I have to get out of here, he thought. Just for a minute, until I can figure out what to do about this hard-on. He stood up out of his chair, but in his haste, he stumbled, knocking both the seat and himself to the ground. Nor was the clatter he made unnoticeable. Taletha and Morris both stopped what they were doing and looked across the room at him.
Fortunately, the sudden fall and pain caused Adam’s erection to settle down, so he didn’t need to think of a way to conceal it when they came rushing over to make sure that he was okay.
“What happened?” Taletha asked.
“Nothing serious. I just tripped over the leg of this chair. I’m fine, really.”
She grinned. “Good, because I don’t want to have to deal with my new employee being injured on the first day.”
“Are you sure you’re fine?” Morris asked. “I could run and get the first aid kid.”
“I’ll probably have a bruise or two tomorrow, but I don’t even need a Band-Aid. My ass absorbed most of the fall.”
“In that case, we should get back to work,” Taletha said. “You can keep watching if you want. We try to keep our practices closed, but since you were already watching, I don’t see the harm.”
“Let’s take a five-minute break, okay?” Morris asked. “I really need to take a piss.”
“Do you need to be so vulgar about it?” Taletha asked, rolling her eyes.
Morris leaned in so close that Adam found himself inexplicably jealous. “I could be a lot more vulgar if I wanted to. But I know you’re hell-bent on professionalism.” He turned and walked toward the bathroom.
Taletha turned to Adam and shrugged. “Sorry about him.”
“You don’t need to be sorry. He wasn’t being obscene. I found Emily’s behavior to be far more offensive.”
A look of panic flashed on Taletha’s face. “Oh my god, I didn’t realize you were that upset. I’m so sorry. I’ll have another talk with Emily.”
Adam laughed. “Don’t worry about it, really. You already spoke with her once. If she didn’t learn anything from it, it’s her fault, not yours. I know how to handle things.”
“Still, I’m responsible for my employees.”
“Your employees are responsible for themselves. Now, can I interest you in a dance while Morris is taking his bathroom break?”
“Sure, why not?”
Taletha went over to the stereo and put on some music. Adam took his place on the dance floor, and as Taletha approached, he held out his hand. After waiting a few measures to get the rhythm of the song coursing through his blood, he started to move. He began with the basics to get warmed up, but after about thirty seconds, he was leading complex combinations that he knew would give even the most accomplished follower a challenge. Each time she twirled past him, he could breathe in her scent, light yet slightly musky, feminine and strong. His erection started to perk up again, but he focused on his technique, refusing to let it overwhelm him and interfere with his ability to lead. But as she shimmied and turned, he found once again that his body could not resist the allure of hers. Still, he kept his focus on the music, trying to keep his arousal at bay.
As the song came to an end, Adam threw Taletha into a deep dip, stopping when her head was only three inches from the floor. As her breasts threatened to spill out of her tank top, his erection reached full force, threatening to burst through the fabric of his pants.
“Now I’m really glad I hired you,” Taletha said as he pulled her up. “Not that I didn’t already know you were an amazing dancer. But now I have firsthand experience.”
“Likewise,” Adam gasped, hoping she wouldn’t cast her eyes in the direction of his crotch.
“Planning to steal my partner away?” Morris asked as he walked back into the studio.
Chapter Two
Taletha and Adam jumped away. Taletha couldn’t explain why she suddenly felt guilty for dancing with him, but she couldn’t bring herself to meet Morris’s eye. She shoved her hands behind her back to hide the fact that they’d suddenly started shaking. She felt her face flush and cursed the fact that she didn’t have a way to hide the color in her cheeks.
Adam, on the other hand, was completely suave. “I was just keeping her warm for you,” he said with a wink before walking off the dance floor and heading toward the staff lounge.
“Thanks, man,” Morris called out. “I always appreciate a dancer who can take good care of my followers.”
“Anytime.” Adam gave Morris a thumbs-up as he disappeared down the hall.
Morris turned back to Taletha. “I like this guy. I think he’s going to fit in well around here.”
“Well, that’s why I hired him.” Taletha hoped Morris couldn’t hear her voice shaking.
“Okay, we should get back to work. Do you want to take it from the top or review the section we just made up?”
Taletha was surprised by Morris’s calm demeanor. “You’re not mad?”
Morris narrowed his eyes. “What on earth would I be mad about? You dancing with a colleague while I was in the bathroom? Oh, the horror.”
“I was just checking.”
“What’s to check? We dance with other people all the time. That’s part of the job description, to dance with as many people as possible. If I had a problem with you dancing with other people, I’d convince you to marry me, and then convince us to find completely new jobs that didn’t require us to touch other people. Though if I were that uptight, I’d probably belong to one of those churches that forbade dancing, so it would be a moot point.”
Taletha couldn’t help but giggle as she continued to stare down the hallway, catching the last images of Adam’s taut ass. “I guess I am being a little ridiculous. I don’t know what got into me.” The door to the staff lounge closed, but she continued to stare. She couldn’t help it.
