Dance with a Stranger

by JJ Knight

  “Bummer,” I say.

  Blitz laughs. “We’re in the Presidential.”

  I click on that one instead. The elevator resumes its steady climb.

  The doors open to a small lobby area with red velvet sofas and a bar. A man is behind the counter. “Hello, Mr. Craven,” he says. “Would you or your young lady like anything from the bar?”

  Blitz looks at me.

  I lean in. “I’m underage,” I say.

  “Nothing right now, thank you,” Blitz says.

  The man nods and resumes drying a glass. His eyes return to a television mounted on the wall, its volume low.

  Blitz leads us to the right. There aren’t many doors in the hall. A gold plate with the words “Presidential Suite” announces which room is ours. Blitz waves the card by the handle, and it pops the door.

  When we step inside, my breath catches. It’s unlike any place I’ve ever been. A pure-white sofa rests in front of a fireplace with several logs already burning. There’s a piano in the corner by huge windows, open wide to look out on the city. Thankfully we’re facing away from the highway, so you can see across San Antonio, the circular Tower of the Americas visible in the distance.

  “Wow,” I say.

  “Fit for a princess,” he says. He sets the card on a counter in front of a small kitchenette and bar. He shrugs off his coat and reaches for mine.

  I slide it off my shoulders and pass it to him. I walk over to the windows. It’s amazing. We’re on top of the world. I press my fingers against the cool glass.

  Blitz comes up behind me and sweeps my hair off my shoulder. “You okay with getting away?”

  I shiver from his light touch on my neck. Now that I’m here, I’m not sure. I still have to get back in my house. Or maybe I just don’t go back. I don’t know. I lean my forehead against the glass.

  “Come sit with me,” he says, taking my hand and leading me over to the sofa.

  We stay close together, his arm around my waist, as we settle on the cushions. He draws my head against his shoulder. “This is so much better than the insanity I’ve been through the past two weeks,” he says.

  “You want to tell me about it?”

  So he does, lulling me with his voice as he describes the sets, the dances, the green rooms, the people behind the talk shows. The meetings with executives, how Hannah being a shark was in his favor this time. How most of the staff were eager to return, only his trainer and a few other minor players had held out. Hannah was working on replacing them before the finale.

  “So you have to do it?” I ask. “Choose a winner?”

  “I could break the contract,” he says. “I’d go bankrupt from the fines, but there are worse things. I’d never work in Hollywood again, but maybe I don’t want to.”

  “That seems terribly extreme,” I say.

  “It’s extreme either way,” he says. “The lifestyle, the scrutiny, having to live up to everyone’s expectations.”

  “How did this happen?” I ask. “I saw some of your early stuff. It wasn’t all naked women and acting crazy.”

  “In the beginning, it’s always about the dance,” he says. “Then something happens, and it gets attention, and you’re driven to do more of the same. In my case, it was acting like a jerk.”

  “I don’t understand why that is so popular. You’d think girls would want a gentleman.”

  “Gentlemen don’t make for compelling television,” Blitz says. He picks up my hand and kisses each finger. “You’d be bored with me in a week.”

  “Not if we dance,” I say.

  “True. We do have that.”

  I lean my head on his shoulder. “Blitz,” I ask. “Why am I here?”

  He holds my hand against his cheek. “Because I can’t not have you here.”

  “But why? You’ve got so many choices.” My cheeks burn a little. I’m embarrassed to ask these things, but I have to know. I’m risking everything for this.

  “All those women audition for my show to get their brush with fame. Not for me.”

  “But you’re supposed to pick a wife from it.”

  “I didn’t design the show. And my contract specifically says I don’t have to marry anyone. I wasn’t that crazy.”

  “But you still have to choose.”

  “I choose this.” He squeezes my hand.

  “Well, it’s really inconvenient right now.”

  This makes Blitz laugh. “Princess, I was miserable without you.” He turns my cheek so that his mouth can reach mine.

