Page 52 of Start With A Slap

Aidan beckoned from the bar and distributed the glasses to the group.

As Ivy sipped at the diluted concoction, which really didn’t taste bad at all, a high-pitched wail sounded from the center of the bar. The wailer, a stunning woman in a flamenco dress, flew into Sever’s arms and kissed each side of his face several times.

“Mi tigresa,” he said warmly, and she wailed again, babbled at him in Spanish and kissed him some more.

Ivy didn’t know a lot of Spanish, but she knew that he’d just called this Salma Hayek-alike his “tigress”. Ivy had assumed he’d come up with the pet name just for her after she’d complained about being called a kitten, but apparently he had female tigers all over the world and why did this thought make her neck prickle?

“I’m here too, Pilar,” Aidan said.

“Escrew you,” Pilar said, hugging Sever close and mussing his hair. “You took too long to bring him back to me.”

The three traded a few words in Spanish, and Sever said, “Pilar, this is Ivy. My daughter-in-law.”

Ivy might have been pleased that he’d finally gotten her introduction right — if it wasn’t so influenced by the bountiful bosom jiggling before him.

“Ay!Que bonita!” Pilar took his hands. “She should see you dance.”

“No, love. She should seeyoudance.”

“We dance together. Come, Sever.” She pronounced it “Eh-Sever.”

“It’s been an age,querida; I’m a bit rusty?—”

“Rusty. What is rusty? Your blood, she remembers. Make him dance with me,papi.”

“Go on,” Aidan said. “Baila, you old show-off.”

“Yes, dance with her,” Ivy said curtly, “‘Eh-Sever’.”

Hearing that as a challenge, he took off his jacket and bowed. “If the lady insists.”

Pilar clapped and hollered at the guitar players, who segued into a dramatic rolling tremolo.

Eyes firm on Pilar, Sever untied his tie and held it out to Ivy.

She had no choice but to take it.

He unbuttoned the top three buttons of his shirt, rolled his shoulders, and nodded at Pilar.

In one swift motion, Pilar grabbed her skirts, twisted at the waist, and posed before him, chin high. The music paused, and he responded in kind: at once, he arched his back, puffed out his chest and stamped his feet, arms behind him, body lined like a matador’s.

Whoa.

Music returning, Pilar curled a hand gracefully through the air to a stop above her head. Sever then curled his own hands, raising them to chest-level. Pilar spun away from him, and Sever snapped his fingers as he stalked Pilar to the center of the room. There, they began a dance of such intimate pain, Ivy felt like she was intruding.

She’d never paid much mind to flamenco. Before. This was... Well,hewas... not rusty at all. Those joints were well-oiled. The blood, she remembers. Hooboy, does she remember...

“Olé!” the patrons shouted as the music built into a frenzy. A lay indeed. He was so graceful, but so powerful and masculine andmolten hot.

He never once touched Pilar, but there was no mistaking his intent to provoke her. Watching him wrench his hips, flick his tongue and contort his mouth as if to sayThis is what it’slike to fuck me,the world eclipsed around Ivy, and for a long, mesmerized moment, she forgot to breathe.

“Heisa sexy little rascal, isn’t he?” Aidan said, and she gasped for air. “Don’t look so shocked. You’re not the only one in this place wants a ride. I know I would...” he winked and took a drink, “if you were there.”

She scoffed, and managed thinly, “I don’t want a ‘ride’.”

“See, when you say ‘don’t want’, I hear ‘can’t, because it isn’t right’.” He lowered his head at her. “Am I right?”

Ivy swallowed.

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