Tender Hearts

Revealed

Tom's heart stopped. "It's you," he repeated, as though entirely unsure that this woman standing in the doorway of his room bathed in the phosphorous light wasn't just a figment of his imagination, conjured by the excitement of his first performance.

She blushed. "I've never done this before," she whispered, giddy, slurred with drink. Evie stalled, holding the doorframe for balance, feeling as though the entire room were on water and keeling starboard. She blinked at him, her face blank as she waited for whatever was supposed to happen between them.

"Let me help you," he replied, approaching her with caution. His hand caught her elbow and he caught her effortlessly as she fell towards him, her ship rocked. "Had a bit to drink tonight?"

Evie smiled. Her eyes caught his and her breath stalled. "A bit," she admitted. "But warranted."

Tom escorted her to the chair he'd leaned on and helped her sit. He couldn't help feeling like a giant as he stood above her. Dropping to his knees in front of her, he asked, "How so?"

She grimaced. "You don't want to hear my sob story," she answered, her voice cooling. "I understand my friends paid for a lap dance." Evie watched him expectantly.

Tom chuckled. "It's less of a lap dance and more of a private performance," he shrugged. "There's a three foot rule." When she raised her eyebrows in question, he explained, "I'm not allowed to get within three feet of you. It's illegal, otherwise."

"So this," she gestured at his hands rested on her knees, "Is illegal then?" She grinned as she leaned closer to him.

He blushed and pulled his hands back with the same speed he'd have done if she'd burned him. "Yeah, it is," he breathed as he stood up. "I'm sorry." He seemed momentarily shaken and gave a glimpse of the uneasy boy he'd been- the one that was hidden behind the unabashed British agent who'd shaken his goods on the stage.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, you know," she said softly. "We could just talk."

Tom shook his head. "I've got to give you what you've paid for." He pressed a button on the wall and some music started. Instead of the overbearing techno tunes that he danced to on stage, the mellow music of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" wafted through the room. He turned to Evie with a grin on his face. "I know, cheesy, right?"

"I like it better," she replied. "It seems more... Intimate." She watched as he began swaying to the music, his hips moving in small semi-circles that instantly created indecent thoughts on her mind. She licked her lips, hoping he didn't see her. He slowly unbuttoned his shirt, giving her an up close and personal view of his chiseled chest and muscular abs. Evie watched in rapt attention, so enthralled with his movements that she didn't notice he'd come closer and wrapped his shirt around her shoulders and harnessed her with it until she felt the fabric shift.

Evie sighed as his scent emanated from it, her eyes distracted from him for just a moment as she closed them and inhaled. "This isn't three feet, is it?" she chided.

"It is, actually," Tom responded as he let go, the shirt sleeves sliding from his hands and landing on the floor by her feet. "Now, Darling, you can't tell your friends about this if you don't watch."