Naked Angel Read Online Free PDF

serious, and when their eyes met, she felt hers fill with tears.
    “Oh, Alec,” she said.
    “What? You’re the one who created all the drama.”
    “Ugh!” she said, flopping back down. She nestled into his arms again and stretched out her hand to admire the ring. He pulled her hand over his chest so he could look at it, too.
    “I’m so glad you like it,” he said.
    “Like it? I love it. It’s so perfect. I can’t even imagine how you did this.” She kissed his rib cage. “Can I ask you a dumb question?”
    “I don’t think you’re capable of a dumb question, but sure—go ahead.”
    Mallory took a deep breath. “Do you think our sex life will get worse after we’re married?”
    “Okay, I was wrong. You are capable of a dumb question,” he said.
    “Alec! I’m serious. You hear everyone talk about how sex dwindles after marriage. It’s not like one person has said it—
everyone
says it.”
    “We’ve lived together for a long time. Why would anything change now?”
    “I don’t know. It just does.”
    “Are you really worried about that?”
    She shrugged. “I guess. A little. Everything has been so great with us lately. I kind of want to just freeze this moment in time. I don’t want to mess around with perfection.”
    “Nothing can stay the same. You have to move forward. So yes, even our sex life will change,” he said.
    “You really think it will?”
    “Yes,” he said. “It will get even better.”
    “I’m serious,” she said.
    “So am I. But there is one thing I’m wondering.”
    “What?”
    “Do you think maybe you’ll switch over to just producing shows, not performing?”
    Mallory sat up. “Why would I do that?”
    Alec shrugged. “I don’t know. At some point, maybe you won’t want to take your clothes off in front of strangers.”
    “Where is this coming from?” she said slowly, her voice low.
    “I don’t know. I guess maybe I think it will be weird for me to see my wife getting naked onstage every week. I mean, what if we have kids?”
    Mallory shook her head. “See! This is what I was afraid of. We’ve only been engaged three hours, and already you’ve stopped seeing me as a sex object and are worrying about what our nonexistent children will think of me.”
    “First of all, I promise to always sexually objectify you. We can write it into our wedding vows.” He pulled her close. “And I’m not worried about what our nonexistent children will think of you. I already know they are going to think you are the coolest mom in the world, which of course you will be, until Lady Gaga procreates.”
    “So then why are you asking me this stuff?”
    “Mal, I’m so proud of you and everything you’ve accomplished the past few years. But I have to admit sometimes it’s hard for me to see the woman I love getting naked and being hooted and hollered at by strange men.”
    “How long have you felt this way?”
    “Always. I’ve told you this before, haven’t I? I have mixed feelings about burlesque, but I know it’s important for both of us to be creative and live inspired lives. I just wonder if maybe you won’t segue your inspiration into producing more and, um, shaking your booty less.”
    Mallory let him hold her, while her heart pounded. She appreciated his honesty, but this was the last thing she wanted to hear. And in the spirit of mutual honesty, she decided she needed to tell him that.
    “I don’t think I can do that,” she said.
    Gemma knew people who called traveling from London to New York “hopping the pond.” Tonight, at Justin and Martha’s after-party, she felt exactly like a fish that had flopped out of its comfortable pond into much deeper waters.
    Aside from the celebrities, and the chic, spare décor with its simple elegance, which was evident even through all of the Prohibition-era props, Gemma was blown away by the costumes: Everyone who was working at the party, from the waiters circling the crowd with trays of Sidecars and Bee’s Knees