Love in the Fast Lane

by Melissa Kate

  “Oh, baby, the gesture in itself is all I could have ever wanted.” She pulled his powdery body toward her into a warm hug.

  “Now get into the bath while I mix us up a batch of pancakes.”

  “Vanilla?”

  “Any kind you want my love.”

  He grinned from ear to ear and raced off in the direction of the bathroom as Brielle made headway against the kitchen disorder.

  She couldn’t break his heart and chastise him about the mess, not when his intentions were so good in trying to make her birthday special. It was the first year that he’d actually tried to do something for her. Last year he’d made her a birthday card, which was a gift in itself, but the fact that this year he’d woken up early on a Saturday morning and attempted to make her breakfast, really melted her heart. Being the only man in her life, it made her feel special and cherished in a way that she never had – ever.

  Hell, even Nate had been off the map over the past week. After their fight last weekend, he hadn’t come over at all and had gone back to his routine of calling Noah when she was out of the house. Which was fine by her. She had done perfectly fine before he had come back into their lives and she would do superbly now that he had come back to play daddy to their son. Besides, today was her birthday. It was all about her.

  Brielle had no idea what Emma had planned for them, she’d just said to dress to dance and let loose. And she had to admit, she was really looking forward to this night. She knew that Noah would not have a repeat episode of the previous weekend because he had stayed over at Tommy’s house before and he was fine.

  When Noah returned to the kitchen, bathed and dressed, no further trace of flour or eggs on him or the kitchen surfaces, Brielle dashed into the bathroom for a quick splash before they shared their breakfast of pancakes and syrup. As usual, Noah entertained her with his playful antics as he talked about his conversations with Nate and shared jokes between them that she was not a part of. It made her realize that she now had to share her son and it made her sad. It had been her and Noah against the world from the time he was born and suddenly Nate came back and he was the fun parent. She immediately scolded herself for the thought. She was being selfish. For years she had hoped that Nate would step up and be the father that Noah so desperately needed and she certainly didn’t need to bemoan the fact that he now did. This wasn’t about her, this was about Noah.

  As they were finishing breakfast, the doorbell rang and Brielle went to answer it, expecting Emma with some ridiculous display of balloons or something. Instead, she was surprised to find Nate standing there in his dark jeans and t-shirt, his hair still wet from his shower, looking so unbelievably sexy.

  “Hi,” she greeted cooly, yet she felt anything but cool.

  “Hi,” he parroted. “Happy Birthday.” He handed her a single frosted cupcake.

  Brielle was thrown. That was not at all what she would have ever expected. She stared at Nate but his jade eyes were covered by his aviators and his expression was giving nothing away.

  Still staring at him, she heard Noah come up behind her and greet Nate.

  “Hey champ!” Nate greeted casually as the two males exchanged some complicated handshake combination. Another sign that she was not part of their secret boys club.

  “What are you doing here?” Brielle asked.

  “I told Noah I would take him to get ice cream before I dropped him off at Tommy’s place.”

  “Oh.”

  “Didn’t he tell you?”

  “No, he didn’t.” Brielle was surprised to realize that she felt disenchanted. She didn’t understand why when all Nate brought her was disappointment. Hot and cold.

  “Sorry, I told him to tell you.” He looked pointedly at Noah who had the decency to look sheepish as he muttered an apology.

  “It’s ok,” she waved him away. “Gives me more time to primp.”

  “Big night?”

  Brielle smirked. “Who knows what Emma has in store.”

  Nate’s expression remained unchanged.

  Tough crowd.

  “Here, come in,” she gestured, opening the door to let him in.

  He walked in past her but was immediately whisked away with Noah to pack his overnight bag. Tommy’s parents were allowing them to camp in the family’s backyard for the night, so Brielle had aired out Noah’s sleeping bag the night before. She heard laughter coming from Noah’s room and realized how rare the sound of a man’s laugh was in her home. The rough, deep timbre of it. It sent pleasurable shivers down her spine. Well, Nate was a fixture in Noah’s life now, which meant he would be a fixture in hers and these were moments she would have to endure – the ‘boys only’ club.

  She sat on the couch and took a bite out of the birthday cupcake Nate had brought her. Oh it was heavenly. The cake was soft and fluffy and the icing was just the right amount of buttery sweetness. What an odd thing for him to do. How had he even known it was her birthday? Oh, of course, her son was a blabber mouth. But why would he even bother to bring her anything? They were nothing to each other except parents to Noah. Perhaps it was a safety net he’d brought to butter her up because he hadn’t told her he was coming to pick up Noah. Who knew? It was a damned amazing cupcake though.

  Half an hour later the boys emerged from Noah’s room, bags packed and slung over Nate’s shoulder. Even the look of him with a child’s bag over his arm made him look incredibly delectable. She gave herself a stern chiding for even thinking the thought. He had a string of women behind the scenes. She was not going to give her hormones the satisfaction of noticing his sexability, if that was even a word.

  “Well, we’re off,” Nate announced.

  Brielle bent down to address Noah.

