Love's Dance (8 page)

Then Colin glanced up, saw them, and smiled. Jaina squeaked, and made as if to bolt. Angela grabbed her arm, though, and made her stay as the man walked over.

"First things first, McGregor. Make yourself immune. Then you can start to get over it," she whispered in Jaina's ear.

Jaina couldn't protest, because Colin reached them then. She was trying very hard not to stare at his chest, which was difficult, because she couldn't meet his eyes, either. And she was very aware of Angela's nails digging into her arm, holding her in place.

"Hey," he said. "You've emerged from your cave."

"Yeah, I had to come out for light sometime," she heard her voice say, though she'd been certain she wouldn't be able to speak. "Too much time in there and I'm afraid I'll turn into Yoda."

His chest was hairless, she knew for certain now, and while not endowed with chiseled muscles, still nice to look at. Very nice. Too nice. And his arms... Jaina had a weakness for arms, and Colin's were enough to make her want to melt into an "embarrassing puddle of goo" as one of the characters in her book had been saying as Angela had come in. Okay, so if it wasn't love, it was certainly bordering infatuation. And definitely lust, judging from the thoughts that sprang up unbidden, that she quickly squelched.

Before the conversation could go further, the director called to Colin. He waved at the hatted man, then turned back to Jaina. "Don't forget, we're biking tomorrow," he said.

She nodded mindlessly.

"I'll stop by your place around three," he continued, oblivious to the fact that she was watching his shoulders.

"Okay," Jaina mumbled.

He turned and trotted back over to the stage.

"You are hopeless," Angela muttered, and let go of Jaina's arm.

Colin reached the set, and turned to look back at Jaina.

She was gone.

♥♥♥

Despite Angela's instructions to get over Colin, Jaina knew in her bones that she would never be able to do that. She was too far gone. She'd thought she'd been in love with Jack, with his cut cheekbones, strong jaw, and killer smile. The blonde curl of his hair, and his warm brown eyes.

No, she hadn't loved Jack. She was falling for Colin, though, and couldn't do a thing to stop it, though she knew she was only in for heartbreak.

She didn't know what to do as she waited on the curb for Colin, with her purple bike that was too big for her. All she knew to do was to get through the next two hours without somehow making a complete fool of herself.

She plastered on a bright smile as Colin arrived.

Inside, she felt like screaming.

♥♥♥

Walking side-by-side with their bikes down one of the paths in Auckland, Colin and Jaina were engaged in random chatter, when Colin said, "So, you've never said why you chose New Zealand."

Jaina shrugged. "My brother's here. And it's closer than going
back to LA."

She stopped for a moment to pull a rock out of her white sneaker. She'd pulled her brown hair back in a high ponytail, and was dressed in yoga pants and a white baby tee that read, to Colin's mystification, "Sam will kill him if he tries anything."

He nodded understandingly. "Why did you leave Sydney? Bad breakup? You mentioned something about an engagement ring once."

She was quiet for a long moment. He was about to apologies for asking when she sighed and said, "Yeah. I, uh, was engaged. His name is Jack. I... found out he wasn't who I thought he was."

A moment, then she continued, "Found him with someone else."

"Well, I won't pry," Colin said awkwardly.

She smirked. "Yeah, right. You're prying already."

Colin laughed sheepishly. "Well, I admit to curiosity."

One dark brow lifted. "Because you like tales of misery and deceit?"

He chuckled. "No. Not exactly."

They walked in silence for a minute, then he offered, "It's upsetting you. I'm your friend, I care about my friends."

Jaina tried to stifle the skip of her heart. She was quiet for a moment, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't result in her spilling her guts out.

"I appreciate the concern," she said finally.

"Well, yeah, I need to endear you to my charmingly boyish good looks so you'll make me look good."

Jaina burst out laughing. "You've gotta make everything a joke."

Her companion offered an unselfconscious shrug. "Unless it's funny, it's frequently boring. Or painful. Or painfully boring."

Wryly, she said, "This story's of the painful variety. Or... not. Actually, there are times when I laugh. But it's not something I feel like talking about right now."

"That's all right." He thought for a moment. "Let's change the subject, shall we? If you had to choose one DVD to take to a deserted island that just happened to have a DVD player, electricity, and a television... What would it be?"

Her green eyes sparkled. "Oh, it just happens to have all these things, and I can only take one?"

At his boyish grin, she said, "That's easy.
The Silver Door
."

"You're into
Sea Of Swords
?" Colin was surprised.

Giving him a "You didn't know already?" look, she said, "More than a little. Actually, you could say I'm obsessed with it."

Jaina looked off into the distance. "That's why I chose New Zealand, ultimately. It’s Borelian."

He nodded knowingly. "I was right!"

She grimaced. "Okay, fine, you were right."

"I'm always right. Rule 1: Colin is always right. Rule 2: If Colin is wrong, refer to Rule 1."

She elbowed him in the gut.

"Oof!" he said.

When he'd straightened, and got his breath back, he asked, "Elves or fairies?"

"Elves, definitely."

With an arch look and a haughty tilt of his head, he said, "Oh, I'll bet you're a follower of that nancing elf, Carandil."

"I resent that! But, no, actually, the one I liked was He- Uh, hardly in it." She hoped he didn't notice the pink tinge on her cheeks.

"And which is that?" he queried, intensely curious now.

She blurted the first one that came to mind. "Aloin."

