Deadly Embrace Jackie Collins (the reader ebook .TXT) 📖

Madison was his priority now: he had to be there for her.

That didn’t mean that Mamie and Bone were forgotten. Eventually an opportunity would present itself, and if that opportunity was completely foolproof, he’d do something about it.

Once in a while he got together with Vito Giovanni, who was now living with his favourite stripper, Western Pussy.

‘This girlie is the greatest,’ Vito crowed. ‘Come see her one night. I’m gonna make her a star.’

‘A star of what?’ Michael asked.

‘Porno. It’s all the rage. This kid can do anything.’

‘You want your girlfriend to be a porno star?’

‘Why not? She gets off on it. To tell you the truth,’ Vito said, with a lewd wink, ‘so do I.’

No accounting for taste.

The following night, Vito took him to the Gentlemen’s Club, where Western Pussy was performing. Michael had no desire to go, but since he now handled all of Vito’s investments, it seemed prudent to keep him happy.

When Western Pussy hit the stage, the male audience began whooping and hollering with enthusiastic delight. She was one of those in-your-face strippers with attitude, her most noticeable asset being her boobs, a fully enhanced 46D. Something Vito had forgotten to mention.

As she whirled round the stage, doing things that only a contortionist could usually manage, Vito chortled with laughter. ‘Ain’t she something?’ he said, slapping Michael on the back. ‘Greatest little girl in the world.’

‘Little’ was hardly the word to describe Western Pussy. Michael was transfixed. He’d never seen anyone quite like her. It had always amazed him that men were turned on by strippers. If you couldn’t touch, what was the point of looking?

Later that night, Vito invited him to join Western and himself for dinner at his favourite steak house. Although Western was all over Vito, she couldn’t resist nudging her leg up against Michael’s thigh under the table.

Jesus! From Mamie to this. What next?

The moment he got home, he phoned Dani. Her kid answered the phone.

‘Hi,’ he said. ‘Is your mommy around?’

‘She’s not back yet,’ the boy said.

‘This is Michael.’

He waited for the boy to say something like, ‘Oh yeah, I know who you are, Mommy’s told me all about you.’

Nothing.

‘Michael, your mommy’s friend,’ he said. ‘Has she mentioned me?’

‘Nope.’

‘She hasn’t? Okay, well, you and I are gonna meet. What are you into? Baseball, football or basketball? What’s your game?’

‘I like ’em all.’

‘Next time I come out there, we’ll get together.’

‘’Bye.’

Michael replaced the receiver. Why hadn’t she mentioned him to her son? They were going together, for God’s sake. Okay, so he didn’t live in the same city, but they were going together.

He got into bed, put on the TV, and fell asleep watching Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. He dreamed about Beth. Or, at least, he thought it was Beth, it might have been Dani. He couldn’t remember which one it was when he woke up. Was that a good sign?

He didn’t know.

Soon Dani would be here, and he could start figuring out their future. He couldn’t wait.

Chapter Thirty-eight

Dani: 1975

Whenever Dean came into town, he took Dani to dinner.

‘What does your wife think of all these trips?’ she asked. As far as she was concerned they had settled into the perfect platonic relationship, which suited her fine. Only she wasn’t sure how his wife back in Houston felt about him still seeing her.

‘I have business here, Dani,’ he explained. ‘Morgan and I run a company together.’

‘I wasn’t aware of that.’

‘I told you,’ he said. ‘Obviously you weren’t listening.’

‘Sorry,’ she murmured.

‘It’s a business we started a year ago. Something to do with cattle.’

‘That’s interesting.’

‘So interesting that you don’t remember.’

‘I said I’m sorry.’

‘More important,’ he said, leaning towards her, ‘how are you doing?’

‘Really good,’ she said, sipping her wine.

‘You look great. In fact, you look glowing.’ He hesitated a moment, almost afraid to ask. ‘Don’t crush my heart and tell me you’ve met someone?’

‘As a matter of fact,’ she said, breaking into a helpless smile, ‘I have.’

Dean felt a stab of jealousy. Even though he was married to someone else, he still had feelings for Dani. She was the one who’d got away and he’d always love her.

‘Who is this mystery man?’ he asked, trying to keep it light.

‘He’s not such a mystery.’

‘No? Then how come you’ve never mentioned him?’

‘I don’t know,’ she said vaguely. ‘I think I wanted to make sure it was going somewhere.’

‘And is it?’

She smiled. ‘Be happy for me, Dean. I’m happy for you.’

‘Sure, Dani. If you’ve found the right guy, that’s wonderful. But I would like to know more about him.’

‘What are you–my father?’ she said, laughing.

‘I watch out for you, Dani. This is a tough town.’

‘You’re telling me?’ she said, putting down her wine glass. ‘I’ve been meaning to ask you, Dean. How come you never bring your wife with you? I’m sure I’d enjoy meeting her.’

‘You’ll meet her.’

‘When?’

‘Soon,’ he said impatiently, anxious to resume talking about Dani’s boyfriend.

‘We can all go out to dinner.’

‘I saw the show last night,’ he said, rapidly getting off the subject of his wife. ‘You looked spectacular.’

‘Really? Y’know, lately I’ve been thinking of giving it up.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘It means that the man I’m seeing wants me to spend time in New York.’

‘Is he asking you to marry him?’

‘Not yet, but he probably will.’

‘Dani,’ Dean said sternly, ‘take my advice–do not give up anything until he puts a ring on your finger. You have a son, responsibilities.’

‘I know,’ she said, nodding. ‘I’m flying to New York next weekend. I have a feeling we’ll be discussing our future.’

‘Well,’ Dean said, ‘in that case I wish you the best of luck.’

‘I know you do, Dean,’ she said warmly. ‘You and I–we’ll always be friends, won’t we?’

‘Yes, Dani, we always will,’ he said, trying to hide his dismay that Dani–his Dani–was involved with another man. ‘So…uh…what’s this mystery guy’s name?’

‘Michael.’

‘Michael who?’

‘Why are you so full of questions?’

‘I didn’t know it was a secret.’

‘It’s not. His name is Michael