The Billionaire’s Stripper

CHAPTER 17

Damn.

I woke up the next morning, wondering if everything that had happened last night was all a dream.

I am sure that anyone could probably relate to such a feeling. Imagine you had the best night of your life and it felt so surreal, so unreal in the most beautiful way, and you wake up the next morning, questioning reality. Wondering if all that happened was really, really too good to actually have been true.

Well, that was exactly how I felt when I opened my eyes that next morning.

But at one look around me, at the large spaced bedroom that I believed I had slept over, Monica's bedroom, to be specific, it was a solid pointer to be that indeed, all that happened Last night was not all in my head.

It was all real.

Michael McAllister and I had gone on a date that felt like a fairy tale story.

That confirmation was everything for me. I was grinning from tooth to tooth all of a sudden.

Loud, piercing screaming made me jump right out of the bed and nearly, through the window.

But it was not an apocalypse. It was just Monica and Quinn who had walked in to see me awake, screaming and jumping like they had been waiting for me to open my eyes to wakeness the whole entire time. I simply could not believe these girls!

"What is wrong with you girls!" I was laughing so hard that incild not contain myself.

How could I not have any normal friends? Everyone I seemed to befriend had this same "Quinn" virus.

Last Night when I came home, the girls were already asleep. I mean, in their defence, I spent so much time with Michael McAllister. More time than I even realized and by the time he was dropping me off at Monica's house, it was already dangerously clocking the witch's hours. And I don't mean twelve midnight. I meant two in the morning. We stayed out that late. Monica and Quinn were bound to have dozed off in the process of waiting for me and with the way that they practically ambushed me right now and screamed in excitement, it was clear enough that they had been dying to gosh about the whole thing with me.

"So, So, Sooooooooo!" Quinn was widening her eyes at me with all excitement as Monica practically danced around me, the two girls acting like teenagers hung up on One Direction, "How was it? Tell us EVERYTHING!"

I decided to give these girls back the same energy, because dammit, I was LIVING for it.

"Girls, all I can say is, SCORE!" I announced and they were practically a screaming mess at that point. I was rather laughing my entire a*s off.

"Tha man is drooling over you right now, isn't he?" Monica was saying.

"I mean, with the way I am playing my cards right, any man would!" I said.

"Yes, Queen!" Quinn was hyping me up with all the vibrance in her energy.

"But, girls, Michael McAllister is such a fine young man though," I told them in seriousness, "He is so charming too."

"Tell us what we don't know," Quinn sassed me playfully.

"The entire city knows that the man is to die for!" Monica said.

"Girl, do you know how many women would practically DIE to carry the man's babies?!" Quinn exclaimed rhetorically.

"Oh, God, Quinn!" I groaned in mock frustration.

"What? I am just saying facts!" Quinn was defending her word, "In my opinion, it's not such a terrible idea to be a hot billionaire's baby Mama. Girl, that's some jackpot!"

This girl would be the death of me!

"I am not interested in being Michael McAllister's baby Mama," I said to her.

"Well, I am. Bring him over, sis," Quinn joked around and Monica was a laughing, snorting mess.

"Can you be serious for once!" I threw my best friend a pillow and falling onto the bed, she laughed so, so hard.

"No really," I said to both her and Monica, speaking as a matter of fact, "I think I actually really fancy Michael McAllister."

"Okay, and so does half the population of the city. And?" Monica played around.

"I'm serious," I said to them, "I think I really like him. This goes way past him being some rich billionaire or whatever. I learned a lot about him during our date and as far as I know, he seems to be a responsible man. My type. I admire him."

"Awww," Monica and Quinn chorused dramatically.

"He could be the one, you know," I told them.

"I see it already," Quinn declared for me, certainty in her voice, "It is written in the stars. I see it all. Rachel Kelly and Michael McAllister. Soooo cute!"

God, I had the most supportive friends by my side. I absolutely LOVE these girls so f*****g much!

"So, you know how I told you guys that this was originally supposed to be a date where he had a talk with me and found out if I was capable enough to be his bonus when he becomes CEO of the company?" I reminded them.

