The basics of Argentine tango are simple. You first learn how to stand. Then you learn to walk. It's a slow, sedate, sensual style, and you can have a good dance with nothing but walks. What I like about it is the embrace.
"How much do you know?" Moira asked into my ear.
"It was ten years ago. I am going to disappoint you."
"Hush. All I cared about was holding you. This is already more than I was expecting."
We made it around the room twice with just walks and turns at the corners. At the next corner she led me into a set of back ochos and into the cross. We paused like that.
"Nicely done," she said. "You remember more than you realized, perhaps." Then she stepped forward again.
At the next corner, she asked for a molinete, which to an American's ears would be pronounced mole-ih-neh-tah. I didn't do very well on it, but we stepped out of it, and when we ran into a traffic jam behind me, she asked for another one. I did better.
"There you go," she said.
"It's like a waltz grapevine," I told her. "But walking around you."
I felt her smile against my ear. At the next corner, she did something different, and just while attempting to maintain proper position in front of her, I found us doing a grapevine across the dance floor before she stepped me into the cross. She paused just briefly before walking.
The song ended, and the cortina came on. The cortina is undanceable music, and it is traditional at that point to change partners. I pulled away from her slightly and felt a tear slide down my cheek.
"Oh honey," she said, wiping it away.
"Where have you been all my life?"
"Oh honey," she said again, pulling me into a hug.
The next tanda started. "Are you all right?" she asked into my ear?
"Yes." I adjusted my stance so we were in a proper embrace. She weight shifted, and we were dancing.
She found my limits during the second song in the tando.
"I'm sorry," I told her after the third time of failing to follow something she asked for.
"Hush. Now I know what you know and what you can follow. If we do more of this, we'll take lessons together."
"Really?"
"Really."
After that, she kept to my limits, pushing me slightly, but I learned how to follow her and found myself relaxing more and more in her arms.
At the cortina I opened my eyes and pulled away to look at her.
"All better?" she asked.
I nodded. "Is this real?"
She smiled. "Yes. Do you need me to pinch you so you know it's not a dream?"
"Maybe later."
The next tanda was a milonga, a different style of tango music. "I'm not ready for that," I told her.
"It's okay," she said. "Andi and David just arrived." She pulled me from the dance floor and over to a table along the side. Andi was sitting there with a tall, good-looking man. They stood up as we approached, and Andi introduced me to her husband. He and I shook hands. He and Moira hugged. Then we all sat down together.
Andi smiled. "You tango."
"Barely."
"That was more than barely. Can you lead?"
"I'm sorry, no."
"And you don't milonga?"
I shook my head. Andi turned to David and said, "Ask Moira to dance, David."
Immediately David said to Moira, "Would you like to dance?"
"I would love to, David," she said. They stood up and David led her to the dance floor. I adjusted so I could watch them. Moira settled into David's arms. She winked at me before closing her eyes.
"Are you leading Moira on, Pamela?" Andi asked me sternly.
I looked at her in surprise.
"You are certainly encouraging her attention," she said. "Don't deny it."
I looked away. I didn't want this conversation with Andi when I didn't even understand my own emotions.
"You will answer me, Pamela," she said sternly. "Now."
I looked back at her. "Wow. Does that tone work for you?"
She smiled. "Usually."
"If Moira were a man, I would already be practicing signing my name as Pamela Jenkins."
"But she is not a man."
"No. Clearly I have issues to resolve."
"Does Moira know this?"
"Yes."
"Figure it out soon, before you hurt her too badly."
"I am working on it, Andi." I paused. "My entire life, I've thought of myself as straight. I've dated guys. Then this auction happened. You know about the auction?"
She nodded.
"You know there are two women?"
"Yes. Is that another issue to resolve?"
"Yes. They both are treating me better than any guy ever has."
She smiled. "With guys, you need to take the upper hand and keep them in line. You can't wait for them to treat you properly. You have to make them."
"Like ordering your husband to ask my date to dance?"
"Yes."
"Doesn't he mind?"
"No." She paused. "We have a very good relationship. Many women are very difficult to please. He knows exactly how to please me, and I make sure he is happy to do so."
"How?"
She laughed. "You aren't that naive, are you?"
I laughed. "Maybe I am, but perhaps I just got an education."
I paused, then my mood turned a little mischievous. "Does he, um. Please you?"
She smiled. "In bed?" I nodded. "Yes."
I turned away.
"And your past gentlemen?" she asked. "Have they pleased you?"
"Not really."
"David didn't at first, either. I had to teach him. Now I enforce a strict three-to-one policy."
"Three-to-one?"
"Yes," she said. "Three orgasms for me for every one for him."
I thought about what she'd been saying. "You're very open and blunt with a complete stranger."
"You are Moira's friend, and I think very important to her. She is very important to me. Thus, you are important to me as well."
I turned away and watched David and Moira dance for a minute, then turned back to Andi. "I should resolve all this before I call you for a job."
