Obviously knowing how Ronnie felt about her, and nothing Christine's friend said would have been complimentary, Leanne's too-confident demeanor faltered. Face flushed, she took a drink of her cocktail.
"Christy! I've been looking for you."
Christine heard Craig's deep voice penetrate the noise in the lounge seconds before he joined their small group, overwhelming her with his presence on top of Leanne's personal attack. Standing next to her, on the opposite side of Ben, Craig touched her elbow and stroked his thumb along the inside of her arm much too intimately.
With his pitch-black hair combed neatly away from his handsome face, and dressed in an expensive designer suit, Craig gave her a gently chastising look. "Jodie told me that you brought a friend tonight who was very insistent about paying your tab."
"That would be me," Ben replied possessively as his fingers tightened at Christine's waist.
"Christine's boyfriend," Leanne was quick to inform Craig, knowing how that bit of information would likely stir up a bit of trouble for Christine, and would hopefully, finally, turn Craig's attention her way now that Christine was off the market, so to speak.
That jolt of unexpected news caused Craig's fingers to drop abruptly from her arm. "Oh." Something dark and angry flared in the depths of his eyes, then he blinked, and it was gone. "I didn't realize that Christine was dating anyone." His voice was as tight as his clenched jaw.
Craig had definitely backed off, just as Christine had hoped he would, and she was relieved that her ploy had worked. "We were keeping things quiet, but once we made the decision to date exclusively, we figured it was time to make our relationship public."
A tight frown creased Craig's forehead. "Well, before you leave tonight, I still need to talk to you about your birthday bash here at Envy."
Christine nodded and smiled, glad to see that she hadn't sabotaged her working relationship with Craig in any way. "Sure."
Leanne shifted on her stilettos, looking annoyed that nobody was paying any attention to her. She glanced around the lounge, then met Christine's gaze with a devious glint in her eyes. "Did you happen to see your ex sitting over there at the bar?"
Leanne's announcement caused both Christine and Ben to look over at the bar at the same time. Sure enough, Jason was sitting on a bar stool, tossing back a shot of liquor that the bartender had just set in front of him. He signaled for another shot, gulped that down as well, then turned and stared at her, his eyes narrowed into dark, angry slits.
A foreboding chill shivered down her spine. She'd never seen Jason look so unkempt. His shirt was wrinkled, and his hair, normally cropped short, was long, shaggy, and uncombed. But it was the unbridled rage that she sensed from where she stood that had her stomach churning with uncertainty and dread.
Ben glanced back at Craig. "Christine has a restraining order against Jason, and he's in violation of those terms just by being in the same place as her. Would you mind summoning your security to take care of the problem and escort him out of here?"
"Of course." Retrieving a cell phone from the breast pocket of his suit jacket, Craig pressed a speed dial number. As soon as someone picked up on the other end of the line, he explained the situation, but before his guys could arrive on scene, Jason was sliding off the bar stool and heading toward Christine.
Her heart started a hard, fast pounding in her chest, the rush of fear making it difficult for her to breath.
Ben cursed vividly. "Looks like I'll be taking care of things," he muttered, then gave Christine a quick, but adamant look. "Stay put."
Nodding, Christine touched her fingertips to the sharp stab of pain in her temples, hating that Jason was about to cause a scene in a very public place. Already, people were starting to take notice of the confrontation and were gathering around to see what happened.
"I'm sorry about this, Craig," she said, hoping that Ben could take care of her ex without things getting too out of hand. "Jason shouldn't be here, and he knows it."
"You don't need to apologize." Craig stepped in front of her, as if to shield her from potential harm. "I'll make sure he doesn't get anywhere near you."
Christine opened her mouth to thank Craig, but the words got caught in her throat as a splash of chilled liquid and bits of ice hit her in the chest area. Someone had just spilled a drink on her!
She sucked in a startled gasp and glanced back around to discover that Leanne was the culprit. The other woman stood in front of her, the drink glass in her hand now completely empty. As something cold, wet, and sticky trickled its way between her breasts and continued to spread downward, Christine's fear was suddenly eclipsed by a strong flash of fury that had her seriously considering ripping every last strand of hair from Leanne's head.
Hearing the commotion, Craig turned back around, his gaze shifting from Christine's soaked top to Leanne's feigned surprised expression. "Jesus, Leanne, what happened?"
Leanne batted her eyes innocently at him. "I'm so sorry. Someone just bumped into me and jostled my arm and my drink went flying."
Since most everyone had moved into the bar area in anticipation of a brawl, there was no one even near them now. Christine bit back a scathing remark, refusing to stoop to Leanne's childish level-or engage in the altercation she seemed to anticipate.
Leanne gave her a smile that was just as deceptive as the woman herself. "You might want to go to the restroom and use some paper towels to dry off," she suggested oh-so-helpfully.
Christine couldn't believe this was happening to her, and all at once. Between Jason belligerently challenging his restraining order, and now being soaked to the skin by Leanne's drink, Christine couldn't imagine the night getting any worse.
She knew she couldn't just stand there and drip all over the floor, but neither did she relish the thought of heading into the women's restroom where a gaggle of women would undoubtedly watch her sop up the drink another woman had spilled on her-and whisper about it behind her back. She'd much prefer a private, secure place where she could take her top off and wipe off the sticky residue on her skin.
She glanced at Craig, who was looking at her in concern, and didn't hesitate to ask a huge favor. "Would you mind if I used your private bathroom in your office, where there are clean, dry towels I can use?" And where she'd be far away from prying eyes and gossipy women.
"Of course," he said without hesitating, and gently grabbed her arm, which earned Christine an envious glare from Leanne.
Hearing a shuffling coming from the bar area, along with something crashing to the floor, Christine bit her bottom lip and tried to search through the throng of customers for Ben, and to see what was going on. Whatever was happening, it didn't sound good.
"Come on. Let's get you out of here," Craig said as he escorted her toward the back of the night club and away from the sudden mayhem going on at the bar. "Until the situation with Jason has been taken care of, it'll be much safer for you in my office, anyways."
Christine nodded gratefully. As more of the crowd swarmed toward the bar in hopes of getting a glimpse of some action, she decided that leaving with Craig was the safest, and smartest bet, until Jason was out of the club and back under the restraining order restrictions.
And in the meantime, she could clean up the mess that Leanne had made in the privacy of Craig's office bathroom.
Chapter Five
BEN strode determinedly toward Jason to put a stop to his progress toward Christine. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as it always did whenever he was about to face some kind of combat, and he rolled his shoulders to ease the tension settling there. As he closed in on her ex, he could see that the other man's bloodshot eyes were brimming with a maelstrom of emotion, and most of it wasn't of the warm, fuzzy variety. The fury and bitterness emanating from Jason was almost violent in its intensity.