"Yeah? Yeah?" Quinn was bubbling with anticipation.

"Well, he told me he checked me to be his bonus the moment he saw me and he just wanted a chance to go on a date with me," I told the girls and once again, they chorused an Aww; Quinn slightly wheezed.

"Girls, Last Night was epic," I told them.

"Did you guys f**k?" Monica asked me with wide eyes of excitement.

"Oh, too fast!" Quinn shushed her, "But did you?!" She turned to me to ask the exact same thing, eyes wider in anticipation.

"f**k no," I answered laughing. I really threw my head back to laugh because this was all absolutely ridiculous!

We were all a laughing mess when my phone started to buzz with a call and the girls were suddenly on the alert, with eyes sharpening so wide as they looked at the caller ID to see who it was, calling and cutting into our little screaming fest that we deceived ourselves was a conversation between grown women.

I nearly screamed myself when I saw who it was, calling.

Putting up my favourite facade, I took the phone from the bed and answered it.

"Michael?"

My voice was smooth and cool, like the woman that I had been projecting for him the night before. Calm and collected. Easy.

"Hello,"

I swooned. His voice over the phone, his morning voice over the phone was deeper and sexier than ever and I had to bite on my lips to keep myself in control.

Quinn and Monica were dying behind me.

I bit my lips harder in a desperate attempt to avoid breaking character because of those two extra women.

"Woke up thinking about you, Miss Rachel Kelly." He said to me over the phone and my cheeks could not hide it. Red. Redder. Reddest. I was gone. "Did you sleep well?"

"I slept fine. What about you?" I asked him, in that prim and proper tone.

"Could barely have any sleep," He told me.

"Why so?" I questioned.

"You," He said and I felt the smile on his lips through the tone of his voice, "You were on my mind all night. Couldn't stop thinking of how beautiful you are."

"You say the most flattering things," I laughed softly to myself.

"I only speak the truth," He said to me.

"Well, I thought about you too," I humoured him, "Couldn't help it either."

The girls were squealing behind and I hoped that he would not hear them.

"So, aside from the fact that I kept you up, did you manage to sleep well at least?" I asked him over the phone.

"Like a baby," He responded, "But I am worried about you though."

"Why so?" I asked again.

"I dropped you off late yesterday. My bad," He said, "You have work today. That was a bit selfish of me."

"Well, a little," I laughed a bit.

"You can skip work for the day, if you want," He said to me.

"I have barely even resumed a week of work," I said to him.

"I am aware and this one's on me," He insisted, "Get some sleep. Rest. We will see the day after tomorrow."

"You are a true Gentleman," I said to him, "But I am afraid I don't fancy special treatment. So, you will see me at work today, Michael McAllister."

He laughed. I heard him do so over the phone and it made me smile.

"I can't argue with a woman that knows what she wants," He said to me.

"That would be a terrible idea," I agreed.

"See you at work, Miss Rachel Kelly," He said to me.

"See you at Work, Mr Michael McAllister," I responded.

I was the one who cut the call first.

All my thoughts drowned in Quinn and Monica's excitement and I couldn't have been happier to have people as supportive as they were.

The morning was already an ideal one for me and I was going to be seeing the new man of my dreams, Michael McAllister, today at work to put the cherry on top of the cake. The day couldn't have gotten any better for me.

That was what I had thought.

Until I got a call from the one man that ruined it all in a flash.

The one man that reminded me of all the reasons why I could not be comfortable in this new found love story of mine.

My blood got hot and my body became numb in an instant. It shut down. It stopped functioning. It was like I was dead, but still standing.

"Rach, are you okay?"

That was Quinn's voice, but I could not bring myself to give her a response. I could not bring myself to say anything to my best friend.

"Well, f**k me." I said to myself as I stared at the caller ID, and it all started to come back to me, the fact that I was deceiving myself that I was at my perfect peace and sanctity.

How could I?

How could I have forgotten about Mr Sanchez?