Thatshe didn’t mind. It was after, when they’d decided to hit a club for a few hours that she’d wanted to leave. But Declan had insisted. The last thing she wanted was to tell her over-protective brother why she didn’t want to be there, so she gave in and went along.
She glanced in the direction of the bar where Declan and Alex had gone to get drinks. She’d met Alex once, weeks ago at a dinner her brother had given. Alex had been new in town, and just hired at the law firm Declan worked for. Of all her brother’s friends, she liked Alex the best. The guy was easy to get along with. More, he wasn’t interested in her—at least not in a romantic way.
“It’s been a long night, shouldn’t you go home and rest, Grace?” Darci leaned closer to yell over the loud music. Hopefully, Grace would agree, then Darci could go home, too.
“I have Dec for all that worrying.” Grace patted Darci’s hand, still looking a little too pale. “I’m fine, really. I needed this after everything that happened. Don’t worry, I’m not going out there to do something reckless like dance, not when I fought so hard to keep this little one inside me.”
When she put it like that, Darci felt like the worst person on the planet for coercing Grace to leave. “Whose idea was the club scene anyway?” she asked, glancing at the jittery dancers.
“Mine, of course. I thought you’d enjoy the night out after seeing Lester’s face all day long.”
Darci wrinkled her nose and turned back to Grace. “Is that your way of reminding me I’m almost twenty-seven and still single?”
Grace smiled.
Darci snorted then narrowed her eyes as something clicked—just thefourof them? “No, you didn’t? Tell me you didn’t—Alex?”
Grace grimaced. “What can I say? Declan was so happy you finally showed an interest in a guy, he invited Alex tonight.”
“Oh, Lord!” Darci slammed her palms several times against her brow. “I mention some guy looks good, and Declan drags them to me? The very thought is mortifying.”
“Don’t forget you love his green eyes,” Grace chimed in helpfully.
Darci glared at her sister-in-law. She’d stated in passing that Alex had nice eyes. Apparently, it had sealed the deal in her brother’s books. Jeez!
It wasn’t green that consumed her thoughts but tones of glacier blue. Thoughts of Blaéz made her smile. She’d texted him that she wouldn’t be home. He hadn’t responded. Hopefully, he wasn’t too upset she’d cancelled last minute. If she had her way, she wouldn’t even be here. But she had to rectify the situation concerning Alex.
“You do know Alex is gay, right?”
Grace stilled and then she laughed. “I had wondered about him. Oh darn, Declan will be so crushed. He thought this was the one. I’ll tell him later.”
Darci just shook her head, her mind back on Blaéz and that stunning kiss they had shared outside the library. Gently, she touched her lips. Her stomach fluttered in anticipation of seeing him again. Maybe she’d call him once she got back home.
“Now there’s a smile I haven’t seen like in…forever. Who is he?”
“No one—” The denial rushed out.
At Grace’s arched eyebrow, Darci scrunched her nose and played with her cell phone lying on the table. No getting away from her observant relative. “Just someone I met recently. And yes, I like him very much—that’s all I’m saying. I need the restroom, be right back.” She made her escape. After her dismal relationship failures, she didn’t want to discuss Blaéz and risk jinxing this.
A few minutes later, Darci left the ladies’ room and headed back to her table. A prickle darted across her skin. The fine hairs on her nape rose. She slowed and looked around the dance floor, then to the table where Grace sat, but she couldn’t see anyone who spiked this intense awareness.
Another sweep around the place and her heart skidded to a halt. Only by his height did she pick him out. Blaéz stood to the side of the corridor leading toward the exit.
He saw her and made his way over in that loose-limbed, sexy saunter that was his alone, sidestepping a boisterous crowd.
She smiled as he drew closer. “Hey.”
His expression held all the warmth of ice. He didn’t respond, just grasped her hand and headed back for the entrance. Damn, he probably thought she was blowing him off after her text, and took off to a club instead. She had to explain before he believed the worse. “Blaéz, wait—wait.”
The man either couldn’t hear her with the loud music or was ignoring her. She suspected the latter. She tugged at his hand. “Blaéz!”
He stopped dead, and she crashed into him. Crap! Hitting a wall would have probably been softer. Grimacing, she rubbed her sore nose and stepped back. “How did you know I was here? New York’s littered with like a million clubs.”
Those unnerving pale eyes nailed hers. “I called you, a female answered.”
Right, she’d left her cell phone on their table in her haste to escape Grace’s question. Darci frowned—wait, she’d barely been gone a few minutes to the restroom, he’d gotten here that quickly?
Before she could ask, he said, “‘I’m not home for the night’?”
