Chapter 5
Jade
Jade couldn’t believe her luck. The woman she’d had her eye on for most of the night was standing right in front of her. Granted, it was with her back to her, but Jade could work with that.
Leaning forward slightly, Jade spoke in a soft voice, “Hi”, and leaned back. She knew what she was doing.
The woman turned slightly, glancing over her shoulder, “Oh, erm, hi.” She turned back and lowered her head slightly. Jade could see the blush on the woman’s cheek and neck as her blonde ringlets fell forward, and the woman swept them behind her ear.
“I really love the color of your top,” Jade said, keeping the conversation going without pressuring the woman in any way that she’d feel uncomfortable.
“Thanks, I borrowed it from my friend.” The woman looked flustered. Jade loved this part of the dance when meeting someone new.
“I’m glad you did. It really suits you,” Jade continued, “I would say your friend has good taste, but only if she suggested that was the one you wore tonight. But if you chose it yourself, then it’s you who has the good taste.
” Jade smiled as the woman slowly turned to face her and pinned her with the most incredible icy blue eyes Jade had ever seen.
“Then I guess I’ll say thank you for the compliment.” The woman said and smiled as they both moved another space down the line toward the bathroom. The woman’s eyes ran over Jade’s body quickly, not for the first time that evening. Jade had noticed.
“They’re vines. My tattoos.” Jade lifted her arm from her side toward the woman for her to see them more clearly.
“I noticed you looking earlier and knew that you wouldn’t be able to make them out at a distance.
The vines are generic, the leaves are a variety of plants, but the flowers belong to either the favorite flower or the birth month flower of those who are important to me. ”
The woman tenderly reached out and touched Jade’s forearm where a vine wrapped its way around the curve of her muscle. Jade’s eyes sprang up to look at the woman’s when their skin touched; an electric charge rippled through her body from the point of contact. Their eyes met immediately.
“Beautiful.” The woman all but whispered after she lifted her eyes from Jade’s arm up to her eyes. “You’re, I mean, they are beautiful.” The blush ran rampant across the woman’s face, neck, and chest. “Sorry.” She averted her gaze from Jade’s.
“Don’t be. And thanks, for the tattoo compliment, and the other one too.
” Jade smirked, knowing exactly what she was doing.
“The tattoos are all fine line, which is why they’re not clearly visible from afar, and they only come out when I’m not visiting my parents or have any chance of meeting someone they know.
” Jade let her smirk soften to a smile when the woman relaxed and her blush eased.
“I’m Jade by the way, sometimes go by Jae, and it’s great to meet you. ”
“It’s great to meet you too, Jade.” The woman turned back toward the line with a smirk on her own lips. Not giving her own name, on purpose. Jade liked her even more.
“You know, I haven’t seen you here before. Not that I’m here very often at all, but it seems like you’re new enough to maybe not know the customs of meeting new people. I’d just hate for you to leave a bad impression on the next person lucky enough to meet you.” Jade said with a smile.
“Is that so?” The woman said over her shoulder, but this time kept her head turned to the side to keep listening to Jade.
“Oh yeah, I mean, I’d hate for them to think anything negative about you when I could have helped avoid that by pointing this out to you just now.” The woman turned around to face Jade and smirked.
“How thoughtful of you. I appreciate your looking out for my reputation, Jade. So please, tell me how I can improve my people skills?” A wink. Jade was sure that was a wink. This woman was definitely her kind of woman.
“Well, it’s customary when someone meets you for the first time and gives you their name, that you provide your name for them to use when talking to you going forward.” Jade tried to contain the smile from dancing on her lips.
“Ok Jade, thanks for the tip, I must remember that for next time.” The woman turned back around. Her shoulders shaking told Jade she was enjoying this as much as Jade was.
“You’re going to make me ask outright, aren’t you?” Jade caved.
“Yes, I think I am.” The woman said, again over her shoulder.
Jade took a breath to settle the laughter that was currently threatening her diaphragm.
“I’d love to know what your name is, because since I first saw you in the bar over an hour ago, I’ve not been able to concentrate on the conversation with my friend.
She’s now upset with me about it because it’s our first night out in three weeks, and I’ve been so distracted by you that I should at least be able to provide her with the name of the woman who’s been pulling my attention all this time. ”
“It would be a decent thing for me to do. I mean, to help you apologize to your friend, if nothing else.” Jade had not had this kind of banter with a woman in a looong time. Yeah, she was special.
There was a pause. A long pause.
“I’m going to be honest with you,” Jade rubbed a hand against the back of her neck nervously. “I usually don’t have to work this hard and it’s kind of crushing my ego a little right now.” This was a whole new feeling entirely.
Jade knew how to talk to women. She knew how to get women to talk to her. But having those skills she’d used numerous times before fail like this? It was seriously unnerving that this woman was able to fluster her like this.
“Is that such a bad thing though?” The woman asked nervously.
Jade tilted her head slightly and took in the woman standing before her.
Her tone up until now was flirty and confident.
She knew how to move her body to keep Jade hooked, the way she tucked her hair behind her ear alone was enough to drive Jade to distraction.
Yet as soon as Jade showed any wobble in confidence, suddenly the woman was nervous?
Did she worry she’d blown it with Jade? This only encouraged her to want to know more about the woman in front of her.
Especially what had caused the sudden change in tone.
“Not a bad thing at all. In fact, how about this: I’ll let you keep your name a secret, for now, and we take the evening to get to know each other a little better. Once we get to the point where you feel comfortable enough, you can then tell me your name?” Jade held her breath.
“Well, I’m here with my friend, and you’re here with your friend, it wouldn’t really be fair if we left them on their own, now, would it?” The confidence was back. That just made Jade even more determined.
“This is true, but this line is moving ridiculously slowly. We’ve already been away from our friends for a while, and neither of them has come to check on us.
So, I’d say we could head back to our friends, turn our phone trackers on so they don’t worry about us, let them know we’ve met someone we’d like to get to know a little better and are heading elsewhere before going home.
Would that work for you?” Jade smiled hopefully.
“Jade, I’ve never done this before. I don’t know if that changes things for you, but I don’t know how my friend will believe me about leaving her to get to know someone new.
She’s not going to go for that without giving me the third degree.
” The woman frowned with worry. Her mouth twisted slightly to the side, and she clasped her hands in front of her body.
Jade’s heart went out to her, that she was so worried about her friend’s reaction must be a heavy burden to carry.
“Look, whether you’ve done this before or not, doesn’t change the spark I know you felt when you touched my arm.
I’m not pressuring you in any way, so please don’t think that, but I felt it too.
As far as I’m concerned, I’d like to get to know you better.
I understand that this is new for you, and that’s ok.
Just think of it as making a new friend and seeing where it goes.
If nothing else, we get to make new friends.
I don’t know about you, but friends are handy to have.
” Jade subtly moved her arm which was closest to the wall forward slightly and reached out her pinky, curling it a little in invitation for the woman to take it in her own.