Even through the haze and smoke of the club, through the fast-moving motions of engrossed dancers and the general din common to all nightclubs, Aidan recognized Rainey. Only, she didn't look like the Rainey he'd grown used to seeing on his irregular visits to the magazine office.
This Rainey had sleek, straightened hair pulled back into a stylish ponytail at the base of her neck, she wore a red satin lingerie-inspired top that hugged her full breasts and flared out around the shoulders to cap the creaminess of her rounded upper arms. Curve-hugging jeans and strappy red sandals completed the outfit and Aidan couldn't help but be amazed at this transformation of the girl who'd stammered shyly at him the day before into a lush, sexy woman tonight.
He was vaguely aware of Jean-Philippe still talking to him, but he tuned him out as he watched Rainey follow her dark-haired friend onto the dance floor. He still couldn't believe it was her and he couldn't stop staring. She looked…she looked…
He watched her glance around anxiously as her tall friend was grabbed up into an impromptu dance with a man who was obviously drunk and a stranger; Rainey was left standing alone and painfully motionless in the middle of the floor. From the few times he'd ever spoken to her, Aidan had an idea of how shy she was and he couldn't stand watching her look so anxious. From the way she was chewing on her lower lip she looked like she might panic and make a run for the door.
Not thinking about what he was doing, he put his empty beer bottle on the bar, slid off his stool and started toward her.
"Aidan, what are you doing," he heard Jean-Philippe call out.
He didn't slow down or look back.
"Your guess is as good as mine," he tossed over his shoulder as he made his way through the crowd to Rainey.
It took him awhile to push through the throng of people amassed in front of the bar, losing site of Rainey in the process he was afraid that by the time he reached her she wouldn't be there anymore. But, emerging on the other side of the dance floor, he looked around and saw her standing a few yards away. Her back was to him and he could see her craning her neck as she looked for her dark-haired friend.
Now that he'd found her he stood motionless for a few seconds. 'What am I going to say,' he thought. He could hardly walk up behind her, tap her on the shoulder and say, 'Hello, I saw your friend desert you. Can I be of any service?' And what if she didn't recognize him in the darkness? He sure as hell almost hadn't recognized her. But, he reminded himself, that was only because she looked so…different. He found himself staring at her again. Staring like a high school kid with his first crush. But he couldn't help it. There was just something about her tonight that was making him feel off balance and even a little nervous about approaching her.
'This can't be good,' he thought unconsciously and almost decided to go back to the bar, but as he watched her, she turned again so that her profile was outlined against the dull lighting of table lamps on the far side of the room and he could see her face. She looked like she was close to tears.
Aidan started toward her. He always had been a sucker for damsels in distress. He stopped barely a foot away from her and, without thinking, reached out and grabbed her arm since she probably wouldn't be able to hear him call her name over the music.
When she jumped and turned around wide-eyed he cursed his own stupidity for scaring her. He grew uncomfortable as her huge green eyes, fringed with amazingly long lashes, widened even more when she realized it was him standing behind her. Aidan didn't know what he'd expected her reaction to be but this intense uncomfortable silence hadn't really been on his list of possibilities. Trying to put her at ease, he gave her a little smile and dropped his hand from her upper arm—completely refusing to acknowledge the strange tingling in his palm as he let her go.
"Hey Rainey," he said when she kept staring at him. Not the best opening line, he conceded to himself, but it was better than them standing there staring at each other.
But Rainey didn't smile back at him.
For a moment he thought she hadn't heard him, then her face took on a look of desperation and her lips moved.
"Oh crap," he thought he heard her say.
Aidan's brow furrowed a bit. Had he heard her right? He leaned in closer, catching the scent of lilies that seemed to surround her, and said, "What did you say?"
'Oh my God,' Rainey thought. 'What *did* I just say?' Aidan was so close to her, so uncomfortably close that she could feel the heat of his body. She was suddenly light-headed.
"N-nothing," she stammered. What was he doing here? Of all the places he could be on a Saturday night, why did he have to pick this club? Why did he have to be standing here, looking at her and touching her, making her stomach do strange little flips? She was sure she looked terrible; God, she could feel the sheen of sweat from the closeness of the club covering her skin and he would see it, too.
'Damn,' she thought. 'And I'd just managed to forget that incident at work yesterday.' But here he was again to mess with her senses. He was dressed casually in a black polo and jeans, but she could clearly delineate the shape of his muscles beneath the shirt. He was so close that, if she extended her hand just a little, she'd be able to touch his broad torso.
