Love's Dance (5 page)

Closing her eyes, she hit the button and clapped the phone to her ear.

It rang once, twice, three times. Four, five...

"You've reached 555-4502. Leave your name and number and I'll-"

"Hello?"

Her heart just about stopped. For one horribly long moment, she stood there in the middle of the park, mouth open, voice not working.

"Hello?"

She swallowed, cleared her throat. "Hi, Colin? This is Jaina. You still free for lunch?"

Chapter Five

Jaina was already waiting when Colin walked into the small restaurant near the park. She'd already folded, refolded, and then shredded her paper napkin, and then retrieved a new one.

She spotted Colin as soon as he walked in.
Ugh
, she thought.
Does he
have
to wear those things?

He pushed his sunglasses up like a headband when he walked in, and blinked a bit to adjust to the interior. Then he saw her, and smiled.

Jaina carefully studied the condensation on her glass as he walked over. She occupied herself with making designs on her paper placemat with droplets of water, ending up with a grotesque smiley face.

"Hi," he said.

She looked up, managed a smile she hoped was normal. "Hi. Sit. Please. People who hover bother me."

Colin sat in the chair opposite, and glanced out the window. "Any particular reason you chose this restaurant?"

She shrugged. "I was at the park with my niece and nephew."

Raising a dark brow, he asked, "And where are said niece and nephew?"

"With their parents," she said, as if he were dense.

"I still haven't met your brother."

"Same here. So we're square." She looked at him as if silently daring him to comment.

True to form, he did. "I hope not square in the boring sense."

"I doubt you could ever be that," she said, then bit her tongue.
Crap! Did I just say that out loud?!

He looked at her for several moments in silence, then state, "I am quite boring."

"Blue shirts only, huh?"

Going with it, he said, "Monotony is so underrated."

Pausing, he said, "And I don't only own blue shirts... I also have some white ones."

"You dazzle me with the spectral array of your wardrobe." The sarcasm was so thick it would have taken a lightsaber to cut.

He smirked. "You're so witty, why we don't get on?"

Firmly squashing thoughts of "getting on", Jaina asked, "You think that's witty?
You're
the comic."

"So I take it, you want me to entertain you?"

Shaking her head, Jaina said, "That isn't what I said."

"And suddenly the lack of getting on makes sense once again."

She gritted her teeth, then took a deep breath and let it out again, slowly. "Why is it that every conversation we have ends up in an argument?"

"Because you have a hot Scottish temper?"

"Oh, you're saying it's
my
fault."

Colin froze, sensing he'd strayed into highly dangerous territory here. He hesitated, then said, "I'm a Scorpio, and you're a Cancer, am I right? It's natural. If you believe in astrology. It's either fierce arguments or fierce sex."

Jaina coughed, spitting water across the table. Then she glared at him.

Mistaking the source of her ire, he said defensively, "Hey, I'm trying to be friendly! You turn every word I say."

She sat sullenly for several moments, pondering all the tortuous possible--or rather, impossible--implications of his words. She feigned interest in the menu.

"So," Colin said tentatively. "Let's try this over again. I'm Colin, you're Jaina. I'm an actor, you're a makeup artist. I'm local, you're American. Tell me about your... family."

Accepting his olive branch... for now... Jaina said, "Brother. Sister in law. Niece. Nephew. Sister in LA. Mom and Dad."

Gee
, she thought.
That was so very communicative.

"How old are your niece and nephew?"

Jaina took a sip of water. "Four. In June they'll be five."

"Ah."

There was a long, awkward silence as they both looked around the restaurant, and not each other.

"Soooo... Seen any good movies lately?"

She had to actually think about the question. What was the last thing she'd seen, outside of anything in her video collection? "Uh. I don't know if I've seen anything since December."

Colin occupied himself with using one of the paper napkins from the dispenser to mop up little droplets of water. "What did you see then?"

"The third
Sea Of Swords
." Jaina kept her eyes on the ice in her glass. "My ex and I had a chance to go see the Sydney premiere, so we did. I didn't meet anyone famous, though."

He flashed her a grin. "Well, now you have."

Wryly, she asked, "So you're famous now, huh?"

He heaved a sigh. "Positively sublime, really."

Jaina smirked. "Is there room enough for me at this table? Your ego is quickly squishing the life out of me."

"It can't be helped. My ego is just that, well, brilliant. But you've enabled it to grow that much bigger."

"Great, now I'm an enabler," she muttered, eliciting a giggle, an honest-to-goodness giggle, from Colin. "Do I want to ask how?"

He pretended shock. "You make me look good, which is good for my self-esteem."

She snorted before she could stop herself. "Like you need any more."

"Esteem or looks? Because we all know, I look gorgeous." And he tossed his head, as if flipping hair over his shoulder.

Jaina couldn't help laughing. Or a barb. "Not put together, you don't."

"Ouch. You wound me." His eyes were sparkling with humor.

She widened her eyes, looking interested. "Is it bleeding?"

"Well... no," he admitted.

Jaina slumped, losing all pretend interest. "Well then, not life threatening."

He was laughing silently as the waitress came over to take their orders. Paper napkins and waitresses. What was the world coming to?

Colin hadn't even looked at the menu. Jaina had only given it a cursory glance. He looked quickly, then said, "I'll be paying. Order whatever you feel like having."

