15 #2
"Yes, Mother." Lilith's voice floated from the back seat, serene in the face of her mother's panic. "You love to dance, but you never go do it. So, tonight's your night to cut loose."
"There's nothing you can do about it," Mel added. "So quit bitching and enjoy it."
Rhett crossed her arms over her chest and glared out the window at the guard rail flashing by. "Just who am I supposed to dance with?"
"Hey, what am I? Chopped liver?" A chuckle accompanied Brendan's question.
"Thanks, Brendan," Rhett said with a glance over her shoulder at her grinning son-in-law. "But I still don't want to go."
"Suck it up, buttercup. You're going and that's all there is to it." Mel didn't sound the least bit sorry about her nefarious scheme.
"Fine."
When they reached the club it took the combined efforts of Mel, Brendan, and Lilith to get Rhett through the door.
Once inside, though, she relaxed. Instead of the ultra-hip, trying-too-hard atmosphere she expected, this place had a cozy vibe despite its size.
There were actually places to sit, and even with the large number of people on the dance floor, it was big enough that they weren't crowded shoulder to shoulder.
The lighting was low without being non-existent, and the music was loud enough to hear without being deafening.
And speaking of music, it wasn't the electronic dance shit she hated.
The couples on the dance floor were flailing about to Journey's "Separate Ways" as they entered, and Rhett had to smile. Now that was something she could enjoy.
"An empty table," Lilith shrieked, and dashed off to claim it before someone else could get there.
As they made their way to the tall pub table Lilith and Brendan appropriated, Rhett cut her eyes at her sister.
"Okay, this place isn't that bad," she admitted.
"Are you kidding? It's great." Mel looked around with a smile. "The best part's the deejay. He's not one of those twits who thinks he's God just because he's able to put a needle on a record or load an mp3. He takes requests and actually plays what you want to dance to."
Their forward progress came to a halt as "Lips of an Angel" began, and a flood of people headed for the dance floor. Why people loved to sway together to a song about possible infidelity Rhett couldn't understand, but they were rushing forward like it was their wedding song.
"Here in a little while I'm going to go make my own request." Mel's voice intruded on her thoughts.
"I'm going to get him to play "FutureSex/LoveSound" so we can get you out on the floor.
" She laughed at Rhett's shocked face. "Everyone has that one song that brings out their inner stripper, and that one's yours. "
"There's something about that beat," Rhett admitted. Now that she was in the club, the thought of dancing wasn't so bad. "And have you listened to the lyrics? It's one of the sexiest songs I've ever heard. But I'm not going to dance to it by myself. Or with you, for that matter."
"Brendan said he'd dance with you."
"God, no." They were finally able to move toward the table again. "I'm not dancing with my son-in-law to a song that brings out my inner stripper."
"Hey, the night is young," Mel said as they took their places on the high stools. "Look around, and maybe you'll find a willing partner."
As it turned out, there were quite a few men willing to dance with her, but she turned them all down.
Even though the music urged her to get out on the floor, she wasn't comfortable with strangers, and Brendan was her only partner for the few songs she danced to.
Besides, Mel was quick to accept the offers of Rhett's rejected would-be suitors.
In any case, Rhett was just enjoying being out and people watching as she sipped on a glass of watered-down rum and Coke.
Two hours later she grew restless. Pathetic as it might have been, she was ready to go home and go to bed.
Lilith and Brendan returned to the table, disheveled from getting down and dirty to Prince's "FUNKnROLL," and Rhett decided to tell them she was ready to end the evening.
Before she could speak, Mel's cell phone vibrated its way across the table as a call came in.
After a quick glance at the screen, Mel sighed and slid off her stool.
"Sorry, y'all. I need to take this."
Rhett watched her walk away, the phone pressed to one ear, her free hand covering the other.
She turned back to her daughter and son-in-law, but when she saw how much fun they were having, she couldn't bring herself to suggest leaving.
Oh, well, she was forty-three, not a hundred and three, so it wouldn't kill her to stay a little longer.
Mel returned to the table, out of breath and with a twinkle in her eye.
"Who called?" Rhett asked.
Her sister shook her head a little, and her lips tipped up at the corners. "Men are such wonderful creatures, aren't they?"
Bemused at this cryptic response, Rhett grinned. "What did Gary do now?"
"Just when you think you've got them all figured out, they do something that surprises the hell out of you." Mel propped her chin in her hand, still smiling. "Wonderful creatures."
Before Rhett could respond, Justin Timberlake's suggestive, almost synthesized voice breathed out the opening words to "FutureSex/LoveSound." Her bemused grin turned into an accusatory glare.
"Mel, you didn't."
"Hell, yes, I did. I told you I was going to, didn't I?"
Rhett shrugged one shoulder. "And I told you I wasn't going to dance to it, so you're just shit out of luck, sister.
" She ignored Lilith's giggle and tried her hardest to also ignore the song.
But her hips wanted so bad to sway to the insinuating bass line, and the first two lines of the lyrics made the rest of her body want to join in.
Then she was enveloped in the intoxicating scent of dark chocolate and rum, and a smoky voice sang in her ear asking if she could make it hot for him.
Eyes wide with shock, she turned to find Rhys standing there wearing the most devastating, naughty smile she'd ever seen on any man anywhere.
When he raised his hand and beckoned to her with two fingers, she was out of her chair before she realized it and being led by the hand onto the dance floor.
She had time to notice his black silk blazer, his shirt that was a sinful shade of red, and the exceptional fit of his black jeans before he pulled her tight against him.
The music, the suggestive lyrics and the look in his eyes obliterated any inhibitions she might have still harbored, and she began to move with him, their bodies seeming to melt into each other.
She danced without conscious thought until Rhys bent his head to her ear.
When he sang about giving her his tongue and being skin to skin, it zapped into Rhett's bloodstream at eighty miles per hour and wiped out awareness of everything but his hands tangled in her hair and the evidence of how much he wanted her pressed tight against her abdomen.
She sighed onto the hot, tempting skin at the side of his neck, and his answering groan vibrated through his chest and tingled against her breasts.
So lost in him, Rhett was surprised when the song ended and another, unfamiliar tune began. She looked up into his dark blue eyes and asked the only thing on her mind.
"Can we go home now?"