He shook his head and followed the girls out beyond the doorway where they attacked him until he slipped out of his shoes and politely fled back into the room. As soon as he found the door, he closed it behind him. Just after the ‘click’ of the catch came an audible sigh from him.
He caught her gaze. “Thank God I was wearing loafers. You threw me to the wolves.”
“They’re teenage girls, although I don’t know where they got off acting like—”Her voice just quit on her.
“Norah?”
“It’s nothing.” She shook her head. “What did you want?”
His hands went into the pockets of his leather jacket. “I’m not sure now.”
This time when she looked, she searched. Something had just now shifted in him from being here to being ready to turn around and walk out. “What?”
“Are you just going to shut down on me?”
She couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. If he was upset because he wanted inside her head, this time she’d tell him everything. “I just realized that some of them are eighteen, and when I was eighteen I was married and pregnant.”
He laughed, then sobered up pretty quickly. “Yeah, but you loved him. They don’t know me from Adam.”
“Apparently they don’t think they need to.” She turned back, tucking herself onto the chair behind her and unwinding her pointe shoes. Three faces pressed against the small window cut into the door. Norah glared at them until they left. “Sorry, we still had an audience.”
TJ stood close, a frown pulling his brows together. “How are your feet?”
What was he asking about? “Fine?” She pulled off her shoe, flexing her toes.
He looked the foot over, “Because you were dancing on them.”
“Oh.” She pulled off the other shoe, understanding what he meant. “No, I wasn’t dancing on them.”
Still looking out of place in his denim and testosterone where there was usually only spandex and grace, he jerked a thumb over his shoulder toward the now vacant center of the room, “Then what were you doing?”
Norah waved his concern away, and pointed her tights-clad toes at him. “That was teaching, not dancing. Dancing is when I damage them.”
“There are holes in the bottom of your tights.” He frowned again.
“Yes, so I can pull them up and down and put toe pads inside if I want.” She pulled the gel-filled pad out of the tip of the point shoes and held it up. He reached for it and she snapped it back. “Ew, I’ve been dancing on it.”
He laughed and reached again for the thing, this time quickly removing it from her grasp, “I’ve bandaged your bloody feet. This is nothing.” He held it up to the light and pinched it. “This really is nothing. This can’t possibly support your toes enough to stand on them.”
“It’s not supposed to, your toes have to be strong enough to hold you, this just keeps them aligned and offers a little padding.” While she talked, Norah folded and wound the ribbons on her shoes, tucking them in, then she stood and quickly reclaimed the pad TJ was still inspecting, and stuffed it back into the shoe.
She was impressed how easily things reverted to normal, but she was a little suspicious of it, too. It was almost too easy. “I’m sure you didn’t drive out here just to check up on my toes.”
She saw the words put him just a little off balance, and she watched while he quickly regained it too. “You apologized the other day, and I was an ass. I understand. I don’t like the decision that you made, but I understand why you made it.”
“So my apology is accepted?”
He nodded.
“Thank you.”
He didn’t say anything, and she wondered if the girls were still listening in and wondering why their teacher couldn’t just bag the guy. “All right, then. I’m glad you stopped by. I will sleep better.”
She started for the door, but his hand caught her and her breath caught in her chest.
“Can you promise me that what happened won’t happen again?”
She tried to choke back the laugh, but she couldn’t, “Of course it won’t. I’m not getting in that situation again. The condom won’t break again. There won’t be any issues.”
His jaw clenched and she realized she was being a little slow.
“I meant,” the word was pushed between tight teeth, “that if you have any issues with me, you bring them to me. Not your friends or co-workers or, God-forbid, your father.”
She nodded. “What issues could I have with you? You’re not speaking to me, remember?” Although obviously he didn’t, as evidenced by his very presence. Here she was reminding him. Fool.
He used the same tack. “Clearly, I am. And something’s bound to come up, I irritate the crap out of you.”
“No you don’t. Is this why you came?”
He didn’t answer her. “Promise?”
“Why does it matter?” And why was she pushing?
TJ heaved a deep sigh, “Because I want us to be friends again, but I need to know that you will come to me when you need to. It’s called being a friend.”
She was such a fool to put herself back here. As his ‘friend.’ But her brain wasn’t allowed a vote, her mouth decided. “I promise.”
However, he wasn’t finished with her, because he raked his hands over his face, “And no more going to your Dad with that stuff. I’ll have to face that man again and, God, what he must think of me.”
Norah laughed. “Don’t worry about that, really. My Dad is very cool. He told me I should tell you everything. He didn’t judge you.”
“You’re his daughter. His youngest!” He put his hands out, and for the first time Norah saw how much it truly bothered him. “How can he not?”
“He was too busy judging me. He would never judge someone he doesn’t know. Me, on the other hand, he has no issues with condemning."
TJ shook his head, looking even more masculine against the feminine surroundings. “I came by to see if you wanted to go out for a drink.”
Chapter 41
She pulled her head back. “Drinking?”
