“As long as they stay off the dance floor,” he laughed. “You’re one of the best dancers I’ve danced with in a long time and we are going to rock this Tango.”
They were most certainly going to rock the Tango. She was sure of that because their music was sexy and modern; their moves were graceful, sexy, hot even, and they had some heart stopping drops that she was sure would wow the crowd. She had been afraid when she suggested a few of the moves, but her motto was “don’t stop for fear” so she suggested the death drop first, and then a few lift to drop moves that was sure to look great in the routine. She loved the Tango. Out of all of her dances this was her favorite.
“Stretch,” he said. She nodded. After a small warm up she laid down on the hardwood floor and lifted her right leg to stretch her hamstring. Kyle straddled her left leg, clasped the right as he leaned into her, helping her stretch deeper. He rocked just a little farther into her; the move was not without suspect, but from a dancer’s point of view it was natural. When they finished stretching he clasped her hand and lifted her up. She strapped on her red dance shoes and pulled her hair back in a ponytail.
She put on the music and then they started moving together. When her leg was up against his shoulder and he was practically cradling her in his arms, when his fingers brushed down her outer thigh she felt the tension in the room. It was as if Greg were there on the dance floor with them, as if he were the bodyguard watching every move. She had to push him out of her mind, she had to focus and concentrate.
They tried the moves again and she nailed the back bending turns, the lifts, the drops, all of it.
“Great job, gorgeous.”
“Thanks,” she winked. “We should have done a dress rehearsal, but…”
“We did one last week, and we should be fine. We will be fine.” He corrected.
“Yeah, just me getting the jitters...you know how it goes. This is big for you and I want it to be perfect.”
“Thanks, but don’t put too much pressure on yourself. You have a lot going on, this is big, but it’s not the most important thing.”
“Oh, that is so sweet,” she gave him a friendly kiss on the lips. “I still want you to win this. We’re going to dance their—”
“Underwear off with all those sexy moves you do.”
“Too much?”
“No! You’re hot. I’d shag you,” he winked. “Your passion is one of the things I love about your dancing. You get on that floor and you own it. You were born to do this.”
She appreciated the compliment. She was a late starter for sure. While she had done hip hop dancing, belly dancing, some country line dancing, while she was growing up she had never been enrolled in formal training. She had never had that discipline that the other career dancers had. Still, nobody would know if she didn’t say anything. When she did start learning Tango and other dances she went in head first. Thankfully her feet followed without protest. She was a natural dancer. She loved dancing too. Had she had training from the time she was three she may have worked the dance circuit. She thought about that for a moment, no. She loved dancing, but she didn’t love the formal competitions. She liked being able to put her passion into a routine without worrying about the score. Besides, back in her past she hated having people watch her. She probably would have had a panic attack and passed out on the dance floor.
“See you tomorrow night,” she hugged him goodnight as he left her house.
Greg was still behind her, waiting to make sure the doors were locked. Of course the doors were locked. She knew how to lock them. She would have gone straight into that tirade she planned before rehearsal, but now she just didn’t have the energy for it. Dancing always had a way of mellowing her mood, and tonight was no different.
She stood there, thinking she might want to change the locks on the doors. The windows on both side of the door were high enough, and small enough to look out, but now she worried if somebody with long arms, somebody like Levins, might be able to break out the glass, reach his arm around and unlock the door from the inside.
She had thought about getting one of the locks that you needed a key to get out of the house, but she didn’t like the safety flaws with that. She might be safe from somebody getting in, but what she worried about was getting out quickly in case of a fire. She’d have to make sure the keys were accessible at all times, and for some reason her mind kept playing the scene in her head with the ending that she couldn’t find the key. Maybe she’d leave the locks and get an alarm system instead.
“What are you standing there thinking about?”
She didn’t really realize she was still standing in front of the closed door, but she was. “Locks and alarms,” she said. There was no reason to lie to him.
“You need new locks. Either that or close up that glass.”
“I like the glass there, but I’m thinking maybe glass block. It would take a lot more to break out than this stuff,” she tapped the decoratively frosted glass.
“An alarm system is needed too. You should do that as soon as possible.”
She nodded. “Maybe I can call around on Monday.” It would be Monday before she had a minute to herself. Well, she’d have Sunday, but she wasn’t sure companies would be open on Sunday. “Is Brinks a good one?”
He nodded his approval. She would see what the cost would be, and what security systems they offered. She never thought of becoming a prisoner in her own home, but maybe it was necessary with Levins being on the loose.
“Call tomorrow.”
“I can’t. I have work, and then the show. It’s just going to be crazy the next few days. I might be able to fit it in Thursday, but I have a meeting at the fitness school.” She had promised Shelly she would help and she planned to follow through. She moaned in frustration. “When did things get so complicated?” Her question was more for herself than for him. She was use to hectic paces, but somewhere between his showing up at her door and this moment right now, her life seemed to get a thousand times more chaotic. Perhaps she was worried, not for herself; she was use to the schedule, but for them because they weren’t.
