Read Online Dirty Kiss by Rhys Ford - Free Book Online Page A

expensive, like the kind of woman none of us could afford. I certainly couldn’t, even if I leaned that way.
     
    “ You look at me and smile .” Sex oozed from Scarlet’s throat.
     
    There was no other way to put it. She might be a man under the dress, but she knew how to cast a pure womanly spell. Playing with the Etta James tune, she worked the stage, leaning over to croon at a pack of suited men sitting at the edge of the lights. They loved it, grinning back like schoolboys who’d earned a gold star from their teacher.
     
    “Miss Scarlet got your message. She said to come to the back when she’s done.” A large hand clamped down on my shoulder, and I found myself looking up at a Korean version of one of Claudia’s mountainous children. If ever I spoke to my father again, I was going to have a talk with him about the lack of enormous in our gene pool.
     
    Not wanting to startle him into stampeding, I replied, “Thanks.”
     
    There were a few more songs, and I listened with half an ear, more interested in secretly watching the men who approached a wide doorway cordoned off with a thick velvet rope and protected by the much larger older-brother-in-arms of the man who gave me Scarlet’s message.
     
    An older Korean man, conservatively dressed and immaculately groomed, approached the man, standing by the rope. He was let in with a respectful nod, and continued through the door and up the stairs. Another followed a few minutes later, and then a pair of men, speaking to each other as if they were headed to have dinner.
     
    A round of applause jerked me back, pulling my attention to the stage, and I clapped loudly. Scarlet took a bow, then another, sweeping her arm back to include the piano player in her due. The mountain stood nearby, watching me stand up and finish my soda.
     
    “Just go through the door?” I rattled the ice in my glass and left a five on the table for my server.
     
    “I’ll take you.” He didn’t grab my elbow, but his massive paw brushed at the back of my arm as if he was used to steering people around.
     
    I left the sedate nightclub atmosphere as a troupe of dancers took the stage, the slender men dressed in brightly colored robes that slightly resembled kimono, but not quite. One smiled at me, bowing his head slightly so as not to dislodge the elaborate wig he wore.
     
    Like most entertainment clubs, backstage was chaos. Clothes and lights were fighting for space with a sea of men in various stages of naked. Several were sitting in front of long mirrors, trying to apply makeup, while others jostled and elbowed to get into costume. A hallway continued past the main room, and I hugged the wall when an older man wearing a tight, black-fringed dress sashayed out of a dressing room. An envious chatter from the others followed him as he headed out to perform.
     
    The mound of muscle took me to a room at the end of the hall. A sparkling gold star was stuck to the door, a spatter of Korean boldly painted beneath it. I couldn’t read it, but I guessed it was Scarlet’s name. I knocked and turned the knob when I heard Scarlet give me the go-ahead.
     
    Her dressing room was an oasis of fabrics and color. Overwhelmed by the glut of sequins, feathers, and frills, I almost missed seeing Scarlet wiping pancake makeup off her face, the bright lights of her vanity mirror turning her skin a white-gold.
     
    “Hey, Scarlet.” Even close up, she was flawless. I knew a lot of women who wanted to look as good as Scarlet did right now. Sadly for them, they couldn’t even come close. “I see you’re still gorgeous.”
     
    “Honey, you are sweet. I haven’t seen you in a while.” She stood, tightening the sash of an orange satin robe around her narrow waist. Leaning over, she brushed a kiss over my cheek, patting at my chest as she sat back down. The sultry torch singer, for the most part, was gone. The only trace of her remaining was the diamonded sweep of black hair arranged on Scarlet’s