Ballroom Blitz (10 page)

She couldn’t be more stunned. “Jon—”

“Let me finish. Being with you is starting to strip the barriers I’ve had up for years. Because even though you do see me as the guy who’s a hit with the ladies, that’s not all you see. You treat me as Jon, not Johnny. You make me laugh. You make me think. It’s not all about sex with you. Yet, you make me so fucking hot that I want to slide up in you, right here, right now, just to see that dreamy look you get when I’m inside you.” He rested his forehead to hers. “So yeah, this is beyond my realm of experience. But I’m not scared by it because it feels so damn right.” He paused and murmured, “Am I wrong?”

“No.” She kissed him then. Not with tenderness, but an openmouthed explosion of need, showing him his faith in her—in this, in what was building between them—wasn’t misplaced.

By the time they broke apart, her panties were wet, her nipples hard, her head was buzzing and she seriously considered ripping his clothes off with her teeth.

“Come home with me,” she panted against his throat. “And we’ll get started on that breakfast thing.”

Tuesday night after Maggie’s dance rehearsal, Jon picked her up for a romantic moonlight stroll by the creek.

Wednesday they indulged in a long lunch, picnic style, in Jon’s bed.

Thursday Jon snuck into the gym for the last night of dance class. Staying in the shadows, he watched his niece move with more confidence, shyly flirting with the too-charming Fast Wolf boy, who should’ve been named Fast Hands. Lurking gave him a feeling of disconnection and he left without letting anyone know he’d even been there.

His melancholy mood didn’t go to waste; he channeled it into his music. He’d been inspired to write more than usual in the past week. So when his agent called, Jon mentioned his recent increased output and that he’d already passed the audio files to Push, Radioactive Tar and Darkly Dreaming. But Marty also wanted to know if Johnny intended to enter into serious negotiations with any of the three bands.

That was the crux of Jon’s problem; although the music-career fairy had knocked, he wasn’t sure which door to open—if any. When his Sapa bandmate Jeps had called a few hours later to discuss the future of the band, Jon hedged. He loved and respected his Sapa bandmates, yet, he’d experienced an unprecedented burst of creativity in the last month and he was damn proud of the work he’d finished.

He wondered how much of it was due to breaking away from Sapa. Maybe when he wasn’t collaborating with other musicians he had a clearer vision of his own musical style. Maybe the possibility of working with the most respected producers in the business forced him to step up his game. Maybe being settled at home for an extended period of time allowed his creativity to flow more freely.

Or maybe he could attribute it all to being around Maggie and truly being happy.

Friday night he whisked her back to his place after her rehearsal with Seth. Filled with excess energy, Maggie jumped him, riding him to an orgasm so intense he had rug burns on his ass and he’d momentarily lost the ability to speak.

Since the dance competition was a mere week away, Seth had scheduled an all-weekend rehearsal. Jon knew if he began a new project he’d obsess until he finished it, so he opted to drop by Jim’s house on Saturday instead of working. He riled up the kids, drank a beer and pretended he wasn’t counting down the hours until he saw Maggie.

He loved surprising her so he’d rented a room at a secluded bed and breakfast and arranged the candlelight dinner he’d promised her. After returning to the room, Jon massaged her sore muscles and made love to her in the big Jacuzzi tub and the enormous four-poster bed. It was one of the best weekends of his life—the perfect mix of work and play, family, romance, passion, fun and relaxation.

So it was bittersweet when Marty called him and insisted he get to L.A. for meetings on Monday. He knew the meetings wouldn’t be limited to California, and he resigned himself to being gone another week. But since all of this was preliminary, he couldn’t discuss the particulars with Maggie or anyone else.

Normally Jon waited outside in the parking lot of the dance studio for Maggie to finish because Seth insisted on closed rehearsals. But he didn’t have a lot of time so Seth could overlook the interruption just once since Jon was leaving town.

The entryway of the small studio was a dancer’s ready room, comprised of lockers, wall pegs, bins and benches. The largest wall was also a window; observation glass on one side and a mirror on the other.

Even with the door to the studio closed, Jon could hear Seth and Maggie yelling at each other.

Whoa. He’d never seen Maggie so angry.

