Besides, he’d seemed just as surprised by the admission as she was.
Still, trust didn’t come easy. Telling Dimitri her secrets left her emotions muddled and raw, like an exposed wound. Those months had been her most desperate, and here she was, back in a similar situation: broke and doing something she knew wasn’t good for her. The longer she stayed here, the more she was tempted to believe that they could . . .
She shut down that line of thinking before she could dream too big or too bold. Survival came first. Dreaming was for people in far more stable situations than she was in.
She pulled up her music library and skipped through songs, looking for something that fit how she felt now.
An hour and many notebook pages later, she hit on something. It had more of a pop beat, but it was undercut by dramatic violins.I am a masterpiece,the singer repeated throughout the song.You ain’t seen nothing yet. Just watch me fly.
Natasha listened, jotting down the lyrics, which gave her chills. This was the song. From burned to fly, it was a phoenix story. She could adapt the existing choreography to tell a story of triumph, of personal faith and trust.
Flexing the toes of her right foot, she was tempted to jump up and move. Her best choreography ideas came to her this way, inspired by feeling and a song that hit all the right emotional notes. The dance came through her like a download. It was happening now, but she couldn’t dance.
Well, no. That wasn’t entirely true. She couldn’t put weight on her right ankle. There was a difference.
It took some back and forth, but she got her laptop, speakers, and camera set up in Dimitri’s studio. In addition to those, she dragged in the desk chair from his office. She cast a worried glance at the shiny floor, but something told her he wouldn’t care. Once everything was ready to go, she sat in the chair and propped her crutches against the barre. Keeping her phone in her lap to control the music, she started the camera and the music and rolled into the center of the room.
When Dimitri appeared in the doorway a while later, she wasn’t even surprised.
She stopped spinning in the chair and turned off the music. “Hi.”
A small smile played on his lips, and his eyes were full of . . . something. Affection, maybe. “Hi.”
She rolled back over to her equipment and turned off the camera. “I took your chair,” she said.
“So I see.” He walked into the room, hands in pockets.
She entered a few commands on her laptop to get the video import started. “Sorry. I said I wouldn’t go in your office.”
His brows drew together like he was annoyed. “And I said it was fine. You’re allowed anywhere in this house.”
He came closer, and she bit her lip, focusing on the laptop screen. She’d just been naked with this man in broad daylight. It was ridiculous to feel nervous. He wasn’t even doing anything. He was walking toward her, fully dressed.
But she was starting to believe he might be telling the truth about his feelings. And it was a dangerous thing for someone who’d never thought she’d ever have something like what he offered.
Hope. That was it. That was the thing fluttering in her chest like a bird trying to fight free from a cage.
Accurate. She’d kept that emotion locked away for a long damn time.
He stood over her, looking at her setup. “I’d ask what you’re doing, but it’s obvious. Trying to dance without using your feet?”
“Just the one foot.” She lifted the right, still wrapped. “I can use my left just fine.”
To prove it, she dug into the floor with her bare left foot and sent the chair spinning in a circle.
He grabbed the armrests, bringing it to a stop, and leaned down, putting his face close to hers. Natasha swallowed. He still wore that unreadable smile, and his chocolate brown eyes had grown even more intense in their focus on her.
“Tasha.”
“Uh-huh.” Her pulse pounded in her throat.Madre de dios,he was so handsome. So intense. Her skin itched to be touched by him, to feel his strong hands skimming over her. His hot mouth, the rasp of his beard, his tongue . . .
“You asked if I was jealous.” His voice was rough, grating, like it hurt him to speak. “Yes, damn it, I was jealous.”
She sucked in a breath.Dios,what did she say to that? But he wasn’t done.
“I was jealous every time I saw you smiling at another man, knowing he was getting close to you, fearing you were letting him closer than you let me.”
Her mind flashed to all the times she’d flirted with other men while Dimitri was around. Rocky Lim, Jackson García, at least a handful of others. Yes, she’d wanted to inspire jealousy in him, to get him as twisted up inside as she felt. But she’d never known it hadworked.
