It Must Be Love - Jacob and Connie

Chapter Seven

Ben and Max finished their performance of Bohemian Rhapsody, and Jacob disappeared from Connie's sight. She had to admit, she hadn't heard any of their performance, but of course, the only one she was interested in was Jacob. She went to the bar and paid for another glass of wine - a Château Mont-Redon this time - before sitting in her designated seat. She drank slowly, watching the performances and thoroughly enjoying herself. She enjoyed performances from Ian, singing the YMCA in his uniform, and from Robyn and Louise putting a completely new meaning into "Shake It Off". She laughed heartily at Noel and Big Mac's version of the Cha Cha Slide, involving three female back up dancers completing the moves in a ludicrously provocative manner, but secretly, she was just waiting for Jacob's turn. She drank the final drops of her glass, and as she leant down to place it on the floor, she heard Rita laughing near her.

"Oh my God, what's he-? Oh, only Jacob..." she cackled.

Connie's head sprung up at the mention of his name, and their eyes locked momentarily as he paraded across the stage. His words from earlier came back in to her mind - just wait and see. Trust me, sweet-cheeks. She shifted up in her seat, and watched him take his place behind the mic. For some reason, he was dressed in an orange, fluorescent safety jacket, with nothing underneath it by the looks of it, with some baggy trouser bottoms. His look was completed with the orange hard hat resting upon his head, and Connie was so grateful for the lack of lighting, as she felt herself burning up as she watched his every move.

The guitar riff started, and she recognised it, but it took a while to register what it actually was. Two male dancers - presumably strippers - emerged on the first two bars of music, wearing the same as Jacob (for all of two seconds) before ripping off their shirts and flinging them into the audience. The rest of the staff screamed in excitement, but Connie's eyes flicked up to Jacob, willing him to do the same thing. They all started jumping around the stage in the lead up to the lyrics, and it took until the song to begin for Connie to realise what song it was.

"Pretty woman, walking down the street, pretty woman, the kind I'd like to meet, pretty woman," he sang. Connie's mouth fell open, as she realised that he had intended the song for her. His compliment from the beginning of the evening came back to her. You're certainly a pretty woman, aren't ya? Her eyes rolled. He'd been setting this up for so long, and she realised that he intended to make his feelings perfectly clear. "You're not the truth; no one can look as good as you," he sang, staring into her eyes as he sang the second clause. She twitched beneath his gaze, but the other staff didn't even notice he was looking at her. Rita was being charmed by one of the male dancers, while the other was going around a small table of female staff. The men seemed to be enjoying the show, but clearly accepted that it was more for the women. After singing he added the classical, "mercy" into the musical break, then whipped off his own shirt and threw it out in Connie's direction. It didn't go close enough to her that anyone could say it was him flirting, but the two of them knew that he did it to make sure she knew exactly who the song was directed at. Oh, and she knew alright.

She couldn't help but gaze at him as he flaunted his muscles around the stage. The next time he looked at her was during the line, "Pretty woman, give your smile to me," and she flashed him her purest, sexiest smile. She saw that he reacted to it, giving her a sly wink before carrying on with the song. "Pretty woman, say you'll stay with me, 'cause I need you. I'll treat you right, come with me, baby. Be mine tonight."

Those lines gave Connie goosebumps. He looked at her, as if all his cheekiness had gone, and he was pleading her - begging her to say yes. To say yes to dinner. To say yes to him. Oh, and to hell with it, she would. As soon as he saw her and asked her out, she'd tell him. She wanted to be with him, and she knew that the staff respected her as both a friend and a boss now, so why not? The fact that he was still half naked was still incredibly arousing, and he came off the stage to make all the women swoon. He showed his biceps to all the women round the back, to Rita, and Louise, and Robyn, who even gave them a squeeze. He came round, and was stood in front of Connie on his last few lines of the song. It wasn't his words that interested her in this part of the song, but rather his actions. He rocked his hips from side to side, while bringing his hands loosely out and in. He circled his hips, his abdominal muscles tightening each time. Connie burned with desire for him, so when he showed her his biceps and offered her a squeeze, she ignored the rest of the staff and went right ahead. All too soon, the song was over, and he got a huge round of applause. It took a while for his male friends to make their way back to the stage, and he put his shirt on much more quickly than Connie wanted.