She smiles and says, “I forgot about that.”
“I can assure you they haven’t.”
Sure enough, when we get to the bouncer, he turns to us, eyeing me for a split second before stepping aside. “It’s a pleasure to have you here, Mr. Medvedev.”
I thank him and lead a stunned Nina into the club. We bypass the woman collecting the cover charge and step further into the loud, dark room. There’s a large dance floor filled with grinding bodies and two long bars that are lit up with neon lights. The club is clearly geared for the younger crowd, and I can’t imagine hanging out in a place like this for long, but it’s obvious it’s a local favorite. Most of the tables and booths are packed. I tighten my grip on Nina, not wanting to lose her in the crowd. We weave our way through the men and women until we get to one of the bars.
“What do you want, baby?” I ask, pressing my mouth close to her ear so she can hear me. Once I’m there, I can’t resist giving her earlobe a suck.
I hear her moan over the music and chattering crowd before she says, “A Dirty Shirley.”
“Isn’t that a Shirley Temple with vodka?”
“Yeah,” she says with a laugh. “I’m not letting myself go crazy tonight, though.”
Smiling I give her cheek a kiss and turn to the bartender, ordering Nina her drink and a straight vodka for myself. I’ve just paid when I hear someone yell Nina’s name. Turning around, I see a young brunette woman come running up to Nina, flinging her arms around her in a happy, drunken embrace. Nina laughs and hugs her back while several others come up to join us.
“Oh my god, what happened to you?” the girl asks when she finally pulls back.
Nina laughs and shoots me a quick look before saying, “I had some family stuff going on, so I took a leave of absence from the university.” Turning to me, she says, “These are some of my friends from school. We’re all in the same Russian lit class. This is Carrie,” she says, pointing to the brunette who’d hugged her, “and that’s Jen, Molly, Peter, and Sam.”
The two guys hang back a bit, and judging by the way Sam is looking at Nina and me, it’s pretty obvious he has a thing for my wife.
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you all,” I say to them, ignoring the way the women are looking at me.
“Is he Russian?” Carrie squeals, clapping her hands together and making Nina laugh. “I knew you loved the lit class, girl, but I didn’t realize you were going to go out and nab yourself a real live Russian.”
I laugh and hand Nina her drink before wrapping my arm around her. “She didn’t just nab one,” I tell them. “She married one.”
That really gets their attention. “Oh my god, are you serious?” Jen asks.
Nina laughs and takes a drink. “Yes, he’s serious. We got married a few weeks ago.”
All the women squeal and go in for a group hug while the two guys shoot me an awkward smile. I raise my glass to them, glad that Sam never worked up the courage to ask Nina out.
“You guys have to join us,” Carrie says. “We have a booth over in the corner.”
Nina looks up at me with a raised brow. “You want to?”
“Sure, baby, let me just set up a tab.” I turn to her friends. “Please, order whatever you like. It’s on me.”
“Does he have a brother?” I hear Carrie ask in what I’m sure she thinks is a whisper.
“Two,” Nina tells her as I set up a tab at the bar.
With drinks in everyone’s hands, we snake our way through the crowd to a booth in the corner. It’s a tight fit, but I sit on the end and pull Nina into my lap, making it work. They talk about class for a bit before Carrie moves on to campus gossip. I keep my hand on Nina’s thigh, hidden beneath the table. Her voice only falters a little when I start to slide it up under her dress.
“So what do you do?” Carrie asks me.
“I own a few clubs around the city,” I tell her. “I’m actually thinking about buying this one. What do you think? Good investment?”
Carrie’s eyes widen. “Seriously? This place is the hottest club around. It’s packed all weekend long, and even does well during the week.” She bats her eyes at me in an exaggerated gesture that’s clearly for comedy instead of seducing. “So do your brothers live here too?”
I laugh and keep lightly dragging my fingers along Nina’s inner thigh. “No, I’m sorry. They live in Moscow.”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” she pouts.
“Nina can let you know when they come to visit, though.”
