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

give it you.”
    Her eyes widen with surprise. “No, I can’t take your money.”
    “You’d rather take the money you’d earn from stripping rather than from me?”
    “Because that money I’ll have earned. It wouldn’t be charity.”
    I grit my teeth. “It wouldn’t be fucking charity.”
    “Whether it would be charity or not, it would make me beholden to you, Axel. And I don’t want to be beholden to you or any man. I can support myself, even if that means having to make tough choices. It’s the only way I can continue to respect myself. You can understand that, can’t you?”
    I can, but I wish I couldn’t.
    “Why do you need so much money?”
    She glares at me. “That’s really none of your damn business.”
    “No? Even though we’ve seen each other every night this week?”
    “To fuck!” she snaps. “That’s it. Sex. That’s all you are to me, Axel. When are you going to get that through your thick skull?”
    She whirls around, turning her back to me with her eyes closed, trying to shut me out.
    I can’t help it. Her words piss me off. I’m frustrated as hell. I’ve tried being patient and I don’t know what the hell to do to get through to her. I shift into action and tug my tee over my head. I reach for the belt holding up my jeans and unhook it. The clinking of the metal alerts her.
    She turns slowly. “What are you doing?”
    “Getting comfortable.” I shrug and toss my belt to the side, where it clatters against the hardwood floors.
    “No.” She shakes her head. “We’re not having sex in the studio. Laura would kill us both.”
    “I’m not afraid of Laura .”
    “Still doesn’t mean we’re going to fuck.”
    “I don’t recall even mentioning it.”
    “You’re undressing,” she points to my steel-cut abs.
    “Like I said, to get comfortable.” I lift a hand to caress her cheek. “I want you to dance for me.”
    “No,” she scoffs and pulls away, but I’m too quick for her, leveling my palm against her ass and pulling her tight against me.
    “It wasn’t a question.”
    “I don’t take orders from you, Axel.”
    “How about payment?” I retrieve my wallet from my back pocket and grab a hundred-dollar bill, holding it out to her.
    She rips the bill out of my hand and shoves it into my front pocket. “I don’t want your goddamn money.”
    “Too bad.” I pull the hundred back out and push it into her bra. “What’s the matter? You’re going to be a stripper, right? You were going to do it without even telling me, so you must feel pretty confident in your decision. If you can’t even dance in front of me, how do you think you’ll be able to dance in front of the clientele at Sugar Bare.”
    When she doesn’t answer, I step to the other side of the room and pick up a chair with one hand. I carry the chair to the center of the room, and park it directly in front of the steel pole. I waste no time sliding into the seat and patting my thigh. “Dance for me, Angel.”
    She hesitates, and I say it again, this time in a whisper. “Dance for me.”
    My cock throbs in my jeans, hard and ready for release, but all of a sudden, my anger is under control. She’s being stubborn. She doesn’t really want to strip at the club. But she does want to dance for me.
    I can see it on her face. In the tightness of her nipples poking through her bra. On the flush on her cheeks that extends down her chest.
    “Don’t be shy,” I taunt her in a low growl. “I’ve seen you bare ass naked. I’ve been inside of you. I’ve seen you at your most vulnerable. This right here? This is nothing considering I’ve had every piece of you every night for the last week.”
    “Why must you always be so perverse?”
    “That’s an interesting question. You’re the one who said you were in this only for the sex, remember?’
    “Yeah, I remember,” she huffs.
    I pass my finger over my dry, wanting lips, waiting patiently, but my patience is quickly wearing out. With every second that