“Oh, yeah. I met someone.” Remi bit her lip. “In fact, we’re leaving now.”
Delise’s eyes popped wide. “What! Who is it? Where is he? Where are you going?”
“I…uh…don’t know where we’re going. Maybe…my place.”
Delise stood up so fast her chair almost fell over backward. “What! Remi! You can’t take a strange man home with you!”
Remi tipped her head to one side and frowned. “Isn’t that what you wanted me to do?”
“I didn’t think you’d actually do it!”
“But…” Remi blinked. “But, Delise…”
“It’s dangerous, Remi.” Delise looked around. “Where is he?”
“He’s meeting me out front. He’s a nice guy, Del. He’s not dangerous.” Only in that he made her panties wet.
“How do you know that? Jesus, Remi.”
“I…” Disappointment started to dampen her happy buzz. “But, Delise…” She leaned closer to her friend. “I want him.”
Delise’s mouth opened. “Oh.” She stared at Remi. “Good god, Remi. Well, hell. Okay. Keep your cell phone on and with you at all times. All times. Got it?”
Remi gave a jerky nod.
“Because I’m going to be phoning you. And if you don’t answer, I’m sending the police. Go to your place. Don’t go to his place. Nobody will know where you are there.” She put a hand to her mouth. “This is still crazy. He could be a serial killer and once you get in a car with him…”
“Ssssh. I’m not that stupid.” Remi smiled at her friend. “I know this isn’t the kind of thing I usually do, but…I want to have fun tonight. I like him. He likes me.”
Delise’s face softened. She put her hands on Remi’s upper arms and squeezed. “Okay. But remember…I’m calling.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Remi hugged Delise and then turned and hurried toward the front of the club, looking for Jason. He stood near the entrance, a long, black coat loose over his suit, hands in the pockets. Her breath stuck in her throat at how gorgeous he was. She fumbled in her little purse for her coat check ticket, then Jason held the new silver trench coat Delise had made her purchase earlier while she slipped her arms into it.
“Let’s go,” she said, turning to him with a smile, lifting the ends of her hair out from the collar.
“Where are we going?” he murmured as they climbed the red-carpeted stairway to the door, one hand on the small of her back.
“My place.”
“Okay. We’ll have to take a taxi. Unless you…”
“No. I came with my friend.”
“Me too.”
The frosty March night air greeted them as they stepped out of the club onto the sidewalk. Busy restaurants and clubs with brightly lit signs surrounded them and throngs of people filled the sidewalks on both sides of the street. The windows of the office towers climbing into the sky around them glowed golden and tiny white lights twinkled on the bare trunks and branches of the trees lining the street. Several yellow cabs waited at the curb. They climbed into one and Remi gave the driver her Lincoln Park address.
“Is it far?” Jason asked, his hand warm on her bare knee. She glanced at him.
“No. Don’t you know where Lincoln Park is?”
“Sort of. I’ve only lived in Chicago a few years.”
“Oh, really? Where did you live before?”
“Canada.”
“Oh.” Curiosity spurted inside her. They’d agreed they didn’t need to know a lot of personal details about each other, but that was such an unexpected answer she wanted to know more. She studied him. “Why are you in Chicago now? Your work?”
“Yup.” He reached out and touched her hair. “What about you? Have you always lived here?”
“My whole life. The house I live in is the house I grew up in. When my parents died, we inherited it, and it was lucky because it was paid for. We didn’t have much money, but at least we had a roof over our heads.”
“That must have been hard for you. You were what…twenty-two, you said?”
“Yes. I’d just finished college, was just starting my first job.”
“And you had to look after your little brother and sister.”
“Mmm.” She hitched a shoulder. “I did what I had to do.”
His eyes grew a bit distant. “I couldn’t have done that when I was twenty-two. Hell, I couldn’t do that now.”
She laughed. “Well, hopefully you won’t have to. Are your parents still living?”
“Oh, yeah. Alive and well.”
“In Canada?”
“Mmhmm.” He focused back on her, his gaze warm and intent. She quivered inside.
“And do you have brothers and sisters?”
“Three brothers.”
“Whoa! Four boys! Your poor mother!”
He grinned. “She’s a tough lady.”
“Are you the oldest?”
“No. My brother Tag is older. Matt and Logan are both younger.”
“That’s cool. Must have been a busy house with four boys.” She eyed him. “Are they all as big as you?”
“Bigger.” He grinned.
“That’s not possible.”
“Well, Matt is about the same size as me. I might have a few pounds on him yet.”
She was intensely curious about the woman who’d given birth to four boys as big as Jason and how she’d reared them, but that was way more personal than they needed to get, so she shut off that train of thought.
The taxi pulled up in front of her two-story Victorian style house, and Jason reached for his wallet to pay. Remi started to protest, but he waved a hand and gave the driver some bills, including enough for a generous tip.
She led the way in her front door, flicked on a light and looked around at her home, wondering how it looked to Jason. She lived a simple life. Although Jasmine had been working at a full-time job for several months now, there wasn’t a lot of money left for luxuries from Remi’s teacher’s salary. But Jason bought drinks and handed out money easily, wore clothes that were clearly expensive and the watch she’d noticed on his wrist was a stainless steel Baume & Mercier. She didn’t know what he did, but he obviously had money.
“This is nice,” he said, surveying the living room. The house was old, but Remi loved it, loved the character in the big baseboards, the mullioned windows, the original brick fireplace and hardwood floors. “It reminds me of my parents’ home in Winnipeg.”
“Winnipeg? That’s where you’re from?”
“Yeah.” He slid his coat off and she stepped toward him to take it and hang it up. Nerves tightened and twisted inside her. She’d never done this—never brought a man home like this. She and Darryl had dated for months before they’d had sex and then it had to be quick and planned so as to avoid Kyle and Jasmine. What were the rules? Were there rules? Should she offer him a drink?
“Would you like a drink?” she inquired after hanging his coat in the closet. She stroked a hand down the sleeve of the exquisitely soft, black wool fabric before closing the closet door.
“Your coat?”
“Hmm?” She stared at him.
“Are you going to take your coat off?”
She looked down at herself. “Oh!” Her cheeks heated and she gave a lopsided smile. “Yes, of course.” She quickly removed the pretty new coat that she shouldn’t have spent so much money on and hung it in the closet next to his.
“C’mere.” He held out a hand and she hesitated, then walked toward him and took it. “You’re nervous.”
“No, I’m not.”
He laughed softly and pulled her closer, his hands on her hips. She trembled.
“It’s okay. Let’s have a drink, sit down and talk some more.”
“Okay. I have beer or wine…or champagne.”
“Champagne?” He lifted a brow. She moved away from his touch toward the kitchen.
“Delise brought it over earlier. To celebrate.” She shook her head, smiling.