Dangerous Dancer

I brushed my wet and heavy hair back from my face and laughed. I watched her twirl and spin in the rain. I was completely soaked through and I shivered with the shift in my body temperature from the heat of the club to the coldness of the afternoon air and the ice-cold rain. Her hair had become one with her face as it lay wetly draped over her cheeks, but her smile of joy had reached right up to her eyes, and she took my breath away.

“Dance with me?” She shouted.

“What?”

“You’re my dance instructor, are you not? Dance with me,” she demanded as she pushed her hair back and mouthed the word please.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head as a lopsided grin etched its way onto my lips. When I stood toe to toe with her, I held my hand out and bowed, “Raine Peters. Please may I have this dance?”

“You may,” she laughed, slipping her wet hand into mine. I led her into the waltz, right there in the carpark of Havana’s underneath the umbrella of the pouring rain, and it was exhilarating.

I slowed the dance down to a near standstill, and I dipped forward and locked eyes with her, my hand slid from underneath her shoulder blade and tightened on her ribs, my other hand pulling her hips closer, her arms reached up and locked behind my neck, and we gently swayed from left to right to a silent melody only we could hear.

My hand left her hip and I traced her arm up behind my neck, unclasping her fingers I took her hand and pushed her away then I reeled her back in and kissed her nose. She let out a heart-splintering laugh, then I spun her out. Unable to let her go just yet, I spun her back, but she stumbled. My arms instinctively caught her and wrapped around her protectively.

She raised her head to look at me, “I had a great time with you today,” she said quietly.

“Me too,” I whispered. My lips threatened to brush against hers.

Her expression became serious then, and I watched her eyes dull. “I don’t want it to end.”

My hands released her shoulders and cupped her cold, wet cheeks, my forehead fell against hers and I closed my eyes, savoring the moment. “Neither do I, Myshka.”

“Maybe we can do it again, sometime?” She asked. I heard the hope and desperation in her voice. I had given her a few hours of freedom away from the shackles of her problems at home, I had given her hope amidst her desperation and it pained me to be taking her back to him.

I nodded and swallowed hard, “Whenever you want. I’ll be right here waiting.”

I moved my head to search her eyes, a period of silence passed between us as we held fast to each other’s gazes. The distant sounds of the cars rushing past with the wipers in full swing, the dull thud of Latin music, the chatter of people leaving the club, the radios of the doormen and the rain that was now lightly tapping like chimes, all melted away and once again this moment became ours alone.

When her lips gently found mine, jolts of static energy circulated my entire body. My mouth slowly opened mirroring hers, and as my tongue skimmed the inside of her mouth, our kiss exploded in a hot, passionate, and most demanding way. My hand fisted in her hair, pulling her closer, her hands were coiled in my top to hold herself upright and I could feel myself struggling to breathe as she continued pressing relentlessly against my mouth.

This was wrong, she’s a married woman and that thought made me want to pull away before I categorically lost myself, but I couldn’t seem to. This kiss felt like my salvation and my nightmares all rolled into one. I would live for them in the stolen moments we might share in the future but they would torment me in the times we would be apart.

“Oh, my God! What am I doing!” She suddenly cried as she pulled herself away from me and pushed me back. “I’m married!”

I stood immobilized. The shock, fear and embarrassment she felt was clear for me to see when she brought her trembling fingers up to her mouth. “I’m so sorry,” she mumble

d and raced to the car.

“Raine,” I called after her. I strode towards her and spun her around to face me. “I should be the one apologizing. I promised you I wouldn’t kiss you.”

“We can’t do this, Nikoli. It will end in tears and heartache for both of us. Please, just take me home.”

I wanted to tell her what I knew about Max. That the prick was already cheating on her, that whilst she’s at home lonely, waiting for him to come back, he’s out wooing another woman. But I bit it back knowing she would hate me for it, knowing she would think I was lashing out for her rebuttal. I had the proof in the form of the dozen photos I had taken that night, and I’d make sure she had them one way or another. But not now, not like this.

Silently I opened the door for her. She may be a prisoner in her shit-ass marriage, but I was fast becoming a prisoner of her myself, of all things Raine Peters.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

The drive back to the end of my road was unbearable. The deafening silence between us was palpable and neither of us seemed brave enough to look at the other, let alone speak. Today, for a few hours I had let go of the stiff, sophisticated Raine Max had trained me to be, and with Nikoli I had found my inner vixen. When his hand had slid up my throat and he growled in my ear, it was the catalyst that triggered me to let go of my worries, pain, and sorrow. Right then I was living, and nothing else seemed to matter.

I’d allowed him to take me to another place in my mind, a place where we had become one, and when he unclasped my hands from around his neck and stepped away from me, I was filled with sadness at the loss of his touch. I knew I had to go home but I was desperate for more, so I demanded he dance with me in the rain and I felt myself blossom under his captivating gaze once more.

Then I kissed him.

When my lips melded against his, I had expected him to push me away in disgust, but he didn’t, he only fueled the fire by fisting my hair and deepening the kiss, then Max’s face became superimposed in my mind and I pushed Nikoli away as though his lips tasted like acid. I was a married woman. Now I was a confused married woman and guilt began to lay heavily in my heart, like a rock.

“Talk to me, Raine. I can’t stand this silence,” Nikoli said sternly. He pulled to a stop at the bottom of my road and killed the engine.