She was fully aware that being an agent meant long hours and hard work, but her hours and their hours were vastly different. She shrugged. She couldn’t worry about any of it tonight. She needed another shower and then she was going to bed. She had a long day ahead of her and she planned to kick it off with a good night of sleep.
“Turn off the lights before you go to bed?”
“Sure,” he nodded. “I’ll be up in a little while myself.”
A yawn escaped her. “Okay.” Her feet pattered on up the stairs. She showered and went to bed. The moment her head hit the pillow it was lights out, Clair.
Chapter Four
Greg took advantage of the half closed door and entered Clair’s room without knocking. “Allow me,” he walked over to her.
“That door was closed.”
“No it wasn’t,” he said with absolute confidence. The door was only partially closed and in his book a partially closed door didn’t carry the same meaning as a completely closed one. Completely closed doors meant knock before entering. Partially closed doors, in his opinion, meant enter at will.
He hadn’t intended to come to her room at all. It was clear she wanted to keep as much distance between them as possible, and while he didn’t completely agree with the arrangement, he had every intention of giving her at least a little time to come around to having him back in her life.
He brushed his fingers up the zipper of her black dance dress. She had set that dance floor on fire with her moves. He had seen her practice, seen the sexy way she caressed her partner, but tonight she had been different. Tonight she had used her entire body to seduce the audience. Each move was graceful and sexy, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her, on or off the dance floor.
She had worn her hair in curls like she use to. Before, her hair had been just above her bra line and now it was much longer—sexier. She had the curls pulled back
from her face in a clip in the center of the back of her head. She had left part of her hair flowing freely with tight curls. She was a vision, one he wanted to see more of right now.
The feelings at war within him were overpowering. How had he missed this before? How had he let her walk out of his life…no, how had he walked out of her life without realizing these feelings? He would have sworn he hadn’t felt anything for her before, but on some level he knew he liked her attention, always had, but back then he never allowed himself to see the relationship progressing pass the adoration phase.
Clair gathered her hair in her hand and pulled it over her shoulder, letting it fall over her right breast as he unhooked the clasp of her dress. He felt her slight tremble as his fingers slowly pulled the zipper down to the apex of her behind.
She turned her head slowly, as she used her free hand to hold the dress in place. “Thank you,” she whispered.
There was something in her voice, something that told him she wanted him still. After all these years she wanted him. She may have denied it with words, but this moment told him everything; it told him the truth and the truth was far greater than her avoidance. He just had to make her realize what was right in front of both of them.
“You’re welcome.” His voice lowered an octave just thinking about her sexy body beneath her dress. What he wouldn’t give to have her beneath him, her legs wrapped around him as he came deep inside her.
“Close the door on your way out…please?”
Her eyes lingered on his face, but never did she look him in his eyes. His entire body was at war with his brain. He wanted to grab her, kiss her, take her to bed. His body craved her; his mind told him not to push too hard too fast.
He stood there. His eyes lingered on her body. He wanted her, and he was growing harder with each passing second. If he didn’t leave now he wouldn’t be able to leave.
“Are you coming down for a late dinner?”
“No. I’m tired. I’ll have something in the morning.” She turned away from him. The movement cut through him. She was constantly pulling away from him, turning away from him. He didn’t know how to combat that reaction, how to change it, but he knew he had to.
“I’ll see you in the morning then.” He stepped back, took one last look at her and left her room. He made sure he closed the door behind him as she had requested.
He took the stairs down to the kitchen. He was hungry, for food and for her, but he would only be able to satisfy one appetite tonight.
He fixed himself a sandwich. He heard Janet enter the kitchen, but he hadn’t turned to acknowledge her. He wasn’t angry with her; not as much as he was angry with himself. He was a grown man and he should have never taken her advice on how to handle things with Clair. That action was his responsibility, his mistake to own, but right now he did resent her. He resented that because of her words he’d made the choice to walk away and that meant he lost ten years of friendship, of maybe something more.
“Is she sleeping?”
“Getting ready to,” he mumbled as she slid into the chair across the table from him.
“When this is over we should take a vacation.”
“There isn’t a we anymore, Janet. There hasn’t been for a long time. There is no way we should be taking vacations together.”
“There could be an us, Greg. We could be a couple again.”
He shook his head. “It’s been over on the romantic level for five years now, and before that…well, you know it wasn’t good between us for a long time.” Part of the rift between them had been his fault. He had started pulling away from her. Perhaps a part of him, even back then, blamed her for the loss in his life. Whatever the reason behind the demise of their relationship it had ended and he didn’t want it back.
“Would you think differently if you hadn’t come here? If you hadn’t seen her would you be willing to give us another try?”
