Page 25 of Forbidden Dance
This stops him. “Not exactly,” he says. His face is serious. “I don’t think there’s a name I haven’t been called in the past few weeks.”
“Is that why you came home?”
He takes my hand and starts turning me in circles, roll out, roll in, away from him and back. Finally he says, “I couldn’t trust anybody. Half of my staff quit and the other half is stabbing me in the back.”
“So you wanted your family.”
Blitz steps close and places my hand on his shoulder in what I recognize as waltz position. He grasps the other and we begin circling the stage floor. “Your favorite,” he says.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
He spins me in a circle and lets go once I’m away. “You are my escape right now.”
My heart threatens to stop. “Me?”
He nods. He runs a few feet, then leaps into another attempt at agrand jeté. He’s full of nervous energy.
I decide to stop asking questions. If he needs escape, then I’ll be it.
When he lands, he asks, “Better?”
“Yes. But I think for a man, you don’t want the framed arms. I’d go with an extension.”
He does it again. Each leap is higher than the last. He’s a wonder. I can’t believe Danika said a thousand dancers were as good as him. He has to be one in a million.
“I know there are basic ballet positions,” he says. “But I don’t know what they are.”
“You want me to show you?”
“I’d love it.”
“This is first position,” I tell him, putting my heels together, toes out, and my arms in a circle in front of my chest.
“Like this?” he asks.
It’s perfect, but I use this as an excuse to touch him, shifting his arms down the barest inch. His skin is warm, the muscles flexed and hard. Danika warned him away from me. I have to be careful.
But I can’t stop myself.
“That’s it,” I say. “From there you go into second position, stepping your feet wide and extending your arms.” I move into place.
He mimics me perfectly.
We go through all five positions.
“I love this,” he says. “I guess if you’ve never danced with a partner, you don’t know any ballet lifts.”
I shake my head. “There aren’t any male ballet instructors at Dreamcatcher, although I’m sure the other girls know some dancers.”
“I might have to get some names.” He places his hands on my waist and lifts me again. “I’m betting it’s all very similar.”
It’s a little disconcerting how he keeps taking me airborne. He braces his legs with a lunge. Then his hands shift me so that my center of balance changes.
“Can you hold the position horizontally?” he asks. “It takes a lot of core strength.”
I’m not sure, but as he tilts my body into a line, my legs stay in the air until I’m parallel with the floor. I remember my arms and hold them out, fingers in proper hand position.
“Now that’s beautiful,” Blitz says. “You ballet dancers really have pretty details in the hands and head.”
