His eyes go wide, and then he thumbs through each of them, then back through them again, and hands my phone back to me.
He takes a long gulp of his beer, not looking any of us in the eye. We're all watching him, smiling, and finally he looks at Natalie and says, "If I weren't so in love with my girlfriend, and didn't respect your husband like I do, I'd attack you right here on this table. Those are fucking hot."
We all bust out laughing, Luke high-fives Nate, and Natalie blushes just a bit.
"However," Nate continues, "I don't think I'm comfortable with anyone, but especially you, Natalie, taking photos of me making love. We'll keep it in the bedroom, thanks."
"Well," I add, "Not just the bedroom…"
"Ew," Natalie wrinkles her nose and I smile smugly at her.
"Not as pretty from the other side, is it friend? Okay, no sex pictures. But I could use some studio time."
"Absolutely, when?" Nat asks and winks, enjoying our deceiving banter, then looks over at Nate with a frown. I look up into cold gray eyes.
"What?"
"Why?"
I squeeze his fingers and lean in to whisper in his ear, "Your birthday is coming up, ace."
"Next week work for you?" he asks Natalie, making us all laugh again and I'm relieved to know that he's going to love his birthday gift.
Suddenly, the band breaks into another hot Maroon5 song and Natalie and I grin at each other.
"Shall we?" I ask her.
"Sure," she responds.
The boys let us out of the booth and I take her hand as we stride out to the dance floor. We join the sea of bodies and begin to move. Natalie's body is gorgeous; curvaceous and naturally graceful, and she moves with ease on her tall stilettos. I'm thankful for many years in martial arts classes that gave me balance, and a natural rhythm, and I swing my hips and arms with the song. I close my eyes and turn in a tight circle, getting lost in the music.
When I open them again, the boys have joined us, Luke wraps himself around Natalie and moves against her, all tall blonde and sexy, and suddenly Nate is pressed to my back, his hands on my hips,