“Jesus, Raine, what are you playing at?” He snapped, grabbing my upper arm with one hand and yanking me back to my feet.
“I’m so sorry, I lost my concentration,” I cried.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. I waited for his explosion to pierce through the air, but it didn’t happen. He leant forward and kissed my forehead, “Keep practicing. If you must take up more lessons, you have my permission,” he said. I watched the anger in his eyes fade away leaving me completely stunned at his sudden change in temperament.
I felt my jaw gape slightly and my eyes widened as I stared at him unable to comprehend what had just happened. “Pardon?” I finally whispered.
“I know you’re working hard on this dancing for my sake, I’ve been coming by and watching you over the weekend. I need you to have this in the bag by the 21st, so—”
He was cut off when the land-line phone on the landing, shrilled through the house. Wordlessly, he turned from me and headed to the phone. I could hear his deep voice, then a laugh, then he poked his head back into the room, “It’s for you. It’s Niki,” he boomed.
Panic completely consumed me at this news. I stood statuesque and unable to move. “Who?” I whispered. My throat was closing rapidly leaving my tongue feeling thick and heavy, then I felt the room begin to spin.
“Niki, your dance instructor. What the hell is wrong with you this morning?” He snapped loudly.
Why is Nikoli calling me at home? Why isn’t Max spitting feathers?
“For God’s sakes, Raine take the damned call, she’s waiting. I’ll see you tonight. I love you!” Then he was gone.
She? She’s waiting?
Quickly bringing myself back into the room and trying to gain some composure, I forced my jelly legs to move towards the phone. With my entire body shaking like a leaf, I picked up the handset.
“Hello?” I whispered.
“Raine? It’s Petra, Niki’s sister, is it safe to talk? Just answer yes or no.”
“Yes,” I whispered. Upon hearing the front door slam and then the engine of Max’s car start, my legs finally gave way and I sunk to the floor. I let out a deep grunt of relief at finding Petra on the line and not Nikoli.
“I’m sorry to call you at home but Nikoli wanted to talk to you,” she said quietly. I couldn’t respond, my body felt like it had just been though a wringer with the surge of emotions that had just engulfed me, one after the other without pause.
“Raine, I’m sorry to call you at home—” came Nikoli’s voice. I felt my body consume one emotion I had yet to experience, anger.
“What in hell do you think you’re playing at, calling me here?” I snarled over the top of him, duping him into silence.
“I was careful Raine, I got Petra to call. I needed to speak with you but I didn’t want to cause any trouble for you with your husband.”
Alarm bells suddenly rang loudly in my head. How does he know it would cause trouble for me?
“Trouble? What do you mean by that statement?” I growled.
“I just meant …that …you’re a woman, who’s married. Most men would …be annoyed, angry even if another man called to speak to their wife, that’s all,” he replied, “I didn’t want to cause a row for you with him.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and blew out a long uneven breath to calm myself down. No harm was done. Petra had called me, not Nikoli and Max seemed none of the wiser that my instructor, my sexy, hot instructor was a man and not a woman.
“Okay, what do you want?” I asked, cautiously. I raked my fingers through my tangled mane of hair attempting to de-tangle it.
He cleared his throat in my ear before he spoke. “Were you serious last night, about wanting to try Latin?”
I thought for a few seconds. Was I serious? I hadn’t had the time to check it out on Google yet so I was still unsure what had fallen from my mouth in my moment of madness. “Yes,” I whispered. Anything to keep me away from this prison.
His low chuckle filtered into my ear. “You don’t sound very convinced, Myshka. I’ll ask you again, are you serious?”
“Yes!” I replied again, this time with conviction behind my answer.
He inhaled sharply and I swear I could sense his cocky, lopsided grin down the phone. “I’m glad to hear that. Are you free for a few hours today?”
No. No I’m not!