Love on Pointe Omnibus

by Colette Davison

  Love on Pointe

  Omnibus

  Colette Davison

  A Dance For Two

  Copyright © 2018 Colette Davison

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Edited by: Charlotte L R Kane & Sarah Chorn

  Proofread by: Kristina Simkins

  A Dance For You

  Copyright © 2018 Colette Davison

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Edited by: Carol Davis

  Proofread by: Ann Attwood

  A Dance For Christmas

  Copyright © 2018 Colette Davison

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Edited by: Sarah Chorn and Charlotte Kane

  Cover Design: Colette Davison

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorised duplication is prohibited.

  A special mention goes to Elizabeth Armstrong. Thank you for suggesting such a beautiful series title.

  Contents

  A Dance For Two

  Blurb

  1. Luc

  2. Adam

  3. Luc

  4. Adam

  5. Luc

  6. Adam

  7. Luc

  8. Adam

  9. Luc

  10. Adam

  11. Luc

  12. Adam

  13. Luc

  14. Adam

  15. Adam

  16. Luc

  17. Adam

  18. Luc

  19. Adam

  20. Luc

  21. Adam

  22. Luc

  23. Adam

  24. Luc

  25. Adam

  26. Luc

  27. Adam

  28. Luc

  29. Adam

  30. Adam

  31. Luc

  32. Luc

  A Dance For You

  Blurb

  1. Mason

  2. David

  3. Mason

  4. David

  5. Mason

  6. David

  7. Mason

  8. David

  9. Mason

  10. David

  11. David

  12. Mason

  13. Mason

  14. David

  15. Mason

  16. David

  17. Mason

  18. David

  19. Mason

  20. David

  21. Mason

  22. David

  23. Mason

  24. David

  25. Mason

  26. David

  27. Mason

  28. David

  29. Mason

  30. Mason

  31. David

  32. Mason

  33. Mason

  A Dance For Christmas

  Blurb

  1. David

  2. Mason

  3. David

  4. David

  5. Mason

  About the Author

  Also by Colette Davison

  A Dance For Two

  Love on Pointe Book 1

  Blurb

  Luc tried to deny his feelings for his stepbrother once; he’s not sure he can do it again.

  Luc used to be close to his stepbrother, Adam, until he fell in love with him. Unable to hide his attraction, he did the only thing he could—he left.

  Years later, Luc is drawn back home to help save their parents’ failing ballet school and his feelings for Adam are brought to the surface once more.

  Unable to conceal his desire, he’s forced to reveal the truth to Adam and face the repercussions.

  Will the truth heal the distance between them, or drive them even further apart?

  A Dance For Two is a MM forbidden romance, with explicit language, steamy scenes between stepbrothers, a generous helping of angst, and an energetic best friend. It’s the first in a duet of standalone romances, with a happy ever after.

  For Katy & Charlotte;

  Thank you for being there.

  Chapter One

  Luc

  It was 10pm, but Luc was still at the office. It wasn't an unusual event, especially on the day the new season's collection was released. He needed to be on hand to check the website stats, sales figures, and do real-time promotion on all of the social media sites. Nearly everyone else had gone for the day, including the grumpy cleaner who had grumbled as he'd tried to dust, hoover, and polish around Luc. The only other person mad enough to still be around was Luc's boss, Adrianna Temple. It was her design label he was promoting; her clothes he was trying to sell.

  "How are we doing, Luc?" Adrianna asked, as she waltzed into his office and sat on the edge of his desk. She looked like she was ready to leave, as she was wearing an ankle length coat with faux fur trim and held a clutch purse in one hand.

  "Good. We're up on last season's first day sales by thirteen percent."

  "Only thirteen percent?"

  Luc looked up from the screen, his heart thudding until he met her clear green gaze. Her eyes were sparkling, her ruby lips upturned.

  "I'm kidding, Luc. You need to loosen up. Thirteen percent is great." She stood, clutching her purse to her chest. "I'm going to join the others at the wine bar, are you coming?"

  Luc shook his head. "Potential customers are still going wild on social media about the new collection. I want to be able to reply to any questions they have."

  Adrianna sighed. "You work too hard."

  "So you keep telling me." He folded his hands behind his head and leaned back in his comfortable office chair. "I just want today to be as successful as possible for you."

  "You just want a bonus."

  Luc grinned at her. "Or a pay rise," he said with a wink.

  She pursed her lips. "And what would you spend a pay rise on? I'm pretty sure you sleep in the office. You don't have a girlfriend—"

  "Boyfriend," he interjected.

