MG FF: Forbidden Stranger Updated Part 20 pg 130 - Page 41

Originally posted by: sparsh_35

awsum updt!!

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Please please please update.

Chapter Thirteen

The smile faded when Geet saw Maan behind the bar.

"I thought you were off tonight."

"I was, but Panday called in sick."

Panday, one of the other bartenders often called in sick. The only reason Rahul didn't fire him was because they'd been together a long time. Sentimentality went a long way with their boss.

"Where's Naintara?"

Geet rested her hands on the polished wood bar. "Getting acquainted with the others. Annie likes her."

"A lot of people like her. I like her."

Yeah. Me, too. "Can I have eight bottled waters?"

"Sure." But he didn't move to get them. He stayed where he was, leaning against the counter, arms folded over his chest. Unlike his girlfriend, he knew how to do casual. His jeans were faded practically white, his shirt was a rich russet shade and his belt was brown leather, well-worn. Between his amazing looks and body and his complete self-confidence, he could fit in anywhere in those clothes.

He freed one hand long enough to gesture in the general area of her breasts. "You doing a cowgirl thing tonight?"

She resisted the urge to adjust her top. As she had told Naintara, tugging at your clothes was a no-no. if you were going to wear revealing clothes, whether it was a stripper outfit on a club stage or a bikini on a public beach, then you should keep your hands away. Tugging just made you look self-conscious. The clothes covered what they covered, nothing more.

"Actually I think of it as my Daisy Duke thing." She replied airily.

"That must go over well with your good-ole-Georgia-boy customers."

"They don't care much about what I'm wearing. They're more interested in what I'm going to take off and when?"

He shrugged as if that were a given. "What can I say? Men are scum."

"And you speak from experience."

"Yes ma'am. I've been a man all my life. My old man was out of the picture long before he died, but my grandparents and uncles stepped in to make sure my mother didn't have too calming an influence on my brothers and me. They succeeded."

"Your parents were divorced?" she aimed for an idle tone, but didn't know if she managed. Of course, she knew Pammi and Tej Khurana hadn't been divorced, but unless she was willing to let Maan know that she came from Copper Lake, she couldn't admit it.

And she didn't want Maan to know. Didn't want him to mention her to his mother, who might remember those poor Handas, or his brother, who would almost surely remember Randy Mandy. She'd hated that nickname, had hated Dev and, for a time, had hated herself.

But the nickname and the memories were in the past, where they belonged. She wouldn't let them into the present.

"Nope, no divorce," Maan replied. "He just checked out. He was a lawyer and worked for the family businesses. He travelled a lot. Played a lot. He had better things to do than raise his kids. That was Mom's job."

"Did Mom know that before she had the three little devils?"

He grinned. "Aw, we weren't Satan. Just his spawn."

Finally he pushed away from the counter, set a tray in front of her and began taking bottled water from the refrigerator two at a time. "Turned out there was a lot Mom didn't know until after the fact. That she was going to be a single mother long before he died. That he didn't have a clue what it meant to be faithful. That she'd wind up helping to raise his illegitimate son." His expression turned cynical. "At one point, he was married to my mom, engaged to Manish's mother, who was pregnant with him at the time, and had a couple other women at the side."

"He was ambitious," Geet commented quietly.

"He was scum." There was no teasing now. If Maan possessed any gentler feelings for his father, he was hiding them well.

She shifted the subject to something else less resented. "So you get along with your fathers illegitimate son?" she remember Manish from his frequent visits to Copper Lake. In age, he came between Maan and Adi, as far as looks, the family resemblance was there. Not as strong as between the three Khurana boys, but the connection between Manish and the boys was apparent.

"Sure. Manish is family."

She remembered that, too. Pammi had acknowledged his as Tej's son and, therefore, hers, and she'd corrected anyone who'd called him a stepson or half-brother. Tej had never been a father to Manish, bur Pammi had certainly been a mother.

Maan twisted the cap off the last bottle of water and, instead of setting it on the tray, offered it to her. "What about you? Any brothers or sisters?"

"No, it's just me. My family's not nearly as interesting as yours, no infidelity, no trust issue, no lack of commitment."

"Just your quadriplegic father, your mother taking care of him, and you...taking care of her?"

After a sip of cold water, she shrugged. "I helped where I could." She had handled the housework, the laundry, the cooking and the shopping. She had read to her father, played his favourite music and sometimes even danced for him. He'd watched her with such emotion that too often she'd choke up. he had wanted so much for her'college, a career, a family and a home'and he'd believed she would get it all.

She'd graduated from college and her career was just weeks always. She had a home and a family was always possible. She'd fulfilled most of his dreams for her, but at what price? How disappointed would have been by the choices she had made to get from near-poverty in Copper Lake to where she was today?

This would break your daddy's heart, her mother had once told her. I'm glad he's gone so he can't see what you've sunk to.

The words had broken Geet's heart.

"It must have been tough."