Jaina looked up sharply. "No, I'll pay for my half."

"I invited you to lunch, I'll pay."

She was sure her hands were shaking. "American rules of paying, you pay it's a date, and Pierce, that isn't appealing."

Liar!
the voice in her head cackled gleefully, sounding like Valerie, the wife of Miracle Max in
The Princess Bride
.
Liar, liar, liar!

Colin swallowed visibly, his cheeks turning red. "Well... we're not in America, are we?"

"True..." Jaina conceded, thinking of her savings account, which was suffering from the move from Sydney.

"So American rules don't apply. I'll pay. You can have whatever you want."

She sighed. "Fine."

They ordered, and the waitress moved off. Colin carefully arranged his silverware on the table top. Jaina watched in fascination as he lined them up perfectly spaced. Was he obsessive-compulsive or something?

"Have you taken the time to take in the scenery?"

Jaina jerked, startled. "Uh, not yet. Kinda hard when I work so much and the rest of the time my car is dead. It's very selective these days."

"Ah..." He nodded. "There are lovely bike paths all over the city."

One corner of her mouth quirked up. "That sounds nice. But, um... I don't have a bike."

Colin looked scandalized. "You don't? Why not?"

She looked at her fork as she said, "Because I can't ride one. That and I was scarred for life when I was about ten. I haven't ridden a bike since, well, my training wheels fell off."

His brows drew together in consternation. "They just fell off?"

"I
suspect
not... I think someone might have loosened them."

"Foul play? Why?"

Jaina shrugged. "My little sister is a prankster. And rather evil."

"How... charming." His face said it was anything but.

She rolled her eyes. "Be glad she's not in New Zealand."

He gave her a lopsided, hesitant grin. "Why, would she try to take over 'Middle Earth' with her 'orcs'?"

"Exactly."

"You're kidding." Colin looked at her for reassurance that she couldn't possibly be related to someone that twisted. "Right? Please?"

Restraining the urge to cackle, she said sweetly, "Sorry, no."

"Ah." That seemed to be all he could say in response.

Jaina watched him fold his napkin into a perfect square. She knew it, he must be OCD.

"Well, why don't I try to teach you how to ride?"

She blinked. "You'd do that?"

"Sure."

Nooooooo!
she thought.
Nooo! Bikes are bad!

The voice said,
But it's Colin. In bike shorts. Possibly more than once.

"Uh... okay," she said.

He smiled. "Cool."

"I should probably get a bike," she said, as the waitress brought their food.

"Only if you intend to learn. It'd be a bit difficult without one."

"Yeah it would, wouldn't it?" Jaina contemplated the grilled chicken and pasta before her.

"Though, somehow, I can see you with a pair of coconuts, telling people you're riding a bike."

"Why would I do that? Coconuts are for invisible horses."

"Ah, right." Colin looked abashed.

"Of course I'm right." She grinned.

He laughed. "Oh ho, now whose ego is too big?"

She shook her head, gesturing with her fork. "No, see. I'm the woman. I'm always right. It's just the way things are."

"Really? And where does this belief come from?"

"Uh... It's... written down... somewhere."

He didn't believe her. He didn't come anywhere near believing her. "Uh-huh. I'm sure. You know, it's conceivable you could be
wrong
about some things... once in a while."

"Um, no," she said, thinking that there was at least
one
thing she wished she were wrong about.

His sapphire eyes were unrelenting, boring into her. "No, I really think there could be."

She had to ask. "Like what?"

Afraid suddenly of his answer, she reached for her glass, but only succeeded in knocking it over. Water splashed across the wood-laminate surface.

"Ooh, woops!" she exclaimed, red with mortification.

"Having an Audrey moment, are we?" he drawled.

Jaina looked up through straggling strands of golden-brown hair. "What?"

"Never mind. I'll go get some more napkins."

She watched him get up from the table, covertly watching him walk and noting the way his jeans fit. Turning even more red, she slapped her hands over her face.

"What have I got myself into?"

Chapter Six

A week later found Jaina the new owner of a bike that was almost too big for her--it was the smallest one they'd been able to find and her toes
barely
touched the ground when she sat on the seat--as well as possessor of sore muscles she really hadn't known existed.

And that was after a single lesson.

That lesson had been a disaster. And Colin was
still
laughing at her. It really wasn't her fault that she hadn't been able to stay upright for more than five feet!

Thus, three days after her lesson, she sat sequestered in her trailer, nursing stiff limbs. Gazing idly at her arm, she thought, 'At least I've got a real example of a scrape.'

The door opened while she was studying the abrasion and Colin sauntered in, with a plastic container.

Jaina eyed him, then the container. "What's that?"

He grinned. "Biscuits. Chocolate chip ones."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're not due until three. And if they're chocolate chip, they're cookies, not biscuits."

"Ah. I bow, naturally, to your superior knowledge."

"Smart ass." Jaina stood up. "What have I done to deserve cookie treatment?"

"Nothing. This is merely another attempt to endear my charmingly boyish good looks to you."

Jaina tried not to smirk, but failed. Ever since their discussion about makeup artists being overlooked, he'd been constantly reaffirming her importance in the scheme of things. It really was sweet of him, but since he sounded nine-tenths of the time like he was being facetious...