Annabelle let out a long-suffering sigh. She needed a one-night stand, regardless of her convictions. One night to explore the fantasies she’d had over the years. The ones that had never been fulfilled.
But how, exactly, did a prudish country club woman initiate a hot tryst with a sexy Vegas headliner?
Before she could put serious thought into this, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Hating to tear her gaze from the emerald one that captivated her, she reluctantly glanced over her shoulder.
“Our table is ready.” Yvette gave her a knowing smile as she eyed both Annabelle and Eric. “Your friend is welcome to join us. Especially if he has friends with bodies as gorgeous as his.”
Eric chuckled. “As a matter of fact, I do have friends with me tonight. Two of them.”
“Oh my,” Yvette said with a sigh. “You sure know how to pick ’em, Annabelle.”
Annabelle resisted the urge to say Eric had picked her. Because if left to her own devices, clearly Annabelle didn’t make the right choices. Her ex being her most glaring case in point.
“Well,” Eric said as he released her. Leaving Annabelle a little cold. She’d enjoyed the titillating sensations seeping through her. The fire Eric sparked. He gav
e her another sexy grin and said, “Speaking of my friends, I’d better go find them.”
Annabelle’s heart sank. Here she’d thought she’d been presented with the perfect opportunity to cut loose and have a wild night for the first time in nearly ten years. No such luck.
“It was nice to meet you,” she said as she held her hand out to him.
Eric’s gaze slid over her once more, from head to toe and back up. When his captivating green eyes locked with hers, he said, “I wasn’t saying goodbye. Just need to wrap up some business with my friends.”
“Oh.” Heat tinged her cheeks.
Yvette felt compelled to say, “The art show is starting. Feel free to join us.”
She flashed Eric a smile, then took Annabelle by the hand and led her through the crowd again. They reached their table and Annabelle set her small clutch on the polished wood as she slid into her armchair.
“This is quite the cornucopia of entertainment,” she said of the club’s multiple offerings. “Though you keep mentioning art and I’m still not seeing any!”
Other than Eric, of course. His sculpted face and hard body definitely made him a work of art. Was that what Yvette meant? Was she referring to the men in the club when she said there was art to be viewed?
“I told you,” Yvette said. “Keep your eyes open.”
Sure enough, a few moments later, the curtain on the first stage cut into the west wall rose, revealing the “body scene” on display.
“Would you look at that?” Annabelle was instantly captivated. “I’ve never seen a person painted from head to toe.”
“That’s because they don’t have hedonistic art in the polite-society ’burbs of Connecticut,” Yvette said. And she was right. “By the way, the models are completely nude under all their paint.”
Of course Yvette would feel compelled to point that out.
Onstage was a man covered from neck to toe in matte-black paint. His head was two-toned, the right side painted red and the left side painted blue. His legs were pressed together and his upper body curved forward at a slight angle. A woman with matching paint—except with her face painted silver—stood in front of him, the back of her legs almost touching the front of his. Her arms at her side, she was also bent forward, sharing the same graceful arc as the man.
Annabelle’s brows knitted together.
“They’re a kitchen faucet,” Yvette offered. “He’s the base and the handle, she’s the spout.”
“Exactly how does that constitute ‘hedonistic’ art?”
Yvette grinned. “Take a closer look.” She pushed the complimentary pair of theater glasses toward Annabelle.
Lifting the mini binoculars to her eyes, Annabelle took in the painted human scene. The platform on which they stood slowly rotated, revealing every angle to the viewers. She gazed at the models from their toes to…almost their heads. She stopped midway and gasped in surprise. She dropped the spectacles and sat back in her chair, stunned.
Yvette snickered.
Annabelle’s gaze snapped to her friend. “Are you shitting me? Those two people are…joined together.”