“I cannot do it like that, Seth. I’ve told you ten times. It won’t work. I haven’t done that technique in years and I’m not about to add it into the routine less than a week before competition!”

Seth got right in her face. “That’s a load of crap, Maggie. You don’t want to do it just because it’s hard. You’d rather make the easy move and you know what? It’ll make you look lazy. And make me look lazy, because not only am I your partner, I’m your dance coach.”

“Lazy?” Maggie repeated. She shoved Seth back a step. “Fuck off. I’ve busted my ass and I haven’t taken the easy way out on anything. You’re just afraid no one will take you seriously as a choreographer if you don’t put some stupid, worthless fancy-ass dance move in just to show you know how to do it.”

“That was a bitchy thing to say.”

“It’s the truth. And you’re being an asshole about it.”

“Tough shit. You will do what I say. Period. End of discussion.” Seth stomped off, grabbed the remote and turned the music back on.

Maggie didn’t budge.

A door opened and Seth’s partner, Stanis, exited the office. But he didn’t offer his usual flirtatious smile.

“They still snapping at each other?” he asked Jon.

“Yeah. How long has it been going on?”

“An hour. And before you ask why I didn’t put a stop to it, I’ll remind you of my ‘no interference’ policy.”

Jon lifted a brow. “So you’re good with them verbally assaulting each other? Or do you step in only when it turns physical?”

Stanis smoothed his fingers down his silk tie. “It won’t ever get to that point.”

A loud crash sounded and Jon spun around to see Maggie sprawled on the floor with Seth yelling at her to quit being such a baby and get back up and do it again.

Jon stormed into the studio, stepping between Maggie and Seth. When he glanced down and saw Maggie’s face wet with tears, it took every ounce of restraint not to knock Seth on his ass. Jon plucked her off the floor and set her on a bench.

Seth shouted, “What do you think you’re doing? This is a closed rehearsal and you have no right to barge in here—”

He was looming over Seth in two seconds. “I have every right when I see Maggie on the floor! What the fuck is wrong with you, Seth? I know you’re her coach, but I didn’t think you were a bully. It’s obvious she’s had enough if she’s crying.”

That seemed to knock the fight right out of Seth.

Stanis wrapped his arm around Seth’s shoulder. “Jon is right, sweetheart. Take a break. Come on.” He led Seth out of the studio and the office door closed.

Jon forced deep breaths into his lungs before he faced Maggie.

She’d stopped crying, but she still looked miserable.

“You all right?”

She shook her head and tears spilled down her cheeks.

He scooped her onto his lap, running his hands down her spine as her body was racked with sobs. “Ssh. Baby. It’s okay.”

“I hate him,” she said with a hiccup.

“No, you don’t. You’re both on edge and you’ve spent way too much time together.”

“I want to quit.”

Jon pressed his lips against her forehead. “No, you don’t.”

A few minutes passed before she said, “But I could. The company in Billings I sent my resume to after I was laid off has an opening. They want to interview me this week.”

“Which is great. But Maggie, you shouldn’t be making any career decisions before your first major dance competition.”

“Maybe I should take it as a sign that I should quit.”

“You’d be kicking yourself if you didn’t follow through with competing in regionals after all the work you’ve put into it the last six months.”

“You’re probably right. Anyway. Why are you here?”

“To tell you I have to deal with some business out of town.”

She lifted her head. “You’re leaving again?”

He smoothed damp tendrils of hair from her face. “Yeah.”

“I thought Sapa was on an extended break and you were taking time off?”

Jon hated sidestepping the issue, but Maggie had enough stress in her life this week. And he was scared she’d just walk away if he told her the truth. “It’s just…I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye this time.”

“Thanks for that.” She sighed. “It’s probably for the best that you’ll be gone.”

“Since I won’t see you anyway because of your intensive rehearsal schedule?”

“Partially. But also because of this.” Maggie angled her head so he could see the large hickey on her neck.

“Shit. Sorry about that.”

“No, you’re not. I’m not either, because last night was incredible.” She pressed her lips to his. “But I will say Seth wasn’t happy about the obvious suck marks on my neck and chest. He warned me that if you continued to act like a horny teen then he wouldn’t allow me to see you at all this week.”

Jon whistled. “Is he grounding you from TV and your car too?”

