Leaving the girls had definitely been a risk, but it was one that Luke felt comfortable in making.  Feeling that he had made a good first impression, Luke headed for the bar where after finally flagging down the bartender, he dropped off the empty champagne flute and got a refill of his previous drink.  Glancing once very quickly at the secluded little area he had left, he smiled internally at the fact that no one else had approached and that the girls seemed in deep conversation.<br/><br/>Turning back to the bar, Luke could not help wondering how long he should wait before it seemed like Tess was not interested or if he should try going back over.  Sipping at his drink, Luke was splitting his time between pondering that question and people watching when he felt a tap on his shoulder.  Turning, he smiled when he saw it was Tess, who looked even better standing than she had sitting.  “Couldn’t be more ready!”  He replied with a chuckle, hoping he had enough liquid courage in him.<br/><br/>Leaving his drink at the bar, Luke lightly rested his hand between Tess’s shoulder blades as they turned, moving out onto the dance floor to find a clear enough space to dance.  Surrounded by gyrating bodies, thumping music and the whirling lights, Luke could not help but check out Tess as they began moving to the music, at first dancing with a respectful distance between them, but slowly bringing his body closer and closer to hers.<br/><br/>At the small VIP area where she had left her friends, it seemed poor Astrid and Annie were not destined for any alone time at all.  This time, it was a<a class="link link--external" data-proxy-href="/proxy.php?link=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2Fe2%2Fc4%2Fe6%2Fe2c4e69b30dc5e997900d30300d56acd.jpg&amp;hash=52d95c99529c83ea19a5cb77f0a00f4b" href="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e2/c4/e6/e2c4e69b30dc5e997900d30300d56acd.jpg" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank">hulking brute</a>of a fellow who approached.  “What’s the cake for?”  He asked in a slow rumbling tone that didn’t make him seem any smarter than he looked.  Looking from the cake to Annie to Astrid, it was clear which interested him most, but it was a close race.