Deep (Pagano Family #4)(15)

Tonight was her first time here. Bev loved to dance, but she didn’t like the sense of auditioning that was so much a part of the club scene. From the line out front, to the men scoping women out and deciding who was worthy of their attention, Bev usually felt more insecure in a place like this than anywhere else. She hadn’t had a real date in more than a year, but she wasn’t interested in finding one at a place like this.

She was only here because she’d convinced Chris to exploit his connections and then invite Romeo and Skylar with them. Among friends, she could enjoy herself. And she’d had an excuse to buy a sexy dress and do herself up.

Chris was clearly miserable, and Romeo didn’t look much happier, but Bev and Sky worked on getting the guys buzzed and happy and then dragged them out on the dance floor. Neither could dance for shit, they simply shuffled their feet and bopped up and down a little, but all either woman needed was a man to dance around, so Bev and Sky danced between Chris and Romeo, mostly with each other. It was awesome.

For a long time, it was too loud to do much talking, so when Chris had had his fill of ‘dancing,’ he grabbed Bev’s arm, and, only a little disappointed, she followed him to the bar. Chris shouted an order at the bartender for another beer for himself and a vodka tonic for her.

As they waited for their drinks, Chris leaned in and shouted at her, “You seriously like this, don’t you?”

About halfway through his sentence, the music went into a transition and pitched way down, so his voice rang out much more loudly than either of them had expected. He looked shocked and embarrassed, and Bev laughed.

“Yeah, I do. Everybody is all dressed up, and I like to dance. It’s a little bit like a fairy tale ball, when you think about it.”

Chris nodded toward the end of the bar, where a guy in a slim-cut suit had his tongue deep in a woman’s mouth and a hand deep in the top of her sequined dress. Her hand had a strong hold on his crotch. “I remember fairy tales differently.”

“Okay, well. Still. Sparkly!”

Sky and Romeo came back to them just then, but before they could order, some guy tapped Romeo on the shoulder. A lot shorter than Romeo, maybe five-nine or so, with shoulder-length, wavy dark hair and hawkish features, the guy made Bev a little nervous. She also thought he looked a little familiar, but she couldn’t place him at all.

Though the music was currently a bit less loud, Bev still couldn’t hear what was being said between the guy, who had his back to her, and Romeo, so she watched Skylar for clues. She looked interested, if a little suspicious. Romeo shook his head, an affable, apologetic smile on his face. Then the guy pointed over toward the booths. Bev looked in that direction, but she didn’t see much. The booths were all cloaked in shadow, with only small globes on the tables for lighting.

The guy kept talking, and finally Romeo looked at Skylar, who looked up at him and then shrugged. And then they were following the guy toward the booth he’d indicated. When Sky waved at Chris and Bev to follow, they did.

Sitting almost in the center of that booth was Nick Pagano. And he was looking directly at her.

She’d gone to bed early the night before feeling embarrassed and stupid, after he’d basically thrown her out of his apartment. She hated that feeling more than anything; she’d lived enough of her life feeling like she wasn’t good enough, and those days were behind her once and for all. But she’d put herself out on a limb last night. Chris had been right; she hadn’t been subtle at all. And the guy had a girlfriend. Her bad feelings at bedtime were no one’s fault but her own.

Chris was right about something else, too. It was good that Nick wasn’t available to her. She’d had her share of bad boy experiences, and they had all gone…badly. The last one had gone so badly, she’d moved out of Boston, left her job, and her whole life, and was now living in a little seaside burg. She hadn’t gone far, but hopefully she’d gone far enough.

Nick was a bad boy. Even if she hadn’t known who the Paganos were, it was clear he was a bad boy. He hardly ever smiled. He had the guy version of Resting Bitch Face—which was maybe Resting Badass Face. He was bad news, just like Chris had said.

And, again—girlfriend. Tall and blonde. Nothing like her five-foot-six inch, size ten self. She was not his type.

But he was so unbelievably hot it wasn’t even fair. Those green eyes. That square jaw and chin, sometimes with a groomed scruff, sometimes clean-shaven, always sexy. The black hair with just a sprinkle of grey at his temples. That freaking amazing body. He was perfect. And then, last night, he had smiled at her. More than once. His face had transformed, opened up. And he’d teased her, been friendly and gentle. All the way up until he’d dismissed her, she’d enjoyed talking with him.

He was the worst kind of bad boy, then. The kind who was just good enough to get the hook in really deep, before the bad ripped it out and left a nasty scar.

But Bev thought she might be hooked already. And now he was staring right at her, just a hint of a smile lifting one side of his mouth—as if the smile were for her only.

Which was stupid, fairy-tale thinking and would lead straight to her doom.

Unless she could maybe bang him. Just once. Just to get her hands on him naked. She wondered if she could keep her stupid, excitable heart from losing its shit if she just banged him one time. If that were even possible. Last night, briefly, she’d thought it was.