  He’s said enough for me. Even though I’m not sure I believe that we have anything that can last, I still want it. But my life can’t just revolve around him. I have to protect the most important things. And Gabriella is still more important.

  But tonight doesn’t change any of that. I can do this. I can be what Blitz Craven needs right now. And he can be what I want.

  His lips nibble along mine until I part for him. Then he deepens the kiss, pulling me in close.

  Our bodies collide. He runs his hands along my back and down my arms. I reach up to thread my fingers through his hair. I’m ready to get lost again. Every muscle in my body feels warm and pliant.

  Even if he’s going to go back to LA for good, and even if I’m just a blip in a sea of women, I’m ready for one perfect night with Blitz Craven. If I end up stuck with online college and more years under my father’s rule, it might have to sustain me for a long time.

  He presses forward until I’m lying back on the sofa and he is propped above me. His lips leave mine and trail down my jaw to my neck.

  I literally feel pinpricks in parts of my body, as if it’s waking up from a long slumber. Everything his lips touch jolts awake, and my pulse is wild and erratic. I remember how quickly he affected me in the movie theater and my heart jumps again. I want this so much. So much.

  His fingers flirt with the bottom of my sweater, brushing against the skin of my belly. I suck in a breath and he smiles against my collarbone. “Sensitive, Princess?” he asks.

  I can’t answer as he moves more of the sweater out of his way. When he lifts it high enough, a low throaty moan escapes. “You made it easy for me. God, that is hot.”

  His mouth drops to my breast and my body arches toward him. Heat floods through me, and I feel on fire from the need of him.

  He lifts the sweater higher and pulls it over my head, dropping it over the back of the sofa. He moves from one nipple to the other, caressing them both.

  I slide my legs apart so he fits more solidly against me. He’s low, his chest over my stomach as his mouth and hands mold me.

  I clutch his head and the glossy black hair. He moves down, dipping his tongue into my belly button. “What else am I going to find?” he asks.

  I’m so glad I didn’t wear panties. I want to delight him. He lifts himself away from me to nudge the hem of my skirt with his nose. His mouth finds the sensitive skin inside my knee and begins to work its way up.

  The fire I felt earlier is nothing compared to the eruption going through me now. I want him to arrive where he’s headed. I need him there.

  He takes his time, nibbling along my inner thigh. When the skirt is high, covering my bare stomach, he lets out another groan. “You’re perfect,” he says, and I can feel the words as he breathes them so close to my most tender places.

  I’m dying. I want him to taste me, to work his magic. He slides a finger inside and my body rises right to him. And he’s there, his tongue delving inside.

  The intensity I felt in the movie theater is nothing compared to this. The world is down to just these sensations, his warm mouth, the pressure of his hand, the buzz building deep inside me as he works.

  I’m lost, so lost. I move with him, gripping his hair, the only sound the gentle snap of the fire logs. The frenzy inside me accelerates, and the pleasure of it ratchets up into more than I can manage. I need it to go over the top, to release out, to free me.

  “Blitz, please,” I manage to say.

&
nbsp; And he knows just what I need, increasing the pressure, diving in more deeply. And it happens, my muscles clamping down for the orgasm, lightning shooting through my body, sparked where we are joined. I hear myself crying out Blitz’s name and fat tears squeeze out of my eyes.

  He brings me down easy, withdrawing slowly and gently, his kisses flowing back down my leg. I lie on the sofa with my arms crossed over my face. I’m not sure how he’ll feel about me crying.

  Blitz leans back over and kisses the length of my forearm. When he sees the wetness, he gathers me up against him. “You okay, Princess?”

  I nod against his chest. I’m not sure what it is about, maybe the bliss after so many years with little to hold on to. Returning to that emotional space I had to let go of when they took Gabriella away.

  “Hey,” he says, sitting us up. “Talk to me.”

  I’m ruining this moment, I know it. I shake my head. “Just old stuff.”

  He goes still. “Did somebody hurt you once?”

  “No,” I say quickly. “Never. No. It’s just been a long time.”

