Page 14 of Dance Dirty With Me

“Will you focus?” I growl

“I am,” he yells at me. “We’ve got a few days left before the show, but I’m not certain of this turn and you haven’t shown me the lifts yet. So yeah, I’m doing all of this to get you out of a fix when what I really want to do is show us all up.”

He stands there, his chest heaving and fury in his normally calm eyes. I take a deep breath and look him up and down, seeing the sweat glistening on his skin from the exertion and the humidity, and I come to a decision.

“Then let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” I ask as I trail after him along the path. He doesn’t answer and just marches on, leading me to a car park.

He stops at the driver’s door of an old light blue Triumph Herald and faces me.

“Get in.”

He unlocks the door and climbs in, leaning over to unlock the passenger door. I get in. He still doesn’t speak as he reverses the car out of the parking space, and then pulls out onto the road.

After driving along the coast road for about ten minutes he turns off onto what looks like little more than a track. Sand lines either side and the grass becomes less lush and more dune-like. The track ends in a small circular area where there’s another car parked. He kills the engine and thenreleases a deep breath. He looks over at me, his scowl from earlier no longer in place.

“Come on.” He half smiles and opens the car door. I scramble out of my side and follow him as he clambers up a bank of dunes.

“Where are we... oh.” The words die on my lips as I take in the view. I can see acres of flat golden beach leading out to a calm sea. It stretches in either direction as far as my eyes can follow. Also, it’s deserted, apart from a couple of people I can just about see as specks in the distance. No holidaymakers, no one shouting and hollering, no children running and shrieking... and best of all, no loudspeakers marking what time of day it is and what we should be doing next, as if we’ll become bored if left to our own devices.

I stand and look out to sea for a minute, and all I can hear is the distant roar of the sea, waves washing in over the sand, and a breeze rustling through the dry marron grass of the dunes. It’s stunning and peaceful and a grin stretches across my face. I turn to Johnny and see he’s watching me. He smiles back at me as if my reaction has somehow pleased him.

“How do you know about this place?” I gaze around again. The beach is empty, so there can’t be many people who know about it or it would be full.

“I was told about it during my first season here. The bloke who looks after the donkeys said it was the coast’s best kept secret. He wasn’t wrong, and I’ve kept the secret ever since. Most people don’t notice the track as they drive past, and there aren’t any amusements, cafes, or ice-cream stalls, so it has limited appeal.”

“It’s stunning, but why are we here?”

He grins and starts pulling off his shoes.

“To learn the lifts, in the sea.” He throws down his shoe, and starts running down the dunes and onto the sand. I follow suit and chase after him, whooping with exhilaration when my bare feet hit the sand.

The water, on the other hand, is shockingly cold, and I slow down, trying to acclimatise.

“Submerge yourself. It’ll help you get used to it quicker,” Johnny instructs and I try it out. I’m not sure I getusedto it any more rapidly, it’s more that there are no dry parts of me to use as a contrast.

We stand in the sea, the water gently lapping at chest height, and Johnny goes through the lifts, the speed, the placement of where I need to be, and the timing for him to lift me up. I can’t get the speed in the water, but he tells me that practicing in the sea will help it feel faster on land. The first few times, I crash into him, knocking him over so he’s submerged. He comes up laughing, though, and even flicks water at me, which of course I return. Then the next time, magically, he lifts me up over his head. I’m so busy propelling myself forward to get the lift that we overbalance and I dive into the water behind him. When I push up to the surface I notice his arm is round my waist. For a few seconds we stare at each other, and an odd, almost tender expression flits across his face, but I don’t have time to think about it as he releases me and shuffles backwards, holding out his arms for me to try again.

We keep practicing, and we do improve, until we manage the lifts about four out of five times. Eventually Johnny calls a stop, which I’m grateful for as my legs feel like jelly.

When I walk out of the sea, the air cools the water dropletson my skin and I give a slight shiver despite the heat of the sun.

“Did you bring any towels?” I ask as we reach the dunes.

“We left in a hurry,” Johnny gives in the way of an answer, which I interpret as a no. “But we’ll dry off quickly. Even more so if we strip off.”

I stop still at the bottom of the dunes and stare at him as he climbs up to the ridge and looks over the top. Did he just say strip off? Here? Now? He turns around and checks the beach, left and right. The other car has gone, so it looks like we’re all by ourselves. Oh great, that doesn’t help at all.

He’s already pulling off his soaking T-shirt, and I swallow at the sight of his broad and very naked chest. Then he strips off his shorts. He stretches them out on the marron grass to capture the sun and the breeze, before dropping down onto the dunes in his underpants and looking up at me.

“You’ll never get dry like that,” he says.

Oh, not totally stripping off then. Like not down to my birthday suit. Down to underpants I might be able to manage. I quickly pull off my shorts and T-shirt, and spread them out before sitting down next to him. He stretches his legs out and leans back on his elbows, closing his eyes, offering his face up to the sun. I can’t help myself from gazing at his long legs, leading up to muscled thighs and a distinctive bulge in his pants. He’s gorgeous, and I want to reach out and touch his skin, to trace the contours of his abs. Oh fuck! I can’t get a chub on now, shit. I can’t let him know about me. I’m pretty sure he’s straight; I’ve seen him dance with enough women. Even if he isn’t, he’s said numerous times that he’s just dancing with me for Penny’s sake. Yeah, he seems to have no problem lying next to me in his underwear without getting a boner. I flip over onto my front,resting on my elbows to hide the evidence and my embarrassment.

“Where?” My voice comes out sounding like a strangled cat and I clear my throat. “Um, where did you learn to dance?”

He turns his head to the side and cracks open one eye. I give him a little grin, hoping the thoughts in my head aren’t showing across my face.

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