With only thirty minutes before the show, Stacy finally came running over to me and showed me a text she received from Elaina. It said the text was sent two hours before, but it had just showed up on her phone.
“The reception in here must be bad. I went outside to get some fresh air, and it came through,” Stacy said. “She’s got a family emergency with her mom. She isn’t coming.” Stacy reiterated the text I had just read.
“It’s okay. I’ll just do her part.”
“But what happens if Cassandra asks where you are?” Stacy asked.
It was a real concern for me as well. Cassandra relied on me to do a lot for her, and this event was no different. But I obviously couldn’t be in this dancers costume and be able to help Cassandra. For a minute, I tried to think of a good way to twist this so I wouldn’t end up getting myself fired.
“Whatever she asks, just tell her I’m already doing it. Most of the time, it’s useless tasks and doesn’t matter. If she really needs something, either do it yourself or come and find me, and I’ll pull away from my donor and do it. Just keep redirecting her for me; can you do that? Just make it sound like you’ve seen me, and I’m super busy, and Cassandra is weird for not realizing it.”
“Yeah, but I’m not so sure it’s going to work. She might want to actually see your face, even if it’s just to yell at you. What if she asks other dancers, and they say they haven’t seen you?”
“It will be fine. I don’t know if it will work. But she won’t fire me if she thinks I’m around working hard. She will fire Elaina if she finds out she didn’t show up. Cassandra doesn’t consider family emergencies as anything other than an excuse.”
Stacy knew exactly what I was talking about. One time, her boyfriend fell and broke his arm, and she had to take him to the doctor. Cassandra threatened to fire her for being lazy and not coming to practice. I hadn’t seen an excuse yet that would satisfy Cassandra if she wanted someone at the studio. Funnily enough, though, Cassandra had no problem staying up in her office all day and even leaving for three-hour lunches when she wanted to. The mandatory attendance was definitely a one-way street in our organization.
“It’s starting,” one of the dancers said as we stood behind a curtain at the end of the convention center.
None of us had experience dancing within a crowd like we were planning to do. This was going to be a unique experience for all of the dancers. I wanted to give a pep talk but decided to play the part of Elaina and just stand quietly while I replayed my part over in my head. This was it; I was going to have to use all my acting skills to project the confidence and passion that Elaina had for dancing.
“And now, I’d like to welcome our amazing dancers,” Cassandra said from the microphone. “They will be treating you all to an extra special dance tonight, and then we will move right into the band playing, so feel free to get up and dance and enjoy the evening.”
On stage, Cassandra almost sounded like a decent person. She was good at making herself look human in front of other people. It baffled me why she sucked so badly at showing anything close to that human side of her while in the workplace.
The lights dimmed, and we all hurried out to our spots. My group was sent to the front section of the room near the stage. The rest of the groups spread out throughout the convention center. The tables were all along the outer edge of the room, and there was a large dance floor in the middle. A small stage was set up in the center of the room for the band, and they were ready to start playing as soon as our number was over.
Although we had tested a lot of different options for getting the donors involved, we had settled on just pulling them up to dance with us when the band started to play. We only had a few male dancers, so we assigned them to the top female donors. The rest of us would just grab a donor that we felt we wanted to dance with.
My group was positioned between two of the high-level donor tables. I really didn’t know many of the people except for one man that looked familiar because I’d been shown his photo a few days previously, Kevin Fox. I couldn’t remember what the girls said he did for a job, but he was smiling and pleasant to look at, so I made eye contact with him for the dance. It was better than connecting with one of the women or one of the more elderly donors.
The music started, and since I was dancing as Elaina, I had to start our group off. I confidently did my section of the dance and then held my pose as each of the other dancers continued the number. On the sixteenth count, we all went in together and continued the dance. It took me a few steps to get into the dance, but then I got lost in the performance.
I couldn’t see how well everyone else was doing, but our group was hitting all our marks and seamlessly integrating our moves with one another. The crowd in front of us really seemed to be enjoying it as they were fixated on us and barely looked away. The intensity of being this close to the audience was powerful, and I felt the energy radiating through my body.
Mr. Fox seemed particularly focused on my breasts as I danced, and my face was burning with embarrassment. It was a good thing I had a mask on to hide the shy nature of my disposition while I thrust my body around and finished our show. Although Elaina was supposed to dance with Kevin, I wasn’t sure I could gather the nerve to pull him up and dance. My hands were shaking with nerves.
When the music finally came to an end and we all stood still for our ending pose, the room erupted in applause. Most of the tables of people stood up to clap for us, and I saw Cassandra hurrying to the microphone to take advantage of this optimum time to gather donations.
“Weren’t they amazing?” she said as she clapped and cheered for us. “I choreographed that number myself,” she added.
I fumed with annoyance even though I should have expected such a thing from her. She had just said how much she hated the dance only an hour before, now she was clearly taking credit for it in front of everyone. She was such a wretched person.
“I hate her,” Maria said from behind me.
