“I…uh…can leave…” she began, but he clamped down harder on
her arm.
“That’s okay, honey,” he said.
“You said there wasn’t anyone else.” Brianne stabbed him
with an accusing stare.
“There wasn’t.”
Remi tried to pull away from him and he held on tighter,
dragging her across the leather seat easily—she weighed like a hundred
pounds—and up against him. She shot him a startled glance.
“Brianne, this is Remi. Remi, Brianne.”
Brianne’s dark eyes shot sparks and then she swiveled on a
spiky heel and stalked away.
Whew.
“Thanks,” he muttered into Remi’s ear. “I thought for a
minute there she was going to make a scene.”
“That was your ex-girlfriend?”
“Yeah. Brianne Haskett.”
“Jesus. She’s a famous model.”
“Well, yeah.”
“You dumped her?” Remi’s voice rose. She squirmed next to
him so she could look up at him. This close he could see the green and blue
flecks in her turquoise eyes, the long eyelashes that brushed her bangs every
time she blinked, the perfect, smooth texture of her skin.
“Yeah.”
“Oh.” Silence. More silence. “Well, I guess we’re even now.
I should get back to my friends.”
“Stay.”
She blinked up at him. He felt the room shift around him,
slip out of focus, her face the only thing crystal-clear. The feel of her soft
warmth, the fresh flowery scent of her, the way the red lights turned the
flicked-up ends of her hair pink, combined with the deep gratitude he felt for
her just being there and saving him from an ugly scene with Brianne, made him
want to wrap his arms around her and carry her out of there.
So he said, “Why don’t we go somewhere quieter?”
Chapter Two
Remi pulled back from Jason on the red leather banquette.
“What?”
He looked at her, eyes heavy lidded, mouth curved into a
sexy smile.
“Let’s go somewhere quieter. Maybe that jazz club. This
place is too…frantic.”
“Uh…” Remi’s mind worked furiously. What the hell was going
on here? This was supposed to be a fake flirtation to get Delise off her back.
Okay, and Jason’s ex, the freakin’ gorgeous supermodel Brianne Haskett. He’d
dumped a model, but he was flirting with her? Plain little Remi? A boring,
responsible school teacher? Whaaaat?
It had to be a joke.
She laughed.
He frowned.
She laid a hand on his chest—oh dear lord, what a nice chest
it was, hard and muscular and warm—and gave him a playful shove. “Don’t be
silly. We don’t even know each other. We’re just doing each other a favor.”
He blinked, brows still joined above his slightly crooked
nose. It was cute, that crooked nose in an otherwise heart-stoppingly handsome
face—square jaw, high cheekbones, melting chocolate eyes. A little scar above
his left eyebrow was also endearingly imperfect.
“Well, yeah,” he said. “But I like talking to you. And it’s
hard here, with the loud music and all these people.”
Her mind skittered off in a thousand different directions.
He was serious. He liked talking to her. Warmth blossomed inside her and spread
through her body, tingling through every nerve ending. Oh no. She recognized
that feeling. It was…attraction.
She liked talking to Jason too.
She put the straw of her drink to her mouth and sucked hard,
downing the rest of her mojito. The drinks she’d had so far were creating a
pleasant buzz of warmth and well-being. She looked at Jason.
“I came with my friends.”
“Me too.” He paused. “You need a distraction. Remember? So
you don’t worry about your brother and sister.”
They looked at each other. Heat grew. Tension shimmered.
When his eyes dropped to her mouth, everything inside Remi went hot and liquid
and aching. Her eyes widened and she licked her lips.
His eyes got even darker and his lips parted.
Remi reached to set her empty glass on the low table in
front of them. She missed and it hit the floor with a
thunk.
They
ignored it.
“You’re not my type,” Jason said.
Huh? She blinked. “Okay, then.” She started to stand but he
grabbed her hand and tugged her back down, almost onto his lap.
“I mean…you didn’t used to be my type. Hell.” The corners of
his mouth turned down. “I sound like an idiot. I
am
an idiot.”
Her heart softened. She relaxed onto the couch, his arm
around her waist, and it felt sooooo good.
“You’re not an idiot,” she said with a little laugh.
“Yeah, I am. Bah.” He shook his head, mouth tight. “What I
mean is, I’m not normally attracted to cute little blondes.”
