Page 49 of No One Else

11

Natalie

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“PICK UP THE PACE LADIES,” Darlene shouts from the front of the room as the music blasting from the overhead speakers increases in tempo. The Zumba instructor’s movements are graceful and effortless, her skin dewy and radiant, while the rest of the class are sweaty, red-faced pigs, panting in an effort to keep up.

“How does she make it look so easy?” Samantha grumbles to my left in a rare display of annoyance. “I swear, I’m doing the same steps as her.”

I laugh at the scowl on her face. I know by the end she’ll be glad she did it, she always is, but this is the first time I’ve taken her to an advanced class and the difference is noticeable. We’re skipping our weekly lunch date with Charlotte and Eden today to try it out, but I don’t know if we’ll be back. It’s hard even for me and I do these classes all the time. “Don’t worry if you can’t get it the first time. Let’s just have fun.”

She blows out a breath, her face clearing. “Yeah, you’re right.” She disregards Darlene’s peppy encouragement to shake her hips harder and keeps her movements minimal, sticking to the basics.

Through the dance studio’s window that runs the length of the room, I check on Evan over at the weight machines, where he’s with one of his regular clients for a midday session between two of his classes. He’s adjusting the woman’s form as she does lat pull downs, and even though there’s nothing sexual about it, the woman is in her sixties for God’s sake, a little pang still runs through me wishing his hands were on me instead.

They were last night, though, running through my hair, pressing me closer to him. I wished we could have taken it inside my room, but there’s no way Morgan would have stood for it. She’d even looked annoyed when I came in later than usual.

Evan was right that making out probably wasn’t first date protocol, but we’ve known each other for so long, we’re past all the getting to know you stuff. I want the physical aspect of it now.

Ten minutes later he’s done at the machines, walking past the studio to lead the woman back up to the front. Our eyes meet through the glass, his gaze turning hot as he stops briefly to watch me dance. I send him a flirty smile, shaking my hips a bit more sensually.

The woman’s lips move, saying something to him and he shakes his head, moving on. I give him a little wave goodbye, his lips quirking as he leaves my view.

“What was that all about?” Samantha asks, stepping closer to me.

“We went on a date last night.”

“What?” she shrieks, causing half the class to turn to stare at us. “Sorry,” she mouths, appearing contrite.

“I’ll tell you after,” I whisper as Darlene shoots the two of us a hard look that’s reserved solely for troublemakers.

When Darlene calls an end to class fifteen minutes later, Samantha immediately sets her hands on my shoulders, shaking me. “Why didn’t you lead with that as soon as I saw you today? This is huge!”

“I was going to tell you,” I reassure her, grabbing a towel out of my gym bag and wiping my neck off. This class works up such a good sweat.

“Details, woman.”

I grin, recounting the events of last night to her. I’d already told her last week about his admitting to the Sarah thing, although that wasn’t such a surprise after the four of us had hashed it out at lunch. And honestly, I get why he did it. I wasn’t ready at the beginning of the semester for anything more between the two of us.

But I am now.

Samantha zeroes in on the Carter part of it, though. “God, he’s still making trouble for you. I’m glad it didn’t ruin your date.”

“No, but it did make me think. Carter and I don’t speak anymore. We don’t have any mutual friends or any of the same classes. If I’m having this much trouble with him, first with Olivia trying to sabotage my part of the fundraiser and then running into him like that, how much harder would it be if things between Evan and I didn’t work out?”

“You worked it out before.”

“Yeah, but that was with me still thinking we were just friends. At Empire, I could explain it away as a spur of the moment thing. There wasn’t this... connection we have now.”

I fiddle with the edge of the towel, pulling on a thread until it almost unravels. “We both work here at the gym and we have that project for Marketing we’re partners for. Plus, he’s best friends with Luke. That’s your cousin and Charlotte’s boyfriend. There are all these intertwinings in our lives that would make it too hard to separate.”

She puts her hand on my arm, stopping me. “Why are you focusing on all the negatives? You’ve got an amazing guy who’s super into you. If you let the doubts get to you, you’ll sabotage it before it can even get off the ground. I almost let that happen with me and Levi. But once I took a chance and put myself out there, it was the best thing I could have done.”

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