Page 55 of Forty, Flirty & F*cked

"My hero." But her smile is soft. “But my waltz isn't my only problem."

"No?"

"Apparently, my foxtrot looks like 'drunk gazelle attempting parkour.'"

I laugh. "Good thing I have excellent insurance."

"You're going to need it."

We gather our things, say au revoir to an extremely amused Madame Rousseau, and step out into the spring evening. Thestreets are quiet, cherry blossoms drifting like snow in the gentle breeze.

Beautiful.

And reckless.

"I should probably go," Ariana says eventually. "Early meeting tomorrow. Yasmin has me working on putting out a few potential PR fires in your Marketing department.”

“I know. It’s that damn emoji generation at work. ”I clear my throat. “I’ll walk you home."

She hesitates. "Connor..."

"Professional escort service."

"That's not better."

"Workplace safety protocol?"

"Now you're just making things up."

"Is it working?"

She laughs, the sound doing dangerous things to my pulse. "Fine. But only because it's on your way."

"It's absolutely not on my way."

"Then why?—"

"Because I want to."

Something flickers in her eyes. "Oh."

Silence settles between us. I shove my hands inside my slacks pockets to keep them from doing anything stupid. Like touching Ariana. Again.

"So," I say as we walk, "want to tell me the real reason you're torturing dance instructors on a Tuesday night? Like you said, this is your, what, third time this week?”

She's quiet for a moment. "Dad's latest tests came back."

"And?"

"And... they're not great." She kicks a stray blossom. "Not terrible, but not great. And Lily's having credit issues again, and Kat's firm is downsizing, and..."

"And you're carrying everyone's problems."

"Someone has to."

"Do they?"

She shoots me a look. "You're one to talk. Mr. I-Handle-Everything-Myself."

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