by Keary Taylor
I really do feel like I’m back in preschool as we clap out the rhythm. She has us do this eight or nine times and I’m sure everyone else around me feel like an idiot.
Julian meets my eyes as we clap, and we both have a humiliated smile upon our faces.
“Great!” Beth says in that teacher voice of hers. “Now, we’re going to just start with a simple walk. Like this. Walk, walk, walk.” She takes three steps forward in a very precise line, her feet extremely controlled. “And then back. Walk, walk, walk. Do it with me.”
This feels stupid and pointless. But I do it like everyone else.
“Now, I want you all to step first onto the ball of your foot, not your heel,” Beth says over her shoulder as she watches us. “This is proper form, but it will also help you to get some movement into your hips when that time comes!”
It’s a weird way of stepping, especially when going forward, but I watch how Beth does it, and mimic the movement.
“Okay, let’s get a little side action going on. So you step side, together, side. Side, together, side. And then back again.” I watch carefully as she does the side steps and wonder if my hips will ever move like hers do.
“Girls watch me, boys, watch Julian.”
I’m watching, but I’m not watching Beth.
Not when Julian’s hips are moving like that.
And of course he looks over his shoulder and sees exactly where I’m staring. He gives me a wink.
From here Beth has us move onto the rock step and it is with this one that I see where they are getting their hip movement from. When I step back with my right foot, my left hip drops down, the right rising, when I step forward on my left foot, my hips settle to the left.
This time I catch Julian looking at my hips.
“Okay, now we’re going to put it all together into the cha-cha basic,” Beth says, turning around and facing us.
“None of that was the basic?” one of the older guys says, his voice sounding nervous.
Everyone has a laugh at this.
“I’m afraid not,” Beth smiles. “The cha-cha is a bit tricky, but once you get the rhythm and basic down, it will get easier. Now watch as I go through the basic.”
The basic starts with a side step and then a back rock and a forward, and then two side steps. Next is a forward and then back rock and two more side steps. And then three forward steps, and three back.
My head is already spinning.
It takes at least a half an hour of practicing this step before Beth even turns the music on.
“K, you should know that the cha-cha is normally quite a fast paced dance and the music we will be using today is about half pace. Over the next few weeks, we will be working our way up to full tempo music.”
I get completely behind the first three times we go through the basic. The side step throws me off when I try to step first with the ball of my foot. I feel like I’m more hopping to the side instead of stepping.
But by the sixth or seventh time, it is starting to feel more natural. I think I can hear the right rhythm in the music.
By the end of the hour, we’ve gone through two more steps and danced them all with partners. Same as last week, I mess up here and there with every partner. Except Julian.
It’s a good thing he can lead, because the entire time we dance, I am mostly aware of the way his hand is palm placed on my back, the way his hands are so strong and firm around mine. The way our thighs brush every once in a while.
A man with so many tattoos does not seem like he would be this graceful.
“Great practice everyone!” Beth says as everyone packs up. I glance over at Julian as I gather my things to see him pull his cell phone out of his pocket and hold it up to his ear. He talks quietly for a few minutes and I take my time packing my things up, finishing at the exact same time he hangs the phone up.
“I’ll take you back to your car,” I say as he walks over to me. We are the last two in the building besides Beth.
“Actually, remember the hectic life I told you about before?” he says, his eyes apologetic. “It just came calling. I’ve got somewhere to be and I think I’ll just walk back to my car.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, my brow furrowing. “If you have somewhere to be wouldn’t it be faster if I drive you back to your car?”
I can see it in his eyes that he can tell I’ve caught the fault in his logic. But that smile spreads on his face and he shakes his head. “Nah, I could use the exercise. You newbies slow it down so much this is hardly a workout.”
I lightly punch him in the arm and he flinches away with a chuckle.
“Fine,” I say, trying to push back my smile. “Get wet if you want.”
I can see that there is a dirty joke he wants to say, but he just presses his lips into a thin smile and holds the door open for me.
“See you Thursday,” he says, giving a small wave before starting down the sidewalk.
“See you.”
I wasn’t really expecting to actually hook up with Julian again tonight. I may have bantered, but I wasn’t necessarily going to do anything.
But I am slightly disappointed that there isn’t even really the option now.
CHAPTER SIX
Things get extremely boring for the next two weeks.
There are no more mysterious board meetings. No more clients inquire about secret, new technology. The tech floors continue about business as usual.
Julian said he’d see me Thursday, but he wasn’t there. And he wasn’t there the following Tuesday, or the next Thursday.
Dance wasn’t near as fun without him.
The logical explanation was that he was busy with whatever it was he did for a living. He’d told me twice that his life was hectic at the moment and so that had to be the reason he hadn’t been around.
But my unfortunately female brain and heart kept coming up with other ridiculous scenarios.
Like maybe he was married. There was that phone call he’d gotten before he walked out the last time I saw him. He was so weird about his car that day too.
Oh hell, maybe he drove a minivan. Maybe he had kids.
Maybe not.
But maybe he’d gotten tired of me and my snarky attitude, just like every other male on the planet. Maybe I’d just been too much and he’d gotten sick of me.
Maybe, maybe, maybe.
Thankfully, I had a trip to Toronto to distract me and keep my head in a less pitiful state.
Gretch booked me a first class flight that had an unavoidable layover in Minnesota. After the last few weeks I’d had, I had her re-book my returning flight. I was supposed to fly in late Wednesday night, have my meeting Thursday afternoon, and then return Friday. But life required a little R&R, so I decided a mini-vacation was in order. I’d return Sunday morning and give myself a few days to relax and get my mind off a certain tattooed gentleman.
