“No, Talia. I’m serious.”
Talia held up a hand, staring down at Faye. Her eyes darkened, her features changed, and then she stepped closer, her knees pressing into the couch either side of Faye’s thighs. “In here, I’m Adria.”
God. Everything is wrong with this.
“About last week. I didn’t mean to imply that what you do is distasteful.” Faye’s pulse sped up when Talia rolled her body against her. Faye’s eyes landed on her cleavage again, her hands pressed against her own stomach so she didn’t reach out and touch her. “What you do is your own business. I never meant to make you feel as though I was disgusted by it.”
Talia whipped her hair from one shoulder to the other, smiling down at Faye. But this wasn’t the woman she knew. The facade, the lack of gentleness in her eyes…this wasnotTalia. It was an imposter.
“People come here for one thing: a dance. It doesn’t really matter how you feel about it, or me, so long as you leave here satisfied.”
“Okay, no.” Faye held up her hands, pulling her body back as much as she could. If they were going to discuss this, Faye couldn’t do it while Talia was dancing on her. “I need to leave.”
Talia groaned, climbing from the couch. “If you don’t want this, coming here was a waste of time.”
“I just wanted to talk to you.”
“I’m a stripper, honey, not a therapist.”
Faye studied Talia. The change in her was quite intense. “I don’t like this side of you. I like the Talia who I drink coffee with. The Talia who gushes over books and people watching. But this, I can’t.”
Talia nodded, fixing her lingerie on her hips. “Then I don’t know what else you want from me. I’m sorry.”
“I’d like to speak to you, but not here. The only reason I booked you tonight is because you’ve not been at work. And I really needed to apologise to you.”
“No hard feelings.” Talia finally offered one of her genuine smiles, causing Faye’s own smile to appear. “This really isn’t the place for you, Faye. I’ll happily dance for anyone, but this…it’s not you. And that’s okay.”
“Let me take you out to dinner to make up for it.” Faye hadn’t planned to ask Talia to dinner, but there was no harm in offering. Honestly, she’d love to get to know the woman beneath all of this. “It doesn’t mean anything, I know you’re not interested, but I’d really like to take you to dinner.”
Talia nodded. “Okay.”
“Yeah?”
“Why not?” She lifted a shoulder. “I like you. You’re different. Dinner would be nice.”
“I’ll see you on Monday. We can figure something out then.”
“Works for me.”
“Hey…” Faye stepped forward, inconspicuously taking Talia’s hand briefly. She didn’t want to leave Talia alone here, but it wasn’t Faye’s business to involve herself. “Be careful, okay? Be safe.”
“I will.”
* * *
Talia staredup at the ceiling, chewing her lip as she waited for her alarm clock to go off. She hadn’t slept much, Faye was playing on her mind, but she still felt surprisingly well rested.
The initial shock of seeing her last night had worn off, and now Talia had a heavy weight settled in her stomach. She’d beendreadfulto Faye. But work was work, and she didn’t stray. If she did, anything could go wrong.
She turned on her side, glaring at the clock on the nightstand. She didn’t want to get up. She wanted to lie in bed all morning and think about Faye. Nobody had ever left her room and told her to be safe. Nobody had shown up to apologise for potentially hurting or offending Talia. But Faye hadn’t hurt her. What was hurting her was the idea of never knowing Faye on a deeper level. Because while she knew relationships didn’t end well for her, the potential with someone like Faye felt too good to pass up on. Still, she had to be realistic. It had never worked out in the past, so why would it now?
Ideally, Talia would meet with Faye at some point over the weekend. Monday seemed too far away. But she had no phone number for her, and she didn’t know where to look for some form of contact. She lifted the paperback book from her nightstand, smiling as she turned it over. She’d read it cover to cover three times now, but she couldn’t bring herself to add it to the rest of her collection yet. While it sat beside her bed, she would read it again. And again. Really, Talia had to stop. Having Faye in her life in any capacity was only going to be torture in the long run.
I’m not capable of being loved.
If she kept telling herself that, maybe she’d believe it one day.
It hadn’t felt so bad in the past few years because Talia hadn’t come across anyone who she wanted to dedicate her time to, but Faye had the potential to change all of that. Talia didn’t necessarily want things to progress…but would it be the worst idea in the world?