Page 28 of Floodgates

“Oh, come on, Ira,” Matt teased him. “The man’s on TV. Let her be excited.”

“Yeah, Ira, let me be excited.” She laughed at him.

“I hate you all,” he informed us.

I sat and drank while Matt hit the floor with April, and Courtney with Ira. Eric promised to go save Courtney if Ira’s dancing started to look more like a seizure and less like he had any rhythm.

It was fun sitting there, watching the club fill up, finally not able to see the dance floor even from how close I was.

My brother came by to say good-bye; he was taking Jennifer and bailing. They needed to talk, and trying to communicate over the top of the charts and trance music was impossible. He said to call if I needed him, and then he was gone, Jennifer clinging happily to his hand.

“Well, that’s just great.” April groaned as she and Courtney joined me. “So who do I… oh.”

From the way her eyes narrowed and her mouth went slack, I knew she’d seen something pretty behind me. When I turned, I saw the man who held her interest.

“Hey,” Breckin hailed me as he made his way through the crowd and reached the table.

“Hi,” April said, delighted.

He offered her his hand. “Breckin Alcott. And you are?”

Courtney moved close to me. “First your brother for Jen and now this guy for April—holy crap, Trace, my friends are going to jump at the chance to go anywhere with you all.”

I watched April move in on Breckin, smile and laugh, and then ask him to buy her a drink.

“Sure,” he agreed. “Any friend of Tracy’s.”

Her mouth opened as he turned to me, running his gaze over my face. “May I look at you?”

“Here?” I teased him.

“Out on the patio, please.”

The man was really just stunning—the chiseled line of his jaw, the wide breadth of his shoulders, and his warm blue eyes. His T-shirt was too tight and clung to his sculpted chest and abdominal muscles

“You didn’t do laundry,” I commented, knowing he was out of clothes if he was wearing the tight T-shirts that normally were only worn under his scrubs.

He stepped close to me and put his hand on my face, stroking his thumb over my cheek. “I don’t have anyone to remind me.”

“Get a maid. I’m sure you can afford one now that you’re working at an actual practice and not at County anymore.”

“That’s not what I need.”

I nodded.

“Could you please come out to the patio so I can look at you?”

“I dunno know if I can afford you now that you’ve moved uptown.”

He leaned close to my ear. “I’ll take a kiss in payment.”

“Only one? Deal.” He opened his mouth to argue, but I patted his shoulder to stop him. “I’ll meet you out there. I gotta pee first.”

His smile made his eyes glow. “Hurry up.”

I got up, told the girls to guard the table, and headed off to the bathroom. It was on the other side of the club, behind the dance floor. The door was heavy when I pushed on it, and the inside was smaller than I anticipated. There were no urinals, and most of the stalls were backed up. I found a working one near the back, and when I was done, I hunted for soap.

“It’s official,” I told my reflection, smiling at the brown eyes and hair I saw in the mirror. “My club days are over.”