Bare Necessities. Marie Donovan

overfilling his palms.

      His cock pushed against his zipper as he shifted in his chair. How many futile erections had he sported over his best friend’s kid sister? Ever since his senior year in college when he met her right after her high school graduation.

      She had preferred to hide her amazing body under overalls and other baggy clothing, but they’d gone swimming once in the fishing pond behind the barn and his jaw had dropped. Fortunately, the water had been deep enough and his shorts baggy enough so Colin and Dane didn’t notice his extremely inappropriate interest. Being bound hand and foot and thrown under the hooves of Caesar, the old family bull, would have definitely dampened his arousal.

      After that, he only saw Bridget occasionally, like during Colin’s wedding when they’d been paired as groomsman and bridesmaid. Sure, she was great-looking with her dark, almost navy-blue eyes and naturally sun-streaked hair, but he’d come to appreciate her dry wit and wry sense of humor.

      The last time he’d seen her was when she moved to Chicago last August. He’d had a girlfriend then, but still reacted to Bridget the same way. What a jerk he was. And now Colin and the whole Weiss family were sending the fox to guard their precious chick.

      BRIDGET WAS PUTTING the finishing touches on Sugar’s order, the silver bra and brand-new ivory lace bra and thong. The dancer was coming over to pick them up. Hopefully, she’d love the new lace bra and order more. Now that Bridget had figured out Sugar’s pattern, it was simply a matter of cutting the fabric and putting the bra together.

      Her cell phone rang. Without checking the caller ID, she answered. “Hello?”

      “Bridget?” A familiar male voice rumbled through her phone, startling her so she almost dropped it.

      “Adam?” Her voice came out squeakier than she liked, so she forced herself to take some deep breaths.

      “Hey, Bridge, how are you doing?”

      Ugh, he called her Bridge just like her brothers did. Her nervousness dissipated. “Fine, keeping busy. Calling to check on me?”

      “Um…”

      Adam at a loss for words? He was so busted. “Colin or Dane?”

      “Colin or Dane what?” He tried a valiant comeback, but failed.

      “Was it Colin or Dane who called you and sicced you on me?”

      He sighed. “Colin.”

      “Ah-ha!” Knowing she’d guessed right didn’t make her feel any better.

      “Come on, Bridge, they’re concerned, rightfully so, that they don’t hear from you as much as they’d like.”

      “First of all, if they heard from me as much as they’d like, I’d be calling down the stairs telling my mother what I wanted for breakfast every morning. Second, I’m an adult and don’t need to check in with Mommy and Daddy all the time. How often do you call your parents?”

      Adam didn’t say anything. Bridget smacked her forehead in mortification. To quote her mother, who usually never had a harsh word for anyone, Adam’s parents were dreadful. Bridget had plenty of worse words for them. “Look, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

      “No, I’m sorry, Bridget. You are a grown woman and don’t need someone who’s not even family butting into your business.”

      “Adam, you know I consider you—”

      “Like a brother?” His tone was sharper than usual.

      “Oh, no. Two are plenty. But more like…” She couldn’t think of a nice way to say she’d wanted to rip off his clothing and lick him all over ever since she was a teenager. “Like a friend,” she finished lamely.

      “A friend.” He paused. “Well, as a friend, I’d like to encourage you to call home more often. You have a great family, believe me. They want to know how you’re doing.”

      “You’re right. But I need to prove I can do well here in Chicago since they were so dead set against it. I went to the local junior college and worked all kinds of goofy jobs to save my money for design school, and I’m finally doing what I want.”

      “I know you are, and I’m proud of you.” His soft, silky voice sent shivers down her spine. He ruined the effect by asking, “How are you doing for money?”

      “Fine.” Sugar’s voluminous bras caught her eye. There was her money right there. Funny, how everybody made money off two bags of saline. The surgeon, Sugar, Bridget, the strip club. Sugar’s breasts were positively a cottage industry.

      “You sure? City living is pretty pricey compared to Wisconsin.”

      “I’m fine, really. I even have a part-time job.”

      “Sounds good. Selling underwear again, like in that discount store?”

      She latched on to that with relief. “Yes, I am selling underwear. To a very upscale customer base.” She’d recently learned those buzzwords in her fashion-marketing class.

      “Excellent. I know you must be busy, but if we could—”

      Her call waiting blotted out his words. She checked and saw Sugar’s number. “Adam, I have to go. One of my customers is on the other line.”

      “Customers? Why do they have your cell number?”

      Uh…“’Bye, talk to you later!” She clicked over to Sugar. “Hi, how are you?”

      “Hi, Bridget,” she shouted over a crowd of female voices in the background. “I got called into work early and can’t come for those bras. We’ll have to reschedule.”

      “Oh. Okay.” Not okay. Bridget needed that money. Bad. Her electric bill was due the next day, and as it was she was going to need to walk her payment into the currency exchange to keep her lights on and her sewing machine humming. “Wait! I’ll drop them off for you.”

      “But, Bridget, I’m already at Frisky’s. I don’t want to make you come here.”

      “No big deal.” She made her voice cheerful. “Just tell me where to go.”

      “Are you sure?” Sugar sounded skeptical. “This is a nice club in comparison to some other dives around here, but still…”

      “Absolutely.” Bridget was already packing Sugar’s lingerie into her wheeled suitcase, along with some sample bras, thongs and corsets. She threw her sketchpad, colored pencils and some business cards on top. “It’s a good opportunity for me to do some market research, talk about what you ladies need, learn what’s in style right now.”

      Sugar laughed. “Bare skin is always in style, but if you don’t mind coming, I’ll introduce you to the girls. They’re always bitching about not being able to find new outfits.” The dancer gave her directions to the strip club. Bridget checked her bus map. It was only a short ride away.

      “I should be there in an hour or so.”

      “Sounds good.” There was a muffled shout in the background. “Gotta go, I’m next.”

      “Knock ’em dead.” Bridget hung up and zipped the suitcase, almost giddy at her daring. The theme song from the Mary Tyler Moore Show popped into her head. She picked up a lime-green bra and flung it over her head, just like Mary’s striped knit cap.

      A little bit of Chicago business smarts and some Wisconsin stubbornness and she might make it after all.

      2

      BRIDGET HAD FOUND Frisky’s. It wasn’t hard, considering the ten-foot-tall, hot-pink neon kitten sign overhead. The kitten smirked at her in the twilight, its tail switching back and forth hypnotically. Come have a good time, leave your money behind.

      Hopefully she was here to get some money. But where to find Sugar? She walked to the building’s