It caught me by surprise, and I quickly turned around. Maria was normally such a quiet girl who kept her opinions to herself. But she clearly had just as much disdain for Cassandra as the rest of us. I smiled back at her and then turned toward the table nearest me to continue the next step in our dance.
I took in a deep breath and pretended like I was Elaina as I confidently walked over to the donor table. I stood next to Kevin, and his blue eyes glistened as he looked up at me.
“Would you like to dance?” I said as I leaned over and put my mouth close to Kevin Fox’s ear. My words came out more sensually than I had expected. Perhaps the tight costume was making me more breathless than I had realized.
Never would I have been so forward with a guy, and certainly not a man like him, but this was what the dancers were supposed to do. Elaina would have been going after Kevin for sure, so I did what I thought she would have done. He was a big donor who had a long history of giving millions to various art programs throughout the city; it was my job to make sure he had a fantastic time at this event.
“That would be amazing,” Kevin responded as he stood up and gently took my hand.
I lost my ability to concentrate as his hand touched mine. I didn’t dare look at him and instead kept my gaze off to the side of his ear. Elaina would have been so much better at this; I was trembling as the band started to play, and Kevin took the lead to spin me around the dance floor.
It was a huge relief that he was taking the lead because I could hardly think straight. He smelled divine; like a mixture of Old Spice and some new-age musk. I closed my eyes and let him whirl me around the dance floor a little as we stayed in total silence for the entire first song.
“What’s your name?” I asked when the music stopped, although I already knew who he was.
“Kevin, and you?”
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Stacy said as she pulled me away from Kevin. “Cassandra wants to make sure the food is perfect before it is brought out to the tables. I told her you were alre
ady doing that.”
“Perfect. Thanks.”
“Um, how’s it going with mister mc-hot-pants?” Stacy said with Kevin only a few feet away.
“I don’t know, you interrupted us,” I teased her.
“Sorry, just wanted you to know what I said to Cassandra. Get back in there, and don’t do anything Elaina wouldn’t do,” Stacy said with a wink.
I wasn’t exactly sure what she was implying, but I didn’t intend to do anything but dance with this guy. He was way out of my league, and guys like him didn’t go for girls like me anyways. Kevin seemed like the type of guy who dated celebrities and other California elite women, not the assistant choreographer to a dance company who slept in a one-room apartment and fought off rodents in the hallway of her apartment complex.
“Sorry about that,” I said as I turned back to Kevin. “Should we continue?”
“Absolutely,” he replied as the corner of his smile tweaked up just slightly higher on one side.
His hand slid behind me and gently pressed against my lower back as he took the lead. This was the part of the evening that I hadn’t planned for at all. Under no circumstances did I think I’d be dancing with one of the donors, and I had absolutely no idea what to say or do. I really wished Elaina was there to take my place, although it did feel damn good to have Kevin’s hands on my body.
My right hand slid up his chest and found a spot to rest awkwardly on his right shoulder while my left hand barely held onto his hand. I felt like a middle school kid who was at her first dance and had no idea what I was doing.
Luckily, Kevin seemed to know his way around a dance floor very well. He took me in his arms and adjusted my grip so I was a little more comfortable as he moved us from one side of the dance floor to the other. My one semester of ballroom dancing was paying off as I followed his lead and moved in step with him the best I could.
“So is this your first time at our fundraiser?” I asked although I already knew the answer to this question as well.
“No.”
“Oh, so you like ballet?”
“Not really.”
“Wait, what?” I asked as I stopped dancing. “You don’t like ballet, but you are donating to it. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Are you always this flaky?” I said with a laugh.
I instantly regretted my words when I realized what I had said to him. I literally just called one of our biggest donors a flake. This wasn’t at all what I was supposed to be doing while I was dancing with him.
He pulled me back into our dance position and practically forced me back onto the dance floor. His arms were firm and demanding of me, but I went willingly with him. Having his hands on my body was the closest to dating a guy like him I was ever going to get. I was happy to relish every second of our time together.
“I don’t love the ballet, but I can find enjoyment in it at times,” he leaned in close to my ear and whispered to me.
My heart pounded with excitement. He hadn’t said anything particularly vulgar, yet the slow, low tone of his voice made me think he had some sort of sexual ideas for me. I shook it off, though. Obviously, it was just the outfit; he didn’t know me. There was no way this guy was attracted to me, but it was fun to have him flirting with me, no matter what the reasons.
I hadn’t been flirted with by a guy this handsome ever before, and I was prepared to take full advantage of my time with him. If Elaina had been dancing with Kevin, she surely would have been flirting and teasing this guy. So I did my best Elaina impression.
“Oh, you can find enjoyment?” I teased with a burst of flirtation that I didn’t even know I had.
“Yes, like right now. Dancing with you. This is giving me a lot of pleasure.”
His hands pulled me closer, and I made the mistake of gazing into his crystal blue eyes. He was smiling down at me like he knew his words were going to have an effect on me. He’d probably said something similar to a dozen women before, and they’d all had the same reaction to him.
