I glanced her way again and she blushed and looked away. She wasn’t the prettiest girl in the club, she wasn’t even the prettiest one at her table, but there was something about her that had held my attention since I first noticed her. One of her girlfriends caught the exchange and leaned close to whisper something. Her eyes darted to me, then dropped to her drink as she spoke and shook her head. It was time to make my move.

 

As I approached their table, her friends leaned together for a giggly exchange while my quarry looked like she wanted to disappear. I managed to tone down my grin to a polite smile.

 

“Ladies,” I said, my eyes touching briefly on each of them before settling on her. They smiled and murmured greetings. “Would you like to dance?”

 

Her eyes shot up to mine and I saw they were a beautiful deep blue. “M-me?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Her eyes made the rounds of the table. Her three friends stared at her like she was crazy to hesitate. My ego swelled, but then she punctured it.

 

“I don’t dance.”

 

She wasn’t getting off that easy. “Oh, come on. It’s a slow dance. Anyone can slow dance.”

 

“Go on, Jenna,” the chubby redhead next to her urged.

 

“Yeah, sweetie, dance with him,” the blonde said, sliding me a look that told me she would have already dragged me off to the dance floor if I had asked her.

 

“It’s only a dance,” the brunette said with a roll of her eyes.

 

Jenna sighed. “Okay.” Putting her small hand in mine, she stood. With a last glance at them, she let me lead her to the dance floor.

 

Turning her smoothly into my arms, I put my hands on her waist. Intensely aware of the light pressure of her hands on my shoulders, I started moving to the beat and she followed my lead. Determined to behave no matter how much she tempted me, I kept a bit of space between us to hide the hard-on I’d had since she put her hand in mine. Her gaze was locked on a point over my shoulder and I racked my brain for something to say, to get her to look at me with those lovely eyes again.

 

“Your name’s Jenna, right? I’m Kevin.” Looking up at me, she smiled and nodded. She smelled incredible and her wavy brown hair looked really soft.   My excitement jumped a few notches.

 

I tried again. “I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.” Great, Kevin, dazzle her with a few more lines.

 

She chuckled softly and suddenly all the blood rushed to my groin, making me glad I had resisted the urge to pull her close. “That’s because I’ve never been here before. Clubbing isn’t really my thing, but it’s Angela’s birthday and this was what she wanted to do.” Her voice was husky and breathless, brain-numbingly sexy. “Got any more lines?”

 

It took a moment for her words to register and my eyes widened on her face. She was watching me with a sassy look, causing me to adjust my original opinion of her. So much for shy.   It was my turn to blush.

 

“Ouch. You don’t pull any punches, do you?”

 

A dimple appeared near the left corner of her full mouth and she lifted a shoulder. “Sorry. Too many first dates.”

 

“Well, cut a guy some slack, would you? Pretty girl like you, it’s hard to think of something intelligent to say.” I was proud of myself; my voice hardly shook at all.

 

Her hands slid up my shoulders and touched my neck, sending my pulse into overdrive. My jeans were suddenly too snug for comfort. 

 

“Relax, Kevin. Be yourself.” Her whisper sent a thrill up my spine and my hands twitched on her waist as my self control took a major hit.

 

Relax. Yeah, right. “You go on many second dates?”

 

Another thrill-inducing chuckle. “No. I usually manage to scare them off with the first one.” Now her hands were toying with the hair at my nape and her breasts were touching my chest. It was getting harder to conceal my reaction to her.

 

“No guts, no glory,” I teased boldly, testing the waters.

 

She slid a coy look up at me through her lashes and her pelvis brushed the bulge in my jeans—on purpose? “I suppose you have the guts?”

 

I shrugged, forcing a nonchalance I was far from feeling. “Guess we’ll find out.”

 

That elicited a full-out laugh. “Oh-ho, you’re pretty confident, aren’t you? What makes you think I’m interested?” There was another accidental brush against the throbbing ridge in my pants.

 

That did it. I slid my arms around her waist, pulling her flush against me. The pressure was a fraction of what I was aching for and only served to increase my frustration. “Because you let me do this,” I whispered in her ear, and then I brazenly nuzzled her neck.

 

Her breath caught and her arms clutched at my shoulders and I knew I had her. Elation zinged through my body. My hands inched towards her sweet ass.

 

Abruptly she stiffened and pulled away. Surprised, my arms fell away as I stared at her, slack-jawed.

 

“Song’s over, champ,” she quipped. Turning on her heel, she sashayed back to her table and sat down. Picking up her drink, she winked at me over the rim.

 

James and Frank were laughing when I got to the table. I sat down and took a swig of my warm beer without taking my eyes off her.

 

“Man, what happened? I thought for sure you had her.”

 

“Yeah, Kev, what happened to your sure thing?”

 

I narrowed my eyes at her and answered absently. “It ain’t over yet.”

 

Jenna sat down and picked up her drink, winking at Kevin over the rim. Watching with satisfaction as he walked stiffly to his table, she took a sip and set the glass down as the girls started in on her.

 

“What happened, Jenna? I thought you two were gonna drop right there and go at it.”

 

“Yeah, what’s the matter with you? He was cute!”

 

Cute was an understatement. Jenna had noticed his interest from across the room, but something in his demeanor had rubbed her the wrong way. An arrogance that begged to be taken down a notch or two. So when he got up to come over, she decided she wasn’t going to make it too easy for him.

 

She hadn’t expected to like him. She had noticed the hard-on as he took her into his arms, but he had been a gentleman, careful not to hold her too close. Impishly, she wondered how far his self control could be pushed. It turned out her own self control was almost nonexistent, at least where he was concerned.

 

“Honey, there’s something wrong with you if you don’t take that one home.”

 

“Don’t worry, the night isn’t even close to over yet.”

 

Across three tables, their eyes met. Round two would start soon.