  “Have the best birthday, Momma. I will miss you.” But the smile on his face assured her that once he was out the door, she would be out of sight, out of mind.

  “I will miss you the mostest, Sweetheart.” She hugged his small body against her. “You behave tonight ok? No nonsense with Tommy and the other boys.”

  “Yes, Momma.” He grinned, assuring Brielle that they would indeed get up to all sorts of mischief.

  “Bye kiddo.”

  Brielle walked them to the door and watched as Nate strapped Noah into his beastly car. Gosh, the man had more money than he knew what to do with. He got into the driver’s seat and with a wave they were off.

  Which gave Brielle enough time for a nap to preserve her energy for the evening…

  “So, what do you think?” Emma asked Brielle over the music later that evening.

  They’d had a very fancy sit down dinner with a group of friends at the Beluga, an upmarket restaurant in town and had just entered a rowdy Burlesque bar. There were cocktail tables all around the room with a large stage up ahead. The music was pulsating, but not so loud that you could not hear the next person. It wasn’t chic so much as vibey. Brielle was glad that she had not gotten more dressed up and instead had opted for a dark flair skirt and a lacy bodice top with red trimmings. Topped with her lace up knee-high boots, she was ready to party.

  “The verdict is still out,” Brielle commented. “It’s early hours yet.”

  Emma nodded and smiled but the look in her eyes assured Brielle that things would soon be picking up.

  Their small group of friends had really gone out of their way to make her birthday special.

  “To the birthday girl,” Martha toasted, raising her tequila shot as the rest were passed around to the group. “May your thirtieth birthday bring out the party girl in you.” She winked and downed her shot.

  Brielle raised her glass and followed suit. She’d had to grow up sooner than she had liked after Noah was born but tonight was about her letting the past go and having a good time. Noah was in good hands for the night, so for the evening she had no responsibilities. She was just a thirty-one-year-old pretending to be thirty
and being carefree.

  Their second round of cocktails arrived just as the music softened and the club dimmed. The stage suddenly lit up and cabaret music started. The beat was just starting to get catchy when the music drummed and popped. The lights danced across the stage in tune to the music as the five dancers flitted from one end to the other. Beautiful, barely dressed women danced across the stage in perfectly arched limbs and quick moving feet. The crowd roared and Brielle was sucked in. They were a Pussy Cat Doll cover band and these women were hot.

  “Are you having a good time?” the lead singer crooned to the crowd. She was tall and fair with dark red hair that made her strikingly gorgeous. Hell, the woman had Brielle’s jaw dropping to the floor.

  The bar erupted in appreciative applause.

  “I can’t hear you?” she shouted and the crowd went wild.

  Another song started and the girl group continued their sexy strut across the stage. They swivelled their hips and jiggled their breasts rhythmically to the beat which had the patrons, male and female alike, going wild. They were phenomenal and Brielle felt the vixen in her come out vicariously through the dolls on stage.

  “For our next song,” the lead began between beats, “I’m going to need a volunteer.”

  The crowd once again went crazy, every one wanting to be on stage with the sexy songstress.

  “I want someone out there who is ready to get on up here with us and shimmy and shake what the good Lord gave ya!”

  To Brielle’s surprise, Emma had been chosen and made her way on stage. Her friend looked comfortable and her sex appeal fit right in with the women on stage. They gathered around Emma and Brielle noticed her nod her head and smile.

  They all took their positions, backing up around Emma, giving her center stage.

  The music started up and Brielle barely recognized the beat as the women moved slowly and sexily from the back of the stage to the front. It sounded like something one would play at a strip club. To her surprise Emma was playing right into the song, lip synching the words. She looked unbelievably sexy as she twisted her body and stuck out her butt in tune to the beat. The chorus hit and in the next instance Emma ripped off her shirt and revealed the sexy camisole beneath.

  I’m telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)

  But you keep fronting (Uh)

  Saying what you going do to me (Uh huh)

  But I ain’t seen nothing (Uh)

  Brielle screamed from the pit of her belly in support of her friend, strutting with the other women, looking as though she belonged. She moved in time to the music as though she’d been doing it all her life and Brielle was almost envious. She looked off into the crowd, as though she were singing to someone and Brielle supposed that she was using the technique to distract her from realizing that she was almost stripping in a full theatre club.

  The song ended and the roof nearly came down with applause. The ladies once again huddled to speak to each other before Emma rejoined the group.

  “Here’s to Emma!” Brielle cheered as she bought her friends another round of tequila. Oh yes, now she was loose like a goose.

  “So we have a special for you tonight ladies and gentleman,” the lead singer crooned once more. “Seems that we have an exceptional female that’s celebrating her birthday with us up here.” She looked in Brielle’s direction.

  Brielle immediately turned to Emma, “What did you do?”

  Her friend just smiled and shrugged.

  “Come on up here, honey,” the singer encouraged Brielle. “Don’t be shy.”

  Brielle walked numbly to the stage. She had never been the center of attention before, nor had she ever wanted to be. That was always Emma’s thing.

