alternately hugging Jodie and smiling at him, their curiosity evident as they made room for two more to sit.
“So this is Dan,” a voluptuous blonde named Sylvia said to Jodie. “Well done, Jodie. Well done,” she teased in such a flirtatious tone that Dan worried he might actually blush.
Luckily, the woman who sat on the other side of him, Melissa, was a computer engineer and Dan enjoyed talking to her, feeling more in his element.
As they ordered food and sat talking, Dan watched Jodie enjoying time with her friends, admiring how engaging and witty she was, how easily she could navigate the flow of conversation.
He became more relaxed, too, laughing and talking with the group of women, who, like Jodie, were all successful, intelligent people. He also found out that he was the only man she’d ever brought to dinner with her friends, something that they attached serious significance to, he could tell.
One of the women was even a chemist who worked with the company that Dan was creating his cologne for. Though he couldn’t tell her about it, he was surprised to find out that she was the creator of the perfume Jodie wore.
“I love that scent. You made it?” Dan asked, impressed.
Patrice was so proud of her work, he could see it, and it was fascinating. She knew the origins of every element in Jodie’s perfume, which had been a special birthday gift.
Obviously Jodie’s friends thought very highly of her, too.
“So, Lynn, you run your own tattoo parlor?” he asked the woman sitting across from him, fascinated. He’d never had the nerve to get a tattoo, but as he listened to her talk about the changing perceptions of body art Dan wondered what Jodie would think of him getting one.
It was also incredibly erotic to think of some small tat, maybe a butterfly or a flower, placed on her body in a spot only he would know about.
Jodie must have picked up his mood since, as they chatted with Lynn about it, Jodie’s hand danced up and down his thigh, discreetly inching a little closer to his crotch, where he was becoming increasingly aroused.
When she pretended to reach for a dropped napkin and closed her hand over him, he nearly spilled water all over the table.
“Jodie, behave,” Karen chastised playfully. She was the oldest, and clearly the maternal figure of the group—literally, as she was several months pregnant.
Dan was finding something erotic about everything he looked at, and all roads led back to Jodie.
Jodie with a tattoo.
Jodie wearing sexy perfume.
Jodie round with a child. His child.
The thought stunned even him, and he cleared his throat, smiling at the woman, and standing.
“Excuse me for a moment, ladies, I’ll be right back,” he said, needing to process his thoughts. Suddenly the atmosphere of the club closed in a little, and he craved some fresh air.
They assumed he was heading to the men’s room, but instead he circled back to the exit and stood outside the door, watching people go in and out of the place.
Doubts assailed him.
What if this didn’t work out the way he wanted it to?
What if Jodie didn’t want permanence, babies and the future he was imagining?
He swallowed hard, his entire body and mind rejecting the thought. He’d enjoyed the evening, and he liked Jodie’s friends, he really did. But did he really fit in?
He’d gotten himself in deep here, and he had to see it through.
“Hey, sugar, what are you doing out here all alone?” a sexy feminine voice asked, and Dan didn’t realize the question was being directed at him until the hot young woman in a glittering, skintight outfit sidled up beside him. She stood so close there wasn’t room for a breath between them, and Dan backed away.
“Just getting some air,” he said politely.
“We could go get some air together,” she said, invitation clear in her eyes.
“Uh, no thanks, I’d better be getting back to my…group,” he said and smiled as he ducked through the doorway.
When he headed to the table they’d been sitting at, he noticed they were all gone.
Frowning, he looked around, and saw one of Jodie’s friends on the dance floor.
Uh-oh.
They were all out on the dance floor.
He thought he would just head back to the table and wait, but then Jodie was at his side. He hadn’t even seen her walk up to him, the crowd was so dense.
Jodie grabbed his hand, smiling at him. “Hey, c’mon, I love this song.”
Dan didn’t even know the song, and the club