“You don’t think your parents would help you out if they knew you were living there?”
“They want me to use my law degree to be a lawyer, not a law librarian and part-time smut peddler. They’re really into ‘tough love,’ especially the tough part. Let’s talk about something nicer, which would be just about anything.”
“Okay, thinking about your boy again, huh? What’s it been, a month now since you’ve seen him?” he asked. I sighed and rolled my eyes. Except for that.
“Yeah, I saw him at Gabrielle and Braden’s wedding, but we didn’t talk. It’s for the best. I should just forget about it. We probably couldn’t even handle hooking up. We’d fight over who got to be on top.”
“You’re not going to forget about it. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that the main characters in your latest novel, Touch, were a tall, dark and handsome guy and a curvy, brunette with big brown eyes. I wonder who that could be.”
“There are lots of people who fit that description.”
“That’s just the beginning of the similarities. You want me to go on? It doesn’t take Freud to figure it out, sweetie.”
“So maybe I based one of my erotic novels on my own sexual fantasies. It doesn’t mean I should try to make them reality. This attraction is just physical, and it will pass. Eventually.”
“Whatever you say. Speaking of hot guys, check out that cutie on the dance floor. He knows how to move. He’s probably great in bed.”
“Does Jason know you check out other guys?”
“We’ve been together for seven years, Lil. He knows who I come home to every night.”
“Is that true about dancing?” I asked. “That guys who can dance are good in bed?”
“Think about it, rhythm, hip movement …”
Hmm, I could use some rhythm and hip movement. I hadn’t had sex in a couple of months. The guys I had been dating were nice, but I wanted someone who stirred something up in me. I snorted to myself when I thought about that observation. I should just sleep with Adam. He certainly stirred something up. Usually, it was fury.
As if my thinking about him had caused him to appear, when I was on my second Apple Martini, Bruce’s gaze became riveted by something over my left shoulder.
“Uh oh,” he mouthed.
“Uh oh what?” I asked, nervously. Anything that followed “uh oh” couldn’t be good.
“Your boy is here.”
“What’s he doing?” I asked, pretty sure I didn’t want to know, and unwilling to be caught looking.
“I don’t think you want to know,” he answered, confirming my suspicions.
“Wonderful.”
I slurped my drink and began planning my escape. I knew why Adam came to these places and the last thing I wanted to see was him picking up some other woman, but I didn’t want him to see me sneaking out either. God, I missed the days when we just hated each other. I sloshed down even more alcohol. If I couldn’t make it out of here, maybe I would be lucky enough to have a blackout.
“Interesting…” Bruce said, apparently analyzing whatever Adam was doing. I was tempted to look, but I told myself not to do it. I wanted to know, though. I had to admit Bruce was usually on target with his observations.
“Tell me,” I said resignedly. “It’s better that I hear it. It’ll help me regain my sanity.”
“Some blonde’s hanging all over him. She’s practically shoving her tits in his face.”
“What’s so interesting about that?” I asked, wondering if I had done something awful in a past life to deserve this.
“He keeps looking around like he wants to leave, but she keeps putting her hand in his lap. She may actually be rubbing his dick. I guess that’s one way to get his attention.”
“Classy,” I said, feeling my stomach starting to roil. “I’m the one who wants to leave.”
“Not yet you don’t, sister! Come on!”
“Come on where?”
“To the dance floor, of course!”
He yanked me out of my seat and I followed along obediently, although I really couldn’t tell you why I did. Bruce just had a way of compelling me to do things. The pounding music was starting to give me a pounding headache and I had a feeling that if any more lights flashed in my eyes I might go blind. I really wasn’t in the mood to shake my booty, but Bruce wasn’t going to take no for an answer. As soon as we got out onto the floor, he started channeling his inner boy band, busting out all of his fanciest moves.
“What are you auditioning for?” I shouted at him over the music.
“One of us has to catch your boy’s attention and you’re moving like you’re in a body cast,” he shouted back, swiveling his hips like Elvis in the early days. “It’s too bad Jason was on call tonight. If he were here, we could have gotten really raunchy.”
“I don’t know that having a threesome under the disco ball would exactly set me apart from his current companion.”
“She’s not his companion anymore. He must have ditched her. He’s sitting by himself.”
“Are you sure that she’s not just blowing him under the table?”
“I just love your girlish charm,” he yelled back at me.
“I feel the same way about you,” I responded. Hearing that he had changed his mind about his little friend cheered me up and I found myself loosening up a bit. At least I could probably get out of there before he found one he liked better. Now, if I could just get Bruce Travolta to leave the dance floor.
“I think you have an admirer,” Bruce shouted a few minutes later.
“I have many admirers,” I joked.
“This one is a tall, dark and handsome prosecutor.” Suddenly, he backed up and practically doubled over laughing.
“Are you choking on something? Because I don’t remember any of that Heimlich shit from Girl Scouts.” He punched me in the shoulder, still laughing hysterically. “Ouch! What the f**k is wrong with you?”
“Come on, Lil. Will you try to look like you’re having some fun, for Christ’s sake?” he shouted/growled through his self-induced mirth. He grabbed my hand and spun me around twice. Not a great idea after two rapidly consumed apple martinis. I wound up facing the other way, and when the room stopped spinning too, I looked up and saw Adam reclining in a chair at a table not far from where we were, with an amused look on his face. He smiled and waved. I furrowed my brows and Bruce yanked me back around, nearly dislocating my shoulder in the process.