Falling for Heaven (Four Winds) - By Anne Conley Page 0,1

establishment, Uri found himself captivated by the dancer's movements on the pole. Other dancers used the pole in their routines, but this one seemed to have a certain skill that the others lacked. He studied her, as she effortlessly suspended herself with her legs, spinning around, while touching herself in various places. She hadn't removed her bra yet, so she was still wearing more clothing than most of the others.

Her twisting frame cast a spell over Uri, mesmerizing him, and he found he was unable to look away. The familiar white-hot burning in his gut was joined by a foreign feeling, a tingling that started at the base of his groin, and worked its way up through his stomach. He shifted in his chair, suddenly uncomfortable with the sensations coursing through his body as he watched the dancer.

She was tall and curvy, with black hair that fell past her shoulders. Even from across the club, with lights bouncing around the room, he could tell that her eyes shone an impossible shade of green, as if they were jewels. Uri could see that her body was a temple, she wasn’t drunk or stoned, and he felt a little better about his assignment. He hated having to sober people up.

Although, as he watched her remove her bra and toss it backstage, he knew he would have to get her dressed.

He watched with fascination as his target lithely extricated herself from the pole, and stalked over to the edge of the stage where a man was waiting with a fistful of dollar bills. His large body swayed to the music, and alcohol flushed his face. Uri watched as she gyrated for the man on the stage, while he tossed dollar bills onto her body. The woman stood, letting the bills fall to the floor. She then danced around the stage, enticing more men to come up and slip bills into the string that held the impossibly small triangle of cloth over her pubic area.

Uri thought about the tight feeling in his chest. He hadn't noticed it before she'd pranced over to the man on the side of the stage. As the strange man fed her money, Uri's heart sank deeper in his chest, causing his blood to rush around his body. It suggested something personal about this target, but that was ridiculous. Uri didn't get personal. He wasn't capable of it.

Examining her audience, Heaven’s eyes flickered around the room, before landing on Uri. He could see her reaction, although subtle. Her abs tensed, and her mouth opened slightly, before her eyes moved on. Uri wondered about that. Usually the targets didn’t pick up on him that soon. He noticed her eyes continued to flicker back to the other corner of the club, but he couldn’t see who she was looking at and could only assume it was a boyfriend or a regular patron. The sinking feeling in his chest intensified, and the blood pounded in his ears, causing the loud club noises to diminish somewhat.

Uri continued to survey her, as the song ended and she bent to pick up the money off the stage tossed there by men eager to show her favor. Carefully tucking it into the waist-string of her panties, she went off stage, making room for the next dancer as she went to “mingle" with the crowd.

Uri watched her smile and laugh with the patrons as she artfully worked her way through the packed club. She never stayed at one table long before moving on, usually with more money stuffed in her underwear. It appeared that she carefully avoided looking in his direction, and Uri wondered if it was intentional. He also noticed that she didn’t approach the corner where her eyes had been tracking during her dance. He questioned that, too.

Above all else, he was curious about the sensations in his body. He knew the Boss had a reason for everything, and the tingling in his gut, as well as the sinking feeling in his chest had to mean something.

Uri stayed until the club closed, watching Heaven as she continued to work the crowd and dance. Occasionally, she would go into a back room with a customer, and Uri speculated about what exactly she did back there. The men would always emerge flushed with obvious arousal, and a wistful smile on their face.

Determined to gather more clues as to his purpose, Uri cloaked himself in the shadows outside the club and waited for her to leave. The bouncers had