Page 79 of Dance with Me
“¿Verdad?”She sounded surprised.“¿Nadie?”
“Sí. Lo juro. Nadie.”
Once they were seated and Dimitri had placed an order, he pinned Natasha with a look. “What did he tell you?”
She flashed him a toothy smile. “You’ll never know.”
“I can make him tell me. I pay him.”
“He’ll lie through his teeth. His grandmother was Puerto Rican. We have a bond.”
Dimitri shook his head and sat back as Mariska, one of the waitresses, poured their wine. “I knew I was going to regret bringing you here.”
At Mariska’s gasp, Dimitri threw his hands in the air. “I didn’t—come on, you know I didn’t mean it like that. I mean because you’re all going to switch your loyalties over to her instead of me.”
Mariska turned up her nose at him. “And now you know why,” she replied in Russian, and patted Natasha on the shoulder.
He shook his head. “You know I didn’t mean it like that, right?”
Natasha shrugged and popped an olive in her mouth. “You’ve said worse.”
He propped his elbows on the table and pressed his face into his hands. “I have, haven’t I?”
“You might be right about one thing, though.”
“Finally.” He lifted his head. “What’s that?”
Her fingers toyed with the stem of the wine glass. “I should call Gina. And probably tell her about . . . what I did before she moved here.”
“Only if you want to. It’s yours to tell. Nobody needs to know everything you’ve ever done.”
Not even him.
“I thought I could leave it behind. It was something I’d done. I wasn’t proud of it, but I wasn’t really ashamed, either. You saw the show. There’s some serious talent on that stage. Jeff is careful about that, and he treated us well.”
“I’ll admit, I was surprised by how good it was. And Renee? That woman can move.”
“I know, right? She’s like a snake. Everything I can do on a pole, I owe to her.”
“I’m definitely getting one installed. And then I’m sending her a thank you present.”
Her smile dimmed. “Dimitri, I can’t stay. They’ll fire me.”
“Who said the pole was for you? It looked like a good workout.” She laughed, so he kept the conversation light, even though he worried she was right. “Those ladies had incredible core strength. I didn’t even know you could do all that on a pole.”
“Renee’s great at putting together unique pole routines. She has quite a fan following.”
“Seems like you did, too.” Just the thought of that guy touching her against her wishes made his blood boil.
She rolled her eyes. “Honestly, I think that was because Jeff babied me a bit. He knew I didn’t want to be there—not that anyone really does—but I auditioned with ballet and salsa. He made sure I learned the pole and did that, but he didn’t make me do too much more than that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Like . . . lap dances and stuff. Private dances. The men loved me. Maybe too much. So, Jeff kept me on the stage where they couldn’t get to me.”
“Did anything . . .”
“No. Never.”