Colin scoffed. "Cary's annoying. And he likes to poke people with arrows."

"Oh, really? And what sort of... arrows?" she asked, giving him an entirely innocent look.

"Get your mind out of the gutter!" he exclaimed in mock-horror. Then he paused. "So mine can roll by."

"For your information, Pierce, my mind wasn't
in
the gutter."
But it certainly is now
, she thought.

"Oh, what a shame."

Jaina laughed. "I'm sure yours is there 24/7."

"You say that like it's a bad thing, McGregor."

She looked at him for a moment, then away. "It depends on the gutter."

"This one's only a little scummy."

"Riiight. I'll believe that when they're having snowball fights on Tatooine and people go to Hoth to sunbathe."

Colin propped his hands on his sweatpant-clad hips. "Are you implying something about my state of mind?"

With supreme innocence, she asked, "Who's implying?"

He threw an arm up over his eyes, throwing himself backward against a tree. "You wound me!"

Straightening, he gave her a long, unreadable look, then rolled his eyes and muttered, "Americans."

Jaina tapped him in the shin with the toe of her shoe.

"You have something against Americans?" she demanded.

"Ow!" he cried. "You're all nuts! With a banana sundae on the side."

"At least my mind isn't in a scummy gutter," she retorted.

"It
could
be," he said, leering.

With false righteous indignation, she informed him, "
My
gutter's all pristine."

"Is it really?" He looked at her like she was some new form of insect.

"Yes. Don't come to it." She let her bike lean against her legs and folded her arms. "I don't need you to dirty my gutter."

After a moment, in which he grinned at her, she said, "Wait. That sounded soooo
wrong
. Forget I said it."

"I don't think it's humanly possible to forget that one, Jay."

"I think you should test that possibility." She waved a hand in front of his face like Obi-Wan Kenobi. "You will forget what I said."

"All of it or just your gutter?"

Jaina shook her head. "Men!"

"What? You don't like men?"

Gritting her teeth, she thought,
No, the problem is, you do!

Oblivious to this, Colin said, "I'm too amazingly handsome for you, huh?"

She snorted. "Ha, you wish!"

Colin gave her a devastated look. "That hurt."

"You have feelings?" she gasped, a hand over her heart. "I had no idea!"

His mouth twisted in an attempt to fight a smile. "I'll have you know, I do!"

She looked astounded and fascinated. "Are they itty-bitty?"

Ignoring that, he said, "And... it stings that you don't think I'm drop-dead gorgeous!"

"It only stings? They
must
be itty-bitty."

With mock outrage, he demanded, "What did I ever do to you?!"

Jaina conveniently dropped her water bottle, and grimaced as she picked it up. ‘You're gay,’ she thought. ‘That's what you did.’

"You tried to dirty my gutter," she said as she stood. "Mind! I mean mind! Blast you!"

"Why blast me?"

"You- you- Mind-dirtier!" she accused, pointing her finger at him.

"You think so?" he asked. "How can I make a career out of that?"

Jaina fought a sudden blush as she thought, ‘I can think of a couple ways...’

Changing the subject suddenly, Colin asked, "So was this Jack a mind-dirtier too?"

"Uh... Not in the way you're probably thinking." She thought for a moment. "Or maybe you are."

"Wanna vague that up for me?"

"No. I don't want to clear it up, either."

He chuckled. "OK... Easy."

For one awkward moment, they stared at each other, then both looked away with a laugh.

Jaina cleared her throat. "So, anyway, back to the subject. What DVD would you take?"

"Hmm...
The Hunger
."

Jaina cocked her head. "What's that?" she asked.

"A Bowie Vampire movie."

Jaina burst out laughing. For several moments, she was bent double, red-faced, laughing until tears poured down her cheeks.

Finally, she straightened, and gasped out, "A
VAMPIRE
movie!"

"What's so funny?" Colin inquired.

She laughed, holding her stomach. "I almost said
Buffy
for mine!"

"
Buffy
?"

"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
," she clarified. "TV show. Really bad movie. I've got the whole series on DVD. I'll have to make you watch it."

She stopped for a second, then corrected, "My sister Emily swiped season 2. Actually, I gave it to her when I left for Sydney, 'cause she likes Angelus."

"Angelus?" he asked, brow furrowed.

Jaina nodded. "One of the bad guys. Who starts out as a good guy. Actually, no, he starts out as a drunken Irishman. My sister is evil, she likes the bad guys."

Colin looked like he was about to laugh. "A drunken Irishman? Who's turned into a vampire?"

She nodded earnestly. "Yeah. Then given a soul, which he loses when he has sex with Buffy. Then he gets it back."

"And I thought
The Hunger
was weird," Colin said with a shake of his dark head.

"What's weird about
The Hunger
?"

"Lesbian sex scene from the '80s," he answered promptly. "With Susan Sarandon."

Jaina made a face. "That
is
weird. And you like that stuff?"

Colin was flustered for several long moments. "Uh... I plead your American 5th."

"You know..." she said slowly, "when people plead that, it usually means they're guilty and don't want to confess."

"Well, I just don't want to talk about it," he stuttered.

"Fair enough," she said.

"Thank you."

"But I still have to wonder why you're watching a lesbian sex scene if you're, you know."

"Oh. That is what I don't want to discuss."

Mentally kicking herself, Jaina said, "Fine with me. I won't bug you. Consider it dropped."