Cute little blonde? Yeah, that was her. How she wished she
had mile-long legs and big boobs and full lips like Brianne Haskett. Stephanie
Seymour. Laetitia Casta. All those other Victoria’s Secret models who looked
like that.
No, she was teeny weeny, skinny, flat-chested, with wispy,
blonde hair.
But Jason seemed to find her attractive.
She tilted her head to one side and regarded him through a
rum-and-lust haze. “You’re kidding. Right?”
“No. I mean…” He looked confused. “I’m not kidding about not
usually being attracted to cute little blondes. But you’re…cute.”
She laughed. Shook her head. Wished for another drink.
The crazy thing was, he was exactly the type of guy she was
attracted to. Not just physically—big guys had always appealed to her, maybe
because she was small—but she also liked his smile, his wide mouth and how it
tilted up at the corners even when he wasn’t smiling, the fact that he was
gorgeous but wasn’t all hung up on himself and the most important thing—he’d
dumped a supermodel!
Dammit. What the hell was going on here? She looked around a
bit frantically, now hoping Delise would show up and rescue her. But Delise was
nowhere in sight. And Jason was right next to her, touching her, his big body
radiating heat. He smelled good, like he’d just showered, a fresh masculine
scent of shampoo and men’s shower gel, and a faint shadow of beard shaded his
jaw. Yum. She wanted to bite him.
Whoa. She blinked. Her mind was in the gutter. What kind of
responsible big sister and schoolteacher was she?
He put a big hand on her cheek, cupping it, and she melted
into a liquid puddle of lust on the red leather banquette. “You’re sweet,” he
said, almost sounding surprised. “Okay. We’ll just stay here for a while. We
can talk here.”
She nodded.
“You’re a free woman,” he said with a sexy smile. “And I’m a
free man. We should both be celebrating. Why not together?”
She took in a long, slow breath. “Why not?” She smiled at
him.
“Here’s the deal,” he said. “I’m not ready to settle down. I
like you. We could have fun together.”
“We could.” Oh lord. What had she just said? She closed her
eyes briefly, then focused on him and firmed her lips. “I’m not ready to settle
down either. I just got my freedom. I’ve had enough responsibility. All I want
is to have some fun.”
Even as she said the words, a small niggle of guilt wormed
its way into her conscience. Was it true? Was that really all she wanted? She’d
been mature, responsible, dependable for so long…did she even know how to just
have fun?
She wanted to find out.
“Perfect,” he said, his thumb tracing over her bottom lip.
He was watching her mouth again and it was so hot and sexy everything inside
her contracted hard. She knew her panties were wet. She knew it. “Let’s have
fun, Remi.”
And he kissed her. His mouth was warm, his lips firm on hers,
and when his tongue licked over her bottom lip, she moaned helplessly.
Delicious pleasure rippled through her in waves and she put
out a hand and rested it on his arm, the wool of his suit jacket soft and warm
beneath her palm. Her skin tingled and tightened and that heavy liquid ache
between her legs intensified.
His fingers slid around into her hair, cupped the back of
her head and held it while his mouth moved on hers, slow, soft, lingering. Her
heart beat so fast she was afraid it was going to explode in her chest and she
whimpered. Her breasts swelled and she ached to press them against him.
He drew back. “Sorry. I kinda forgot where we are.” His
voice was husky and sexy.
She sat there dazed and foggy, blinking at him. Where were
they? Oh, yeah. In the middle of a hot nightclub. Music throbbed and the lights
pulsed and flickered around them.
“I…I need another drink.”
“Good idea.” He turned and looked for a waitress and, sure
enough, one hurried over right away, although she gave Remi a look that could
have sliced her open. Was the waitress jealous? No way!
Feminine pleasure curled inside her and she smiled and sat
back.
“So.” Jason looked at her, his eyes intent, face a bit
flushed. She’d turned him on. With a kiss. That was so freakin’ hot. “What do
you do for a living, Remi?”
She opened her mouth to tell him—and then closed it. It
sounded so boring. The word “boring” echoed in her mind, what Darryl had called
her when he’d given her that ultimatum. The word had stabbed into her heart,
mostly because she knew it was true.
“Let’s not talk about stuff like that,” she said, smiling. “We
don’t need to know personal details, right? We just want to have fun.”
His eyes squinted at her a bit, then he smiled too. “Right.
