Stripped Read Online Free Page B

waitress looked
expectantly at Abby.
    “I’ll have a large garden salad with no cheese. No
dressing.”
    “For you, sir?”
    “I’ll take the pastrami on rye and some potato
soup.”
    Brianna flashed another smile at Chris before
leaving the table.
    “How long have you worked at Mickey’s?” he asked.
Abby considered.
    “I started as a cocktail waitress when I was 20 and
I started dancing a month later. Around four years, I guess.”
    “Do you like it?”
    Abby looked away, uncomfortable.
    “I’ve always loved dancing. I had a friend growing
up whose mother taught lessons, and she taught me for free. So the dancing
part, I do enjoy. But the stripping part…” She shrugged. “I guess I’ve gotten
ambivalent about it. At first it really bothered me. If I hadn’t needed the
money so much, I wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
    Chris watched her from across the table, and Abby
wondered what he was thinking.
    “Have you lived in Chicago your whole life?” he
asked.
    “In the area, yes. We bounced around a lot of
different neighborhoods growing up. How about you?”
    “I was born in Germany because my Dad was working
there then. We lived in several countries while I was growing up, and I got
assigned to Benedict for my residency when I finished med school. I liked it,
so I took a job in the ER when they offered it.”
    “And you’re single?” Abby asked, her words more of a
surprised statement than a question.
    “Uh, newly single. Just went through sort of a
breakup last month,” Chris said.
    “Ah,” Abby said knowingly.
    “What’s that for?” Chris’ eyes twinkled with
amusement.
    “You’re on the rebound. Asking out anything that
moves.”
    “Quite the opposite,” he said, laughing. “I’m on a
long break from all that. It took me a while to get disentangled from the last
woman I went out with, and I plan to enjoy being single again.”
    “I have to admit, that’s a relief,” Abby said,
smiling. “I never, ever date men I meet at the club.”
    “But you said yes to me.”
    “It’s just lunch. And we’ve both established we
don’t want anything to come of it.”
    “We didn’t really meet at the club, anyway,” Chris
said. “We officially met at the hospital. So what’s your stance on being
friends with men you meet at hospitals?”
    “I suppose I’m open to it.”
    “What do you like to do for fun?”
    Abby’s brows furrowed as she considered.
    “I work a lot, so there’s not a whole lot of time
for fun. I take my sisters to do things on the weekends. They like to go
bowling and roller skating. Last year I took them to Disneyworld. That was the
most fun any of us have ever had.”
    “Do you like to go to the movies?”
    “Sure,” she said. “It’s been years since I’ve been
to anything but the newest animated movie, but I do like it.”
    Brianna delivered the food to their table and Abby
was again hit with a wave of nervousness. She didn’t have friends outside of
the club, and she only saw the other dancers when they worked together. Lunch
out with anyone other than Marla was unusual for her.
    “What do you do for fun?” she asked.
    “I’m like you, I guess. Work kind of dominates my
time. I work 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., and by the time I sleep, eat, work out and do
the laundry and housework, it’s time to go back to work. Why are you smiling
like that?” he asked, smiling back at her.
    A flush crept across her cheeks.
    “I was…picturing you doing housework,” she admitted,
still smiling. Chris laughed.
    “How did I look?” he asked. Abby was flustered as
she tried to think of an answer.
    “Cute,” she admitted shyly.
    “The soup’s great, do you want a taste?” he asked.
Abby wanted to decline, but she was intrigued by the intimacy of sharing his
spoon, so she took it. The creamy soup tasted of ham and potatoes.
    “It’s good,” she agreed.
    “You want some more?”
    “No, thanks. I have to be pretty careful about what
I eat.”
    They ate in