“No, I haven’t gone stupid. One beer maybe, and no driving until everyone is fine. Maybe something to eat, nothing sticks to you.” His hand gestured up and down.
Well, she was too skinny, but God she wanted to go. “I can’t. I’m a mess, I need a shower.”
“You have one here. You must have a change of clothes.” Again he gestured, “I am not taking you out in that.”
Of course her knit dance skirt and matching super-cropped top were suspect. She laughed.
He crossed his arms. “I know you don’t turn into a pumpkin at ten o’clock. I’ll wait.”
“All right.” She left the room, and wound through to the back to the private shower just off her office.
Norah scrubbed up quickly, jumping at every creak and noise, praying that it was—no make that wasn’t—TJ coming in to join her. She knew it would be amazing for the few minutes it lasted, then she would be left with nothing but irrefutable proof that he thought she was a cheap lay.
Walking into her office, wrapped in her towel, she rummaged through her spare clothes. The only things there were black dance pants and a fitted, open necked t-shirt. She sighed to herself, it would have to do.
After towel drying her hair, Norah stepped into the clothes, grateful she had clean underwear. She rummaged through her purse for whatever makeup she could find, cursed her own vanity, and put it on anyway.
She emerged to find TJ standing in the lobby, his face three inches from one of Kelsey’s masterpieces of her. There was a large central photo, with smaller ones all around and TJ seemed to be studying each. He must have seen her from the corner of his eye, because without looking over he spoke. “This is amazing.”
Norah nodded, coming closer to him. “Kelsey is an incredible photographer.”
“Oh, I knew that. What I didn’t know,” He tipped his head sideways, “was that you could do the splits while standing on one foot.”
“It’s called arabesque.”
“Yeah, whatever.” He turned then to look at her. “Jesus, Norah! I can’t take you out in public in that!”
She shrugged, “Then I can’t go. It’s all I have here.” He was right, she would feel underdressed out in this, but she was upset she wouldn’t be going out with him. She had let her thoughts go a little too far and believe maybe it was a date.
“No, come on, get your jacket. We’ll go to a restaurant instead of a bar.” He grabbed her blazer from where she’d slung it over her arm, and held it for her. Then he grabbed the bottom hem and tugged it back down, making her laugh.
“I’m sorry.”
Taking her hand, he tugged her toward the front door. “I’m not. I’m going to be the envy of every guy there tonight. I would suggest you stick real close. I’m just going to be grateful that you aren’t in men’s underwear.”
He tucked her into the passenger side of the Mercedes, and slid into the driver’s seat. “Oooh, this is a change. You trust me driving?”
She nodded.
With a sideways glance, he started the engine. “You didn’t follow me home from the track today.”
She nodded. “You’ve been fine. I’d crossed the line from ‘concerned’ to ‘stalking.’” She waved a hand at him to go, and he pulled out of the parking lot, leaving her car there in the corner spot by itself.
He pulled them into an open bar & grill and got them tucked in the back in a small booth. “You want a beer?”
She shook her head.
“You don’t drink at all?”
A small smile hit her lips, “I just don’t like beer. I’m not the girl that all the guys love because she knows all the sports scores and can pound beers. I never will be, the stuff is nasty.”
“What do you want?”
“A margarita, but I have to drive—”
His hand waved in front of her and cut her off. He laid his phone between them on the table. “An hour and a half. One beer for me. I’ll get you home safe.”
She nodded. “A margarita then. Rocks. Salt.”
“You’re not so girly.” His grin was all fallen angel even though he wasn’t trying, and it made her feel girly.
They added insanely greasy cheese bread to the order and chatted most of the way through it. He talked her into a second margarita and she hoped he wasn’t talking her out of her pants.
She was feeling the effects of the liquor when she commented, “I couldn’t believe the girls tonight just came on to you that way.”
Why was she even bringing this up? TJ shrugged, but her mouth got away from her. “I mean they’re sixteen, some of them. And they were looking at you like you were chocolate. Like you’d melt in their mouths!”
Oh God. She waited for the universe to swallow her. Instead the blush crept up her face at an alarming rate. Her hands flew to her cheeks as though she stood a chance of hiding anything from this beautiful man who was already laughing at her.
TJ flagged a server and ordered her a glass of water.
Her mouth opened again, “Oh, tell me I didn’t just say that.”
“You did.”
“Agh!” Burying her head in her arms there at the table was only useful for a second.
TJ was talking to her again. “You’re fun. What else do you say when you’re tipsy?”
Clamping her lips, she refused to speak. He had a sparkle in his eyes that was guaranteed trouble. His beer had disappeared a long time ago and been replaced by soda. He was functioning on all cylinders. Not fair.
She was more than happy when he changed topics. “Are you going to the track tomorrow?”
“Sure.” She hated herself even as she said it. Here was a man who picked himself up time and time again, his determination legendary in her mind, and she crumpled in the wind. She’d decided not four hours ago to not go to the track. Plus, he’d gotten upset when she’d told JD that she wanted to come to dinner. She couldn’t lie about this. “No.”
She’d confused him. “Which is it?”
