Big Girls on Top by Mercy Walker Page A

of wings.
    Shep, the cook tonight, liked me, so I got an extra large order of wings with a side platter of celery, and cherry tomatoes.  And enough blue cheese and ranch dressing to float The Love Boat .
    I woofed it all down before Candy was done with her set.  That’s when most patrons usually ordered drinks, between sets, so if I wanted to eat them before they got cold I had to hurry.
    Just as I was swallowing my last scrumptious bite of spicy chicken I saw a man sidle up to the bar out of my peripheral vision.  I licked the blue cheese off my fingers and grabbed a cocktail napkin to wipe my hands off with . 
    “What can I get you, honey?” I said out of habit.
    The man was tall and broad shouldered, and had jet black hair.  And as he turned around to tell me his order, I was struck dumb as a sack of potatoes by his handsome—no, make that his gorgeous face. 
    Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen some hot-as-hell men in my day, but this guy just had a one of a kind face…and it had been sculpted by that fucker Michelangelo !
    Unconcerned that my mouth had fallen open and I was staring like an idiot at him, he told me his order.  I hadn’t an idea in hell what he’d said .  I just stood there, ogling him like a teenager at a Beiber concert.
    Finally he smiled and then leaned in and waved his hand in front of my face.
    Oh, god.  I must look mentally challenged or something.
    “I’m sorry,” I said, breathlessly.  “What did you say?”
    His smile deepened and he leaned forward and reached out, his thumb rubbing across my lower lip—
    Damn!—
    —and then he put his thumb in his mouth, sucking what he’d rubbed off my lip from his thumb.
    His eyes ran over me as his smile turned even more lascivious .   “I’ll have a beer…and an order of those wings you just demolished over there—” Oh, he’d seen that… “—but first , I’m here to see Teddy.  Can you tell him Quinn’s here to see him?”
    Quinn…that’s a nice name…never met a Quinn before…never met a guy with such a confident air about him…and those dark, melted chocolate eyes…
    My gaze fell slowly from those eyes, to his thick-lipped mouth, down his neck to where his clavicles met right above his broad chest. 
    He was wearing a sleek black leather jacket and a matching silk button down shirt.  The shirt was open at the collar…and a few buttons were open too.
    It was getting hot in here…I felt some perspiration trickle down the back of my neck.
    Quinn smiled and shook his head, and then reached out and pushed my open mouth shut with a little upward shove of his index finger under my chin.
    I moaned at his touch…what the hell was wrong with me!?!?
    I took a really big step back and gulped.  His eyes hadn’t left me, and if I stood there and looked into them for another second I was going to pass out…or maybe tear off all my clothes and jump on top of the man.
    So I pulled my tattered pride together and hustled away, back to Teddy’s office.
    Theodore Belmont Slater was the owner and manager of Frisky Kittens n ight club, and I’d always thought he was a nice guy and good to him employees.  He’d always been good to me, and he often bailed his strippers out from jail, helped them find new apartment s when they got evicted, and even helped me move once.  I’d even seen him trying to get Nadia to eat a Philly S teak hoagie from Primanti Brothers. 
    What a fool to waste such a great sandwich on a girl that was going to barf it up five minutes later!      
    I didn’t even knock, just barg ed into his office and pour ed myself a shot of his single malt Irish whiskey and knock ed it back. 
    Teddy was on the phone and I heard him say he’d call whoever it was back.  I plopped down in the comfy chair that faced toward his desk and let my head fall back against the cool leather.
    Teddy stared at me for a solid minute, laughter in his eyes, and then panic settled in as he asked, “Did someone OD in the ladies