After regarding him in silence for a few moments, she lifted her right foot, bent her knee, and pulled off her slipper. Repeated the process with the left food. Waved a hand over her bare feet. “Did I exaggerate?”
He stared down.
Whoa.
She hadn’t exaggerated.
Devyn, the beautiful ballerina who danced like a dream, had gnarly feet. Her toes were crooked and sported an abundance of corns and calluses. Some of the nails were discolored. Patches of skin were red. Plus, she had noticeable bunions.
And that was just the top of her feet.
Who knew what carnage had been wreaked on the bottom?
“Convinced?”
At her prompt, he lifted his gaze, trying to mask his shock. “Um ... your feet seem to have taken a few hard knocks.” If there was a more diplomatic response, it eluded him.
“More than a few.” She repeated her earlier maneuver in reverse, sliding her shoes back on. “So as you can see, there’s very little you could do to make matters worse. Ugly feet are one of the prices I paid for choosing ballet as a career. Are you ready to dance?”
When no other excuse to delay came to mind, he nodded.
“Then let’s do this. I thought we’d begin by learning the basic step, either single or triple, depending on how it goes. Then we’ll add in a left side pass, underarm turn, and a tuck turn with a free spin. Those moves should carry you through a whole dance.”
He gaped at her.
Was she speaking English?
“Um ... that sounds complicated.”
“It’s not. These are simple moves, and the woman does most of the work with a bit of direction from the guy.” She walked a few feet away, talking over her shoulder. “Watch my feet while I demonstrate the guy’s move for the basic single step. Remember that your feet will always be doing this step, no matter what therest of your body is doing. So ... it’s step on your left foot, step on your right foot, rock back on your left foot.”
As she demonstrated the sequence, he wiped his damp palms down his jeans and tried to focus on her feet.
Maybe he could get through this if he didn’t actually have to touch her.
She ran him through the step several times, then watched over her shoulder. “You’ve got it. Very smooth. I think we could try the triple. Same basic move, just adding in a step. Check out my feet. It’s left, right, left. Right, left, right. Rock step back on the left. Try it with me.”
He mirrored her steps without too much trouble.
“How does that feel?” She faced him after they repeated the step a couple of dozen times.
“I think I’ve got it.”
“Excellent. Now we’ll add in a left side pass.” She walked closer and held out her hands. “These moves can all be done in the open or closed position. The latter is the standard dance pose. For learning purposes, we’ll stick with the open position.”
That would be helpful—for his heart.
Nevertheless, when he took her hands, his pulse stuttered.
Her slender fingers felt as dainty as they looked.
He tried hard to listen as she explained the maneuver and did his best to follow the instructions as she slowly walked him through it.
Amazingly enough, it wasn’t too difficult despite the distraction of the sweet scent that tickled his nose whenever she passed him.
Once he mastered the left side pass, she continued on to the turns.
Those were trickier and required every ounce of his concentration.