“No.”
“Oh.” His face actually fell, and she was too tipsy to fight the way it took her heart with it. “I was hoping you’d be there.”
He might as well have picked a thread on her decision and just unraveled the whole thing. “What do you need?”
“Someone to pace against.”
“You’re going to outrun me really soon.”
His grin was back. “One can only hope. So come with me?”
She nodded and took a sip of water hoping that her heart wasn’t showing in her eyes. Norah figured between the liquor and his smiles she was dead-on drunk, and she might as well just sit there and make dreamy eyes. Then she sat up straight. “Oh, I can’t. I don’t have a car.”
He paid the check which had somehow arrived, and showed her the phone timer. One-thirty-five. He offered his hand as he stood. “You are correct, because I am driving you home tonight. But I’ll pick you up at nine-thirty and drop you at the studio afterwards.”
She nodded, and let him lead her out of the restaurant into the dark, chilly air. Her jacket! She started to duck back in for it only to see that TJ had remembered it.
TJ held it out while she slipped into it. She watched his hand on the small buttons and tried to focus. As she followed its movement, the hand came up and cradled her chin, lifting her gaze to his.
For a moment she went still, certain that he was going to kiss her and uncertain how she should react. What she did know was that if his lips even touched hers, she would launch herself into his arms, all other thoughts be damned, regardless of what she should do.
He didn’t kiss her. He simply said words.
“You know, I’m going to enjoy being your chauffer tomorrow.”
He took her by the hand and pulled her along. Norah noted that the hold was a simple dance-partner, weight-support type of hold, not the interlocked-fingers kind you did with someone you were attracted to.
It was a good thing he was driving. She was too snookered to curb any of her thoughts. She gave him directions to the farmhouse, and he pulled up just to the edge of the less-than-bright circle created by the front porch light and waited.
Again her mouth got ahead of her. “What? You’re not going to walk me to my door?”
After it slipped out, she held her ground, as though she had meant to taunt him that way.
“No way. Your Daddy’s probably got his shotgun aimed at me right now.”
She laughed again. “You’d like my Daddy if you ever talked to him.”
“Hard to talk to a man with a gun.” TJ didn’t move to get out from behind the wheel and she wondered if he was serious.
“Trust me, he’ll aim it at me first.” She slammed the car door shut with a little too much force, proving to both of them, again, that it was a good thing he’d driven, and she waved a little as she climbed the three steps up to the porch.
TJ did at least watch to make sure she was safely in the house.
Chapter 42
TJ fought off the grunt that wanted to escape as he lifted the weight. He was having to really put in the effort to maintain what he’d developed in that stupid chair hauling his own body weight around. For a flash of a moment he considered using the chair as a workout machine, then he sloughed it off.
He had better things to think of: Norah, tipsy and cute as hell, the night he’d taken her out for a drink. He’d almost kissed her there just outside the restaurant. But she hadn’t been completely sober and he hadn’t been ready for another Norah-here-then-gone moment. So he had settled for watching her sweet ass peek below the hem of that blazer while she’d sashayed up her front steps. She’d given him hope.
She’d also said something about him melting in her mouth, then gotten really embarrassed about it. She’d given him some seriously erotic dreams with that one.
He curled the weight up again and held it.
She’d come out to the track every day and said she was back on his off
days, too. Sometimes she invited Kelsey to join her, sometimes not.
He’d showed up on one of those off days, warmed by her happy surprise when she realized he was there. Now he’d had to suppress the urge to go every day. TJ had been startled to find out just how much he loved talking to her. Looking at her. Just being beside her.
He gritted his teeth together, holding the last bicep curl as he admitted that he wanted so much more from her. He also had to admit that he was afraid to go to the track every day—only because he feared smothering her and pushing her away.
At least as things were, they were going well.
Norah had outrun him in every race, but she’d made it worth his while. He’d stumbled once, and she’d automatically put herself in his path. He’d had no chance of saving himself, or her with her right in front of him, and they’d gone down in a tangle of arms and legs that had been worth every bruise.
She’d laid on the asphalt, under him, her mouth open and trying to catch the breath that had been knocked out of her. He’d so desperately wanted to kiss her right there, peel her clothes and make love to her on the almost always deserted track. Instead he’d started talking.
“Norah! Did you’d catch me?”
She looked sheepish. “Kneejerk reaction? By the time I realized there was no way I could support you I’d already made it worse for both of us.”
It was still an excellent excuse to feel her for bruises. She’d let him, laughing but not moving away nor pushing at his hands.
TJ changed machines. It was things like that that made him think he might stand a chance with her. Then again, he’d picked her up after her dance classes again more than once. She’d always had jeans and a regular shirt on hand. Which was fine, but meant he couldn’t tease her. She also never drank more than just the one margarita again, sometimes not even that much. So maybe the buttons that were done up high enough not to reveal too much, and the lack of liquor was saying he should back off.
But TJ knew he really just couldn’t.
He had to get her to want him like he wanted her, and he had to do it before some other guy figured it out.
Love Notes Page 21