  She lifted her eyebrows. "Shame. Anyway, as I was saying... you don't have a boyfriend and you never go out. You didn't even take all your holiday allowance last year. Face it, Luc, you're chained to the desk. You don't need a pay raise, you need a life."

  "That doesn't mean I don't deserve more money."

  She nodded her head thoughtfully. "I'll think about it. So, are you coming out to celebrate a fabulous new season launch? The first few drinks are on me."

  Luc considered her offer for about half a second before shaking his head. "Nah. I really want to be here. The personal touch could tip someone off the fence and into making a purchase. You want to improve on thirteen percent, right?" Going out and getting drunk wasn't really his thing; he didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of his colleagues.

  "Fine." Adrianna sighed dramatically. "But next time, I'm not going to take 'no' for an answer. You can lock up, right?"

  Luc pulled his top drawer open, lifted out the bunch of keys that sat inside and jangled them in front of Adrianna. "I do most nights."

  "Because you're boring," she said, flouncing towards the office door.

  "Because I'm committed," he retorted. "I'm driven."

  "You're boring." She waved her hand without turning round to face him and then was gone, shutting the door behind her with a bang.

  Luc scrunched up his nose as he went back to checking the company Twitter feed. He began replying to tweets with sassy comments or answering the questions that had been asked. One that cropped up a lot was whether or not the fur trim used on several of the new clothes was really fake. He'd lost count of the amount of times he'd assured people it was and told them exactly what it was made of.

  As
he answered the latest slew of questions, he turned Adrianna's accusation over in his mind. Was he boring? Maybe. A little bit. But he was also on a higher salary than most guys his age and could afford a really sweet studio apartment slap bang in the city centre. He hadn't got where he was by going out and getting hammered. He'd got there by working hard, putting in more hours than he was paid to, and by producing results. He was good at his job. If being boring was a side effect of that, so be it.

  But the long hours were starting to take their toll. Recently, he always seemed to be tired. He couldn't remember the last time he'd taken any holiday allowance—or done anything with it, except spend a few days in his apartment, catching up on sleep. Once the initial buzz of the new collection died down, he'd take a few days and go somewhere. He pulled out his phone and set himself a reminder to drop by a travel agent on his lunch break the next day, to pick up some short break brochures; if he bothered to take a lunch break the next day. Normally, he worked straight through it, despite protests from personnel that he was causing legal issues by not taking all of his breaks.

  He worked for another hour. The time passed quickly. It never ceased to amaze him that people actually wanted to shop online late at night. An alarm on his phone jerked him out of the hypnotic haze of staring at social media sites.

  —You should probably go home now, loser.

  Past Luc had obviously been in a foul mood when he'd set that sarcastic message. Either that, or he'd imagined that future Luc would be amused by it. Luc wasn't. After his conversation with Adrianna, he didn't need reminding that he was, indeed, a boring loser. He was married to his job and had no room in his life for anything else; he was content with the way things were.

  Sighing, he rubbed his hands over his face to try and stimulate the blood flow. He was tired. His eyelids were heavy. It would be a good time to go home and catch some sleep. He could always set an early alarm and make sure he was in by seven.

  It was a good thing he lived so close to work. By the time he got up to his apartment, he was ready to drop into bed without even bothering to take his clothes off. He could shower in the morning and the clothes were only destined for the laundry anyway. He took his phone out of his pocket to set an earlier than usual alarm, frowning as he noticed a couple of missed calls and a text message from his mum. Had he really been so tired that he hadn't heard them come in? Obviously, he had.

  —Luc, please call. It doesn't matter how late.

  Luc's mouth went dry. He barely spoke to his mum anymore. If she was trying to call him and text him, it meant that something awful must have happened. He dialled her number and held the phone to his ear, trying not to let panic rise within him as he waited for her to answer.

  "Luc?" Her voice sounded sleepy.

  "Your message sounded urgent. What's up?"

  "One minute."

  He listened to the muffled sounds of his mum walking through the house and of doors closing. Whilst he waited for her to start talking again, he poured himself a glass of water. He sipped it, leaning against the kitchen worktop.

  "I didn't think you'd call back tonight," she said.

  "You said it didn't matter what time I called. What's wrong? Has something happened to Dad, or Adam?" His chest clenched tightly.

  "No," his mum replied. "It's nothing like that. I was just trying to get your attention."

  "Get my—" Luc shook his head. The tightness in his chest eased but was replaced by anger. "What do you want?"

