Green Card

17 Stake Your Claim (Piper)

A/N: Just your regularly scheduled spice warning... which will continue into the next chapter.

Lucas was in a mood tonight. Not just any mood. The mood. He could hardly keep his hands off of me all the way to the club or even when we made it inside, always guiding me along with a hand on my lower back, veering down to cup my ass when he thought no one was looking. But Leah had seen it once or twice and shot me a grin every time she did. His attentions were making me restless and, more than that, they were making me want to grab him by the collar and drag him back into that limo all the way home where I could really see what he wanted from me.

But we had signed up for a night out with friends and his head designer, Nate, spotted us the moment we walked in to the hip new club. He rushed over to us, whiskey in hand, and threw and gave us each a hug in an overly familiar greeting that had everyone laughing. I introduced Leah and Connor as he proclaimed that some guys from the office named Drew and Reggie were already in the VIP area where he'd left them. Apparently, Nate got the invite to this opening because the owner was his brother's best friend. So that invitation came complete with VIP table and bottle service, a term which, the moment Leah heard it, had her scurrying past the red ropes for a bottle of her prized tequila.

"Tequila is quite the choice for a starter," Nate joked, smirk on his lips as he raised a glass to Leah who was already ordering.

"Honey, tequila is just me getting started," she shot back.

"I like this one," Nate shouted to Lucas over the music. "She single?"

Lucas looked at me.

"Nearly always," I answered and Nate grinned before moving away to talk to Leah. Lucas and I exchanged a glance and a knowing smile.

"Hey, big boss," another man called out in greeting, shaking Lucas' hand as the other stepped forward. "Nice to see you out tonight."

"Nice to be out tonight," Lucas replied, relaxing more easily into this environment than I thought he would. "I didn't know you were coming, Drew."

"Yeah, well, Priya said if I didn't, I'd be out on my ass in the morning. Something about impressing the CEO," he answered, giving Lucas a pointed look. Lucas burst out laughing, holding his stomach as he smiled.

"Well, schmooze away," Lucas said as Leah handed he and I each a shot of tequila. "If my wife's friend has anything to do with it, neither one of us will remember it in the morning anyway."

Drew laughed outright and did the shot along with us. I watched Lucas take his, mesmerized by the muscles in his throat contracting to swallow the liquid. He set the shot glass down and then turned to me. We locked eyes and he smiled, nodding his head at the shot still in my hand.

"If I have to, you have to," he told me and I just rolled my eyes and threw it back.

"Yes!" Leah cheered, pumping her fist in the air as she grabbed the whole bottle and took a sip.

For a while, we sat at our VIP table, mostly talking, sort of drinking. Nate and Leah were flirting heavily by his second whiskey and her third tequila shot. After that, she switched to Vodka cranberries and grinned like a fool every time he spoke to her. Connor was locked in some disagreement with Reggie about an artist that they both knew of. And Lucas and I were still talking to Drew. Suddenly, I noticed a perfectly manicured hand squeezing my husband's shoulder and I looked up to see a drop dead gorgeous Latina woman standing over us and smiling.

"Valencia!" Lucas cried in greeting, moving over so that she had somewhere to sit. "I thought you decided not to come."

"And miss Lucas Vega's big night out? Fat chance," she answered with a dazzling smile.