Crystal linked her arm with Mollie’s and said, “Alex would want you to be happy. You need to remember that.”
She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Let’s leave him out of this tonight. Right now it’s all about having fun, right? You and me and getting a little something for ourselves.”
Crystal sat up a little straighter. “Right you are.”
When the bartender returned with their drinks, he said, “Drinks are on that gentleman over there.” He placed their glasses down in front of them and pointed to a man at the far end of the bar.
He was good-looking, but he wasn’t Trent or Mac. Crystal smiled and brought the drink to her lips. When she put it down, she saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head and saw Josh walking through the door. Immediately, his eyes sought out Mollie, as if they’d been drawn to her. Mollie looked at Crystal, followed her line of vision, and fell so incredibly silent she didn’t think her friend was even breathing. The chemistry arcing back and forth between the two was something for the record books. He started toward them, and Mollie stiffened.
“Hello, Crystal, care to introduce me to your companion?”
“Mollie Alexander, meet Josh Dailey, Trent’s brother.”
Josh took Mollie’s hand in the same old world way he’d taken Crystal’s upon meeting her for the first time, then he kissed the back of it. He had a decidedly devilish gleam of arousal in his eyes. Now, that wasn’t there the first time he’d met Crystal. She wasn’t sure what to make of Josh. He seemed like a huge flirt, and Crystal wasn’t too keen on the idea of him getting all hot and bothered for Mollie. Mollie was a little raw tonight; she didn’t need a guy to mess with her head. Crystal was about to say just that, when Josh broke her train of thought.
“I assume you’re here for Trent?”
“Actually, I’m just here with Mollie,” she said, then added, “Trent and I didn’t have plans tonight.”
Josh frowned at her dress. “I see,” he said. He looked back over at Mollie as if she were a tall glass of water and he’d just come in from the desert. When Josh glanced at his cell phone, his brows drew together. “Would you two care to join me at a table, then?”
“Sounds good,” Mollie chimed in, a little too quickly for Crystal’s peace of mind.
“Mollie, I thought we were here to, ah, mingle. Remember?”
“We are mingling—with Josh,” Mollie said as she eyeballed the man.
“Yes, great idea, mingle with me, ladies.” He held out both arms and grinned as Crystal gave in with a sigh and took one, while Mollie took the other with a rather beaming smile. He led them to a table in the corner, then looked the two of them over from head to toe before remarking, “You two sure are turning a lot of heads tonight.” He looked back and forth between them both. As his gaze landed on Mollie, he lingered. “Beautiful.” He seated them, politely holding each of their chairs. They no sooner got their tushes planted than someone was tapping Crystal on the shoulder. She turned and saw a handsome man staring at her with a wide grin.
“You here alone, darlin’?”
Crystal very nearly gave him the brush-off, then remembered her plan and changed her frown to a smile. “Yep.”
She started to get up, only to have Josh stop her with a large hand on her shoulder. “Are you sure you don’t want to wait for Trent? He’ll be along any minute.”
“No, but thank you,” she said, turning down Josh’s offer. Crystal let the stranger lead her to the dance floor.
He pulled her into his arms and whispered against her ear, “Name’s Brad.”
“I’m Crystal,” she said, wishing she wasn’t aware of how different and wrong it felt to be in the man’s arms. She wanted to be in Trent’s arms. Or Mac’s. No one else would do.
“So, Crystal, what’s a beautiful woman like you doing alone at Kinks?”
“What’s a handsome man like you doing alone at Kinks?” she tossed right back. He chuckled, but the timbre of his voice wasn’t the same deep, intoxicating sound as Trent’s.
“It must be our lucky day, that’s the only thing I can figure,” he drawled, then pulled her in tight as he moved along with the slow beat of the music.
Brad’s body was big and muscular. He was handsome and polite. His voice was as silky and as deep as crushed velvet. Still, there were only two men she wanted pressed up against her. Two men who could make her body hum with desire in ten seconds flat. Brad was neither of those men. And she was just so damn pissed that Mac and Trent weren’t there, watching her dance with a gorgeous guy right at that moment. So they could see that she’d moved on. That she wasn’t going to wallow in self-pity. That she wasn’t going to sit around and wish for something that could never be.
Oh, who the hell was she kidding? She wanted Mac and Trent there so they would get insanely jealous and rip her out of Brad’s strong arms and . . . was that a tattoo?
“What is that?”
Brad followed her line of vision. His grin turned rather ornery as he answered, “It means good fortune. I believe it’s an Asian symbol.” He shrugged. “It was an impulse thing.”
Crystal laughed. “Does it work? Have you had good fortune?”
He winked and pulled her close again. “Seems to be working for me tonight,” he whispered into her ear.