The Dance Off

Stern and formal, the man was breathtaking. Smiling, the guy could stop hearts.

Not quite able to catch her breath, Nadia turned away, enough to squint into the bar. Then, thankful she’d found a subject changer, she clicked her fingers. “I forgot to tell you earlier—I found out who owns the building.”

He raised an eyebrow in query.

“It’s in my bag, inside. Name and number. Remind me later. Or next week. If tonight’s lesson didn’t scare you off for good.”

“First lesson I was asked to take off my jacket. The second you talked me out of my shirt. I couldn’t possibly miss the third.”

“Funny man.”

“I try.”

Nadia smiled. Then she shivered, realising belatedly how much the night air had cooled her down.

Without a word, Ryder shucked his jacket from his back and slid it over her shoulders. She curled herself into it, goose bumps springing up all over when she found it near scorching from the man’s body heat.

“Ta,” she said.

“Any time.” And through the darkness he smiled.

Just like that something dislodged inside her.

It hadn’t happened often in her life that someone had offered her much in the way of warmth, much less any time.

Her mum had left when she was two, she’d never known her father, and the grandmother who’d raised her could have played indifference for Australia. Looking back over the past months she’d come to see that her ex had treated her more like an enchanting sidekick than something necessary, something precious, and she’d stayed with him for two years.

Now some guy had given her a damn jacket, hardly the first time it had happened anywhere in the world, and yet Nadia held it tight about herself to keep ahold of the kindness as long as she possibly could.

Her voice sounded as if it were coming from miles away as she heard herself say, “Was it really just dumb luck that you and I both happened to end up here tonight, Ryder?”

Ryder watched her a moment, his dark eyes flicking between hers. Then he shook his head.

Her next breath in was shaky. “Sam told you I’d be here, didn’t she?”

A nod that time.

“So you came to warn me off being her friend? Or was there another reason?”

Ryder swore, the word tearing from him as if he’d been holding it in all night. Then, without preamble, without waiting for permission, he slid his hand behind her neck and kissed her.

Light splintered behind Nadia’s eyes at the touch of Ryder’s mouth on hers, the sparks settling over her like a dream. She came out the other end, back to reality, to find herself melting. Her limbs liquid, her resistance stripped bare.

And Ryder fed her long, hot, wet, slow kisses. His fingers shifting through her hair, his body leaning slowly into hers.

She turned into him, sliding a hand over his shoulder, the other around his waist, over his backside, beneath the hem of his shirt till she found his scorching-hot skin. He groaned into her mouth. And she took it, opening herself to him, to his heat, his skill, his need that quickly ratcheted to meet her own.

“Ryder! Oh, sorry.”

Nadia heard the words, but Ryder pulled away long before she would have found it in her to stop.

“Sam,” he said, his voice gruff as it rumbled through Nadia’s bones. “What is it?”

“We were about to head off, and I was going to ask... Never mind.”

Nadia shook her hair from her face and lifted her head to look at her friend, who was steadfastly looking anywhere but at the two of them.

“Spit it out.”

“For a lift. But you’re busy. So I’ll get a cab. Don’t worry. Have fun and I’ll catch you later!”

“You going to Ben’s?”

“Well...no. Mine,” said Sam. “He has an early flight to Sydney for work, so I’m going home alone. He doesn’t trust me not to keep him up all night!”

At that Ryder turned to rock. “I’ll take you.”

And Nadia felt it like a loss. In direct proportional response, she instantly stepped away, ridding herself of his jacket, and holding it out on one finger, forcing Ryder to look her in the eyes. To apologise. Or at least look chagrined.

She felt as if she’d been winded when his eyes said something else entirely—he wanted her. Still. More. They weren’t done here. And heat pooled in Nadia’s belly with a ferocity even she didn’t see coming.

“Take it,” she said, her voice gravelly. “Give me five minutes upstairs again and I’ll be hot to trot.”

His eyes narrowed, and his mouth opened as if he was about to say something, something she would have paid a lot of money to hear, but, needing to steel herself against the sensations stampeding through her before they got the better of her, she threw the jacket at him, forcing him to break eye contact as he caught it.