by Shayla Black
Damn it, had the handful of orgasms Alejandro had given her softened her that much? Shanna stiffened her spine. She couldn’t afford to think with her heart if she wanted to win. And winning was all she had, even if it sounded…empty.
No, she was just tired or something. She’d worked too hard to lose focus now. If she couldn’t figure out who was behind this blackmail before the competition, she would likely have to cut Kristoff loose.
“We can win if we keep that video out of circulation. I’m working on that.”
“Is that why you went to Sneak Peek and performed a public scene with Alejandro Diaz?”
Shanna nearly choked. It hadn’t occurred to her that Kristoff would find out. In retrospect, she should have known. He was a member. She hadn’t seen him there, but clearly someone had told him.
He laughed. “I heard it was very hot and that you had a rapt audience.”
“I did what needed to be done to lure our blackmailer.”
Or had she really done whatever she had to in order to achieve those stunning pair of orgasms. She’d barely resisted Alejandro’s offer of a third, which he’d promised to give her in his bed, just the two of them on soft satin sheets.
“And you did it very well, I hear.”
Shanna rolled her eyes and turned away so he wouldn’t see her cheeks turning pink.
But she wasn’t fast enough.
“You’re blushing. You?” Astonishment laced Kristoff’s voice. “I have never seen you do such a thing.”
It was rare, and all because Alejandro had blown her away, and she hadn’t recovered yet. She had never craved sex or ached for any man. Until him. Last night, before she’d lost herself in the sensations of self-pleasure while thinking of Ali, she’d wondered exactly what he had done to her and why she was so fascinated by him.
How had he gotten under her skin so quickly?
Pretending to walk across the studio nonchalantly, Shanna sought her bottle of water and drank deep, then turned back to Kristoff. “Apparently, our plan wasn’t good enough. We didn’t catch anyone in the act of filming us, as we’d hoped. No one has sent me another blackmail video or threatened me as a result of the whole thing.” She shrugged. “I guess it was a waste of time.”
But it didn’t feel like a waste, given what he’d done next…
After the scene had ended, Alejandro had pressed a button to drop a partition between them and the audience. Shanna heard the watchers filing out, which filled her with a sense of both loss and relief. Then he had turned her to face him and taken her into his arms. For a simple hug. He’d said not a word, asked for nothing else for long moments. He just held her, stroked her hair. She hadn’t had that in a long time. Years. Her father and brothers certainly never gave affection. And she had needed it even more than she’d realized.
Shanna had clenched her eyes shut tightly, resisting an urge to crawl deeper into his embrace and cry for all the fear—and conversely, the bliss—soaking her body. In the aftermath of their sex, her emotions had tumbled, jumbled, whirled all around. Up was down, backward was forward; nothing made sense except holding onto him.
Somehow, she’d managed to restrain her tears, tear herself from his arms, and reach for her clothes.
Within minutes, Del emerged into the room with the unhappy news that security had been scouring the footage of the event and found no one in the audience with a camera of any kind.
After Del left, Shanna had lost it. Tears had fallen hard and fast. But silently. She’d hoped Alejandro had noticed.
Wishful thinking.
“Don’t cry,” he’d whispered as he swooped her up into his arms.
She’d been too weak to fight Alejandro, especially when he’d felt so strong while he’d settled her against his solid body and in the shelter of his arms. As he’d kissed his way down her face, he’d been so tender, as if he’d known exactly what she needed. He’d ripped right through her fragile barriers. She’d opened up to his whispered words and tender mouth…
Then he’d taken her hand and led her out of the main house, down a pathway hidden by tropical plants and climbing ivy, softly lit by the full moon, then pushed his way toward a luxurious cottage.
His private quarters.
Being alone with him when she was so emotionally raw…not smart. Downright scary, in fact. Even the idea had made her heart skid, her palms go clammy.
Clutching her keys, Shanna had mumbled something about a fictitious early-morning practice and fled.
So, it was done. They were done. Now, she needed to get her mind off of the repeated messages he’d left since and focus on dancing. She had the biggest competition of her career to prepare for. He had a business to run. Why he continued to pursue her, she had no idea. They had nothing in common.
Except great sex.
“Earth to Shanna,” Kristoff joked. “Are you with me?”
“Yes. Sorry. I have a headache.” That wasn’t a lie actually…just not the whole truth.
“Sorry. What should we do next about…the problem? Perhaps you should seek out a new partner.”
He looked so sad at the prospect. Something in her chest twinged, and she tried to shove it aside, but that wasn’t working.
“We don’t have time to talk about this now. You have to be at work in two hours, and I have to meet with the costumer shortly. Let’s focus on today.”
“It would not hurt you to talk to me. Do you want to talk about what happened at Sneak Peek?”
As her brothers would say, oh, hell no. “Talking won’t win us any trophies. From the top.”
Using the remote control, she started the music again and got into position. Sighing, Kristoff assumed his pose and they danced for another grueling half hour.
