“I’ll break both of your goddamn hands,” Brutus growled, shocking everyone. There was no hint of joking or laughter in his voice.
Jameson’s eyebrows rose to meet his hairline before he broke out into a hearty laugh. One of the guys sitting across from me whistled low, but I stared at Brutus’ side profile. He glared at Jameson for a few more beats before lifting his plate and sliding one of his empanadas onto mine.
“Thank you,” I told him.
He gave me a sly grin, utterly different from the stormy glare he’d just given his friend a few seconds earlier. “We both know you would’ve ended up with it on your plate anyway.”
I covered my mouth as I laughed. Yes, I might have been known to sneak a bite or two off of his plate throughout our time together.
I shrugged. “It’s not like you wouldn’t have given it to me anyway.”
“True,” he confessed.
After that minor blip, we all got back to eating and talking around the table for a while. Once our main course finished, we had a round of delicious desserts that consisted of tres leches cake, churros with chocolate sauce, and flan.
“Uh,” I groaned, patting my belly. “I need to dance this meal off,” I said right as the music that had been slightly slower transitioned to more upbeat salsa music.
Without waiting for Brutus or anyone else at the table, I stood and made my way to the dance floor. There were already two women there dancing. They both ushered me into their small group, and we started dancing to Celia Cruz’ “La Vida Es Un Carnaval”. The women gave me surprised looks when I started singing along with the lyrics.
“¿Hablas español?” one asked.
“Si, claro,” I answered before doing a spin around her.
She laughed and cheered, and we danced for the rest of the song. As Celia Cruz transitioned into a Tito Puente song, I felt a strong hand clasp my back. I didn’t need to turn to know who it was.
“Can I have this dance?” Brutus said low in my ear from behind.
I spun around and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Do you think you can handle it?” I shimmied my hips in rhythm with the beat of the famous percussion player.
Brutus dropped his hands to my hips, taking control of my movements while grinding his front against my mid-section. We moved fluidly against one another, pushing and pulling to the music. It still surprised me how adept he was at moving his body for his size. He had no problem keeping up with me.
“Where’d you learn to dance?” he asked.
I paused, taking his hand so he could spin me in a circle, before I answered. “As a sales rep we had a lot of benefits and leeway to woo potential clients. One of my earlier accounts was an administrator at a major hospital. I courted her for months to build a relationship. Turned out she loved salsa dancing. So …” I shrugged, “I just so happened to sign up for classes at the same studio she attended.”
“You didn’t,” he said.
I smiled, feeling proud. “I did. Not only did I win the client over, but I also fell in love with salsa, merengue, bachata, and even learned a little flamenco.”
He spun me again in another circle, nearly stealing my breath. When he pulled me back into his arms, my breathing did hitch then. He stared down at me, his eyes blazing with their usual intensity.
“You do know how to get what you want, don’t you?”
I grinned. “I wasn’t the top salesperson in my job five years in a row for nothing.”
“Five?”
I nodded and pushed out of his arms to spin in time with the music before he pulled me back into him.
“Sounds like you loved your job.”
“I thought I did.” I shrugged. “But then I kept getting overlooked. Sure, I’d get my annual raises and bonuses, and definitely the added responsibility, but moving up to management or executive level? Pssh.” I rolled my eyes. “In some places that’s still an all-boys club. And then I started to realize maybe I didn’t love the work so much. But …” I peered over his shoulder.
My rhythm slipped slightly. Brutus noticed and slowed his steps even though we were way off the beat of the up-tempo music.
“What?” he asked.
“I started to realize I was just working because that’s what you’re supposed to do. I—” I stopped just short of admitting that since I didn’t have a husband and kids to fill my days, I fell into the belief that my job was the center of my world. However, I kept that part in.
