When Sarah looked up at Remi, her jaw went slack. “Remi! Holy cow!”
Emily’s reaction was similar. “You look incredible!” She studied Remi’s gold sparkly camisole top, short black skirt and stiletto heels. “Where’d you get that outfit?”
“Diva.” Remi looked down at herself and bit her lip, wishing she could slouch down into her seat. The low-cut top revealed generous cleavage—not that she had that much cleavage, but the mega-push up bra Delise had talked her into was doing a fine job. She tugged at the short skirt and shifted in her chair.
“Doesn’t she look hot?” Delise demanded with a satisfied smile.
“She does!”
Delise dropped her small purse on the table. “We went shopping. I helped pick it out.”
“Good job, Delise,” Emily said.
“I thought it would help with the uh…shift in mindset.”
Emily and Sarah grinned.
“So here we are, four single girls out for a night of fun. Now that Remi lives alone, she can do whatever she wants, whenever she wants, with whoever she wants, and that starts tonight! We’re going to find her a hot guy to have some fun with.”
“No, we’re not,” Remi said, her cheeks burning. She picked up a small plastic drinks menu. “What’re you two having?”
“Mojitos,” Emily answered. “Yum.”
“Sounds good to me.” Remi dropped the card and discreetly pulled at the bodice of her top.
“Stop it!” Delise gave her hand a smack. “You look great! Stop fidgeting. You’ll just draw more attention to yourself.”
Remi blinked and dropped her hands to her lap. Delise was right. She needed to act like she dressed this way all the time. Another quick glance assured her nothing inappropriate was being revealed and she sat up straight.
A waitress appeared to take their order. When she’d left, Delise turned in her chair to scan the crowd, moving to the throbbing music. Flashing red lights lit the dance floor, shifting with dancing bodies. On a catwalk, three gorgeous girls in tiny shorts and bikini tops swung their long hair in sexy choreography. Remi couldn’t take her eyes off them. They were so fit, so confident in their beautiful bodies, so graceful.
“That guy over there,” Delise said in Remi’s ear. Remi dragged her gaze away from the dancers to a group of three men standing at the bar. All three of them were good-looking, clean cut, nicely dressed. She shrugged.
“I’ll go invite them over,” Delise said and rose from her chair. Remi grabbed her arm.
“No! Don’t be crazy!”
“Why not?” Delise shook her hand off and smiled down at her. “Relax, Remi. It’s okay to talk to men.”
Remi rolled her eyes. It wasn’t as if she was a twenty-eight-year-old virgin, for god’s sake. She’d had boyfriends, relationships…but picking up guys in bars was not her style.
“Fine,” she sighed. “Go ahead.”
She tapped her foot to the music while she awaited her drink, studiously avoiding watching Delise approach the men. Sure enough, all three followed her back to the table and a search for extra chairs ensued. Soon Remi sat sandwiched between two men.
She pulled her shoulders in and reached for the drink the waitress set in front of her. Lord.
“Hi,” the guy on her right said. “I’m Elton.”
“Remi.” She smiled at him. His gaze dipped to her chest. Her lips tightened.
“Nice to meet you, Remi,” he said, still looking at her cleavage. She sighed.
“I’m Dave,” the man on her left said. “This is Tiger.”
Remi blinked. Tiger?
The girls all introduced themselves and Remi sucked back her tangy cocktail. The lime puckered the inside of her mouth, but it was cold and wet and she was feeling very warm, despite the scant fabric of her new top.
“We’re celebrating tonight,” Delise announced to the men.
“Oh, yeah? What?”
“Remi’s new life.”
Remi wanted to slide under the table. She forced a tight laugh. “It’s not really a new life,” she explained. “My sister moved out recently and now I live alone.”
That didn’t even begin to explain the huge change that had just occurred in her life, but whatever. She didn’t need to share every detail with strangers.
“Cool,” Elton said. He leered at her. “Party at your place tonight, huh?”
She rolled her bottom lip in and seared Delise with a look. She was so dead after this. Delise grinned.
Remi tried to make conversation with Elton and Dave. She really did. But all Dave wanted to talk about was the stock market, which she knew next to nothing about, and all Elton was interested in was staring at her boobs.
Remi ordered another drink along with everyone else. The music grew louder, the dancing more frenzied.
“Wanna dance?” Elton invited.
“No thanks.” She smiled politely.
“Aw, come on.” He stood and tugged her hand. She tried to resist, but his grip was tight and rather than make a scene, she let him lead her onto the dance floor.
Oh dear lord, what a mistake. Elton danced like he was doing the funky chicken, elbows up and out, flapping like wings, feet shifting erratically. Her face burned as she cast glances at the other patrons on the dance floor. Nobody paid any attention to them, wrapped up in their own dancing or wrapped up in their partners’ arms.
Remi smiled brightly at Elton, waiting for the song to end. When it did, she stood on tiptoes. “I’m going to the ladies’ room!” she said into his ear. He nodded and she quickly exited the dance floor.
She passed the catwalk where the go-go dancers shook their booties. A group of men at the end of the catwalk watched them with smiles on their faces. Remi spared a glance and then a second glance at the group of big, good-looking and uh…big men. The five of them created quite a sight, with their massive shoulders, expensive-looking suits and neat haircuts.
She returned to the table moments later to find only Elton sitting there.
“The others are dancing,” he said. “Wanna go dance again?”
“No thanks.” She smiled and picked up her drink.
They sat there for a moment, Remi trying to think of something to say, and then Elton stood and said, “Excuse me. I see someone I know.”
He disappeared into the crowd around the bar and Remi sighed. She didn’t know what was worse, sitting there with a man she had absolutely no interest in—or sitting there alone. Painfully alone.
Ah well.
She dipped her straw in and out of the cocktail, studying the people. In her sexy new clothes, she definitely wasn’t out of place. Many girls wore similar outfits. Rouge was the hottest bar in Chicago, an upscale place to see and be seen.
When the others returned to the table, breathless and laughing, Delise said, “Where’s Elton?”
“He went to talk to someone,” Remi said. A frown creased Delise’s forehead.
“Well,” she said, head swiveling one way, then the other. “We’ll have to find someone else for you.”
“It’s okay, Delise!”
“No, it’s not.” Delise pouted. “We’re finding a hot guy for you tonight if it’s the last thing we do.”
“I’ll find my own guy!”
Delise rolled her eyes. “No, you won’t.”
“I will, I promise. I’ll…go for a walk. Right now.” She stood. “After I get another drink.”
Delise shook her head, but subsided back into her seat. “Fine.”
Remi could tell Delise didn’t believe she would try to pick up a guy. She knew her too well. She grinned as she squeezed between some bodies at the bar to order another mojito.
Drink in hand, she twisted and turned through the crowd, surrounded by warm bodies and mingled scents of Armani, Chanel and Prada. She glanced back at the table and saw Delise watching her with narrowed eyes and raised chin. She couldn’t help but be amused by her friend’s determination, even though she wanted to shake her head. She waved a hand at Delise and moved on through the crowd.