Party Lights: Love and Lapdances, #1

By Katie de Long

The exotic dancers and employees of the Queen of Clubs walk a fine line, with only wits, beauty, and market savvy to keep them from toppling into the shark pit. Ride shotgun through lapdances, romance, and sexual awakenings. Don't worry, these girls won't ask what your hands are doing under the tip rail.

Cora, an adventurous student, finds herself auditioning for a stripping gig...and it comes with more than the asking price, including a very attractive DJ.

Party Lights features adult language and content. It is a standalone novella length work.It was originally published as Queen of Clubs: Cora.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Katie de Long
• Release date: Nov 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781502290564

Katie de Long

USA Today bestseller Katie de Long lives in the Pacific northwest, realizing her dream of being a crazy cat-lady. As a kid, Katie flagged the fade-to-blacks in every adult book she encountered, and when she began writing, she vowed to use cutaways sparingly. After all, that's when the good stuff happens. And on a kindle, no one asks why there's so many bookmarks in her library. For more information on Katie's work, visit delongkatie.com.

Book preview

Party Lights

Love and Lapdances #1

The exotic dancers and employees of the Queen of Clubs walk a fine line, with only wits, beauty, and market savvy to keep them from toppling into the shark pit. Ride shotgun through lapdances, romance, and sexual awakenings. Don't worry, these girls won't ask what your hands are doing under the tip rail.

Cora, an adventurous student, auditions for a stripping gig...and it comes with more than the asking price, including a very attractive DJ. Stripping is the perfect job for her, and she won't throw it out for a stupid crush. The first rule is no dating coworkers, but Kirk has other plans. After all, sometimes rules are meant to be broken.

Dedication

For all the whores, sluts, and bad girls I've known who turned those names into compliments.

––––––––

This title has a glossary in the back, for some strip club terms.

Party Lights

Love and Lapdances #1

It's all physics, Lia said, perching at the top of the pole, her legs crossed at the calf to keep her aloft. No matter how hard the trick looks, it all comes down to knowing the physics behind how to hold your weight.

She shifted her grip to her hands, uncrossed her legs, and re-crossed them, clinging to the pole with her inner thighs instead. She leaned back slowly, her hair sliding sensuously away from her shoulders to expose her sinewy neck. At the edge of her arms' reach, she took her fingers off the pole. Her torso bobbed down slightly into the invert, a position that looked like a more graceful version of leaning off a tall bed.

She swore it was a simple trick, one of the first that any reasonably diligent girl could learn, but it definitely impressed me.

Are you almost done yet? Kitty called from the bar, where she was scrubbing up. I want to get out of here before the sun comes up.

Yeah, yeah. Just showing the fresh meat how it's done. Lia smiled gently to soften the perceived insult behind her words. I returned it politely, unsure whether to be offended.

I was pleased after my audition, and thought I looked the part. But as I left the stage, Lia pulled me aside and said my inexperience was obvious in the first ten seconds. I thought I'd done well—I had a theater background, and smiled, comfortably sensual despite my fear. Lia said my movements were all wrong.

Lia sat up and gripped the pole again to climb back down. "Just remember, move slow. You aren't dancing at a normal club, where no one cares if they get more than an impression of you moving. Drunk men can't follow normally-paced motions. Try flicking one of them in the head after they've been here an hour, and not one will manage to dodge.

If you want to practice, pick up a day shift or two. The daytime DJ, Kirk, will let you have the stage to yourself for an hour if you tip him enough. Or you can take it up directly with the other girls. Marina, blond girl, tits to here, she held her hands a surprisingly large distance away from her bosom, "—she's a big seller, and hates the stage. Says it slows her down. She buys out of her sets anyways. You might be able to persuade her to let you take her sets for free, and then just tip Kirk a little for the inconvenience of saying the wrong name.

Thinking of which, have you decided what your stage name’s gonna be? You auditioned under Persephone, but if you’d like a word of friendly advice, you'll hamstring yourself if you keep that name. Some men don't like a stripper who's smarter than they are, and more men than that won't be able to hear your name over the music.

I don't know—it was just the first thing that came to mind when he, uh, I can't remember his name, asked how to introduce me.

Lia fixed me with a stare, looking me up and down as though evaluating me. It was unnerving, but no different than auditioning for a role. Well, you can change it later if it doesn't suit your working persona. But I'd pick something normal, capitalize on that inexperienced vulnerability while you can. What kind of music do you like? She started toward the dressing room, and I followed.

Bits and pieces of everything, mostly. Huge Metallica fan, Tom Waits, Miranda Sex Garden—

Well, don't expect them to play any weird shit here. Just the Metallica, unless you're working dayshift. Then it's slow, and what's the worst that could happen? They chase away the one drunk there on his lunch break, who'll be back again tomorrow like clockwork? I tried not to look disappointed. I loved my music, and had a list of songs I'd imagined dancing to.

You want my advice, kid? I resisted the urge to comment that I'd been listening to Lia's advice for several minutes. I could tell she meant well—none of the other dancers had so much as told me their name.

It feels weird you calling me a kid. You're maybe five years older than me.

"That's sweet of you