"No," she said. "I won't pull strings for you because you are important to Moira. I will pull strings if I believe doing so will enhance my reputation for finding good talent. That is regardless of how your relationship progresses with Moira."
"You can really get me a job in my field?"
"No. I can get you an interview and offer a little extra weight on the scales when your resume is balanced against someone else's. If you were to relocate to Chicago, that interview would be with me. But not in Minneapolis." She paused. "Review your material before you call me. I will not be impressed if you appear to know less than you should. Do you still have your textbooks?"
"Yes."
"Then I will assume you have the financial knowledge expected from a recent MBA graduate in finance with an intimate knowledge of mortgage law and at least a passing knowledge of the rest of banking. Are you going to disappoint me?"
"No."
She smiled. "Good."
"You just told me what I needed to do to please you."
"Yes, I did. I want you to succeed, after all. How can you do that if you don't know the expectations?"
The cortina came on, and David led Moira from the dance floor. Moira immediately asked Andi to dance, and David invited me to the floor. When he opened his arms to me, I stepped into an open embrace instead of close. He frowned, but we began dancing. I danced with my eyes open.
Open embrace looks a lot more like normal ballroom style. You maintain some distance between your partner. It facilitates some steps, and David asked for those. I performed them as best I could.
When the song ended, we were next to Andi and Moira. Moira looked at the gap between us and raised her eyebrow.
"I-" I said. "I didn't want you to get jealous."
"Dance properly," she said, smiling. Then the next song bega
n, and they stepped away from us.
I looked up at David. "Whatever you are comfortable with, Pamela."
"Will Andi get mad?"
"Of course not."
I stepped closer and closed my eyes.
Dancing close with David was much different than with Moira. He was taller than she was, too tall for us to touch foreheads. I had to turn my head to the side and laid it against the front of his chest instead of his shoulder. David gave me good dances, but I realized Moira and I fit much better.
The third song of the tanda ended with us immediately behind Moira and Andi. During the cortina, we simply switched partners, with me back in Moira's arms and Andi in David's.
"Did you and Andi have a nice talk?" Moira asked me, once we were dancing.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I told her.
She asked for a molinete, but when we reconnected, she told me, "Don't be coy."
"She asked if I was leading you on."
"Ah."
"And we talked about job interviews."
We danced for a while without talking. I found myself melting more completely into Moira's arms, which probably wasn't proper form, but she felt good.
"I know you're not leading me on," Moira said.
"Good."
We grape vined again, then she said, "Did you enjoy dancing with David?"
"Yes, but you and I fit together much better. I would rather be in your arms than his."
We didn't talk after that, but simply danced. The cortina arrived, and I clutched at her, taking a deep, deep breath before I allowed her to release me.
"If anyone asks you to dance tonight, you will say yes."
"But-"
She put two fingers over my lips, then withdrew them.
"Yes, Moira," I said quietly.
She led us back to the table. Andi and David weren't there. I looked around and saw they were on the dance floor, Andi talking to some man and David with a woman. The music started and they began to dance.
A man, somewhat older than Moira was, approached our table. He asked Moira to dance. She stood up and took his hand, leaving me alone for the first time that night. I sat out that song, but then another man walked over and invited me to dance. I looked at him. He was also older than Moira, but she had been clear. I nodded and stood up.
It felt strange to allow a man I didn't know to wrap his arms around me like that. "I'm new," I told him.
He was gentle with me. I miss-stepped a few times, but by and large he stayed within my limits. At the cortina I thanked him, and he walked me back to the table. Andi was waiting there, and he immediately asked her to dance.
"I would love to, James," she said, standing up.
I looked over at the dance floor and found Moira dancing with some woman. I turned to David. "Should I be jealous?"
"No. It's just a dance."
"Does it bother you to see Andi in another man's arms?"
"She goes home with me." He was smiling. "Do you mind if I ask someone to dance?"
"Of course not," I said. "I'm going to get water for us all."
He got up, and I watched him as he walked to the other side of the floor and asked a woman to dance who was old enough to be my grandmother. She smiled. When they got onto the floor I realized she was an exceedingly good dancer. The two of them were fun to watch.
I stood up to find water for us, but I almost bumped into a woman behind me. "Excuse me."
"I hadn't asked you yet, and already we're dancing," she said. "Would you care to make it more official?"
Moira had told me to say 'yes'. "I would love to. If you can lead."
She smiled and led me to the floor. I stepped into her arms. She was shorter than Moira, but she and I fit better than I had with the men. "I haven't seen you here before," she said once we were dancing.
"I am from Minneapolis," I told her.
"Oh, you're here with Moira?"
"Yes. You know her?"
"She comes to our milongas two or three times a year. I am Kim, by the way. I am one of the local instructors."
"Pamela."
Kim asked for a step I didn't know. I stumbled through it.
"I am sorry," Kim said.
