fact, Ben had been insistent that they watched only and kept their hands to themselves. Ellie was pretty sure he would have left strict orders with the staff to that effect.
But now, poor Kat’s face was as red as her hair, and she was refusing to go anywhere near the man. He had seemed very normal when he had approached the table, wearing his smart navy uniform, looking like something out of a Hollywood film. Although in hindsight, it did seem a little odd that he would be so young and also an officer. And much too pretty.
The laughter had started shortly after when he had flashed them a grin with a mouth full of very white teeth, and had flung his hat on the table as appropriate music struck up from his iPod, which he removed from his pocket and laid down on their table, too.
Moving back from the table, he had started wiggling his hips sensuously in time to the music. Ellie had recognized it instantly, “Sex Bomb.” The girls had stared at each other at first, wondering what was going on. As the stripper had discarded his jacket, he made sure he looked each of the girls straight in the eye, making it seem like he was here just for them. Or at least that was how it had seemed to Ellie.
She couldn’t decide what she wanted to look at first. On the one hand there was the wonderful body contorting in front of her, and she had to be right in the front, didn’t she! Now it made sense why Gina had tried to get Kat to sit in Ellie’s seat when they had arrived. But Ellie also had an overwhelming urge to look back at the girls to see how they were taking all this in.
Grinning broadly to herself, she decided a brief glimpse to the latter was called for. Rebecca was sitting to her left at the end of the table, shaking her head in an almost motherly exasperation as she leaned back to allow room for her bump of seven months. A hand was raised to her mouth. Ellie wasn’t sure if Rebecca was hiding a laugh or was shocked.
Kat was next to Rebecca on the other side of the table. At this moment, she was trying to hide her embarrassment, having pulled her long curly hair over her face and then placed her hands on top of it to cover her eyes to block out the sight. Gina had an arm around Kat, trying to encourage her to watch, without success. Since Gina was the most likely culprit for having organized this, it wasn’t surprising she was the most vocal and had the broadest grin.
Ellie caught her eye and shook her head in an expression of “you wicked, wicked girl.”
Gina simply shrugged her shoulders, beamed, and continued her attempts to persuade Kat to look up, which seemed to coincide with every time the stripper thrust his hips forward on the words “sex bomb.”
Jessie, next to Gina, was amusing in that she was reacting the opposite way to Rebecca, considering she was only one who was already a mother in their group, her little girl being six weeks old now and at home being looked after by her doting father. Clearly maturity didn’t come with motherhood, but maybe losing one’s inhibitions did as Jessie was nearly as vocal as Gina and was trying to urge Kat to wear the cap the guy had thrown onto the table.
Ellie’s smile broadened at the knowledge of how much Jessie had come out of her shell since she had got together with Sam. Sometimes she could be as much of an exhibitionist as Ellie. Kat wouldn’t take the hat, so Jessie put it on her own head instead.
The last of the group was Lissa, who sat at the other end of the table, her jaw practically on the floor in stunned shock. Ellie giggled at the picture she made and, looking back to see what had shocked Lissa so much, she nearly missed the trousers being ripped off until they arrived over her head. “Hey,” Ellie cried, quickly pushing them aside, not wanting to miss a moment of the action.
He was now just wearing a thong. Ellie’s thoughts were diverted to wonder when exactly he had taken his shoes off. She guessed this had happened she was looking at the
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