Rainey swallowed hard. "I think I need to sit down." She'd been speaking more to herself than to him, but he nodded and took hold of her elbow to steer her through the crowd. The tightness of their passage through the mass of milling people meant that Aidan's body was pressed up against hers for what seemed like hours.
They finally made their way through the throng and, for her own sanity, Rainey quickly moved away from Aidan's touch. She looked for a table near the dance floor so that Karen wouldn't have that much trouble finding her but Aidan, who'd come to stand next to her, pointed to a table that was almost as far into the corner as possible. Rainey groaned inwardly but followed him through the maze of tables and people until they reached their destination.
A small crimson lamp, a few shades brighter than the club's deep red walls, was the table's only decoration; it's orange-colored lampshade cast a sunset-like glow in a small circle, illuminating both Rainey and Aidan with interesting highlights and lowlights as they each took one of the two seats.
Aidan looked at Rainey who was, much to his consternation, staring at her hands as if there was some sort of secret hidden in them.
"So…" he said, but she didn't look up. He watched her fidget for a while, crossing and uncrossing her legs. Finally he said, "Rainey."
"Hmm?" She still didn't look at him.
"Rainey," he said her name again and waited this time, giving her no choice but to meet his eyes. When she finally did he asked, "Are you all right?"
She was chewing the inside of her cheek and Aidan realized how nervous she was. Was it him that made her so uncomfortable? He'd never experienced anyone as unsure of themselves as she was and he couldn't understand it.
"I'm fine," she said quietly, her eyes darting to his and then back to her hands.
Aidan didn't know what to do. He wanted her to just relax and maybe smile a little, but he didn't know how to get her to that point so he sat watching her for a while. It was like she was two different people, he mused. When he'd first seen her emerge from the staircase he'd thought she was this amazingly beautiful, sexy woman and, he admitted to himself, he'd been attracted to her. More than he'd been attracted to any woman in quite a while, actually.
But sexual attraction wasn't anything new to Aidan; it was something he could deal with. Now, sitting here with her while she looked so uneasy, he was still attracted to her—God, even across the table he could smell the scent of lilies that clung to her skin—but he was more interested in making her calm down. He wanted to talk to her, he realized. Really talk to her. There was something in those green eyes that made him *need* to talk to her.
Yesterday, at the magazine office when he'd stumbled upon her in the break room, it was the first time he'd ever really looked at her. Sure he'd seen her before and he knew her name, he knew the names of everyone who worked at the magazine, but until yesterday, their paths had never crossed.
He smiled to himself remembering the way her face had flamed bright red when that drawer had refused to open. So he'd teased her a little bit. Told her that she owed him.
But he hadn't really meant it. He'd only wanted to make her smile yet she'd just stared back at him, solemn and confused, obviously apprehensive about what he meant. Any other woman would have flirted with him, he knew. Aidan wasn't a conceited man but he understood that women found him attractive and he usually used that fact to his advantage. But Rainey…she was nothing like all of those other women he'd had meaningless flirtations and dalliances with. Innocent and pure, so quietly hopeful and shy, she was nothing like he'd expected her to be and that intrigued him. It was so rare to find anyone, male or female, who didn't fall into a pre-set category. But Rainey was one of those people and Aidan wanted…
What *did* he want, he asked himself. There could never be anything physical between them. She was barely nineteen years old, a freshman in college, and he was in the middle of grad school. He was only twenty-four himself but that five years could be like a chasm in relationships. He'd learned that the hard way, he thought darkly, but he pushed the memory aside.
He was attracted to her, he admitted that to himself, but he was old enough to understand that sex could be as much of a complication as it was gratification sometimes.
So, they'd be friends, he decided. He could help her realize that she was beautiful and worthwhile and she, well, she could remind him of what it felt like to be full of dreams. Reaching across the table he took hold of her right hand and, ignoring her gasp of surprise, proceeded to closely inspect the ring she wore on her ring finger. Her hands were soft and dainty, with long, elegantly tapered fingers and graceful oval nails.
Aidan shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He had never been so turned on by a woman's hands in his life. "This is lovely," he said to distract himself from the knot of desire forming in the pit of his belly. He let the tip of his much larger finger stroke the pink stone in the center of the silver setting.
"It…it's my high school ring," she said quietly, sitting perfectly still as he continued his inspection.
"R.O.W. What do those stand for," he asked, referring to the initials engraved on one side of the ring.
