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was too damn weird today.

CHAPTER SIX
     
    Nate rubbed his forehead as the door slammed. He was supposed to be good at being a stripper. It was supposed to be easy money with no emotional ties to anyone.
    He had been on his own after his modeling career ended. It shouldn’t surprise him that another person who knew him as a model had just walked out the door, but it did. He’d never thought Betty would be the one to walk away from him. Then again, he was the one who had left without bothering to call her back all those years ago.
    It had been stupid to kiss Betty. Even if he had been a real plumber, it would have been a dumb thing to do. He couldn’t date her as a stripper. And it was obvious by her reaction that he’d been right to try and keep it from her.
    His eyes caught the picture on the fridge. Well…at least she wouldn’t date someone who took off their clothes in a private setting. But she was the only person he’d ever thought saw past the glamor. She would have been happy to date him if he really had been a plumber.
    She hadn’t batted an eye. Well, not until she saw the body glitter he’d borrowed from one of the other strippers. He refastened the Velcro to make sure he had his nipples put away before he turned to face Betty’s roommate.
    A wrench was thrust in his face.
    “I assume this is yours, Sparkles?” The real plumber was laughing at him.
    At least it wasn’t an old lady this time.
    Nate put the wrench in his toolbox and grabbed his phone before standing back up. The Angela girl was standing in the doorway.
    She shifted from foot to foot before finally asking, “Does your company offer other services?”
    “Bently Bombers provides role play based dances of all kinds. What were you looking for?” Nate cringed as he repeated the sentences that had been burned into his brain over the last week of training. If he couldn’t perform up to par, he was told to sell other dancers. Did he really even need to bother after this screw up?
    “No. I mean…well, you were about to…do you sleep with your clients?”
    And now she thought he was a prostitute. Wonderful .
    “I just strip.” Nate thought about the nursing home. “Badly, apparently. Betty took me by surprise, and I forgot why I was really here. Could you tell her I’m sorry?”
    Angela narrowed her eyes but still didn’t step aside to let him run out with his tail between his legs. Which it pretty much already was, with how far his g-string had ridden up his ass.
    “Did you get her number before you shoved your tongue down her throat?”
    “Yes.” He held the phone out to Angela. “Did you want to delete it?”
    She didn’t answer right away. Another foot shift and she moved out of his way. “You should call her.”
    Nate laughed. “I don’t think she wants me to do that.”
    “She talked about you, you know.”
    Nate froze, and his heart pounded as he held his breath waiting for her to continue. Talked about him? He should get the hell out of this apartment, but before he accepted how much he’d screwed up again, he had to know if she’d forgiven him for the first time. “What did she say?”
    “She told me about the letters, and after her last breakup, she told me about how sweet you were. I tried to steer the conversation to your ass, but turns out she thought a lot of you.”
    “I thought a lot of her too. I regret not trying harder to get back to her.”
    He wasn’t sure if she believed him or not.
    Angela pushed the door open for him. After he walked into the hallway, she leaned out after him. “She is single, but you better come back with more than the basic woo. The last guy she dated wasn’t worth her time.”
    “And a stripper would be?” She’d made it pretty clear she didn’t think so, hadn’t she?
    “Betty’s a lot more progressive than you think. And a guy who tried to fix a sink even though he had no idea what he was doing might be just what she needs.” Angela looked over his shoulder.