Free Tease by Immodesty Blaize

he retorted, shocked, ‘no, you’re wrong, you’rebeautiful. Much more beautiful up close. Hey, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked—’
    ‘Oh, come on,’ said Tiger, sensing his shyness, ‘let’s say “cheese” then,’ and they huddled up close as he held the camera at arm’s length and managed to take a halfway decent picture of the two of them. Tiger even kindly signed some left over posters for his friends.
    ‘So where are you performing next? I’d love to get tickets,’ Mark puffed moments later as he humped the huge trunks of costume down the steep stairs with Tiger daintily clip-clopping her way down behind him.
    ‘I have lots of one-nighters to do right now, but I’m supposed to be expanding my show for Vegas. Only thing is, it’s a long way and I might miss England too much.’
    ‘Oh my god, well I’d definitely make the trip over the pond to see it. Will it be all new material?’
    ‘Well, if I decide to do it, then you can be sure it’ll be something special.’
    ‘I can’t believe you’d even need to think about it!’ exclaimed Mark, bringing Tiger’s mountain of cargo to the foot of the stairs with a crashing thud, nearly taking his thumb off. ‘Okay, ma’am, I’m gonna have these loaded into your limo in two shakes of a lamb’s tail. You just sit back and I’ll take care of everything.’
    Mark held the stage door open for Tiger with a flourish. As she stepped out into the street she stumbled, nearly falling. Steadying herself she looked down to encounter a wall of white gladioli reaching to her knees.
    ‘What the—’ Mark immediately jumped to clear the towering pile of flowers.
    ‘No, no, it’s okay, sweetheart,’ said Tiger gently, moving Mark out of the way and crouching down to retrieve what looked like a card on top of the pile. Opening the envelope slowly she found a newspaper clipping of one of her rave reviews. Tiger was silent for a beat. She looked up and carefully surveyed the street, tapping the envelope against her palm pensively as she scanned. Aha. There by a lamppost on the corner of the Strand was the familiar squat figure of stage door Johnnie. He appeared to be hanging off the post as though awaiting a reaction. Their eyes locked across the crowded street. Tiger picked up an armful of the flowers and held them theatrically to her nose. Smiling, she stood and waved regally at Johnnie, cradling the bouquet. He patted his heart, punched the air and skipped gaily off in the direction of Covent Garden, his whoops carried on the wind behind him. Tiger laughed.
    ‘You have a girlfriend, Mark?’ she asked, turning to look into his lovely eyes.
    ‘Um, well…’
    ‘Here, take her a big bunch of these, okay? You’ll get the best blow job of your life tonight if you do.’
    Mark laughed. ‘Thank you, ma’am. My boyfriend doesn’t actually like flowers, but if it’s okay, I’d love to take some for my mum, thank you.’
    Tiger blushed. Of course. He was far too good looking to be straight.
    ‘Sure you can, sweetheart. Help yourself. Bye, Mark, see you around. Vegas maybe.’ Blowing him a kiss Tiger climbed into her limo with her own armful of flowers and shut the outside world out. She knew exactly who she wanted to give
her
gladioli to.
    Tiger took a deep breath and flipped open her mobile. She had the number on speed dial. It kicked straight in to voicemail.
    ‘Mr Hunter?’ she purred. ‘Tiger.’ She waited a beat. ‘Catch me.’
    Tiger snapped the mobile shut. Cheesy. Dammit! She hated voicemail.
    It had been weeks since Tiger had been with Rex. Not since their first time on her opening night. She had burned inside since then. After all those years of self denial, of playing the Ice Queen to his Zorro, she had finally unleashed within herself a terrifying kaleidoscope of emotion. Of course, business always came first and, fully committed to her Savoy shows, Tiger had only met Rex briefly for press and interviews; the atmosphere between them had