The Dance Off

Ryder stood stock still, his eyes on hers, until they weren’t. They were on her hips. On her bare stomach. Sliding past her breasts. Before they landed on her mouth. And there they stayed, long enough the urge to lick her lips was overwhelming. When, despite herself, she gave in, he breathed in so long and slow his chest expanded till his top lifted, revealing a sliver of taut stomach, and a glimpse of the dark trail that disappeared into his shorts.

Nadia jabbed at the remote, shutting the music down. The silence that followed felt louder still. Stifling. Pressing in on her until she felt as if she were going to explode.

And explode she did. “Why on earth did you kiss me the other night?”

At that, the sexy smile finally disappeared, which gave Nadia about half a second’s respite before Ryder’s hot eyes cut right to hers. “Why do you think?”

“Argh!”

“Yeah,” he said. “I figured by all the hand-wringing that’d be about your answer. How about you answer me this: Why did you kiss me back?”

“I’m polite that way.”

At that he laughed, the delicious deep sound reverberating about the room till it pelted against her skin like blissfully warm rain.

“You, Miss Nadia, don’t have a polite bone in your body.”

“I say please. I say thank you. If it’s warranted.”

“If you think it’s not?”

“Then tough!”

His laughter this time was softer, deeper, more intimate. More knowing. It tripped and trickled all through her leaving a warm glow in its wake.

“Anyway,” she said, shaking it off, “it doesn’t matter why. All that matters is that we both agree, here and now, it won’t happen again.”

After the neat little speech he’d given her before the kiss, she fully expected him to agree. To make some excuse about how busy he was—eighty-hour weeks, solo winters in exotic Belize, the mysterious bachelor pad... About she and Sam being friends. How he was attracted to her, but...

“Why?” He took a step her way and, while her subconscious told her to bolt for high ground, she didn’t move. “Why shouldn’t it happen again?”

Simple enough question, with several fine answers. Yet as he prowled closer, all body heat and sex appeal, she could feel his wall of warmth before it should have been physically possible to do so, and there didn’t seem to be a single reason why she shouldn’t whip his top over his head and run her hands all over him, drag him to the floor and gain the release her body had been dying for all week.

At the very least she wouldn’t send any more toddlers home in tears.

His hands gripped her waist, tugging her closer. She felt her breath leave her in a whoosh. He smelled like man, and sex, and it had been so long it was all she could do not to whimper.

Instead, she found her strength in the only place it still resided—she lifted their arms into a dance hold. And breathed through her mouth so as not to be bombarded by his masculine scent.

When the song began, she pressed and he pulled. Then he stepped towards her a fraction before she’d been about to encourage him to do so, kicking her out of step. And again when the time came to turn, he moved ahead of the beat instead of waiting for her cue. The frustration gnawing at her from the inside out finally gave.

She ducked out from his hold and glared at him. “Maybe you’re used to being in charge out there in those suits of yours, but in this room I’m the boss. Can you handle that?”

“I thought the man was supposed to lead.”

“Only if he knows what the hell he’s doing. Until then, it’s my job to make sure you don’t injure yourself.”

“Somehow I get the feeling you’d like that very much.”

“And there I was thinking how good I’d been at keeping my feelings to myself.”

The words dried up as the two of them stared one another down, breaths coming hard and heavy, awareness licking between them.

A dark eyebrow kicked up Ryder’s forehead. “Fastest way to a stomach ulcer.”

His retort was so unexpected; Nadia coughed out a laugh. Then laughed some more. Laughed, a little hysterically actually, till she had to bend over and clutch her side. But, thankfully, a measure of the tension that had been coiling her in knots all week scattered along with it.

When she caught her breath she looked the guy dead in the eye. “Then this is how I see myself avoiding one.” She counted off her fingers. “No more Hollywood dips. No more flirting. No more pressing one another’s buttons. And definitely no more kissing.”

“I liked the kissing,” he said, false contrition glinting in his gorgeous hazel eyes.