Page 12 of Dance Dirty With Me

I step on his foot.

“Ow!”

“Shit. Sorry!” I back off a little way but he grabs my hand.

“You need to really feel the beat. In here.” He lifts my hand to his chest and places it over his heart.

His chest is solid and warm and I can feel the strong thump of his heart. I’m glad we’re not dancing to the beat of mine, as it’s tapping some wildly erratic beat right now that I wouldn’t be able to keep up to.

I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself, and focus on the rhythm I can feel, not that I’m touching another man’s chest. His chest. Slowly he starts moving and this time I follow him. He places his other hand on my waist and I reach mine up to his shoulder. We move round the dance studio and it feels effortless, and I begin to enjoy myself. When the song ends he releases me, and goes to the record player to restart the music. I catch sight of myself in the mirror wall and see my huge grin reflected back at me.

That was the last of the feeling of it being effortless, as for the next few hours he puts me to work. He breaks down the step sequences, dances them with me, and then has me dancing them by myself so he can watch.

Occasionally he barks at me. “Keep your back straight. Head up, don’t look at your feet.”

Once I’ve got the idea of the steps and putting them together, he moves on to the turns. It makes me feel dizzy and I crash into him. His jaw stiffens in annoyance after the third time, but what does he expect? I’ve never danced like this before. I do not count my shuffling around the ballroom with Nicola as dancing after experiencing this.

Eventually, when I’m tired, hot, and my legs feel like jelly, he calls a halt, probably fearing I’ll step on him or fall on him again. We agree to practice again the same time tomorrow.

“Hey, kid,” he calls when I reach the door.

“I’m not a kid,” I say through gritted teeth and he huffs a laugh.

“Is calling you a baby any better?”

“Notababy. Baby.” I point out, and he raises an eyebrow at me, like he doesn’t see the difference. I’ve grown so used to it over the years, I’ve not really thought about how it mightlook to someone else, and I’ve never really minded. But although he didn’t say it mockingly, I do mind that he sees me as young or like a child.

His expression softens. “You did good today. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I nod and leave, hurrying back to make it in time for a wash before dinner. Pride blooms in my chest that at least I didn’t land totally on my arse.

“How did it go?” Penny asks as I meet her before our evening show.

“I’m a little surprised he showed up at all.” I smile and she bats me on the shoulder.

“You’re just sore you lost your bet with Billy. Yes, I did hear about that.” She rolls her eyes at me. I could say Billy suggested it, which he did, but I didn’t have to take him up on it. Except that’s the way we’ve always been since we were kids. Billy’s just about the only family I have left.

“You should’ve had more faith in Baby. He seems like once he’s made up his mind and says he’s going to do something he sees it through,” Penny continues.

“Well, he’ll need to, especially when we tell him he’s going to have to do it all in heels.”

Penny grimaces slightly, uncertainty flickering across herface at my words, which were only half meant in jest. I take her hand.

“He did really well today, so as long as he puts the work in I’m sure we’ll be fine. We don’t have another choice, do we?”

Penny’s face turns serious.

“Thank you, Johnny. I don’t know what I’d do without you,”

“I’m always here, you know that,” I say and hug her close.

When I’m waiting in the dance studio the next day, I hear a sound on the steps outside. Anticipating the kid, as we have a lot to go through, I pull open the door and come face to face with Vivianne Pressman, already dolled up and in full makeup this early in the morning.

She’s startled as well, but immediately puts on what she probably thinks is her most winning smile.

“Well, isn’t this a surprise?”

“Not really. I’m here most days. I’m just waiting for the next lesson to show up,” I say, hoping she’ll leave immediately. I can’t have her here when I’m dancing with Baby.

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