Dance With Me (With Me in Seattle 12)

With my ear pressed to his chest, listening to the soothing, rhythmic beat of his heart, I follow him into a deep slumber.“For Christ’s sake, Jax, you’re going to break my freaking tailbone.”

I rub the spot with indignation, pissed as all get out that Jax just threw me on my ass.

“Stick the landing, and you won’t have a sore ass,” he retorts. “You’ve done that move a million times.”

“Yeah, when I was in shape for the tour, not when I’ve been off the road for a month.” I stand and walk to the edge of the studio to retrieve my water bottle. “Why are you so damn intense today?”

“I’m just doing my job.”

“No.” I cock my head to the side, watching him. “You don’t usually toss me around like that unless you’re pissed. What are you pissed about?”

He turns his back on me and yanks his white towel off the bar to wipe his face.

“Logan irritates the fuck out of me sometimes.”

“Lover’s spat.” I nod and take another drink. “That’ll do it. For the betterment of my ass, could you tone it down just a smidge? I’m going to be bruised.”

“He can be so damn inconsiderate.”

I suppose we’d better hammer this out so I don’t leave here with a broken wrist. “What did he do? You guys don’t usually fight.”

“His mother,” Jax says with a sigh, making me grin. “It’s not funny. That woman is the worst.”

“What did she do?”

“She wants us to come to dinner tomorrow night.”

“How horrifying of her.” I smile as he glares at me.

“We already had plans, Star. Tickets to see a show we’ve wanted to see for a long time, and they weren’t cheap. I’ve been looking forward to it for weeks.”

“Gotcha. Okay, so Logan just tells her it’ll have to be another night.”

“One would think. But, no. No, he pretty much does whatever his mom wants him to do. So, instead of seeing the show, we’re going to have dinner with that woman.”

“Why can’t he just tell her you have other plans?”

“Because she has cancer,” Jax says and holds up a hand. “Now before you call me insensitive, hear me out. She has stage 0 breast cancer. The tiny lump has been removed, and the doctors don’t even suggest she have a mastectomy or any other treatment. It’s just gone. But she calls the goddamn c-card as often as she can, and he falls for it.”

“Yikes.” I scrunch up my face in sympathy. “Yeah, it does sound like she’s using it as a way to manipulate Logan.”

“Yes!” Jax points to me. “Exactly! But when I said that, you’d have thought I told him to just put her to sleep to put her out of her misery. He was livid.”

“Maybe the cancer scared him, even if it was minor.” I shrug. “I don’t know, I’m not good at family stuff. When did it happen?”

“Two weeks ago.”

“Give it a little time. He’ll be better.”

“In the meantime, I have to have dinner with her, watch her wipe his mouth with her napkin, and smile the whole time.”

“We do ridiculous things for love.”

Jax laughs and cues up the next song. “Okay, now that I’ve got that off my chest, shall we try this again?”

“I don’t know, are you going to maim me?”

“No, drama queen.”

“Takes one to know one.”

The music starts as Jax laughs and reaches for my hand, easily guiding me around the floor in the familiar routine we’ve been working on. It’s a slight change from the one we already had for this song; I just like to mix things up once in a while.

This will be a nice change when it’s time to go out on the road again.

We run through it twice more, and each time, I stick the landing perfectly. No more falling on my ass.

“Okay, I was throwing too hard,” Jax says. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m gonna live.” I plant a kiss on his cheek as Levi walks through the door and narrows his eyes on Jax.

“Do I have to kill you, man?” Levi asks.

“Nah.” Jax holds out his hand to shake Levi’s. “She just can’t keep her hands off me.”

“This room is suddenly full of male ego.” I roll my eyes. All of a sudden, one of my most famous ballads comes through the speakers, and to my utter shock, Levi sweeps me into his arms and leads me into an easy slow dance across the floor. “Well, look at you, fancy-pants.”

I wouldn’t expect a man as big as Levi to move so effortlessly. It’s sexy as hell to be in his strong arms, moving around the room.

He’s singing along with the music, too, his voice a smooth baritone.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been so turned on by someone singing my own song to me,” I confess with a soft voice.

“You write good music,” is all he says before he begins singing again, leading me in the sexiest slow dance in the history of the world.