My body warmed at his words and the intent gaze he had toward me. Kevin clearly had some naughty thoughts going on, I could practically see them in the smirk on his face. He was filled with lust, lust for me; I couldn’t believe it.
“So do you plan on making a donation tonight?” I asked as I tried to gain control of the conversation and pull it out of the gutter where he seemed to be dragging us.
“Of course. How much would you like me to give?” he asked with a playful smile.
“I don’t know. How much do you normally give?”
“Well now, tonight’s not a normal night. I’d like to make it a special night,” he said and leaned his head close to my ear. “Come home with me.”
My whole body froze at his words. What the heck was he doing? He’d only danced with me for a couple of minutes, and he was prepared to bring me home. I was not ready for a guy like him. No way. No how; I wasn’t going home with this guy.
Elaina was the kind of girl who could have a fun one night fling, not me. I hadn’t even been dating. My hands froze as I tried to figure out what to say to him. He didn’t seem thrown off at all by my trepidation though as he continued to lead me around the dance floor. I felt him hold onto me even tighter as he anticipated my answer to his request.
“I don’t think so,” I said with a laugh.
I didn’t pull away from him though, and I certainly wasn’t going to slap him for his advance. It was flattering that he wanted to bring me home. I’d never been asked by a guy so quickly, but then again, I’d never had my breast pressed up to my chin while I was dancing before either.
“One night of fun. It doesn’t have to be anything more than that. I want to take that mask off of you. I want to feel my lips on your body. Come home with me, and I’ll donate any amount you’d like me to.”
“How about we just dance for right now,” I said without giving him a firm answer this time.
My body was raging with desire. His hands had electrified me, and as much as I wanted to continue to deny him, I wasn’t sure I could. The fire that was building up inside of me was so strong that my center dripped with desire for him. One night with this guy might just be amazing. It didn’t have to be anything more than a night. I could have fun and pleasure and then just leave in the morning. Certainly, guys did that sort of thing all the time, why couldn’t I? Hell, Elaina always talked about how I was being too serious about dating and needed to just have fun. Maybe I would go home with this guy?
“Have you been dancing long?” he asked as we continued to dance.
He seemed to sense that I wasn’t prepared for the sexual attraction going on between the two of us. His tone of voice quickly turned to a soft, more natural conversation, and we continued dancing to the music. It was a huge relief to just be able to talk for a minute and not have to think about what going home with a guy like him might mean.
“I started dancing when I was barely able to walk.” I laughed. “Sometimes I think I’m better at dancing than actually moving through this world.”
“I know what you mean.”
“Really?”
“Professionally, I’m competent and the top in my field. But outside of the office, I feel lost and unsure of what to do with myself. I think it might be similar to what you’re saying.”
“I find it hard to believe you aren’t confident outside of the office,” I said and looked down at how he was holding my body against his.
He smiled but didn’t respond to me. Instead, he dramatically dipped me down as the music came to an end. I grabbed hold of his neck for fear he was going to drop me, but his arms had a firm grip on me, and there was no way he was letting me go.
In such a brief conversation, I already felt he had opened up a tiny bit of his vulnerability to me. I was comfortable with him. Nervous because of the way he looked at me and the lust in his eyes but comfortable with his arms around me. The combination was new and electric; I wasn’t sure I could say no to his offer.
“Come sit with
me for dinner. Is that allowed?”
“Sure,” I said as I remembered telling the dancers that they could spend the whole evening out socializing with the donors.
Kevin pulled the chair out that was next to him, and I sat down. The servers had already delivered the salads, and I wrestled with whether I should take my masquerade mask off or not. I didn’t want to lose the mystery that was surrounding me, but I also worried I looked a bit ridiculous sitting at the table in my full costume. I looked around the room to see what the other dancers were doing, but none of them were sitting with the guests, though.
“Um, I think I better go,” I said as I looked toward the back of the room where all the other dancers had gathered.
“Stay,” he said and grabbed my hand as I stood up.
“I can’t. Thank you for the dance. Have a wonderful evening.”
I pulled my hand away from him and was about to walk away when he stood up right in front of me, preventing me from leaving. His breathing was quick, and he held onto my shoulders to keep me there with him. Kevin’s touch was firm but gentle, and I couldn’t resist staying there in front of him. I stood still, waiting for what he was going to say and was totally shocked by what I heard.
“Hmmmm,” he let out a low groan as I stood there. “I need to have you.”
My body pulsed with desire as his animal passion toward me was undeniable. I wanted to say no; I truly didn’t want to be that girl who went home with a guy she barely knew. I wasn’t sure I could handle a one-night stand. I had zero experience with that sort of thing. On the other hand, I’d never felt this sort of instant attraction to a man, and whatever it was, I wanted more of it. I needed more of it. My body pulsed with an energy and attraction that I didn’t want to deny.
“Come here,” I said and grabbed his hand and pulled him behind the curtain.
I was going to say something; I’m just not sure what I was going to say because the second we got behind the stage curtain, Kevin took over. He pressed me into a dark corner and let out another low groan as his lips moved to mine.
Four Reasons to Come Page 27
