but keep on walking in as if you know you’re hot enough to be there and not letting you in is not an option.”
“Hey, guys.” I kept strolling toward the door as if it were my God-given right.
“Hey, gorgeous,” one of them replied, grinning as I strutted by.
And right into the club without them stopping me.
Worked like a charm.
As soon as I was inside, my smile dropped.
The world and its shallow preoccupation with looks made me truly sad sometimes. But such was life, and I couldn’t do anything to change it. What I could do was get tonight over with.
I’d never been to this club, but it was packed. Purple and blue lights gave the place an atmosphere without it being too dark. Massive crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, one over a dance floor packed with people. As I moved along the bar, I saw another chandelier suspended above a seating area. Leather, button-back booths edged the walls with tables centered in front of them. And in the middle of the seating area, the same style booths made rectangles—two U-shaped booths facing each other with two small tables, and a gap on either side so you and your friends could enter the cozy space.
The booths were all occupied.
Scanning faces as inconspicuously as possible, catching features as overhead lights and wall sconces illuminated them, I couldn’t find Gaines or Wright.
But I knew the moment Jamie entered the club.
The skin at my nape prickled despite the heat, and I turned my head ever so slightly to watch him. He zoned in on me too, our gazes connecting and causing a warm shiver to tickle down my spine. He drew his eyes from me before striding through the crowded dance floor and disappearing among the bodies.
But I knew he’d be watching. For some stupid reason, I was less nervous knowing Jamie was there, keeping an eye on the situation.
Turning away, I searched the club, my eyes passing over the bar and veering back again, when I caught sight of a familiar profile.
Lincoln Gaines.
He stood at the bar chatting with the bartender.
Taking a deep breath, I sauntered over and squeezed into a space between the cop on my left and a woman on my right.
“A soda water and lime!” I yelled to be heard over the music.
A frown puckered the brow of the bartender who had been speaking to Gaines as she worked. She looked at me and I tipped my head to give her a sweet smile. Her frown melted and she grinned flirtatiously. “Sure thing, girl! Just let me finish up with this!”
“Hey.”
I glanced to my left and found Lincoln Gaines staring down at me in interest. He had glittering dark eyes and gorgeous brown skin with warm, bronze undertones.
I cocked my head and gave him a flirty smile. “Hey.”
He grinned, a sexy flash of perfect white teeth. “You waiting on someone?”
“I was here with a friend. She bailed.”
“Lincoln.” He held out his hand.
My palm was tiny in his, and I felt a flutter of attraction. “Jane.”
Jamie and I had decided I’d use my birth name, since Margot Higgins was in the tabloids for dating Asher Steadman.
The cop’s hand tightened around mine as his warm eyes focused on my face. “Nice to meet you, Jane.”
“You too.”
“Soda water and lime,” the bartender interrupted us.
“Let me get this.” Lincoln handed her some cash.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Not drinking tonight?”
“Not much of a drinker,” I answered honestly.
“Me neither.”
Curious, I leaned closer to him. “So, why are you in a nightclub?”
“Why are you?”
“I promised my friend I’d hang out with her.”
“And she bailed on you, anyway.”
“Yeah. But my night is looking up.”
He chuckled, a deep, rich sound. “That’s why I’m in a nightclub.”
I raised a questioning eyebrow.
“On the off chance that a beautiful woman will flirt with me.”
“Very smooth,” I teased.
He flashed those pearly whites again. “So, why did your friend bail?”
It was disconcerting how easy it was to lie and play a role. The underlying fear of conning a cop—a good one, from what Jamie had gathered—buzzed low within me. However, it was strangely exciting to take charge of a situation that had controlled me and Jamie for seven years.
Moreover, I wasn’t a perfect person. I was an angry person. Angry at several people. One of them was Jamie, and there was a spiteful voice inside me that liked to think it might bother him to see me flirt with this sexy cop. It was petty. It wasn’t who I was. And that pissed me off