"Stop that. I'm splitting you guys up. Your skills are needed elsewhere."
"Oh come on," pleaded Paige. "Let me keep him. It's about time we had a man around here who knows what he's doing."
Roman cut me a glance. "She said it, not me."
I turned my eyes heavenward and reassigned them to new partners.
After a bit more supervising, I grew satisfied with the whole group's prowess, convinced I'd see little change. Deciding to move on, Cody and I taught them lindy kicks next. Not surprisingly, chaos soon broke out. The gifted in the group picked the move up right away, those who had struggled previously continued to struggle, and some who had performed fine with the basic steps and turns now fell completely apart.
Cody and I moved through the dancers, doing damage control, offering our words of wisdom.
"Keep the tension in your wrist, Beth - not too much, though. Don't hurt yourself."
"Count, damn it! Count! The beats are still the same as before."
"Keep facing your partner... don't lose track of her."
My role as teacher consumed me, and I loved it. Who cared about vampire hunters and the eternal struggles of good and evil?
I caught sight of Seth sitting off to the side, just as he'd vowed. "Hey, voyeur, still just want to watch?" I chided, breathless and excited from running all over the makeshift dance floor.
He shook his head, a faint smile playing across his features as he studied me. "Plenty to see from here."
Standing up from his chair, he leaned forward in a familiar sort of way, startling me when his hand reached out and pushed up a dress strap that had slipped off my shoulder down to my arm "There," he pronounced. "Perfect."
Goose bumps rose on my flesh at his touch, his fingers warm and gentle. For just a moment, a look I hadn't seen before crossed his face. It made him look less like the distracted writer I'd come to know and more... well, male. Admiring. Considering. Maybe even predatory. The look was gone as quickly as it had come, though I still felt taken aback.
"Keep an eye on that strap," warned Seth mildly. "You've got to make him work for it." He inclined his head slightly toward some dancers, and I followed the motion to see Roman walking one of the baristas through a complex step.
I admired Roman's graceful moves a moment before turning back to Seth. "It's not that hard. I can teach you." I held up a hand by way of invitation.
He looked as though he might agree but shook his head at the last second. "I'd make a fool of myself."
"Ah yes, and sitting here alone, while everyone else dances and we're short of men - yes, that doesn't make you look foolish at all."
He gave a soft laugh. "Maybe."
When no other explanation came, I shrugged and returned to the dance floor, continuing my instruction. Cody and I added a couple new tricks, assisted in more practice, and finally stood off to the side admiring our pupils. "Think they'll be ready for the Moondance ?" he asked.
The Moondance Lounge was a ballroom dance club that hosted monthly swing dance nights. We considered this group's appearance there to be the ultimate triumph of graduation.
"One more lesson, I think. Then we can take them out in public."
An arm caught me around the waist, pulling me onto the dance floor. I recovered my footing quickly, falling in step with Roman as he spun me into an intricate turn. A few people nearby stopped to watch.
"It's my turn to be teacher's pet," he admonished. "I've hardly seen you all night; I don't think this counts as a date."
I let him lead me around flamboyantly, curious as to just how good he really was. "You're always changing what you want," I complained. "First you just want to go out, now you say you actually want to be alone with me. You need to pick a story and stick with it. Be more specific."
"Ah, I see. No one told me that." He led me into a reverse whip, and I followed through flawlessly, earning a grudging look of approval from him. "I don't suppose there's a Georgina Kincaid Instruction Manual around somewhere to help me avoid these embarrassing blunders in the future."
"We sell them downstairs."
"Oh yeah?" He began improvising steps now, and I enjoyed the challenge of second-guessing where he would go. "Is there a page on how to woo the fair Georgina?"
"Page? Hell, there's a whole chapter."
"Required reading, I'd imagine."
"Definitely. Hey, thanks for the paint by number."
"I expect to see that on your wall the next time I'm over."
"With that horrible Native American stereotype? The next time you see it will be on the ACLU's hit list."
He spun me out into a flourish-filled ending, much to the delight of everyone else. They had long since stopped dancing to watch me make a spectacle of myself. I felt slightly self-conscious but shrugged it off, savoring the moment, taking Roman's hand to bow luridly to my coworkers' applause.
"Get ready," I announced, "because that's going to be next week's exam."
Cheers and laughter continued, but as they faded and the group dispersed for the night, Roman persisted in holding on to my hand, his fingers laced with mine. I didn't mind. We walked around, making small talk and saying goodbyes.
"You want to go get a drink?" he asked me, once we were momentarily alone.
I turned toward him, standing close, studying those gorgeous features. In the now-warmed-up room, I could strongly smell his perspiration mingled with cologne, and it made me want to bury my face in his neck.
"I want to..." I began slowly, wondering if alcohol and raw animal lust would be a wise combination with someone I wanted to avoid sleeping with.
Looking beyond him, I caught Cody's eye. He was talking earnestly with Seth, which I found odd. Suddenly, I remembered my earlier promise to go meet the vampires at the bar.
"Damn," I muttered. "I don't think I can." Still holding Roman's hand, I led him over to Cody and Seth. They stopped talking.
"I feel left out," joked Cody a moment later. "I saw you do some stuff just now that you never taught me."
"You were supposed to have been doing it for homework." I cocked my head in consideration. "Have you met Roman, Cody? Or you Seth?" I made quick introductions around, and they all politely shook hands, guy-style.
Once that was done, Roman settled his hand comfortably on my waist. "I'm trying to get Georgina to have a drink with me. But I think she's playing hard to get."
Cody smiled. "I don't think she's playing."
I looked apologetically at Roman. "I told Cody I'd meet him and another friend tonight."
The young vampire made a wave of dismissal. "Forget about it. Go have fun."
"Yeah, but - " I cut myself off and made significant eye contact with him ? la Jerome and Carter. I didn't want Cody to go off alone, lest he be targeted by the vampire hunter, but I could hardly say that in front of the others. "Take a cab," I said at last. "Don't walk."
"Okay," he said automatically. Too automatically.
"I mean it," I warned.
"Yes, yes," he muttered. "Do you want to call it for me?"
I rolled my eyes at him, then suddenly remembered Seth's presence. Feeling kind of embarrassed with him standing there while we all made plans, I wondered if I should offer to invite him along or send him with Cody.
As though reading my mind, Seth bluntly declared, "Well, I'll see you guys later." He turned around and left before any of us could answer.
"Is he mad or something?" asked Cody after a moment.
"I think that's just the way he is," I explained, not sure I'd ever understand the writer.
"Weird." Roman turned back to me. "Ready to step out?"
Seth quickly left my mind. Roman and I walked over to a small restaurant across the street from Emerald City, sitting together on one side of a booth. I ordered my vodka gimlet, and he got brandy.
When our drinks arrived, he asked, "Should I be jealous of anyone back there?"
I chuckled. "You don't know me well enough or have any claims on me to worry about jealousy yet. Don't jump the gun here."
"I suppose not," he agreed. "Still, famous writers and suave, young dance partners are certainly exalted company."
"Cody's not that young."
"Young enough. Is he a close friend?"