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The VIP areas are all roped off, and you can’t even go up the three steps to get to theh the ht spot Melanie

Five h all of the people, I’h ponytail I’ With one last surge of my body, I finally make it to the other side and squeezearound the bar

The bartender hands a drink to the person next to et you?"

"Just an ice water, please," I shout above the music and loud conversations on either side of rab my drink, I take the time to scan the crowd This was the du to find her in this place There’s got to be at least five hundred people here

"Okay, this is starting to get weird Are you stalking me?"

My head whips around when I hear the voice close to my ear and I come face-to-face with Matt I s nervously until I see his face light up with a teasing sht Or a sweater vest Sweet Jesus, does he look good He’s wearing a fitted black button-doith the sleeves pushed up to his elbows tucked into a pair of charcoal-gray dress pants Gone is nerdy-chic Matt In his place is hot-as-balls Matt The terees

"I was just kidding about the stalking thing--don’t look so shocked," Matt says with a laugh, right by my ear

I’m suddenly okay with the noise level in this place if it means he has to be this close toup at the sa his hand onet up to the bar

I’ at his throat while he reaches over to take lass of ice water frouys before I’ve done photo shoots with half-naked male models None of them has caused this kind of reaction froain, he caughtto lie to him about or because I find hborhood and thought I’d check this place out," I tell hi down the entire thing

"You were in the neighborhood? Where exactly do you live? It took retfully take a step away frolass on the bar

"Why are you here?" I ask, taking the focus off of h his hair I suddenly have the urge to do the same with my own hand I want to clutch his hair and pull his face down to et this under control Men suck They are all pigs, even if they seem nice at first Andy was really nice at first too Just because I want to help Matt out and he’s easy to look at, doesn’tto be here tonight This isn’t usually the type of place she goes to, so I was hoping I’d catch her with the guy she’s been seeing I really wish I had a caht ere at Blake’s," he says

I am such a bitch I could have taken a hundred pictures of Melanie the other night But in uy at the time I hope to God he never finds out aboutif you catch her with this guy?" I ask

"I know she will Her reputation is i sure everyone thinks she’s a saint If I can catch her and then threaten to out her to her family and mine, she’ll back down on the lawsuit The only problee sucked, I could never hurt someone like that I just hope she doesn’t know that"

Oh, God Why did he have to say that? Why does he have to be such a good guy?

"So, how do you expect to find her in this ain at all of the people

"I’ve already seen her She’s upstairs in one of the VIP lounges," he tellsover his shoulder to the roped-off area "I haven’t seen any guy with her, though, just a few of her girlfriends"

I look over his shoulder and sure enough, in the very center of the VIP area, in one of the biggest lounges, I see Melanie sitting on a couch with two of her girlfriends on either side of her They’re laughing, toasting, and having a great tially separated yet or all of your aliht down the drain Just to sit in that lounge there’s a fifteen-hundred-dollar cover charge, plus you have to purchase a minimum of two bottles of top-shelf liquor In a place like this, that’s around nine hundred dollars a bottle," I tell hially separated yet?"

Oh, no! Oh, shit! I can’t really tell him I had Lorelei look that infor You know, since you didn’t mention it"

Please let him believe me, please let him believe lances back to Melanie and her friends "Are you serious that it costs that much to sit in the VIP section? How do you even know that?"

Because I’ve partied in plenty of those lounges throughout es I could probably tell you the cost and liquor requirements for every club in the United States and the UK

Soh Maybe this is the real reason why I have a soft spot for hiirl he irl I want to be norwhy they had that section roped off," I lie

He looks back over his shoulder, shaking his head

"That doesn’t make any sense There is no way in hell she could afford so when he turns back to face me "Maybe one of her friends paid for it"

He shakes his head "Nope No way Melanie is a kindergarten teacher All of those women she’s with? They all teach at the sae"

Well, the e makes sense now But I fear for the children of our future if she’s the one educating theht then You don’t know anything about hinize him?" I question as soainst the front of Matt

I put ainst his chest and look up at hi down at ht at my lips and his arms wrap around my waist to steady me, but pull me closer instead