Okay.” The waitress brought their drinks and they somehow managed to find other
things to talk about and laugh about as Remi sipped another mojito and Jason
drank his beer, their talk and laughter punctuated with small touches of
fingertips on the back of a hand, a stroke down a bare arm, the brush of legs
as they shifted on the banquette.
An hour passed as they talked and smoldering awareness grew,
a haze of heated desire floated around them. Remi quivered, pressing her thighs
together, her tummy fluttery, her pussy clenching. When their eyes met and
held, attraction tugging them toward each other, another kiss had her melting
against him.
“We need to leave here,” he murmured into her ear, and his
breath there gave her tingly shivers. “I can’t keep my hands off you much
longer and I’m going to embarrass you.”
Weak and trembling with need, she nodded. She felt the same.
It took everything she had not to climb onto his lap and press herself against
him.
She rose unsteadily. “I’ll go tell my friends we’re leaving.”
“I’ll meet you at the coat check.”
Pressing a hand to her tummy, Remi found Delise at the table,
still with Tiger.
“Where have you been?” Delise asked. “Please tell me you met
someone.”
“Oh, yeah. I met someone.” Remi bit her lip. “In fact, we’re
leaving now.”
Delise’s eyes popped wide. “What! Who is it? Where is he?
Where are you going?”
“I…uh…don’t know where we’re going. Maybe…my place.”
Delise stood up so fast her chair almost fell over backward.
“What! Remi! You can’t take a strange man home with you!”
Remi tipped her head to one side and frowned. “Isn’t that
what you wanted me to do?”
“I didn’t think you’d actually
do
it!”
“But…” Remi blinked. “But, Delise…”
“It’s dangerous, Remi.” Delise looked around. “Where is he?”
“He’s meeting me out front. He’s a nice guy, Del. He’s not
dangerous.” Only in that he made her panties wet.
“How do you know that? Jesus, Remi.”
“I…” Disappointment started to dampen her happy buzz. “But,
Delise…” She leaned closer to her friend. “I want him.”
Delise’s mouth opened. “Oh.” She stared at Remi. “Good god,
Remi. Well, hell. Okay. Keep your cell phone on and with you at all times. All
times. Got it?”
Remi gave a jerky nod.
“Because I’m going to be phoning you. And if you don’t
answer, I’m sending the police. Go to your place. Don’t go to his place. Nobody
will know where you are there.” She put a hand to her mouth. “This is still
crazy. He could be a serial killer and once you get in a car with him…”
“Ssssh. I’m not that stupid.” Remi smiled at her friend. “I
know this isn’t the kind of thing I usually do, but…I want to have fun tonight.
I like him. He likes me.”
Delise’s face softened. She put her hands on Remi’s upper
arms and squeezed. “Okay. But remember…I’m calling.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Remi hugged Delise and then turned and hurried toward the
front of the club, looking for Jason. He stood near the entrance, a long, black
coat loose over his suit, hands in the pockets. Her breath stuck in her throat
at how gorgeous he was. She fumbled in her little purse for her coat check
ticket, then Jason held the new silver trench coat Delise had made her purchase
earlier while she slipped her arms into it.
“Let’s go,” she said, turning to him with a smile, lifting
the ends of her hair out from the collar.
“Where are we going?” he murmured as they climbed the
red-carpeted stairway to the door, one hand on the small of her back.
“My place.”
“Okay. We’ll have to take a taxi. Unless you…”
“No. I came with my friend.”
“Me too.”
The frosty March night air greeted them as they stepped out
of the club onto the sidewalk. Busy restaurants and clubs with brightly lit
signs surrounded them and throngs of people filled the sidewalks on both sides
of the street. The windows of the office towers climbing into the sky around
them glowed golden and tiny white lights twinkled on the bare trunks and
branches of the trees lining the street. Several yellow cabs waited at the
curb. They climbed into one and Remi gave the driver her Lincoln Park address.
“Is it far?” Jason asked, his hand warm on her bare knee.
She glanced at him.
“No. Don’t you know where Lincoln Park is?”
“Sort of. I’ve only lived in Chicago a few years.”
“Oh, really? Where did you live before?”
“Canada.”
“Oh.” Curiosity spurted inside her. They’d agreed they didn’t
need to know a lot of personal details about each other, but that was such an
unexpected answer she wanted to know more. She studied him. “Why are you in
Chicago now? Your work?”