He saw a flash in her eyes, but it wasn’t anger this time. “Jason . . .” she said in a husky voice.

Man, that did it every time. Forgetting where they were, and everything around them, Jason leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Say it again, Taylor. I love the way you say my name.”

He heard the quick intake of her breath at the intimacy of his words. He moved his head, so that their lips were just inches apart. Her eyes were dark and sultry. She turned her face up toward his and slowly began to lean in as if she, too, was being drawn in and couldn’t help it—

“Jason.”

But this time, the person saying his name wasn’t Taylor.

It was Jeremy.

Jason glanced over and saw his friend standing next to him. His look said it all—You have got to be fucking kidding me.

Jeremy wore a sheepish expression. “Sorry, buddy—but we’ve got to get you in back. In case you hadn’t noticed, these people are going crazy.” He pointed to the crowd behind him. “I don’t think the club’s bouncers can keep everyone away from you for much longer.”

Jason peered over Jeremy’s head and saw that he was right. A throng of people, both women and men, surged forward, trying to slip past the three bouncers who had formed a perimeter to protect him.

Jason nodded in agreement. Normally, he was very cautious in public places, but he had completely forgotten himself in the past few moments with Taylor.

“Lead the way,” he told Jeremy while eying the frenzied crowd. He glanced down at Taylor and put his arm around her waist. “Stay between me and Jeremy,” he told her.

Right then, a woman in her midtwenties broke past one of the bouncers. She lunged for Jason, shoving both Jeremy and Taylor out of the way.

“Oh my god! Jason—I love you!” she screamed frantically.

One of the bouncers grabbed hold of the woman right before she got to Jason and pulled her away.

Jason reached for Taylor. “Are you okay?”

But she seemed not to hear him. Her gaze was fixed on the woman, who was making a scene, clawing frantically at the bouncer who pulled her away from Jason. “Wait—please!” the woman cried out desperately. “I only want to talk to him for a minute! I just want to talk to him!”

Taylor was mesmerized.

Jason took her by the arm. “Taylor, we have to move away from here.”

Hearing his words, she snapped out of it and nodded. “Sorry. Of course.”

Then she quietly followed Jason and Jeremy to a private room in back.

JASON BARELY GOT a chance to talk to Taylor again.

She spent the rest of the time with her friends, and he didn’t want to intrude. He suspected she’d been unnerved by the incident with the woman and wanted to give her some space. People around him unfortunately had no choice but to get used to that kind of thing. Even if it was more than a little weird.

The group stayed until the club closed. As they were leaving, the bar manager told Jason that a mob of paparazzi had formed out front and suggested they exit out back. As the five of them headed toward the limo that waited in the alley, Jason could hear the girls chatting excitedly about their evening.

He watched as Taylor broke apart from her friends and headed over. Jeremy subtly walked ahead as she fell into stride alongside him.

After walking a moment or two, she stopped and reached out to him. “Jason—hold on.”

She paused awkwardly, then looked up to meet his gaze. “Thank you. For tonight.”

With a slight smile, Jason nodded.

“You’re welcome.”

The two of them stood there, and Jason noticed that for once, she didn’t ruin the moment with a sarcastic comment.

Nope, instead the moment was decidedly ruined by Valerie, who yelled over to them.

“Hey! Slowpokes!”

Jason and Taylor looked and saw Val hanging out the roof of the limo. “Would you two mind stepping it up a bit?” she asked, clearly tipsy. “You can continue your secret little chitchat at Taylor’s—we’re all going back there for after hours.”

Jason glanced at Taylor, curious to see her reaction to this turn of events.

With a shrug, she grinned.

“Shall we?”

SO THE GROUP adjourned to Taylor’s, where there was much laughing and drinking. Merriment, Kate jokingly declared, that’s how she would describe it when she told Us Weekly all about the night as soon as she got back to Chicago. Ballyhoo, Jeremy said, backing Kate. Taylor wondered if they were flirting.

Meanwhile, Valerie sprawled across the couch. In her inebriated state, she had just remembered something that now didn’t seem to make much sense.

“Taylor, didn’t you say something earlier about having a date?” She waved her glass around, mango martini sloshing precariously inside.

It was like a record had skipped to a stop in the room.

Somehow, Taylor had completely forgotten all about Scott Casey for the entire evening.

Reading the frozen look on Taylor’s face, a more sober Kate quickly intervened. “Oh, who cares about that after everything we’ve done tonight? Taylor—you can fill us in tomorrow.”

But then a voice spoke out from corner of the room.

“Actually, I would like to hear more about Taylor’s big date.”

Everyone turned and looked over at Jason, who sat in the armchair in the corner of the room.

“After all,” he said, holding Taylor’s gaze, “it’s not every day that a woman is lucky enough to go on a date with Scott Casey.”

This news was just too much for Valerie to bear.

“Scott Casey?” she gasped. She grabbed Taylor’s hand, nearly cutting off the circulation. Sitting next to her, even the usually cool Kate appeared shocked at this unexpected development.

Taylor strove for nonchalance. “It was just one date. I planned to tell you about it in the morning.”

And with that, mass hysteria erupted.

Val shrieked and leapt off the couch. Mango martini flew everywhere. Kate immediately began firing questions at Taylor. Who? What? Where?

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” cried Val, her contribution to the interrogation. Kate continued firing away, full speed. How? When? And then what?

As Taylor tried to wave off their questions, she caught a glimpse of Jason out of the corner of her eye. To put it mildly, he looked pissed. His grip on the highball glass grew tighter and tighter with every question asked.

Suddenly, Taylor found herself a bit annoyed. First of all, he had brought up the subject of her date with Scott Casey, not her. Second (and far more important in Taylor’s mind), she hadn’t done anything wrong. In fact, it was just recently that Jason had been flaunting his date with Naomi in front of her. She didn’t know exactly what kind of game Jason was playing, but she did know one thing for certain:

Two could play at it.

So she flung her hair back, happy to answer any and all questions her friends might have.

First they covered the basics. Including how Scott had cooked for her.

“Oh . . . how sweet.” Valerie sighed romantically. This was about the point at which Jeremy excused himself to have a smoke in the courtyard outside. Jason, on the other hand, sat quietly in the corner, simply listening, and for a few minutes, the girls forgot he was there.

“So, what does this mean?” Kate asked, moving onto the more substantive questions. “Are you going to see Scott again?”

Taylor paused. “Yes. This Saturday.”

Jason glanced over sharply. “You didn’t tell me that.”

Taylor shrugged. “You didn’t ask.”

Valerie turned toward Jason, leaning tipsily over the arm of the couch. “See, women know how to ask the right questions,” she explained.

“I see that,” Jason said. “Please continue. I’d like to know what else I’ve missed about this date.”