Sleeping with the Enemy (An Enemies to Lovers Collection)

CHAPTER 12

Damon

Carla was a cute disaster on the dance floor. Hayley had secretly warned me about Carla’s dancing skills and I kind of remembered her attempts at it at some of our school dances.

She had also told me that Carla’s dancing skills had not improved much at all. And they really had not. But I was determined to help her. There had to be some way to get her to dance. So, there we were swaying in the corner like two high-school kids at prom. Even just swaying, she’d already stepped on my toes so many times I’d lost count. Her feet really did seem to take on a life of their own when she tried to dance.

I was getting ready to swing her out and pull her back in and could see the panic in her eyes when she knew what was coming.

“Relax and just let yourself flow,” I said encouragingly.

Carla didn’t exactly flow into the turn. It was more like a roll as she slipped out of her one shoe and nearly slid into Hayley and Drew. While everyone broke apart until tornado Carla stopped her dancing destruction, Carla once again took the opportunity to try and escape.

How could such a drop-dead gorgeous woman be such an ugly dancer? I rolled my eyes and sighed as I went after her again. The last time she tried to bolt and I fetched her, she tried to buy my silence and let her leave. The time before that she threatened to scream and cause a scene outside the studio by yelling that I was trying to abduct her.

“How many more times are we going to do this?” I asked her as she yanked on the door and found it was locked this time.

“You can have my brand-new Maserati,” Carla offered me.

“No,” I shook my head, “now, do I carry you or are you going to walk?”

“Walk,” Carla mumbled and muttered blue streak under her breath as she reluctantly went back up to the dance studio.

“We only have twenty more minutes,” I informed her. “Then we can go home and I can put my feet in a foot spa.” I grinned down at her.

“I don’t feel sorry for you,” Carla glared up at me. “I told you I couldn’t dance. I don’t even like dancing.”

“Maybe that’s your problem,” I said to her. “Your ballet teacher knocked your confidence and since then, you’ve just had a mental block toward dancing.”

“Sure, Professor Winters,” Carla looked at the dance floor.

“You did that last spin on purpose,” it suddenly dawned on me. “You wanted me to release you.”

“No,” Carla’s brows furrowed, “trust me, I don’t have to do that on purpose.”

“Come on, just relax and try to enjoy the feel of the music flowing through you,” I took her hand and pulled her back into my chest.

“May I help?” Lucian stepped toward us. “Miss Reynolds, if I may?” He held out his hand.

Carla glanced at me with a “help me” look. But Lucian had already pulled her into position.

“Breathe,” Lucian lifted her chin and showed her how to take a breath. “Feel it expand your rib cage and fill you with oxygen.”

I saw Carla’s eyes as she stood in the waltz position with Lucian. She had that look she got when she was dancing on my feet. She bit her lip. Lucian told her to step back as he stepped forward. She did it! I felt a sort of pride that she’d managed to get the first step right. Carla managed to get the next few steps right and was almost dancing when Lucian decided to dip her.

I knew as soon as he did that something was about to happen. Lucian dipped her so fast her leg flew up and her shoe flew off her foot, smacking one of the grooms in the face.

“Oh my God,” Carla sprang out of Lucians arms and hobbled with one bare foot over to the groom. “I’m so sorry.”

While Carla was apologizing, I picked up her shoe and went over to her.

“Give me your other shoe,” I held out my hand. “Lucian, do you think you could dip Carla again and I will help to try to keep her foot down?”

“Do you think that’s wise?” Carla looks at me rosy cheeked. “I mean, I nearly killed Mark.”

“He’s fine,” I looked down at Drew’s third groomsmen. “Aren’t you, Mark?”

“Yeah,” Mark gave Carla a small smile.

I put Carla’s shoes down next to the benches so she was not wearing any dangerous weapons, then went to where Lucian was swaying with Carla. As soon as I got near, Lucian spun her, pulled her in, and then dipped her. As I went to help her with her leg position, her foot shot up and connected me in the groin. The pain made my eyes water as I dropped to my knees, swearing a whole lot while struggling to draw in a breath through the excruciating pain. I doubt I’ll ever be able to have kids after this.