“And he’s taking away my allowance and my cell phone.”

He couldn’t help but grin that she’d retained her sense of humor even under duress.

“As you can probably guess, his threat didn’t go over very well. The day started off on the wrong foot and went downhill from there.”

“So you’re doubly happy I bulled my way in and told him off?” he asked dryly.

“Yes. Because no one ever sticks up for me.” Maggie rested her cheek against the curve of his neck. “But I am going to miss you.”

“Same here.” Jon adjusted her position so she faced him with her knees on either side of his thighs. He framed her face in his hands and devoured her with a drawn-out kiss that wasn’t nearly enough. “Don’t overdo it this week, dancing queen.”

“I won’t. Don’t sweat it if you can’t make it back for the competition on Saturday.”

He locked his gaze to hers. “I’ll be there.”

“But—”

“No buts. I’ll be there. I promise.”

Chapter Ten

“Stop fidgeting.”

Maggie gave Seth a cool look. “Gimme a break. I haven’t competed in years. I’m entitled to fidgeting. And pacing. And pure panic.”

Seth curled his hands around her shoulders. “Listen to me. We are on top of the world, baby. We make a fabulous team. Some dancers are already asking who we are. We’re the sandbaggers, Maggie.”

She blinked at him. “Isn’t that a given? Since we’re unknown?”

“It’s a head game. I saw you eyeing the others’ costumes. Yes, they are much better than ours.” Seth dropped his voice. “Sweetie. That’s intentional. I can get my hands on top-of-the-line costumes, but why overplay our hand? Better to underplay it and have our competitors dismiss us as country bumpkins trying to dance in the big leagues.”

“I see your point.”

“These dancers have sponsors. We don’t. Luckily for us, that means when we win this competition, we’ll be attractive to sponsors because no one has heard of us. And the sponsors will look smart for snapping up an up-and-coming dance team.”

Sponsorship was almost too much to hope for. “Not to put the cart before the horse, but say we win. We score sponsors. Then what happens?”

Seth adjusted the seams on her sleeves. “Then we have the means to hit more competitions, notch more wins, which will get us invited to dance in exhibition showcases and we both know that’s where the real money is. Plus, we build name recognition while we’re doing it. And fingers crossed…” He paused a beat too long before he stepped back. “Never mind.”

Her stomach lurched at his vague tone. “What?”

“I’ve been hesitant to tell you this before now, because I knew it’d freak you out. But if we win, Vladimir Konski has agreed to audition us for possible coaching for nationals.”

“Seriously? He’s huge. He coached… Well, obviously I don’t have to tell you who he coached.” Maggie narrowed her eyes. “Hey. How did you manage that?”

Seth winked. “I dated Vladimir’s son Niko when we were in
The Will Rogers Follies
in New York. Niko and I’ve stayed on good terms and he might’ve mentioned to his father that I’m dipping my toe into the competitive dance waters.”

Pumped up by the possibilities, she gave him a smacking kiss on the mouth. “Let’s show them how it’s done, partner.”

Maggie’s butterflies didn’t settle as she checked her makeup. Her hair. Her costume. Her shoes. She glanced at Seth, performing the same rituals.

Then they were in the chute, waiting for their number to be called. They didn’t speak to anyone, nor did they chat with each other. She mentally reviewed the steps for the first dance.

Finally they heard, “Dancers in position.”

Seth smiled, snatched her hand and then it was game on.

Now they just had to get through the next ten minutes, dance their asses off and blow the other eleven couples out of the water.

At the start of the music, Maggie became someone else. She and Seth circled each other. Not as dance partners, not as friends, but as potential sexual conquests, turning up the heat as they set their bodies in motion.

The first dance was the cha-cha, flirty and fun as she made promises with her eyes and her hips. During the second dance, the rhumba, she morphed into the seductress, using sensual moves to entice her potential lover. The third dance was swing, a hopping, energetic show of stamina and athleticism. The fourth dance, the bolero, was filled with passion and longing as their bodies undulated in unison and opposition. And the fifth dance, the mambo, was back to a sexy tease.

She and Seth were in perfect synch throughout all five dances. They maintained the intensity even during the thirty-second pause between each ninety-second piece of music.