Morris frowned. “You’re into him, aren’t you?”
“He’s a very good dancer.”
“Cut the bullshit, Taletha. We’ve known each other long enough that we can’t hide a thing from each other. I can see it in your eyes, I can hear it in your voice, and most of all, I can see it in the way you’re blushing.”
“He’s cute, but come on, most of the people in our profession are pretty attractive.”
“Yeah, but you’ve never asked my permission to dance with any other guy before.”
Taletha sighed. “Look, I’m sorry, I’m just being ridiculous. It’s been a long day already. I got a call from Matt.”
Morris’s gaze narrowed. “What happened? Is he trying to make trouble?”
“Nothing. I took care of it. He’s leaving town and just wanted one last chance to be an ass before we never had to deal with him again. But even though it wasn’t that big a deal, the conversation rattled me.”
“Maybe you should call your attorney, just in case. And if you need me to, I can go talk to him.”
“Look, we can discuss this at a time when we’re not supposed to be rehearsing. Let’s just get back to dancing.”
“Are you sure that’s all that’s bothering you?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Now hurry up. If I stand here too long, I’ll have to warm up all over again.”
“You’d tell me if there was something going on between you and Adam, right?”
“You know I would. But what can be going on between us when I’ve only known him for a few hours? Now you’re the one who’s starting to sound crazy.”
Morris turned the music back on, and Taletha jiggled her hands, working the nervous tremors out. They started their routine from the top. But Taletha knew he was upset, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. His dancing suddenly became mechanical. Their steps were correct. In fact, this was the first time they’d run through the choreography without any mistakes. Their rhythm was perfect, and they hit every accent and break without hesitation. But Morris had lost the soul of the music, the essence of the dance. He led her through the movements like a robot. Taletha hated when this happened. It turned rehearsal from fun i
nto work. Between teaching students and keeping up with the administrative tasks of the studio, Taletha had enough work in her life. Rehearsal was her respite from all of that. But for the last half hour, it suddenly became just another chore that needed to be completed.
“I think we can call it a day,” Taletha said when there were ten minutes left. “We’re making good progress.”
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. See you later.” Morris turned around and hurried off to the staff lounge.
Taletha didn’t want to follow Morris into the lounge when he was already upset. After shutting off the sound system, she went back to her office to deal with the never-ending stream of e-mails. At the top of her inbox was a message from Matt.
You had your chance, but you blew it. You’ll regret it sooner rather than later.
The terse message didn’t even bear a salutation or signature. The sparseness combined with the tone made Taletha shudder. Deciding to take Morris’s advice, she forwarded it on to her attorney with a note that she wanted to have a paper trail just in case. Then, she archived it, so she wouldn’t have to find it each time she opened her inbox. But she refused to respond. She refused to play Matt’s manipulative games. If she wrote back, she’d just be digging herself deeper into whatever mess he was trying to create. She was not going to let him intimidate her, and she was not going to let him drag her studio down. Deciding to cheer herself up, she got on the phone with her costume designer so they could start discussing outfit ideas for the new choreography.
* * * *
“What’s with you and Taletha?” Morris asked, closing the door to the lounge behind him.
Adam woke up with a start from the couch where he had been napping. “Huh?”
“What’s going on between you and Taletha?”
“What, I’m not allowed to dance with a colleague? Sorry, I didn’t know there were rules against that here. Let me know if you have any other dance partners I need to leave alone.”
“You know damn well it’s not about the dancing.”
“Then why don’t you tell me what you mean.”
“She was totally off after dancing with you.”
“That doesn’t have anything to do with me. We just danced.”
“I also saw the way you were staring at her when we were practicing.”
“I didn’t realize there was something wrong with watching, either. Unless—you have feelings for her, don’t you?”
Morris nodded, his face switching from a look of anger to a look of frustration. “I’ve been attracted to her from the moment I met her, and since then, what I felt has grown into love. But she has yet to reciprocate. Anytime I hint at my feelings for her, she suddenly gets skittish, and it takes two weeks for us to recover our equilibrium.”
“Then you don’t have to worry, man. If that’s the way she feels about you, I don’t see why she’d feel any differently about me.”
“So you are attracted to her.”
Adam sighed. “Yes, I am. But there’s clearly no point in me pursuing her if I’m just going to be rejected. I’m better off looking elsewhere.”
“Hey, boys, what are you talking about?” Emily burst into the room, breaking the tension between the two men, but putting them up on their guard. They both knew that she was nothing but trouble.
“Just chatting about the studio,” Adam said. “Morris is giving me some of the ins and outs of the place.”
“I could help you with some ins and out,” Emily cooed, sitting down on the sofa next to Adam.
Morris rolled his eyes. “Come on, Emily. Grow up.”