  He cradles me against him. “That’s all right. We don’t have to do anything else.”

  But I want to. I do. I shove all the old thoughts away and shift in his arms. “I think we do,” I say.

  My hands go to his cheeks and I kiss him this time, hard and deep.

  I don’t have to say that twice. Before I can figure out what’s happening, he’s swept me into his arms. He crosses the living room and heads through a doorway on the far side.

  It’s dim, lit only by the light coming from the bathroom. The bed is enormous, four poster, and silks cascade down from it. “It’s a princess bed!” I say.

  “I couldn’t have chosen it better myself,” he says. He nudges the sheer fabric aside and lays me on its surface. “Now I’m going to really look at you.”

  Blitz tugs on the skirt until it’s down. He stands to toss it across a chair.

  Then he’s back, sitting on the edge of the bed, his hands running down my body, tracing every curve.

  I’m surprisingly unembarrassed as he takes me in, eyes lighting on each part of me. Then he stands up, pulling his sweater over his head, and the shirt beneath.

  I’ve seen him shirtless before, on the day with the Tappin’ Grandmas. He’s strong, muscled but not overly so, lean like a dancer should be.

  Blitz kicks off his shoes and pulls his belt from his jeans. It jingles as it hits the floor.

  I watch him quietly. It’s so different from seeing the pictures of him on the laptop with Mindy. He’s here, his body shifting in the light, revealing himself to me.

  My eyes threaten to tear up again. He’s really beautiful. I almost want to dance like this, skin to skin, and once the idea gets in my head, I can’t let it go.

  I sit up. “Can we dance?” I ask. The room is outrageously large. We can do it easily around the bed.

  He kicks off the rest of his clothes. “A naked waltz. Now that’s an idea.”

  Blitz takes my hand and pulls me to him. Every place our body touches is like a caress, stirring and intimate.

  He squeezes my hand, and we’re off, crossing the rug, then onto the surrounding hardwood floor. The steps are simple, just a few turns. My hair falls down my back, a gentle tickle, until he spins me out and sends it flying.

  The air on my body is erotic and stimulating. When I turn back into him and our skin makes contact again, he holds me close. “You are so beautiful,” he says. “This is the most perfect moment I could have imagined.”

  His mouth is warm on mine, the kiss full of tenderness and wonder. I hold on to his neck, and his hands grasp my thighs, pulling my legs up and around his hips.

  He’s hard and pressing against me, and I feel almost dizzy as the need of him bolts through me. He walks us back to the bed and lays me back down on the cool sheets.

  “Condom work for you?” he whispers against my ear.

  I nod.

  He disappears for a moment, and when he returns, leans down for a kiss as he crawls across the bed to me.

  My body is on fire. When he touches my breast, I lurch upward. He smiles against my mouth. “I’ve wanted you for so long. It feels like years.”

  He parts my knees, pressing his palm against me. My body responds again, desperate for him, so full of need.

  Blitz shifts his hand away and he’s there, moving against me, slipping gently inside.

  I cry out, my body so ready for him, so willing to take him in. He presses his lips against my neck, easing himself out and back in.

  My hands flatten against his lower back, clutching him. I’m breathless and eager. Everything is new again, the sensations, the emotional flood.

  Blitz quickens his rhythm, reaching between us to add to my sensation. I’ve never felt this before, and I rise to him, spiraling up again. It seems impossible after the moment on the sofa, but I feel it, burgeoning inside me, the tension and the desire.

  “My sweet Livia,” he says. “How I have pined for you.”

  His finger moves more swiftly, and his pace increases to match. I can’t think of anything other than this man, his touch, his body shifting over mine.

  The frenzy builds, and I can feel the moment arriving. I open my eyes and see Blitz watching me, attentive and so very close.

  The look there is nothing I’ve seen before, not in all the pictures or all the clips, not even in person in all the moments we’ve shared. It’s adoration and tenderness, beauty and care. It sends me over the top, crying out, falling into bliss.

