What was she going to say? This was crazy.

She paused beside the men, and put a hand on the forearm of the one closest to her. He looked down at her—waaaay down. He had to be six foot three at least, and considering she was five foot three—okay, a few inches taller than that in her new heels, but still—he was in another layer of the atmosphere. He lifted a brow.

“Excuse me,” Remi said, heat sweeping from her collarbones up over her throat and into her face. “Can you do me a really big favor?”

Jason looked down at the tiny, little blonde standing there with her hand on his arm. Was she even old enough to be in the bar? Amusement tickled inside him. He was used to girls hitting on him, went with the territory, but this little pipsqueak teeny-bopper blonde was hands-off material. Not even close to his type, anyway.

“Favor?” he said.

She nodded, smiled with pretty white teeth and tipped her head. “My friend is determined to fix me up with someone. If you’d just talk to me for a few minutes, maybe she’ll leave me alone.”

“Talk?” His lips quirked. “You want to talk?”

“Well.” She licked her lips and blinked rapidly. “Whatever. Just fake it. You know.” Her eyes darted to the side, then back. She gave him a bright smile.

She was kinda cute, in a Reese Witherspoon sort of way. Heart-shaped face, small mouth, big eyes. Her chin-length blonde hair flipped out at the ends and long bangs grazed her eyelashes.

She pressed her lips together and gazed up at him and those big eyes were like turquoise pools, liquid and shiny. He couldn’t help but smile. It was a new pick-up line, one he hadn’t heard, but he didn’t have it in him to tell her to take a hike. He turned toward her and bent his head. She was so little, he’d have to crouch to talk to her. “Sure,” he said. “Let’s talk.”

He shifted his body so they stood apart from the other guys, who were giving them amused glances. They could think he was hooking up with blondie here, it didn’t bother him. He was a free and single man again as of this weekend, free to do whatever he wanted, including pick up little blonde pixies in bars if he wanted to.

Which he didn’t. He almost laughed at the thought. But those big blue-green eyes made it kinda hard to say no to her.

Relief shone in her eyes and her smile beamed. “Thanks,” she said. She rolled her eyes. “My friend gets an idea in her head and there’s no stopping her.”

“Why is she so determined to find you a man?”

She gave her head a little shake, then lifted her drink, closing her mouth on the straw in a tiny pursed-lip suck that shot heat straight to his dick. Jesus.

“She’s crazy.” She laughed. “My little sister moved out…well, it’s a long story.”

“Go ahead,” he said, taking a swallow of his beer. Hell, it was almost done. “Wait. I need another drink. How about you?”

“Sure.”

He caught the eye of a pretty waitress dressed in a low cut, skin-tight black dress. She was more his type—tall, athletic build, long dark hair. She hurried over with an inviting smile. “Another of these,” he lifted his bottle. “And another…” He looked at uh…hell, he didn’t even know her name.

“Mojito,” she said.

“I’m Jason,” he said, not bothering to watch the waitress leave, even though he knew the tight dress showed off a very fine ass.

“I’m Remi. Nice to meet you, Jason.” Her sweet smile pulled at something unexpected inside him.

“Where were we? Oh, yeah, your little sister.”

“Oh. Well, my parents died about five years ago. My brother and sister were both teenagers, so I’ve looked after them since then. My brother started college this year and my sister recently moved in with her boyfriend. My friends think I need to start having more fun now that I’m on my own.”

“Wait a minute.”

She lifted a brow.

“If your brother and sister were teenagers five years ago, how the hell old were you?” He frowned.

“I was twenty-two.”

“No way. You look like you’re about eighteen now.”

She laughed. “I know, I get that a lot, dammit. I’m twenty-eight.”

Huh. Only a year younger than him.

The waitress returned with their drinks. Remi set her empty glass on the small counter near them and reached for the purse hanging over her shoulder. He waved a hand.

“Don’t worry about it. She’ll just put in on my tab.”

“No, no. You don’t have to buy me a drink. Really, I just want to get Delise off my back…”

“It’s fine,” he said firmly, waving her money away. “I got it.”

“Oh. Okay. Thank you.”

She picked up the full drink and did that sexy little pull on the straw with her pretty mouth.

“So you’re a free woman.” Just like he was now a free man.

“Whatever.” She waved a tiny hand. “Jasmine’s twenty-one, it’s not like I had to baby-sit her. But it feels a little weird to not have two kids at home to look after. I’ve never lived on my own.”

Her bangs lowered and the corners of her eyes creased.

“You don’t want to be alone?”

She lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know. Delise thinks we’re celebrating tonight. And I guess…I should be happy. I will have more freedom to do whatever I want.”

“But you don’t seem happy.”

She looked a little lost for a moment, staring past his shoulder. Then she focused those glowy turquoise eyes on him and smiled again. “It’s just hard to let go. My brother’s been partying his freshman year away at college. And my sister’s boyfriend is a jerk. I can’t help worry about them even though they’re on their own now.”

He studied her for a moment. “You like being needed,” he said and her eyes flew open wide at his words. He smiled. “That’s okay. I think it’s very cool that you care that much about them. But maybe you need a distraction. Something fun to take your mind off them.”

“Like I am tonight,” she said. “But Delise thinks I need a man to do it.” She rolled her eyes.

“Having a fun night at Rouge is a good start,” Jason said.

“Except I wasn’t having much fun.” She grimaced. “This place is cool, but not really me.”

“Me either.” Yeah, when the other guys had wanted to come here after the game, he’d agreed because, hell, he could go out and do whatever he wanted now without having to worry about Brianne, but the edgy, agitated, almost desperate-to-have-fun vibe in the room made him feel tired.

“Where would you rather be?” she asked.

He pursed his lips. “There are a few places in Wicker Park I like. They play live music, sometimes the bands are just starting out, but they’re pretty good.”

“Oh, like Underground and Lucky’s. Yeah, I know those bars.”

“How about you?”

“Mmm. I like Blue Moon. They make awesome martinis and they have great jazz music.”

“Yeah! I like that place too.”

“But actually…” She looked down at her drink. “I really just like staying home.”

He laughed. “You know what? So do I.”

They stood there smiling at each other. Then Remi looked at her watch. “Well. I should get back to my friends.”

“Yeah.”

A sharp nudge to his shoulder made him flinch. “What?” He turned to Dominic, who’d just elbowed him.

“Look who’s here.” Dominic jerked his chin. Jason followed his gaze and saw…Brianne.

Shit.

Stunning as usual, she stood nearly six feet tall in her three-inch spiky heels, wearing a purple dress that looked like it was wrapped tightly around her body in complicated layers. The deep V in the front showed off what he knew to be expensive implants. Long, dark hair hung in curls and waves nearly to her waist.

One corner of his mouth deepened. He sighed.

Remi said, “What’s wrong?”

He turned his gaze back to her. “Hey,” he said. “Don’t go back to your friends just yet.”

“Uh…”

“Now it’s your turn to do me a favor.”

Her lips parted and her bangs moved again with the lift of her eyebrows.

“My ex-girlfriend just walked in,” he said in a low voice, bending closer to her. “Stay and talk to me so she doesn’t uh…get any ideas about getting back together.”