Multicolored lights flashed and reflected around the club as the partygoers on the packed dance floor bounced along to the beat. Ellie stood high above it all on the balcony, watching the frenzied mass of flaunting and flirting, bored.
She should have stayed home. Joe demanding that she come listen to his new stuff shouldn’t have been a good enough reason. They weren’t even dating anymore.
Arms folded, she glared at where Joe was standing at the DJ booth. This was the last night she was dragging herself out to be supportive of her tyrant ex. There was a reason they had broken up, that she had ended things with him.
No more being a walked on pushover. She recited it over and over in her head. During the past year the high balcony had become a refuge of sorts whenever Joe had insisted on her coming to watch him DJ. The club scene wasn’t really one she was all that comfortable with and never had been. For Ellie, that balcony was a gift. She was there without being down in the trenches. Instead she had a bird’s eye view of the whole club where no one would notice her watching. After an hour of sitting on the sidelines, alone and tired, she didn’t see the point of staying any longer. Usually Marci would come up to keep her company when she would get tired of dancing but she’d had to stay home tonight.
Enough was enough. She turned to head down the stairs when a ripple in the crowd caught her eye. Looking closer, she saw it again. People were moving out of the way for someone. A celebrity?
As she leaned on the rail to get a better look the crowd parted once again and she glimpsed a man with a natural bronzed tan striding confidently through the dancers to one of the small standing tables on the edge of the floor. If he knew people were parting to move out of his way, he didn’t show it. Maybe he was famous, but she didn’t recognize him.
The man had changed the entire atmosphere of the club simply by walking in. He didn’t look dangerous, but he definitely had a ‘back off’ kind of vibe. Why go to a club if you weren’t in the mood to be around people? Oh wait, she was there and definitely was not interested in descending into that mass of people except to leave.
Glancing over to where Joe still stood in front of the crowd on his self-proclaimed throne, she could see him sending glares over at the mystery guest. With him there, Joe couldn’t pretend to be the coolest in the room.
As Ellie blatantly stared at the new arrival, safe in her assumption of being invisible in the high balcony, she noticed him looking about intently, as if he were looking for someone. It wasn’t a frantic sort of looking around, more like he was searching for someone he knew. She too started to look around to see if she could spot who he could be looking for. She laughed. How could she find someone if she didn’t even know who he was looking for?
His sharp gaze pierced through the crowd as he continued his intense search. Who was he looking for? Ellie continued to survey the crowd too, glancing back at him every few seconds to see if he was still looking about. No longer interested in the other club-goers or in leaving, her full attention was on him.
Her mystery man gave off this aura of strength that was almost comforting. Or it would be if they were friends. It wasn’t in his build but more in the way he held himself. The more she took in his appearance the more Ellie found herself wanting to be down there, introducing herself.
Very unlike her.
Again she slowly took in his overall look, from his patent leather shoes to the intensity of his dreamy face. He had money but was not flaunting it. If she had to hazard a guess she would say that he was comfortable in his life and wasn’t looking to prove to others how much he made in order to make fake money-worshipping friends.
In the midst of her almost lazy perusal, shock zapped through her as she discovered those eyes looking straight up at her. He wasn’t glaring per se but he was definitely looking right at her. It was more like he was trying to ask her a question she didn’t know the answer to. As he smiled up at her she stepped back and out of sight. She struggled to keep her panic tamped down. He had caught her openly staring at him for who knows how long. It took several minutes to talk herself into moving back to the railing.
When she finally did she discovered that he was gone. A completely different sort of panic flooded through her. Searching the crowd, there was no ripple. Nothing to give her any hint of where he could have gone. She quickly gathered her things.
Jacket and purse in hand, she moved to the stairs. Before she could make her way down she had to pull back to stop from slamming into the guy leaning in the doorway, his coal black hair swept casually across his forehead. He was blocking her exit and, by the gleam in his eye, he knew it.
“Nice hideout.” He chuckled, uncrossing his arms and stepping toward her. He neatly backed her up to the rail overlooking the dance floor. A few good feet remained between them. After a few moments of silent, surprisingly non-awkward staring he chuckled again and moved to lean on the rail next to her. He glanced down at the dance floor below before he turned his full attention back on her. She felt transparent.
All those gorgeously sculpted muscles in easy touching distance caused Ellie to struggle to smother her gasp. Standing perfectly still, she waited. All her brain could process was how close he was.
He stepped back enough that she felt she could breathe. He flashed her a megawatt smile. “Come here much?”
