Peacock

 

 

 

Jarrod gave the buxom blonde a sultry smile as she lit his cigar.  “Thank you, Simone.”  He finished off his current glass of bourbon before inhaling the fragrant tobacco and made sure to blow the smoke away from where she was ensconced on his lap.  Glancing over, he saw his brothers were similarly occupied.  It had been one of Nick’s better ideas to come to the exclusive club just off the French Quarter for their last night in New Orleans.  Jarrod wasn’t sure how Nick had heard of it, but whoever’d told him deserved more than a thank you.

Simone nibbled on his earlobe as her hand caressed his chest.  Jarrod responded by pulling her closer and kissing her passionately.  He’d never quite seen anything like the show the three ladies had given out on the stage of the small club, taking off article by article of clothing slowly to the beat of stirring music until they were wearing practically nothing.  The ladies had taken note of the three handsome men at the table near the front and just before the club closed, they had invited Jarrod, Nick and Heath for a private party in one of the back rooms.

“So Josette, do you girls usually entertain like this?” Nick asked of the redhead he had leaned back on a divan. 

Josette gave a throaty chuckle.  “Only when there’s someone worth entertaining,” she told him as she undid his tie and tossed it to the side.  She unfastened several of the buttons on his shirt.  “And maybe someone who’s willing to entertain as well?”

Nick gave her a rakish grin.  “Well, now, I guess that depends on how you like to be entertained,” he said as he pulled the pins from her hair to let it tumble around her shoulders.

The blonde on Heath’s lap sighed.  “It’s too bad we can get men to put on a show for us,” she declared.  Running a hand through Heath’s hair, she added, “We girls like looking at some fine male architecture just as much as you like to see our assets.”

Simone broke off the kiss.  “That’s not a bad idea, Celine.”  She ran a fingertip across the line of Jarrod’s jaw.  “How about it, handsome?  Are you brave enough?”

Jarrod lifted an eyebrow as he slowly and deliberately snuffed out the cigar.  “And just what are you proposing?”

She slid a hand down his chest to rest on the front of his pants.  “The club’s closed and the stage is empty.”

Jarrod couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and he reckoned it was the amount of fine bourbon he’d consumed combined with the seductive lady on his lap that made him not reject the notion out of hand.  He was also aware that both his brothers were watching him.  “I wonder what the owner would think?” he asked as his hand travelled up her almost bare thigh.

Simone laughed.  “Since the owner made the suggestion, I don’t think she’d mind,” and she gave Jarrod another kiss.

Nick sat upright in indignation.  “Now that’s just the most harebrained idea I’ve ever heard,” he announced.  “Men just don’t go around doing things like that.”

“Oh my, don’t tell me you’re chicken?”  Josette’s expression was one of mock surprise.  She sat up and pulled Nick’s shirt out from the waistband of his pants.  “I took you for more of a peacock when you walked in here, strutting your stuff like you owned the place.”  She gave him a coy look from under long eyelashes.  “Or were you just being a tease?”

Heath chuckled.  “She’s got you pegged, Nick,” he joked.

“C’mon, Heath,” Nick protested, “you ain’t taking this seriously, are you?”  Heath just shrugged and gave Celine an endearing lopsided grin.  Nick turned to his older brother.  “Jarrod, really, this is the most absurd idea I’ve ever heard!”

Jarrod couldn’t help chuckling at Nick’s discomfiture.  “Are you trying to tell me you weren’t planning to take your clothes off for one of these lovely ladies if she were willing?” he asked smoothly.  It really must be the bourbon, he told himself and turned to his youngest brother.  “Heath?”

Heath winked at the girls.  “Well, I’ve always heard tell what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”  Jarrod wondered exactly how much Heath had imbibed as well.

“But… you…” Nick spluttered, only to be cut off by Josette’s lips.

“Don’t be shy,” she purred as her hand skimmed over his belly.  “I’ll bet it’s beautiful.”  Nick was stunned into momentary silence.

Heath stood as Celine moved off his lap.  “Y’know, Nick, it’s not like you have anything none of us have never seen before.”

“And I suppose one of your jobs before you came to live with us was as a dancer in a place like this?” Nick scoffed.

“I’ve seen the elephant and heard the owl, big brother,” Heath reminded him with an enigmatic smile.  Yep, Jarrod thought, the bourbon has definitely gotten to him too.

“And just what the devil is that supposed to mean?” Nick demanded as Josette pulled him to his feet.

“Skip the talk, big boy,” the redhead told him with a saucy grin.  “It’s time to walk the walk.”

Jarrod just shook his head in amusement as he too stood up with his arm still around Simone’s waist.  “I think we’ve just been offered a challenge, boys,” he said.  “I for one won’t have it said that Jarrod Barkley has ever backed down.”

Nick stopped protesting as they went into the main room.  Simone drew Jarrod close for and intense kiss and Celine did the same with Heath.  Josette just looked at Nick with a challenge in her eyes.

“C’mon, Nick,” Jarrod said as he and Heath made their way to the small stage.  “If we’re gonna show it off, you’re joining us.”  Jarrod debated whether he should ever touch bourbon again.

“You both are gonna owe me,” Nick growled as he stepped up beside his brothers.

Jarrod grinned.  “I think it’s the ladies who’re gonna owe us,” he said slyly.  “Isn’t that right, girls?”

“Well, let’s see what you’re hiding underneath first,” Simone said and blew him a kiss. 

Celine spoke up and volunteered, “I can play piano if you want some music.”

“I ain’t much for dancing,” Heath admitted as he unbuttoned his shirt to reveal the dark hair on his chest.

Jarrod glanced over at Nick as they slowly disrobed.  The appreciative look in the girls’ eyes was loosening his inhibitions and he was starting to preen like the peacock Josette had called him earlier.

The girls’ eyes grew wide as the brothers slowly revealed themselves in all their male glory.

“Oh, now that was worth the wait,” Josette murmured.

“I think I’ve found me the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” Celine agreed.

“And it’s all for us, girls,” Simone said with a provocative smile and Jarrod had to give her a slow, seductive wink.  As the ladies came up to join them, Jarrod decided a little too much bourbon wasn’t always such a bad thing after all.