Page 33 of Imperfections Seduced

“He went to get us drinks.”

“He won’t be back for a while, it’s packed over there. You practically have to elbow your way through the crowd to get to the bar. Shawn told me to tell you guys hi and bye; he left with some chick he met.”

I see a girl in a skin-tight black dress looking in our direction. “Isn’t that the girl you were dancing with earlier?”

“Where?” He looks behind him and puts his drink on the table.

“To your right, she’s headed this way.” Cat and Ava turn to get a look at her.

“You don’t look happy to see her.” I smile to myself because he looks ready to bolt.

“From a distance her body and her face were rocking. But when I got close up, it was all plastic,” he says, looking beyond disappointed. He got a Twinkie.

We start laughing, and he turns back to us. “I’m not against it or anything, a little nip here, a tuck there, but damn, give me something that’s real.”

I nod my head at Cat in agreement. “I know exactly what you mean. There can never be a substitute for the real thing.” She smiles and looks away. Ava stands up next to Chris and places her hands on his shoulders, and with a slight southern drawl she says, “Don’t worry, I’ll save you. Everything over here is all natural, no fillers or additives necessary. Let’s go hit the floor so she can see you’re taken by a real woman, not plastic Barbie.”

He sighs before he lets her lead him in the opposite direction of his former dance partner train wreck.

“Fine, but I’m going to need to get another drink from the bar first.” Off they go with her swaying her hips to the beat of a Robin Thicke song. Cat and I watch them make their way through the crowd to the bar.

“He just made her entire year—like summer vacation, Christmas, and her birthday all rolled into one.” She looks at me with a smile on her face, and I can’t help but stare at her lips. I love her smile.

“I know, this is probably the happiest day of her life,” I say, pulling my eyes off her lips and back up to her eyes.

“Do you think those two are ever going to get together?”

“Are we?” She stops smiling and her body tenses. I shouldn’t have said that.

“Look, Matt’s coming back with our drinks.”

Great. “What’s with the baby girl?”

“Nothing, he used to call me that sometimes, because I was Chris’s baby sister.”

“You’re not his baby or his girl. He sounds like an old pimp about to put you to work.”

“He does not.”

“Maybe you can have that written across your ass on a pair of sweat pants.” I look at her with a smirk on my face. “In big, bold letters.”

“You need to stop.”

“Come on, you have to admit it’s a little funny, think about it.”

“My dad calls me baby girl sometimes.”

“How old is he again? Besides, you actuallyarehis baby girl.”

“Jealous much?”

“Never.”

“There’s a first time for everything.”

“I’m sure there is. He’s yours?” I point my head in Matt’s direction and watch her reaction.

“What?”