He exhaled slowly. “No.” He didn’t see a reason to skirt around the issue. Even without Clair in his life he didn’t want Janet. “We’re partners, and we’ve managed to keep that strong despite the failed relationship. But if it’s a problem for you…”
“It’s not a problem for me. What’s a problem for me is that you seem to get off on the idea that she needs you.”
Hell, rather it was a problem for her or not he was starting to think they might have to put in a request to separate. “I’m not getting off on anything,” he said with finality. The conversation was over and he let her know that by the tone in his voice.
“Whatever, Greg. Just think about us.”
“There is no us. There will never be an us. It’s over. Let it go, Janet.”
“I can’t.” She looked at him. “We were good together and I think you’d realize that if you’d think about what we had.”
The tension in his shoulders was starting to make his neck ache. She either wasn’t hearing the part when he said it was over, or she didn’t care because she had just let him know, in no uncertain terms, that she was not giving up.
She walked away before he could respond. Maybe that was best because he didn’t have the stamina to argue with her…not tonight. They’d function better on more sleep. Then he could tell her again just how over it was between them. He would also have to put in a request for a partner transfer because this problem wasn’t going to go away on its own. She had suggested it ten years ago, that he give Clair her space so she could get over her crush; now he’d take her advice and give her the space she needed to get over her crush on him. He nearly laughed at the irony in his decision. The play was the same with different women cast in the lead and this time it would be Janet who got the needed space. He’d have to remember to thank her for the idea when he told her his decision.
He went to bed by ten, but he awoke when he heard Clair leave her bedroom and walk down the stairs. Where was she going? If she were trying to sneak out he’d cuff her to the bed to keep her there.
He pulled on his pants and went down the stairs after her. He was relieved when he saw the dim light shining from the kitchen. He wouldn’t have to resort to restraint; that was good.
“What are you doing up?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” she said as she sipped her water. “I guess I’m too wound up to sleep.”
“About tonight?”
“Dancing has that effect on me, but I don’t think that’s it. I think it’s just knowing that he’s out there…it’s finally hitting me that he could be right across the street just waiting for the perfect time to kill me.”
“He won’t get you,” he said with strained control. He wouldn’t let the bastard get her again. He wouldn’t lose her.
“Yeah,” she shrugged as if she half believed him, half didn’t. “Why did you come here? Why didn’t you just send a cop to keep watch on me?”
Did she hate his presence that much, that she would think he wouldn’t want to oversee her protection himself? “I…”
“I mean, you disappeared from my life ten years ago. You never came to visit, never returned my calls, never even sent a card to let me know you were still alive…”
“You never called me.”
“Yes I did. I called you three times at home. I sent a letter too, apologizing if I’d done anything wrong. I asked you to call me. When I didn’t hear from you I…well I took the hint that you just didn’t want to be bothered with me anymore. You didn’t want to be my friend. Maybe you felt ashamed of me like my…I don’t know what I thought; I just knew you didn’t respond, and that hurt me.”
He felt the bottom of his stomach drop. She had called him? “I never got a call. I checked…God knows I checked for messages, the caller ID, everything, but nothing…ever.”
“I left messages.” She laughed, but it wasn’t a happy sound this time, not as it had been with the people she worked with. “I even resorted to begging you to call me. God, I was so pathetic.”
“I swear I never got the messages. I never got a letter. I would have…I would h
ave called you.” He had been living with Janet at the time. She must have intercepted the correspondence. He would have to talk with her about that in the morning. He had the idea to wake her deceitful ass up right now, but this was the first time Clair had actually opened up to him since he arrived and he didn’t want to lose the connection.
“What did you write in the letter?”
She lowered her head. “I apologized for whatever I’d done wrong. I begged for your forgiveness.” She twisted her hands together. “Why did you leave me?”
He hung his head low and shook it. “I was an idiot, Clair. I messed up. I thought maybe what you felt for me…I thought it was because of what you’d gone through.”
“Stupid,” she said so evenly that he had to look up at her to try to discern her emotion.
“I…you’d gone through hell and I was the only one there for you. I just assumed…I thought it would be easier for you to get over me if I weren’t in your life for a while.”
“Ten years? That’s a long time, Greg. If you didn’t…you could have just said something to me you didn’t have to cut me out of your life. I don’t know anything that’s happened to you over the last ten years. We use to be friends.”
He shook his head again. He had hoped they still were, but he understood. Ten years was a long time not to have contact, not to know what the other person was going through or doing with their life. How could he consider that still a friendship? “I’m sorry. The way you looked at me…well I just thought it would be easier.”
“Easier for me, or for you?”
For him, but he couldn’t say that. He had just admitted that cowardly act to himself and he wasn’t near ready to admit it out loud.
“Besides, if you had paid any attention to anything you would have noticed I looked at you like that since the day I met you.”
Dangerous Obsessions Page 6