Until the door to the studio swung open unexpectedly.
Alejandro strolled in looking dark and yummy and like a man with an agenda—one that started with getting her out of her clothes.
Shanna sucked in a breath. “What are you doing here?”
“I assume your phone is broken, since you have not returned my calls.” He arched a brow. “So I decided to find you.”
“We’re practicing.”
The protest was automatic. His presence here, so unexpected, raised her defenses. Thank god. She needed those barriers against him. If she spent another hour with the man, feeling as weak as she had while he touched her, she’d collapse against him and… Shanna shivered. She’d be vulnerable to him, probably admit that she cared.
Not acceptable.
“You will win because we will uncover who has been blackmailing you,” Alejandro vowed.
“The security tapes turned up nothing, you said.”
“That is true. And I assume the blackmailer has not contacted you, or you would have let me know.”
“Yes, I would have.” And she would, no matter how much talking to him would have tempted her to do more—the way she wanted to right now. “But I haven’t received anything so far. So we have nothing else to say.”
Alejandro’s expression told he her could see right through her bluster and wasn’t put off in the least. Damn him! Why couldn’t he cringe, like most people?
“How did you find out when and where we were practicing?” she demanded.
With a sweep of his hand, Alejandro outted Kristoff as the culprit.
She whirled on her partner angrily. “This is practice time, not social hour. What the hell were you thinking?”
“That if I did not tell him how to find you, he would end my privileges at Sneak Peek.”
Shanna gritted her teeth. Fabulous. Yet another example of a man thinking with his penis. Apparently, it had never occurred to him—or he didn’t care—that she hadn’t wanted Alejandro to find her.
“I have been thinking,” Kristoff said. “Since your first effort to draw the blackmailer did not solve the problem that you should try again.”
“Are you serious?” Her jaw dropped.
Kristoff nodded. “Stage another public scene.
The word about it is out now. People in the community are buzzing about you two. If you give advance warning, I believe the person responsible will come.”
Shanna considered Kristoff’s words with dread—and excitement. More of Alejandro’s touches, his wild sort of lovemaking… So very tempting. She hadn’t just liked what they’d done together; she had basked in it. And had been aching for more since.
Not a good idea. More Alejandro would only addict her further to the man. And while she didn’t know him well, she doubted he would settle for a woman whose schedule was as demanding as hers, especially since she spent nearly every day dancing in very suggestive ways with another man. Besides, she’d bet Alejandro would expect a great deal emotionally from the woman he called his—certainly more than she was comfortable giving. He had to see her limitations.
So why was he still pursuing her?
As much as she’d like to give into her fears and dismiss Alejandro, what Kristoff said made sense. Maybe the blackmailer had not acted last time because he hadn’t known about the scene. Or been able to be there that night. She and Alejandro had done little to spread the word beforehand. The audience who had witnessed her coming apart in Ali’s arms had largely been there by chance.
“I agree,” Alejandro said. “I want to catch this bastard. But the choice is Shanna’s.”
She bit her lip. With the competition in three days, her options were running thin. Throwing away almost twenty years of training, sweating, and suffering to avoid having sex with Alejandro seemed beyond stupid, even if fear screamed that she should run like hell.
Reluctantly, Shanna nodded. “I’ll be there tonight.”
Alejandro shook his head. “Tomorrow night. Give me time to suggest that there may be a repeat performance, just in case the scum does not have his ear to the ground, so to speak.”
Shanna released the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. She wanted desperately to be with him. At the same time, she didn’t. It was so unlike her to be indecisive and conflicted. She had to regain balance, get a grip on her control.
“Fine,” she announced. “I will be there at eight. We’ll commence at eight-thirty. I need to be home by ten.”
Turning away with a dismissive whirl, she reached for the remote control, intent on starting the music, resuming practice…and ignoring Alejandro before he noticed her trembling and made her completely insane with those hungry stares of his.
Instead, he grabbed her arm and turned her back to face him. “You will be there at eight-thirty. We will commence at nine. If it takes a whole night of public performances, you will stay until we know who and what we are dealing with.”
She jerked from his grasp. “Don’t presume to tell me what to do.”
“Shanna, can you really afford to be impractical and put on your bitch armor with me?”
No.
“I know that is not you,” he murmured. “I seek only to help you.”
Still, she raised her chin, refusing to back down. “Whatever. If it amuses you to play the caveman—”
“It does not.” He leaned close and whispered for her ears only, “But it intrigues me to see you hide from me and the pleasure you know I am going to give you when I have you naked and under me again.”
Hours later, Shanna had showered, changed, and run errands. Life was normal…and yet she was still both seething and overheated by Alejandro’s arrogant comments. How could the man manage to irritate and arouse her in a single sentence? For that matter, why did he always incite conflict inside her?
Argh! She needed to forget him.
Her doorbell rang. She wasn’t expecting anyone. Probably someone trying to sell her something, maybe Girl Scout cookies. One of the neighbor kids had been selling them yesterday, and the thought of indulging in mindless sugar perked her up.
