“No, sorry. I told him Coke straight up.”
“I need the rum, Jen. I think I could samba better with rum.”
“I don’t know about that. And I was teaching you the salsa.”
“Damn. I guess I’m not impressing you,” T.J. said.
“You already have when I watch you play,” she said.
“I am a hot third-base player.”
“You are a stud on the baseball diamond,” Nate agreed.
“I am. I think I’m going to head over to the bar and see if I can get them to add a little rum to this Coke,” he said. “Not that I don’t appreciate the thought, Jen.”
“No problem,” she said.
T.J. got up and left the table. Nate watched his friend go and hoped that he’d find some kind of peace in the alcohol.
“Thanks for giving us a minute,” Nate said.
“It’s okay. I have friends, too. I know how it is when you need some privacy with them,” she said.
“Sit down,” he said, gesturing to the seat next to him.
“I was thinking I should head out,” she said.
“Why? What changed your mind?”
She sat down in the chair next to him perching on the edge of the seat. “This isn’t my scene.”
“Why not? It’s not different than being downstairs with your sister,” Nate said.
“Maybe not to you, but this isn’t my crowd of people. There are celebs everywhere and people are taking photos with them and I think there are only two groups here.”
“What are they?”
“Those who belong and those who are hanging on. And I don’t want to be that,” Jen said.
She reached over and took his hand in hers and he noticed how delicate her fingers looked with those long pink nails of hers. “I like you, Nate, but this is your world, and being here for just a short time has shown me that I don’t belong in it.”
“You could if I invited you in.”
“I could,” she said. “But for how long?”
Four
Nate shrugged. “Life can be pretty crazy.”
“I know it can,” she said.
“Sit down, Jen. Tell me what brought you here.”
She swallowed hard enough for him to see and shook her head. “That’s not a good topic of conversation.”
“Why not?”
“Because there’s a samba playing and I’d rather dance.”
And just like that she changed the conversation. He was no longer thinking about who she was and where she’d come from but rather how nice it felt when they’d danced together earlier.
He stood and led her to the dance floor. As soon as they were there he turned and she started dancing. The samba was a very quick-moving dance but he followed her moves perfectly.
When he’d been old enough to notice girls, he’d realized that they liked to dance and if he knew how—no matter how much ribbing he had to take from his friends—he’d be very popular with the ladies. That had worked to his advantage and he’d liked it.
Jen was a great dancer, her lithe body moving in time with the music, but she also kept eye contact with him and soon the dance felt as if it was just between the two of them.
He found the rhythm and their hips swayed in the same motion. He drew her closer to him as they moved and felt the brush of her body against his. He kept his hand steady in the small of her back even when she would have stepped back.
She looked up at him, confusion and desire evident in her gaze, and he knew that something had just changed between them.
The lust that had been there from the first moment they met was now blossoming into something stronger, something more solid. And as the song built up to the ending, he drew her into his arms and kissed her.
She didn’t think of the past or the future. She just lived in the now.
Somehow the night slipped away from her and though she’d meant to leave after one dance, one dance turned into just one more and she spent the night on the floor with Nate. For the first time since she’d been forced to leave the competitive dance world she felt alive.
It bothered her that a man was the reason why. And she knew that this night was a one-off. There was no way she’d ever be with Nate for more than this night. His crowd of friends consisted of people that she read about in glamour magazines and on the internet gossip websites. And though they were unfailingly polite to her, she knew tomorrow they wouldn’t recognize her.
“I need a drink,” Nate said, drawing her off the dance floor. “You might be used to dancing that much but I am not.”
“I didn’t notice you falling behind,” she said.
“I’ve got the stamina,” he said with a wink. “Plus, I couldn’t let a girl out-dance me.”