Page 243 of Lovers' Dance: Vol. 2

“Shut up.” I was embarrassed and he knew it, if his chuckle was anything to go off.

Matt let his hands rest on my tummy, smiling to himself as he waited for any form of movement. He looked happy, I was happy. We were both happy. Maybe, just maybe, my happily ever after didn’t need to be in a traditional sense. I crossed my fingers to ward off anyjinxes and covered his hands with my own.

“This is good.” I said.

Matt kept smiling, his attention more on the babies in my womb than on me.

“Right, Matt? This is good. ”

Matt nodded, practically beaming at me. “This is bloody fantastic, poppet.”

And it was.

CHAPTER 30

“Yes, it bugsme, but what can I do about it?”

We were in Matt’s Bentley on our way to Hannah’s and Stuart’s for the weekend. They were having a family get together and there was no way Matt would let me miss it. Portia had called me no less than five times during the past week to confirm I would be accompanying her youngest son. Matt was sedately changing lanes while I spoke with Dante on my phone.

“No, I’m not going to cry.” I grumbled.

Dante and I were discussing Sinners and Saints. The Hippodrome was offering us a three weeks performance slot. They had been blown away by our performance and the public’s reaction to The Ice Queen and Princess in January. Not wanting to dwell on the negative reviews of Sinners and Saints, Dante and I had showcased the choreography to their Artistic Director on a whim. He didn’t love it, but he understood what we were trying to convey with our fusion of techniques. He didn’t love it, but he still saw its merit. He didn’t love it, until he suddenly did. It grew on him like moss and I couldn’t be happier. And extremely envious.

Dante’s laughter down the line was so loud it could clearly be heard by Matt who looked away from the road for a second and gave me a sympathetic smile.

“Ok,” I confessed bad-temperedly. “I cried a little yesterday because it’s not fair. Why didn’t they offer us a slot earlier on in the year when Icouldhave performed? I’m bigger than a whale now!”

Matt patted my knee and murmured, “No you’re not, sweetheart.”

I flicked his hand away and continued my mini-rant with Dante. “And Bri issohappy because she’s in lead. She’s planning on usurping me, D. Her and Lisa. Shannon hasn’t shown her hand as yet but we’ll see. I’m watching them all.”

Dante laughed even louder. Bastard. His place was secure on stage, he didn’t have a sticky out tummy and what was now near-constant heartburn. He didn’t have to watch someone else performing his moves. It was a terrible thing to think, but during my secret cry in the office yesterday I had wished broken bones on quite a few of my dancers. Dante’s amusement over my situation meant he was now the main recipient of my bad ju-ju thoughts. Heck, I told himoutright a few seconds later.

“I wouldhatefor you to hurt your knee,” I drawled. “And by hate, I really mean, when I see you on Monday I’m going to break your knees.”

“Madison.” Matt was quick to reprimand me as he changed gears and increased his speed to keep up with the traffic. “That’s a horrid thing to say. You should apologize at once.”

I flipped him the bird then grimaced in pain. The backache had been horrendous since yesterday, I believed my body was rebelling, acting out because it knew I had been screwed out of a chance to perform under the big lights.

At almost 34 weeks I had hit a place that was long past uncomfortable and completely fed up of the annoying constipation, the inability to get a proper night’s rest, the constant urge to pee…yes, it was bad and I had suffered a little accident one night last week when Matt had again stayed over. He made me laugh, my bladder decided to not play ball, then hey presto…a sizeable trickle of pee escaped which left a wet spot on my jeans. He was never to speak of the incident again under penalty of death.

“I’ll call you later,” came my grumble. “Remember our Bumble Fairies and Street Kids classes are 30 minutes later tomorrow. Gloria sent out the notification last week.”

Dante got in a speedy goodbye before I ended the call.

“Sometimes I wonder about you,” Matt mused as I slipped my cell back into my bag. “And what is with your constant grumpiness of late?”

“Uh, why do you get grumpy?” I retorted and wriggled in the seat. My back was killing me.

Matt chuckled. “Touché, poppet.”

“Yeah, touché my foot.” I grunted.

Although, if I were completely honest, the thought of anything related to sex now made me feel sick. All that moving about and sweating, a whole lot of bother for a measly orgasm, no thank you. If it wasn’t dancing then I wasn’t interested. I was past the overly-horny stage of my pregnancy. The only thing capable of making my heart race right now was the prospect of lounging in a tepid bath with some spicy prawns, extra spicy prawns, maybe battered, oh wait, spicy garlic prawns…chilli prawns with monk fish and asparagus. Mmm.

“Spicy prawns.” My taste buds were crying out for the dish. “Chilli prawns with monk fish and asparagus.”

Matt gave me a sidelong glance. “White or green?”

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