Shanna opened the door.
Someone stood on the other side, all right. It sure wasn’t a Girl Scout.
“Alejandro.” His name slipped out as a whisper.
“Good evening, querida.”
When he murmured that endearment, she melted. Every time. “Don’t call me that.”
“It bothers you when I call you darling? Why?”
“I am not your darling. We are working together to solve a common problem.”
“We are. But I fail to see how that must be the end of it.”
Shanna opened her mouth to set him straight, but Alejandro cut her off. “Though I am sure you will invent some reason, but for now, let’s not argue. I came to talk.”
With narrowed eyes, she tried to gauge his sincerity. “Just talk?”
“Nothing more.”
She didn’t quite believe him, but he’d roused her curiosity. What could he possibly have to say to her?
“All right. Come in.” She stepped back to admit him.
Alejandro shook his head and held out his hand. “Come with me.”
“Where?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“Not the club,” she warned him.
He shook his head. “Not the club.”
Now she was really curious.
Sliding into the sandals she kept by the door, she grabbed her purse and keys off the nearby table. “Will it take long?”
“Hot date tonight?”
His words mocked her. As if he knew that she could hardly wrap her mind around her interest in him, much less imagine being attracted to anyone else right now.
“With dreamland, yes. I’m tired.”
“And I am here to cheer you up.” He held out his hand to her again.
This time she took it and let herself out the door. “Where are we going?”
“The nature of a surprise is that you should be surprised.”
“So you won’t tell me?”
He shook his head, sending her a dazzling, unrepentant smile as they walked toward the condo complex’s parking lot. “That would spoil it.”
“You know that annoys me.”
“I know you are used to being in control and making all the decisions. A little relaxation will be good for you.”
People had been saying that to her for years. Generally, she ignored them.
“That’s your opinion.”
“And you cannot change it.”
“Okay, but you’re wrong.”
“How about humoring me, then? Pretend.”
She rolled her eyes, holding in a smile. He was persistent, if nothing else. “Whatever.”
Alejandro sliced her a victorious grin but wisely said nothing more.
When they reached the parking lot, he lifted his key fob and pressed a button. A sleek, black Mercedes convertible, so new it still bore the temporary plates, beeped and flashed its lights a few feet away.
Business at the club must be very good to afford the old place that housed their business and four-wheeled trinkets like this.
He assisted her into the car, then rounded the car to the driver’s side, and eased in. “My father was a wealthy man.”
“What?”
“I saw the way you looked at my car. I believe you had similar thoughts about the club. I am answering your unspoken question. My father was a wealthy man, and he left me his fortune.”
“Not your mother?”
He shrugged and started the car. “I am the only part of him my mother will have anything to do with.”
“They divorced?”
“In the Catholic church, no. They separated when I was twelve.” He backed out of the parking space and steered into the gorgeous summer night.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“You cannot like someone you do not know.”
He wanted her to like him?
“My father was a philandering bastard, if you wished to know why they split up. I remember my mother’s tears many nights when my father did not come home. They became my tears, too. He acted as if his affairs were both common and acceptable. Perhaps that was so in their generation… Perhaps it was accepted in his native Argenti
na…”
Alejandro was sharing something so shockingly private with her. Why?
“I do not agree,” he stated. “If you speak vows and make a commitment, it should be solid. You should mean those words.”
“True.” Was he trying to tell her he’d be faithful? Why did he think it mattered to her?
The fact he felt compelled to give her his opinion known unnerved her. But, being honest, it also thrilled her treacherous soft side. Having a man like Ali in her life full time would be wonderful…but distracting. Indulging was not an option. Their search for this blackmailing bastard and her need to win the California Dance Star consumed her every thought and waking moment. Her commitment was to winning. Romance would only interfere.
“Take my friendship with Del,” he went on. “Del and I met in college. We quickly became friends—both outcasts to some degree, being foreign-exchange students with somewhat poor English here in Los Angeles. We discovered we shared a lot of similar interests and passions.
“So after graduation, we decided to put our degrees to work on something mutually satisfying. Del used his marketing degree and social media skills to spread word of the club and promote it all around. I used my finance degree to secure the funding, run the back end, and invest our profits. We operate in the black, and each year is more profitable than the last. But two years ago, I had the opportunity to sell out my half for triple the amount I paid to get in.” He shrugged. “Long ago, I promised Del I would stay in until we were both ready for a change. I declined the opportunity.”
“That cost you a lot of money, I’m sure.”
“Losing the friendship would have cost me more.”
“You can afford to say that; you have your father’s money.”
“Not so much anymore. I put a fat chunk of it in a trust for my mother. She thinks I set it up with my money. But the bastard owed her more than he could ever repay. I thought this was fitting.”
Shanna stared at Alejandro as if seeing him for the first time. In a way, she was. It was hard not to like him when he was protecting his mother and defending his friendships.