“Oh, it was just a little joke. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there? Adam has a good sense of humor, anyway, right?” She stroked her hand up and down his arm and looked shocked when he shrugged it off. But something about her touch made his skin crawl. The manner with which she approached him reeked of desperation, and desperation made Adam nervous.
“I have a sense of humor, but Taletha gave me the details on Matt Fairbanks and his resignation. And some jokes just aren’t that great to make in the workplace.”
“Aw, you’re not any fun.”
“And I don’t see how you running your hand up and down my arm actually counts as joking. I don’t see anything funny about that.”
“Maybe it’s not funny, but it’s certainly fun.” She began touching him again, as though he hadn’t rebuffed her advances moments before. Again, Adam’s skin began to crawl as she invaded his personal space. This time, to make sure she got the point, he picked up her hand and set it in her lap, then glared at her, making sure his angry eyes looked directly into hers.
“It’s not fun, actually. I’d rather keep things completely professional between us, both at the studio and outside of it. You’re my colleague, not my girlfriend. Got it?”
“Geez,” Emily said, rolling her eyes. “What the hell does everyone around here have against flirting? You people all need to loosen up. We’re dancers. We’re not supposed to be uptight.”
“I’m sure some ballerinas would beg to differ,” Morris said. “Besides, I don’t think it would hurt for you to tighten your reigns a little bit. After all, we’re dancers. We’re supposed to be disciplined.”
Adam couldn’t help but chuckle. Emily glared at both of them.
“Fine, whatever. Be boring. I don’t give a shit. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a lesson to teach.” She got up off the couch and stomped out of the lounge, slamming the door behind her.
Morris shook his head. “We need less drama at this studio. Otherwise, that door is going to fall off its hinges in a week.”
“Something tells me none of this drama started until I arrived here today.”
“Well, it looks like you’re the direct cause of Emily’s angst. But don’t worry about Taletha and me. She’s been my main source of sexual frustration for the last five years. You didn’t do anything new by showing up and capturing her attention.”
“That’s a relief, I guess. Especially because I know she won’t reciprocate my feelings, either. We’re in this together, I guess. Mutually lusting after Taletha from afar, doomed to be constantly rejected.”
“At least misery loves company.”
“Yeah. Hey, when do you have to teach again?”
“Pretty soon, but I have a little time to hang out and chat if you have any questions about the studio.”
“There’s this bar right around the corner that looks really cool. Want to go get a beer and commiserate? Or do you not want to drink before teaching?”
Morris glanced at the clock. “I could have one beer. I just can’t get trashed.”
“Cool, let’s go.”
“What’s up, guys?” Taletha asked, walking into the studio.
“We were just going to get a drink,” Adam said. “Want to join us?”
“At three o’clock in the afternoon on a Monday?”
“Why not? We need to, uh…” Morris trailed off, and Adam could see him struggling to come up with an excuse. “Celebrate Adam’s first day on the job.”
“I figured we would celebrate on Friday night, at the staff outing to The Copa.”
“Why not both?” Adam asked.
“Man, I didn’t realize I’d hired a total party animal. I was actually thinking that since you don’t have any students scheduled until tomorrow, you could give Morris and me a lesson, pretending we’re first-time students. You have a great reputation, but I always like to do a mock lesson with first-time teachers to get a feel for how they work with clients.”
“Sounds great,” Adam said.
“I’m game,” Morris said with a smile. “We could probably stand to get some pointers from a dancer who has been known to kick our butts in competition from time to time.”
Adam didn’t know what made him more nervous as the three of them walked out to the main studio, the fact that he was going to have to give his new boss and competitive peer a lesson, or the fact that he was going to have the opportunity to to
uch Taletha a second time. He hoped his knees would stay stable enough to keep him upright, and he hoped his hands would stay tremor-free as he guided the couple around the floor.
“So, what did you want to work on?” he asked.
Taletha smiled. “Relax. Just pretend we’re brand-new dancers. Act like we don’t know anything about dancing. Start as though you’re meeting us for the first time on day one.”
Adam swallowed. “Okay, um, sure.” He shook his body out to release the tension, took a deep breath, and tried to focus on what he was doing. “Welcome to the studio. I understand you both want to learn salsa.”
Taletha gave an impish grin. “Yep!”
Adam tried not to laugh at her fake attempt at beginner’s enthusiasm. “How much dance experience do the two of you have?”
“None! We’ve never danced before!” Morris also hammed it up, his eyes sparkling with all the fun he was having.
“Okay, then. Let’s get started with the basic step. I’m going to start with Taletha. Morris, I’ll be with you in a second.”
Adam taught Taletha the basic step, then showed Morris the beginner foot work as well.
“Now that the two of you know the first pattern, let me put on some music and have you try it together.” Adam hit the stereo for the remote control, and a cheerful salsa beat filled the studio. Morris and Taletha grinned at each other. Adam knew that they were plotting something. They danced the first few steps fine, but then intentionally started making mistakes.
Jordan, Olivia - Taletha's Salsa Sweethearts [Studio Seductions 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 2