  "There's no need to snap," she said, her voice just as tetchy as his had been. She sighed. "I'm sorry. I was annoyed that you weren't picking up your phone. I should have phrased my text differently. I didn't mean to make you worried."

  "I was working," Luc said. He put the glass down and wandered over to the sofa. "I'm sorry too."

  Pretty much every conversation they'd had recently had ended up in them both apologising. Things had been difficult between them for a long time. What hurt the most wasn't the loss of the close bond he'd shared with his family when he was younger, but that he was solely responsible for the distance he'd put between them.

  "Luc, I called to ask for your help."

  Luc's eyes widened. "My... help?" He couldn't imagine there was anything he could do for his family.

  "Things are really rough with the business right now."

  "Rough how?"

  When he'd left home, his parents' dance school had been doing really well. They had full classes and had been in the process of hiring a couple of new teachers, so they could hold more.

  "There's more competition than there was," his mum said. "Three more dance schools have popped up in the area in the last couple of years. Plus, the rent on the studio has gone up. That means we've got fewer students and bigger overheads. We've had to let most of the teachers go just to make ends meet."

  Luc rubbed his chin with the back of his hand, as he let his mum's words sink in.

  "It's pretty much just me, your dad and Adam doing the teaching now," she went on.

  "How can I help?"

  He knew how much the dance school meant to his parents and not just financially. They'd poured everything into it: time, energy, enthusiasm and yes, money.

  "You're a marketing whizz," his mum said. "If anyone can help us turn things around and attract new students, you can."

  Luc felt a lump form in his throat. "I'm not sure how much I'd be able to do long distance."

  "Come home?" There was so much hope in his mum's voice, that it made Luc tremble as anxiety gripped him.

  He wanted to go home, but there were so many reasons not to. Or maybe there was only one really fucking good one.

  "Is that..." he cleared his throat. "Is that what Dad and Adam want?"

  Silence responded to his question.

  "They don't even know you're talking to me about this, do they?"

  "No," his mum said after another pause. "But they'll be grateful for the help. Your dad will be grateful." She paused again. "Adam doesn't know how bad things are."

  "Mum!" Luc snapped.

  He hadn't meant to sound so pissed off. What right did he have to chastise his own mother? But at the same time, he couldn't be anything less than angry that she was keeping things from his dad and Adam. That both his parents were hiding the state of the business from his stepbrother.

  "I can't just drop everything and come home," he said.

  Except that wasn't true. He had plenty of holiday time he could take. There was no reason he couldn't go home. Only he didn't want to. He wanted to help his parents, but he didn't want to be around Adam. He couldn't be near Adam. Even after all these years, the thought of his stepbrother stirred something he didn't dare name inside him.

  "I wouldn't be asking if we weren't desperate," his mum said. "I know you've got your own life, but I don't know what else to do, Luc. If we lose the business, we lose everything."

  Luc could hear the tremor in her voice. Was she trying not to cry?

  "Are things really that bad?"

  "Yes," she sniffed. "Your dad thinks we might have to close the school down by the end of the year if business doesn't pick up. Luc... we re-mortgaged the house last year to keep the business afloat. We really thought we'd just hit a rough patch and that we were going to come out the other side. But we haven't and we don't see it happening any time soon."

  Luc dropped his head into his hand. "Okay," he breathed.

  "Okay? You'll help us out?"

  "Yeah." He couldn't let his parents' business fail just because he was too chicken to face his stepbrother. "I'll need to talk to my boss to arrange some time off."

  "You're going to come here?" Disbelief dripped from his mum's voice.

  He didn’t blame her for being incredulous. It wasn’t as if he’d made much of an effort over the past four years; any effort, if he was being completely honest, which made him feel a deep sense of shame. He’d been a pretty crappy son of late, but now he had a chance to make it up to his parents.

  "I told
you, there's not much I can do from here. I need to get a feel for the business again and the local community. I need to know why people are choosing the other, newer dance schools over you. I need to know what you guys can offer that no one else can."

  "Thank you," his mum breathed. "You don't know how much this means to me. How much it'll mean to your dad."

  "Yeah... about that." Luc breathed in slowly. "You need to tell Dad and Adam that I'm coming. If I turn up and they're shocked to see me, I'll head straight home again. Is that clear?"

  "Yes."

  Seeing his stepbrother again was going to be hard enough for both of them. But things would be a hundred times worse if Adam didn't know he was coming.

  Chapter Two