Page 147 of The First Taste
She lacks self-confidence and shereallyhas low expectations for how she should be treated. Whether I should read into that or not, I have yet to decide.
It honestly probably doesn’t bode very well for me. But she is so, so fucking hot.
Not to mention untouched…
My lips quirk. “No, beauty. Save it for the next time we’re alone.”
She gives me a small lopsided smile, but I can see the gears turning behind her eyes. She’s trying to figure me out, just as I am her.
I lean forward, kissing her collarbone. I like the way she shivers at my touch; I like the way her skin gets goosebumps everywhere I touch. I like the way her breathing becomes uneven as I suck on her collarbone hard enough to make a mark.
Kaia pushes away from me after a minute and slides off my lap. “I should go. I have to talk to management, I guess.”
My lips twitch. “Let me take care of it. You can just go home and get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow, you’ll get a call inviting you to the NYB.”
She blows out a breath. “I guess… thank you, Calum.”
That draws out my most wicked grin. “Don’t thank me yet. I promise that you’ll earn your keep, beauty.”
Her eyes widen. But instead of asking me more questions, she turns and rushes off, heading down into the club.
Kaia
“Istill can’t believe that all three of us are here,” Eric says. He glances at himself in the mirrored wall of one the New York Ballet’s rehearsal spaces, stretching his hamstrings out at the barre.
He’s not wrong. For this morning’s class, we have more than thirty people crammed into a relatively small dance studio. “I wonder how many people they let go and how many people they brought in,” I murmur, looking around.
Ella is in splits on the ground. She throws her hair back and purses her lips at him. “I can’t believe that Manon got called, too. It honestly makes me wonder what the instructors were thinking.”
Sitting down on the floor to do butterfly stretches, I giggle at that. “You’re terrible.”
Manon turns from where she is warming up at with a glare. She does a rude imitation of my giggle. “Hehehe!” Then her lips twist bitterly. “I hope you all get hit by busses on the way home.”
I give her a skeptical glance, shaking my head. Ella doesn’t miss a beat.
“Manon, how’s your mom’s pill addiction doing? I heard that she flunked out of rehab for the third time in a row.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Manon snaps.
Ella gives her a thumbs up, smiling sarcastically. “You’re still a bitch!”
I roll my eyes. “You two really get each other going.”
“Look,” Eric says, jerking his chin to the entrance of the rehearsal space.
The room quiets as Basil and Calum stalk in, already looking pissed. Basil wears dark spandex leggings and a dark tank top. Calum wears a pair of loose gray pants and a plain white t-shirt.
Prowling around the room already, Calum runs a hand through his dark hair. He’s magnetic without saying a word; I can’t take my eyes off of him.
“Is that one of our directors?” Ella whispers to me. “He’s so fucking hot. He must work out a lot.”
I nod, not looking away from Calum. I watch his gaze swing around, observing the room. He pauses when he sees me, a smirk appearing on his face for just a second. His sapphire eyes pin me in place and sear me through.
“All right!” he calls. “I need your attention, everyone…”
Basil claps his hands, the sound they produce thunderous. Everyone falls silent, directing their attention to the front of the room. I realize just then that my heartbeat is going a million miles an hour.
Just being in Calum’s presence makes my stomach flutter oddly and my cheeks feel hot.