  “Who wants to see our birthday girl perform?” The sexy woman encouraged the crowd, who roared with excitement but Brielle figured they were just hyped up with this erotic display of flesh walking around the stage.

  “It’s all you now, honey,” the singer whispered to Brielle kindly.

  “I don’t know what to do,” she panicked.

  “The microphone is off, just lip sync into it and shake what your momma gave ya.” She smiled in encouragement. “You’re gonna sing ‘Don’t cha’. Do you know the song?”

  Brielle nodded.

  “Don’t panic, honey. Just tap into your inner sex goddess. You can do this.”

  Brielle nodded, trying desperately to find her sexy place. She figured her outfit wasn’t too bad of a start. Her skirt was short, dark and sexy, her top as close to lingerie as she could get, and topped off with the sexy boots, she was pretty darn hot. She could do this.

  The lights dimmed once again and then the beat started. Oh, she could do this. She started to feel the music and block out the crowd. She felt really sexy now. Yes, she could do this.

  She knew the song well. She and Emma had sung it many times when it had first come out many years ago. Screw it, she switched on the microphone. She had a decent singing voice and the song wasn’t much lyrically anyway. She was going to do this properly. She turned to show the lead singer and she nodded in approval.

  Brielle grabbed the microphone and crooned, “Dolls, are you ready?”

  “Let’s dance,” she breathed.

  Oh, this was taking over the minx in her alright. No more was she the bashful Brielle. Tonight, she was thirty and unleashed.

  Swivelling her hips, she swung her loose curls over her shoulder with attitude. She looked into the crowd and saw her friends encouraging her and winked at them. Her gaze reached beyond them to a man that looked so much like Nate, which made her think of the picture she and Emma had seen of him and that woman in the tabloids. What an apt song for him. Yes, indeed. She now understood what Emma was doing. It was easier to sing to someone in the crowd.

  “Are you ready?” she teased the audience.

  I know you like me

  I know you do

  That’s why whenever I come around

  She’s all over you

  And I know you want it

  It’s easy to see

  And in the back of your mind

  I know you should be aah with me

  Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me

  Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me

  Don’t cha

  Brielle focussed on the Nate look-a-like in the back and sang to him, imagining it actually was Nate and showing him exactly how much he’d miss out on. She was more than just a mother to Noah. She was a woman. And a damn sexy one at that.

  She bent forward in a sultry move and snapped her butt out. The crowd went ballistic. She could clearly hear Emma’s cat-calls through the loud beat of the music.

  Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was wrong like me?

  Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was fun like me?

  Don’t cha. Don’t cha?

  She channelled her inner Shakira and popped her stomach and hips in a move she had seen in a music video once before. Thank God it worked or she would have looked ridiculous.

  It’s like the song was just meant for Nate. Their back and forth, do they or don’t they dance.

  The women behind her did a choreographed routine and Brielle did her best to keep up. She fluffed out her hair and touched her body to channel her sexiness. The crowd really enjoyed that bit. Which really helped Brielle’s confidence.

  Brielle ended the song in a series of booty shakes and hip twists. The roar of the crowd was deafening.

  “Give it up for the birthday girl!!” the lead singer shouted.

  The audience once again erupted into applause and cat-calls.

  With a wink and a flutter of her eye lashes, Brielle left the stage and re-joined Emma and the others.

  “Who the hell are you and what have you done with the real Brielle?” one of the other girl’s quipped.<
br />
  “Maybe this is the real Brielle,” Emma countered. “I knew you had it in you, babe.”

  “I’m going to kill you for that,” she chided the brunette. “But wow, what an exhilarating feeling. Somebody get me a tequila!”

  The group on stage started another song and the focus was once again drawn to them.

  The bartender presented them with a tray of glistening blue shots. “Compliments of the gents at that table.” She pointed to a group of decent looking men. The ladies saluted them before clinking glasses and kicking back.

  Before long, another two tables of men had sent over drinks and Brielle was starting to feel like the attention was too much. She’d had three other men walk past their table and slip her their phone numbers on bar mats or napkins.

  “Looks like you’re quite the hit tonight,” a man’s voice breathed behind her ear.

  She whirled around on her seat at the bar. “Nate! What are you doing here? Did you follow me here?”

  He had the nerve to laugh but it didn’t stop her gaze from taking in his dark jeans and button-down shirt. The man looked delicious without much effort. “No, I had no idea you’d be here. But Luca dragged me and I have a feeling that he knew Emma would be here.”

  Brielle turned to follow his gaze and sure enough, Luca and Emma were locked in a passionate embrace.

  “Oh.”

  “Quite a performance out there.”

  “Yeah, amazing what an alcohol infused buzz does for your courage.” She giggled, feeling her fingers tingle and her head become light from the multitude of shots she’d had in the past hour.

  He stepped closer to her and she inhaled his rich, manly scent mingled with his expensive cologne. “Felt like you were singing it right to me.”

  “Why would you think that?”

  “Because you were staring at me the whole time.”