  His body tenses and his strokes move into me with more force. Then I feel it, the subtle contractions of him inside me as he holds still, reveling in the moment.

  I hang on to him until he relaxes, and we come down together, his face next to mine, his body still pressed against me. I touch his skin, his back, his waist, the textures of him. I want to know him, memorize all the parts that make his whole.

  After a moment, he shifts next to me and draws me close. We breathe together, content and happy. There is no outside, no world that demands things from us. Just our bed, the silk drapes around it, and the air we take in.

  We’re calm and relaxed, but there’s no way I can sleep. I trail my finger along his sideburn, down his neck, along the strong shoulder just where I hold it when we waltz.

  “Tell me something about Blitz Craven that I can’t read on the Internet,” I say.

  He picks up my hand and kisses my fingers. “That the kids in my elementary school thought I was a dork and used to sing, ‘Bennie, Bennie, not worth a penny.’”

  “Oh!” I say. “I bet they don’t think that now.”

  He rolls on his back. The glow from the bathroom light highlights every indentation of his abs. I could stare at him all night.

  “That is one of the perks of the gig,” he says. “Making my enemies mad with envy.”

  “Do you have a lot of them?” I ask. “Enemies?”

  “I didn’t used to,” he says. “But when you get to this level of the game, you rack them up pretty fast.”

  I lay my head on his chest, listening to the steady thump thump of his heart. “Your character is rather larger than life. I’m sure it’s intimidating.”

  “One day it will be gone. Poof. Show over.”

  “Then what for Blitz Craven?”

  He twirls a piece of my hair. “Watch old movies in a rundown theater with a girl who sometimes doesn’t wear panties.”

  I roll my face into his chest to hide my blush, which is silly given that I’m lying here naked with him now.

  “So tell me, Princess Livia, what is something I don’t know about you?”

  My throat constricts. I immediately think of Gabriella. Can I tell him? I’m not sure. Despite everything, this night, him returning for me, the phone — I could still just be a fling.

  “I’m not very interesting,” I say.

  “How about you tell me how you got involved with the wheelchair ballerinas? I read an interv
iew with Danika about it that said she had a young dancer who brought the idea to her. I’m guessing that was you?”

  And there it is. My opportunity.

  “I’d heard about them,” I say. “There was a video online that everyone was talking about.” Which was true. When I was sneaking on the church laptop trying to learn about Gabriella’s condition, I had seen clips of ballet schools with wheelchair dance classes.

  “But people see videos of stuff all the time. What made you start the class?”

  Opportunity again. But I’m too scared to do it.

  “One of the girls in the class, Gabriella, had just been in a car accident. Her father died in the crash. I thought the class would be good for her. Her mother Gwen had a hard time. I wanted to help.”

  “That’s really amazing.” He squeezes me.

  I hold my breath, waiting for him to remember that this is the same girl he thought was my sister, a question I never answered. But he doesn’t. There must be so much going on in his life that this little connection isn’t clicking in his mind. So I let it go.

  There will be a time to tell him, but it isn’t now.

  “When do I have to send you back to the castle?” he asks.

  “If they haven’t noticed I’m gone by now, then they won’t for a few more hours.”

  Blitz keeps his arm around me while he fumbles with the clock on the side table. “I’ll set an alarm for 4 a.m. Does that work?”

  “Sounds good.”

  I don’t really want to sleep, but I snuggle into Blitz, and my eyes are so heavy.

  Chapter 26

  When the alarm goes off, I’m momentarily confused. Blitz silences the noise and moves my hair away from my face. “You’re more than a princess in the morning,” he says. “You’re a goddess.”

  I sit up, holding the sheet to me. “I seriously doubt that.” I try to run my fingers through my tangled hair, but they get stuck.

  “You’re otherworldly,” he says. He pushes aside the covers. “And somebody agrees.”

  I glance down, my face heating to see him erect and waiting.

  He must have gotten rid of the other condom at some point. I reach out to touch him. He is hot and hard, and he takes in a deep breath as I slide my palm along his length.