. I pushed the thought aside, but it was in there now, and I couldn’t unthink it. Even though I wouldn’t act on it, it was still there, and it would make the rest of the interview weird for me. Would I have been less weirded out if she’d been a man who made me think about sex? Yes. I’d only added women to my dating pool in the last few years. It was still new enough to throw me off balance sometimes.

“Watching men take off their clothes,” Olaf said, and there was just the faintest hint of disapproval.

I doubt that Brianna heard it, because she aimed that smile at him.

“No, my husband didn’t like the idea of us watching other men, so we compromised and went to see women take off their clothes.”

Her brown eyes were luminous with the happiness of saying it or of doing it. Was she just one of those people who enjoyed doing things that most people thought were risqué? I’d met people who liked to shock others. If she only knew that I was engaged to three men, and two out of the three were exotic dancers . . . Brianna couldn’t shock me or out-thrill-seek me, but she wanted to, so I’d keep my mouth closed and let her.

Olaf and I started asking the routine questions about when Brianna and her friends had arrived at the club, how long they’d stayed, et cetera . . .

“Can anyone verify how long you were at the club?” I asked.

“I’d think most people in the club would remember us.”

“Strip clubs get pretty crowded,” I said, “especially on a weekend.”

“Oh, they’ll remember us,” Brianna said with such relish that I knew she wanted to tell us the details, or maybe she wanted to tell someone the details, not necessarily us.

I smiled at her, because this made her more alive than even looking lovingly at her twins. Some people are wired that way.

Olaf asked, “How can you be so certain?”

Brianna looked at him with her brown eyes shining with her excitement about the memory. “They don’t get that many women as hot as or hotter than the strippers getting lap dances.”

One of the twins made a small sound that made Brianna look at them, which made me follow her gaze. The twins were bouncing in their seats. The twin in yellow was waving her arms excitedly, and the other twin was listening very seriously. Were personalities set that quickly? Did we come into the world already so formed, so us?

Brianna unwound her legs and turned at the waist to take a coaster out of the small container of them on the side table. She set her soda down carefully on it and then got off the couch. How could someone careful enough to use coasters let the floor get this messy? She picked up some small toys off the floor and put them on the babies’ trays. The Cheerios had long since vanished. The twins seemed happy with the toys, staring at them as if they were brand-new and awesome. I guess when you’re that young, every day is Christmas, because there are so many new things to see, touch, do.

Coming back to the couch, Brianna stepped on a toy and cursed, then looked guiltily at the babies, who were ignoring us, focused instead on the new