Hard Core (Hard As Nails Book 3) by Hope Conrad Page B

stripper, the customers are supposed to keep their hands to themselves.”
    “But they don’t. Someone always gets handsy. That’s just the way it is.”
    “And yet you continue working here. Knowing that’s going to happen.”
    I suck in a breath and place my hands on my hips. “You think I like this? Do you think I like anything about it?”
    “How am I supposed to know?” He shrugs “But you make excuses for them. You just said he didn’t do anything wrong.”
    “There are certain expectations when you walk into a club like this. In the real world, you can’t do shit like that. In here? You shouldn’t, but people do. That’s just the name of the game.”
    “And the other side of that coin is me doing what I did. It’s not okay for men to touch something that isn’t theirs.”
    “Women don’t belong to men ever,” I say, and he just looks at me, and I get his message. Sometimes a woman can belong to a man in the best way possible, just like a man can belong to a woman. I’m suddenly struck by the overwhelming desire to make Axel mine, but I push that ridiculous thought away. We just met. Yes, we’d had sex, but that’s all we’d had. We weren’t baring our souls to one another and falling in love.
    “Why are you acting like this?” I shake my head, but I’m confused by my own behavior as much as his.
    “Acting like what?”
    “The jealousy is written all over your face.”
    He steps back until he’s leaning against the side of the building, then crosses his arms over his wide chest. “And that’s a surprise to you? It shouldn’t be. I don’t like that those men are in there touching you, and I really don’t like that you’re okay with it.”
    I walk up to him until we’re toe to toe. “I don’t like it. But if I get pissed at every asshole who acts like an asshole in there, I won’t have a job. I told you when we first met. I am not some helpless girl. When a guy smacks me on the ass or says something really foul, and I let it slide with a smile because choosing to let it go is another dollar in my pocket, that’s my choice. If it turned into more, it would be my choice to stop it. And I would, Axel. You have to trust that.”
    He stares at me, jaw clenching, before his shoulders relax. “You’re sexy when you’re mad,” he says with a mischievous smile capable of melting my panties right off my body.
    I shake my head. “Don’t try and change the conversation.”
    “The point is—” he begins, but I cut him off with a wave of my hand in front of his face.
    “The point is that this is my life, and it’s my job. I have to be friendly to get good tips, and besides, you don’t own me.”
    That seems to hit him like a speeding truck. He cocks his head as if he’s trying to process my words. It shouldn’t be difficult. It should be simple. It should be really damn simple.
    “Fair warning,” he says. “That’s where we’re headed.”
    Did he really just say that? “What does that mean?”
    “It means, I want to own you,” he growls. Before I have time to process his words, he reaches for my arms and spins me around. My back lands against the brick exterior, and he leans over me. He gets close, so close our lips almost touch, and I desperately hold back my urge to close that frustrating distance.
    “You can feel it, can’t you?” he questions. “You want me to own you the way I dream of owning you. We’re on the same page, Angel. You’re just not willing to admit it yet.”
    I dig my fingers into the back of his hair and pull him closer until I can whisper in his ear. “All I know is you’re a good fuck.” Then I plant my hands on his chest and push as hard as I can. Of course, he doesn’t move an inch.
    “No, wait. You’re not just a good fuck,” I say. “You’re the best I’ve ever had—“
    “That’s one thing you don’t have to tell me, gorgeous. And you’re not so bad yourself.”
    “Well thank you for that ringing endorsement, but you