There was something in Maan's tone'sympathy, understanding, maybe even a bit of admiration'that made her stomach flip-flop and her fingers tremble, she curled them tightly to hold them steady and shrugged as if his tone didn't matter, "You do what you have to do."

That had been Rano's mantra, but she'd been none too happy when Geet had applied it to her dancing. There were other jobs, her mother had insisted, that didn't involve dancing half-naked for strangers and perverts.

There were, but Geet liked dancing and it had helped her achieve a certain lifestyle.

Geet glanced at the clock behind the bar. Ten minutes till seven. Arjun would open the door soon, the early customers would wander in and the first dancers of the evening would take the three stages. "I'd better get back to the dressing room." Picking up the tray, setting a few bottles to wobbling, she murmured thanks and headed for the back.

She swore she could feel Maan's gaze on her until the stage door swung shut behind her. In the dressing room, she passed around the tray, setting the extra bottle in front of Naintara, then set down at her dressing table.

Thanks to the day's humidity, her curls were wilder than usual. She didn't try to tame them, but pulled them back on each side and secured then with a large silver comb.

Doing a cowgirl thing tonight? Maan had asked. Why not? She added silver earrings that dangled from her lobes, slid chunky silver rings on three fingers and a thumb, clipped conchas to the tie of her blouse and the tiny straps of her thong and circled her middled with a narrow chain linking tiny conchas.

"Did you like to play dress-up when you were little?"

She glanced at Naintara as she slid a fringed suede band over her wrist to her upper arm. "I think I must have, because in the beginning, I got a real kick out of these clothes. Now, they're like your suits, comfortable. Familiar."

"I can't imagine the day I'll be comfortable in a thong and a teeny bra," Naintara said ruefully.

"It'll come. Trust me."

"Trust me," Naintara mimicked. "You sound like Maan."

Geet met her gaze in the mirror. "Do you?"

"Trust Maan? With my life."

That was about as ringing as an endorsement could get. Geet could see where he would inspire that kind of faith in Naintara. She thought, with a few more personal conversations, he might inspire that kind of faith in her. He would be the first man since her father.

There was a rap at the open door, then Romeo's head appeared around the corner. "It's seven o'clock.

Annie, Pari, Raji, get out front." His gaze zeroed in on Naintara. "You're not one of my girls."

Naintara stiffen and flushed, looking as guilty as a ten-year-old caught ditching class. Geet touched her shoulder reassuringly as she stood. "This is a friend of mine. Romeo Clark, Naintara Rathod. Romeo manages this place and the dancers."

"And it's like trying a herd cats," he muttered. He looked Naintara over head to toe, then grunted. With him, the grunt could meet anything from Nice to meet you to Get the hell outta my club. "Geet, we've got a special this Saturday. You interested?"

She shook her head.

"Didn't think so." He looked at Naintara again, gaze narrowed. With all five of Rahul's club under his control, Romeo was always on the outlook for new prospects. Was he envisioning Naintara as a prospect or hoping she wasn't? His next words answered that question. "I don't suppose your friend here'"

Geet smiled politely. "No."

He grinned. "It never hurts to ask. You're on seven-thirty." With that, he left the room again.

Naintara was wide-eyed. "What was he talking about? What is a special?"

"Nothing you'd be interested in."

"Oh, Geet, I'm interested in everything. Can't you tell by my wild and adventurous lifestyle?"

"Not this, you aren't." Geet flipped open an eye kit and touched up the shadows that darkened her lids, then thickened and smudged her eyeliner. She added as extra coat of apricot blush to her cheeks. After applying liner, lipstick and gloss to turn her mouth a shiny brownie-red pout, she looked up to find Naintara watching her. Obviously still looking for pointers, it was clear Naintara wasn't yet comfortable with her new makeup routine, but she would get there.

About the same time a thong became comfortable.

Annie and some of the others are going out after work. They invited us along. Want to go?"

Seven hours' work, then go out to party or home to bed?

There was no contest. "I don't think so. But you go ahead. You'll have a good time." Annie was friendly and outgoing, but she wasn't a risk taker. The places she went were safe; the people she hung out with were law-abiding.

"You sure?"'

"Yeah. I have got a date with my bed. But Annie's fun. She'll entertain you and get you home safely before dawn."

Naintara grinned, her eyes damn near sparkling. "Oh, wow. I'm going out with strippers. Isn't that cool?"

Precap: He moved, taking a few steps towards her.

"You want to get some coffee?"

Please let me know how the part is

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Originally posted by: Mino_M

Please please please update.

I love your ff.

Mino

Thanks dear

interesting update...

Naintara is starting her first day as exotic dancer...

thanx for pm

Originally posted by: SiniHanda

LOVELY! IN CAPITALS!

Thanks dear 😃

Originally posted by: Shalve

awesome update

Thank u so much

Originally posted by: anupm04

Nice update

Thanks

Originally posted by: lil.mizz.smexii

LOVED IT!

Originally posted by: tushti-kiran

interesting update...

Naintara is starting her first day as exotic dancer...

thanx for pm

Thanks dear