"Thanks, Nik. You do, too," I told her.

A second later, Josh let out a squeal, before darting past Calum and Tristan, saying something about having spotted his birthday present. Josh had a special gift for being able to spot a gay man in a crowd. It was like gay-radar, but more along the lines of a male dog catching a female dog's scent in heat.

"In that case, Calum want to dance with me?" Nicole asked him like he really had a choice.

The massive man just nodded and shot her a big smile. "My pleasure," he purred, and Nikki snorted but didn't say anything as they headed off.

"Hey," Tristan said in a smooth, deep voice while rooted to his spot a couple feet away. I could see his eyes move from my face down to the exposed skin of my chest for a very brief second before he looked at my eyes again.

"Hey," I said really low before clearing my throat. "I didn't think you'd come."

He smiled at me as he planted himself onto the stool Josh left unoccupied. He twisted it around to face my direction. "I don't really have a life outside of school and work," he said with a shrug of a broad shoulder. "I wanted to see you, anyway."

I snorted, rolling my eyes in his direction. "You're full of it," I told him, trying to wave down the bartender. I'd mentally prepped myself for his charm, there wasn't a doubt in my mind that he was a professional at luring and seducing females on a regular basis.

"I'm serious. I wouldn't lie to you."

"Okay," I agreed, unwillingly, with a smile and sip of my drink.

"What are you drinking?" he asked and took my glass to smell it.

"Vodka cranberry," I answered while he tipped it back, finishing off the little bit that was left. His pink tongue peeked out to lick his bottom lip. "Do you drink out of every random person's glass?"

Tristan snorted and looked at me under those long, dark eyelashes. "No, just my Mom and now you."

"I guess now would probably be a bad time to tell you I have the flu then."

He laughed, a full throaty chuckle before he turned his stool to face mine. The space between us was so narrow, his warm knee pressed against my thigh. "I'll take my chances," he said with a smile. "Your friend, Josh, seems like a nice guy. How old is he turning?"

"He's twenty-seven now," I told him.

"How'd you meet?" Tristan asked, his clear green eyes locked on mine.

I start telling him about how we were in the same Spanish class, and it took me half the semester to finally talk to him. Then I went off into a rant about being roommates our junior year, and how I caught him walking around naked one too many times until I had to set up a mandatory clothing rule when outside of the bedrooms. He kept asking me questions about when we lived together, and then bought me another vodka cranberry while he sipped some kind of beer I'd never heard of.

"What do you do?" he asked. We were both a little more relaxed then than we had been earlier, and somehow we'd shifted our stools so that the inside of his right thigh was pressed against my outer left thigh creating a pleasant heat on my bare skin.

"I teach fourth graders."

His smile reminded me of the sun after I'd been in the dark for long, it'd be so bright, you'd have to squint. "That's neat. How long have you been teaching?"

I sipped my drink and waved at Josh who was talking to some guy behind Tristan. "I just finished my first year at Tucker Elementary."

"Really? The law office I work at is right down the street."

Law office? I was a lightweight when I drank and my tummy had already been feeling a little fuzzy. I remembered that he mentioned working and going to school. "Hammond and Associates?" I asked, because their office building was one of those modern masterpieces that I liked to look at on my way home.