He pulled back and kissed my knuckles as he bowed. My knees went wobbly. I turned to our audience, but we got no applause. Every awestruck eye in the room glued to us.
“If I didn’t know how much training you’ve had, I’d have sworn you and Gray practiced beforehand.” Rick broke the silence.
Arch began a slow clap accompanied by a wolf whistle. Wes turned to the instructor. “I want to learn how to do that.”
“Do what? The dance, I can teach. The chemistry, you’ll figure out on your own,” she replied. She turned to me. “I’m inspired. If you two ever want to help teach one of my advanced classes, let me know. I’d love to have you.”
Todd chuffed. “We could’ve cha-chaed like that, too,” he whined.
“Of course you could, my love. When we get to the club you can make some chemistry with me, and we’ll show these amateurs how it’s done.” Rick placated him, bringing a smile to his face.
We thanked the lovely Ms. Callie profusely. On the way out, I spotted Gray taking some bills out of his wallet. He murmured a few words to her and attempted to hand her the money. I stopped to wait for him. “I couldn’t accept this,” she protested.
“I insist. I had the time of my life tonight. You deserve it.” He turned and joined me, taking my elbow. “Let’s go party.”
“Why the big tip?” I had fun, too, but I was sure Arch already paid for her time and tipped when he organized the night.
“I’d pay three times over to dance with you again and feel the desire in your body as you move your hips with mine.” Gray gazed deep into my eyes, and the same desire reflected at me.
Friends, you’re friends right now,I repeated to myself.Yeah, that’s totally what this is,I answered myself.Friends.I sighed. It didn’t matter if we’d decided to declare ourselves friends, enemies, or fairy pirate princesses. We werenotacting like friends in any way, shape, or form.
“Umm. Wow,” I whispered. Words as meaningful as his wouldn’t come to my mind. My tongue weighed two tons. “Let’s go,” I got out. As many romance novels as I’d read in my life, I expected myself to come up with more suave replies.
Gray chuckled as he walked me out to the waiting limo. I slid in and stayed on the bench seat beside Wes. Gray sat beside me.
“You want to learn how to ballroom dance, huh?” I asked Wes.
He nodded the affirmative and grinned at me. “If I get to dance with you, likethat,the answer is hell yes.”
“Let me teach you. There can be a lot of fun in the teaching.” The words blurted out of my mouth before I could reel them in. A blush made its way over my cheeks, even as I was suddenly emboldened. I decided to go whole hog and followed my statement with a suggestive waggle of my eyebrows at him.
“I look forward to being an obedient student.” His voice was deep, serious,sexy. He was laying it on thick. I couldn’t bring myself to mind.
Gray leaned over me. “I could teach you, too, Wesssssly.” He drew out Wes’s name flirtatiously and batted his eyelashes.
“Sit back, you nut. I don’t want your ugly mug teaching me.”
Gray clasped his chest. “I’m wounded.”
I intervened before the testosterone got too ridiculous in the limo. “I’m the only dance instructor you three need. Calm yourselves.”
Arch mock saluted from across the limo. “Yes, ma’am!”
We pulled up in front of a black building with a long line of people in various states of fancy dress. A man in a dark suit exited the building and opened the limo door for us. “Asche, party of six?”
“That’s us,” replied Arch. He handed the man an envelope pulled from a pocket inside his jacket. “Is our table ready?” He leaned over to whisper in my ear. “Your name is handy for making reservations. I hope you don’t mind.” I winked to let him know it was okay.
“Yes, sir. Please follow me.”
I schooled my features for the paparazzi, but inside, I was giddy. I exited the limo as gracefully as I could and allowed Wes and Gray to take my arms and escort me into the club. Arch followed behind me like an ultra-sexy body guard, and Todd and Rick brought up the rear, arm-in-arm. I heard a few murmurs from the crowd, wondering who I was. From the flashbulbs, I knew reporters hid nearby. What a sight I’d be in the papers. I didn’t act trashy, and I’d done nothing scandalous, besides act like a normal twenty-one year old for once. I hoped it would bring good press to the company to show me more visible in society.
Once inside the club, the manager walked us to a roped-off alcove markedVIP. Even after we entered the relative privacy of the VIP section, the booming club made conversation impossible. Instead of trying to communicate with some weird, inaccurate sign language, I grabbed Arch and Gray’s hands and pulled them to the dance floor, motioning Wes to come with us. We spent the next hour dancing—Gray and I danced, anyway. Wes and Arch flailed about with abandon. I would’ve been embarrassed for them if they weren’t so happy in their oblivion.
When our thirst overpowered our desire to dance, we waved at Todd and Rick, dancing nearby, and headed for the table. Once the server delivered our drinks, I motioned for the bouncer guarding our section to close the velvet curtains. The privacy panels provided a break from the volume of the music.
“Now that we are… friends,” I stumbled a bit over the word friends. “I wanted to ask a favor from you three.” I took a big swig of my potent, pink drink to give me backbone.
“Anything for you. Ask,” said Arch.