"My fault," I replied.
I got three nice dances with Kim before the cortina. She returned me to the table and thanked me. "I hope we'll see you again."
Moira returned to the table and immediately grabbed me for the next tanda.
"Did you enjoy your dance with Kim?" she asked.
"There is no one here I would rather dance with you than you."
She laughed softly into my ear. "That isn't what I asked."
"Yes, I did."
"She was checking out your ass earlier."
"She was not!"
"Most of the men are, too." Then she asked for a back ocho.
"If you keep making me do that, of course they're going to check it out," I said. "It's a tight, hot ass."
"Yes, it is."
* * *
That pretty much defined the rest of the evening. We danced until eleven. Both Moira and I wanted to dance longer. We found a break, and Moira said to Andi, "I'm sorry, Andi."
"Quite all right," she said. "Time to go?"
She nodded. "Long flight back."
"You could stay overnight," she said. "We have a guest room." She looked at me. "And the sofa isn't bad, if sharing a room isn't in the cards yet."
"Next time, Andi," Moira said.
Andi and David led the way to Andi's car. Moira and I sat in back while Andi drove. I closed my eyes and leaned against Moira, clasping her hand. We drove first to Andi and David's to change clothes, then she drove us back to the airport. David stayed home.
At the airport, Andi handed me her card and offered a quick hug. While we were hugging, she told me, "Figure this out, Pamela."
"I will."
"Call me any evening this week, after you've studied."
"I will."
Then she hugged Moira before getting back in her car and driving off.
The building was locked, but we walked around and to Moira's airplane, still sitting where she had left it. Using a flashlight, she did her preflight while I loaded our luggage in the back.
"Do we need gas?"
"Full tanks. They filled it while we were gone."
"When did you pay them?"
"She swiped my card while I talked to her."
One the preflight was done, Moira climbed in and I followed after her. I closed the door, and this time she showed me how to latch it.
She did all the things she had done in the morning, except she didn't talk to the tower. Instead she just announced on the radio what we were doing.
"You don't have to ask permission?"
"The tower is closed."
"Can we still take off?"
"Of course. The procedures are just a little different."
We taxied to the end of the runway and Moira did her checks, then she said to me, "I was going to let you do the takeoff, but it's night."
"Next time?"
"Next time. Are you disappointed?"
"Second best date ever."
"Only second best?"
"Best date was Tuesday."
She laughed. "I can live with that."
I waited until we had taken off and were clear of the Chicago area before I said, "This might have been the first best."
She looked over and smiled, clasping my hand for a moment.
"Tired?"
"Yes."
"You can sleep if you want. We'll be home in two hours."
"Are you going to nap?"
She laughed. "No."
"I'll keep you company. What did you want to talk about?"
* * *
It was after two in the morning when we pulled up in front of my house. "I want you to come in," I told her.
"I won't stay," she said.
She helped me with my things, and we stepped into the house. We set everything down an
d I slipped out of my jacket. Moira took hers off, too, and I melted into her arms.
The kiss was exceedingly passionate.
When we pulled apart, I tugged her over to the sofa, then curled up into her with my legs tucked underneath me. She kissed me again, and I turned more to face her, my hand on her furthest shoulder. During the kiss, I let my fingers play with the skin on her neck, then slipped it inside her collar, stroking her shoulder with the back of my finger.
She broke the kiss and looked into my eyes.
I slipped my fingers down to her top button of her blouse and fumbled with it.
"What are you doing?"
"Just two," I said, releasing the second button. I realized I couldn't see any cleavage yet, so I did one more.
"Hey," she complained.
I began caressing the freshly exposed skin.
"Pamela," she said.
"What are we doing on our third date?" I asked her.
"You're coming to my house and we're cooking together." She paused. "We'll discuss recipes ahead of time."
I caressed her skin and quietly asked her, "Do you intend to seduce me?"
"Do you want me to?"
I undid another button. She caught my hand. "Honey," she said. "You're getting me more worked up than I would prefer."
I looked at her in confusion. "This isn't what you want from me? It's what I want."
"It is what I want, but I want it when I can act on it."
I sighed. "Have I answered your question?"
She smiled. "Yes."
I lowered my hand from her neck and snuggled into her. She kissed the top of my head while wrapping her arms around me. We sat quietly for a while, snuggling, before she said, "I need to go, honey."
"I know." I held onto her more tightly.
"You're making this difficult," she said.
"I'm very naughty," I told her.
She growled at me a little. I looked up at her in shock. She was offering a look that could best be described as predatory. "I can't believe you just asked for a spanking."
"Who said anything about a spanking?"
She pulled me into another kiss, and there was no doubting what she wanted. Her tongue explored me deeply, insistently, and I mewled into the kiss.
Finally she broke the kiss, and she was breathing hard.
"I'm sorry, Pamela, but I have to go or I won't go at all."
Bidding War Page 15
