Page 70 of Dance with Me
She rolled her eyes. “Of course. I’m not a baby. Just get me my crutches and I’ll manage.”
He shook his head and lifted her in his arms, carrying her out of the hot tub.
“Don’t slip,” she warned.
“Trust me.”
Her expression softened, and her fingers played in his hair, teasing the nape of his neck. “I do.”
He wanted to stay, to explore this further, but work called. They dried off and showered quickly, and once she was settled in the house, he picked up his car keys from the table by the door that led to the garage. Anticipation for the evening ahead lightened his step.
“You sure you’ll be okay without me?” After the progress they’d made, the last thing he wanted to do was leave.
She gave him a bright smile from the kitchen counter. “I’ll be fine. I’m going to look for apartments.”
His neck muscles tensed. Again with that damned apartment search. Even after everything, she was still looking for a way out. Hurt sharpened his tone. “Don’t forget, we have a burlesque show to attend tonight.”
She ducked her head. “You still want to go to that?”
“Of course. It looks like a good show.” Mostly, he wanted to go withher,to see the place where she’d worked, a place from her past. Maybe it would give him more clues about her. She’d finally revealed something, and it meant everything to him that she’d shared something she’d never told anyone else, but it also left him wanting more.
She pressed her hands to her cheeks like she was embarrassed. “You want to go to a strip club. Tonight.”
“What’s wrong with tonight?”Chert.Had he pushed too hard? When she didn’t answer, he went back to the counter and leaned on it across from her. “Natasha.” He waited until she raised her eyes to meet his. “I’m sorry. If you don’t want to go, we don’t have to. I don’t want to make you go if it will bring up bad memories, or make you uncomfortable.”
She shook her head. “I just don’t know why you want to go.”
“Don’t worry, it’s not for the naked women. Especially after your performance outside. I have all I need right here.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her, hoping it would make her laugh.
She looked down at her laptop again, but her lips pressed together like she was hiding a smile.
“Besides,” he added. “I owe you dinner.” At her puzzled look, he explained. “I told you, if I was a success at Little Lilac, you have to go to dinner with me at the restaurant. Those kids said I was ‘awesome,’ so I think it’s obvious who won that bet.” He placed a hand on her laptop and pushed it shut. “Stop looking for apartments. Watch some TV, take a nap in our bed, whatever. You deserve to relax. I’ll text when I’m on my way back. Okay?”
She nodded, but her eyes were troubled, and he couldn’t figure out why. “Okay.”
This day had been supremely enlightening, but there was still more to learn. He could wait until tonight. With his mind full of Natasha, Dimitri left forKrasavitsa.
30
Our bed.
Dimitri’s words stayed with Natasha the rest of the day, even as she tried to take his advice. She watched TV—while looking at apartments. She tried to nap—intheirbed—but couldn’t get the day’s events out of her mind.
From the way he’d charmed the children at Little Lilac to his response at finding out she’d worked as a topless dancer, Dimitri was surprising her left and right.
And then, to find out he’d been with other women becausehethoughtshehadn’t cared? Eye-opening. Was it possible he’d held back all this time for the same reasons she had? Maybe he hadn’t trusted in her affections.
Or maybe he was just making excuses. But now that she’d spent so much time around him, it didn’t fit with his behavior. To get her mind off everything, she closed the rental websites and pulled up her video files to work on the piece she was choreographing.
As she watched herself move on screen and jotted her thoughts in a notebook, she had a hard time tapping into the emotions that had led her to choreograph this piece. The haunting melody and lyrics, describing a modern love that had been betrayed, no longer compelled her to move.
You burned me,the singer crooned in her smoky voice.You burned me down.
When she’d chosen this song, she’d identified with the lyrics. She felt empty and hollowed out like the husk of a house after a fire. Natasha didn’t feel burned anymore. She felt . . .seen.
Dimitri saw her. He understood. She’d told him things she’d never told anyone, not even Gina—about her time at Babe Planet, or how she’d lied about getting accepted at Lennox—and he hadn’t seen her any differently.
Hell, the man said helovedher. Nothing she knew of Dimitri indicated that he was someone who threw that word around. It had certainly never come up any of the other times they’d been together, although those times were usually all about the screwing, and he’d said the L word while yelling at her.
