Commitment by Nia Forrester Page A

sometime, she didn’t even notice when, two guys joined them. They were clearly way too young, but it was a welcome distraction. The one dancing with her kept trying to pull her closer and she moved deftly out of his reach, smiling at him so as not to hurt his feelings. At a lull in the music, he leaned in and spoke in her ear.
    “Can I buy you a drink?”
    “No thanks,” she shouted back. “I’m good.”
    “You sure? You look thirsty.”
    Riley laughed. “ Ok , buy me a drink,” she capitulated.
    Tracy motioned that she was going to sit and Riley waved at her. She would stay put and dance until she was exhausted, or until it was time to go, whichever came first. It was hard to maintain a coherent thought while she was dancing, and that was just what she needed right now. Her mother was always telling her she lived in her head too much, and it was true.
    Even now, she was thinking ahead to Sunday when she would leave L.A. and Shawn. For the first time since they’d been together, she was finding herself preoccupied with what happened when she wasn’t around. Thank God , she had plans for dinner with Brian to take her mind off things. She would be way too distracted to think about Shawn on the road being deluged by offers from women far more attractive than she was. But Brian – and New York – seemed so far away right now.
    While she was daydreaming, her young dance partner had returned with two drinks in hand. She took one and smiled at him. It looked very sweet, like something she probably wouldn’t have ordered herself. Just as she’d made up her mind to take an exploratory sip, Shawn was there and took it from her, putting the drink on the tray of a passing server. Before he turned and pulled her away, he leaned in to say something to the guy she’d been dancing with. Whatever it was, the guy took off toward the other end of the club.
    Riley looked up at him quizzically.
    “ Why are you taking drinks from some dude you don’t even know?” he said, his lips pressed against her ear. 
    Riley rolled her eyes. “Just a harmless kid.”
    He led her off the dance floor and over to a quieter corner , standing so that his back was to the room and he was blocking both her view and access to the rest of the club.
    “How do you know he’s harmless? He would’ve had his hands on your ass a few minutes after you had that drink. He might have slipped you something. ”
    “What did you say to him just now?” she asked. “I hope you weren’t rude.”
    “I told him to please get the fuck out of your face, so no, I wasn’t rude,” Shawn said. 
    “You’re not turning into that guy are you? You know the one who flips out when his girl talks to anyone else, or dances with anyone else?” Riley looked up at him.
    She was only half joking. Neither of them knew the rules of engagement when they were out together at places like this. In New York, except for the occasional meal at a restaurant, all their time was spent alone together.
    “No. I’m not that guy who doesn’t want his girl talking to anybody or dancing with anybody but him.”
    Riley nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on his, waiting for him to finish his thought .
    “But the fucked up thing is, you’re not my girl, Riley. I don’t even ha ve a right to let it bother me. Shit, I’m the dude you’re sneaking around with. And that’s all I am.”
    Riley shook her head. “That’s not true.”
    “If it’s not true, how come you didn’t stop me when I told the driver to pull around back? You didn’t want Brian seeing pictures of you and me together. Just admit it.”
    Riley looked at him, incredulous. “That was your idea. I had no clue why you were doing that.”
    But even as she said it, she knew it wasn’t precisely true. She’d had an inkling that Shawn had been protecting her anonymity and she’d let him do it. She’d been relieved that he had , unlikely as it was that Brian would ever happen to see a photo of them together, even if one