Kaelee gave her a stern look at her attempt at a drawl. “Sassy.”
“Sassy is good,” Inez pronounced. “Sassy. Fun. Sexy. Miss Greta, sway and seduce this woman.”
“With pleasure.” Greta flashed a wicked smile at Kaelee. “You like to grab me, don’t you? Grab me. Lead me. I’ll follow you.”
Kaelee was sure she could do better at this without Inez there, but without a teacher, she couldn’t follow the moves of the dance. She pushed the self-doubt out of her mind as best she could. “Let’s do it again.”
“You have the dance frame with your arms exactly, Kaelee.” Inez smiled encouragingly. “You hold her well, but you must also relax in the hips more.”
Then Inez took Kaelee’s position leading the dance and Kaelee stood behind Greta with her hands splayed on Greta’s curves.
As Inez led Greta through the same steps several times, Kaelee felt the way Greta was rolling her hips. It felt like the sort of girlish femininity she had rejected when she left her old name and old life behind—but Inez was in the position traditionally filled by a man leading his woman in a sexy, seductive rumba.
My body knows this sway,Kaelee admitted to herself.It doesn’t make me less strong.
“You feel how she moves?” Inez said. “This seduction of the hips is the base as much as the box step. You know these two things, and you can learn the rest easily. You must move like you want her to stare only at you. Seduce her with the way you move your body.”
Kaelee nodded. “I can seduce her.”
“I am sure.” Inez smirked again. “Leadher. Hips, Kaelee. Move hips and feet both.”
A few moments later, Inez said, “I will make the music louder.” She walked away, purposefully leaving them.
Without another person there, Kaelee felt her body relax into the rhythm almost instantly. “I heard what you were trying to do there, darlin’.” Kaelee met Greta’s eyes. “Flirting with me…”
“And reminding you that you are in control,” Greta murmured in barely a whisper. “I like this. You leading me.”
Kaelee relaxed into the moves for several beats and said just as quietly, “I likeyou.”
“Good.” Greta stared at her. “We can avoid calling this thing we’re doing anything in particular if it means we keep doing it.”
“And your job? My family?”
“Fuck it all, Kaelee. We can figure it out. I want this. I wantyou. Dancing. Weekends. Texts. Dinners. All that you are willing to give me.”
Kaelee swallowed her reflexive refusal. She wanted the same thing, even if she couldn’t say those words right now. “And if I ruin it? If I can’t be what you need?”
“I trust you. You lead me, and I’ll follow at whatever tempo you need.” Greta leaned in like she was going to kiss her.
“No!” Inez interrupted as she walked toward them. “Rumba is tension, not the kiss. You may kiss her after you dance. Build the tension now. Make her wait for you. Tease her.Seduceher.”
“So rumba is a big tease?”
“Sounds like,” Greta whispered. “Shall I tease you?”
“Yes. Seduce me, darlin’.”
24Kaelee
START OF DECEMBER
Returning to her apartment after spending several days with Greta was the first time it had occurred to Kaelee how far away from a mere situationship she really was. She had never woken up with the same person in her bed more than twice. The idea ofmissingwaking up with someone baffled her.
We are dating. For real dating.
Until Greta, Kaelee’s sleepover-after-sex policy was almost always akin to last call at the bar: “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.” She’d used that exact line on a lot of women when she first started having sex. When a few of them were offended, Kaelee then instituted her current “I’ll go to their place” policy, which meantshecould leave. Greta was different.
I miss her.