“I know I’m going to be gone for four days, and I know this is a killer place, and I know you have a fake ID,” I say as I carefully roll up the last of the dresses I’m bringing. Kale leans in my doorway, his arms folded across his bare chest. Also lacking shoes or socks, he is classic Kale at the moment. His muscles flex, something that seems to happen without conscious effort on his part. I’m pretty sure they do that in his sleep. “But I will cut your throat if you throw a party here while I’m gone.” I zip the suitcase closed and give him a hard stare.
“You’ve been such a tightwad the last week and a half,” Kale says, glaring at me. “Who shoved the stick up your—”
“No one has shoved anything up my anywhere,” I snap as I grab my carry on and head for the closet. I start grabbing the shoes that go with what I’ve packed into shoe bags and carefully put them in the luggage. “I just need to blow off some steam this weekend.”
“Some?” Kale comments, but his tone has softened. I hear him cross my room and flop on his back on my bed. I cringe. Martha already made it this morning, but I’ve been witchy enough to Kale today.
; “How are finals going, by the way?” I ask.
“I finished my last one a week ago.” I come out of the closet, suitcase in hand, to see him lying on his back staring up at the ceiling. “I think my brain has melted from all the studying. Words feel a bit like mush right now.”
I pull the handle up, cross one ankle across the other, and lean on it. “I’m proud of you, you know. You’ve taken these last few weeks seriously. Have you made a decision yet?”
Kale rolls onto his side and props his head up with his hand. His expression is serious at first, but then a smile starts to curl on his face. “I told Calvin I’m starting full-time Monday.”
Normally, a part of me would cringe at his declaration that he’s done with school for the foreseeable future, but I’m just glad to see someone else look happy for a change. I want to steal a little bit of that and hold onto it for just a little while.
“I’m happy for you,” I admit.
Kale climbs to his feet and presses a kiss to my forehead. “Thanks, Sage.”
“Now go get dressed so you can take me to the airport!”
I check the bag with my clothes, but there is no way I am letting a bag with seven thousand dollars worth of designer shoes out of my sight. The flight attendants carefully stash it and my briefcase into the overhead compartment. I just have to settle back into the oversized, plush first class seat and wait for takeoff.
My brain wouldn’t shut off last night, running through all the possible outcomes of this Toronto deal over and over. I’d done my research on Katherine Valchez and thought I had a pretty good feel for how to approach her, but you can never really read a person until you’re standing face to face with them.
And then as soon as I finally started to drift off to sleep somewhere around three in the morning, I had nightmares about missing my flight, about not being able to get a taxi, about not being able to find Katherine’s building.
I was back to being wide awake again by five.
Grateful for the four hours of quiet ahead of me, I lean my seat back and close my eyes.
I don’t mean to fall asleep, but within three minutes, I am out cold.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are starting our final descent into St. Paul,” a voice echoes. “The captain has turned on the seatbelt sign and we ask that you remain in your seats for the rest of the flight.”
I blink the sleep out of my eyes and turn toward the window. There isn’t much to see. Heavy clouds cover most of the view, but every so often there is a patch that breaks and reveals city.
“Can I get you anything else before I have to sit down, Mr. Dohring?”
My neck nearly cracks, I whip my head to the other side so fast.
“No, I’m fine, thanks.”
There, sitting one row up from me in the aisle seat, is Julian.
“How about you, Miss McCain? I hope you slept well.”
My eyes dart up to the flight attendant just as Julian looks back at me. My eyes flick back and forth and I’m pretty sure my mouth is hanging open in confusion.
“Uh,” I start to recover. “No, I’m fine, thank you.”
The flight attendant smiles pleasantly and moves to the front of the plane.
My brows furrow and my eyes focus on Julian. No words are coming right now and I’m half wondering if I am still sleeping.
Why in the world would Julian be on this plane?
“You look confused,” Julian says, this time without his signature smile.
“I’m on my way to Canada. You have been absent for two weeks. So yeah, I’m a little lost as to why you’re on this plane,” I say, my voice flat.
“What a coincidence,” Julian says. “I am taking a four day getaway trip to Toronto.”
I scowl at Julian for a full thirty seconds before I say anything. “Are you stalking me? And I’m asking this somewhat seriously.”
Julian looks uncomfortable and I’m pretty sure it’s the first time I’ve ever seen him look that way.
“After all the craziness I’ve been going through the last couple weeks, I just wanted to get away for a few days. I needed a serious brain break. I called your work last night to see if maybe you wanted to go do something before I left, but Gretchen said you’d already gone home for the night to get ready to leave.” Julian keeps his voice low, but not quite low enough to keep the nosey woman in the aisle across from me from looking our way every once in a while. “I bribed her into telling me where you were going and on what flight.”
“I’ll be sure to fire her as soon as I get cell service again,” I say. Everything in me is bristling.
“Don’t,” he says with a shake of his head. “Trust me, it took some serious coercion. I think the poor thing is desperate to see you enjoying yourself.”
“So, you are stalking me?” I ignore his previous statement.
“Yeah,” he says, that smile finally returning to his face. “I guess I am a little bit.”
“Hmm,” I say as I fold my arms across my chest and look out the window.
Due to the loudness of the plane and the too close proximity of the ears of our fellow passengers, Julian and I don’t say another word as the plane finishes its descent and touches down in St. Paul. As soon as the seatbelt sign turns off when we roll into the terminal, everyone erupts from their seats and start grabbing baggage from overhead.
I too climb out and reach up for my bag. During the flight, it shifted and it’s turned and jammed itself in the compartment. I jerk it, but it doesn’t budge.
“Here,” Julian says, suddenly directly behind me. I feel his thigh brush against my rear end as he steps forward. My shoulder meets his chest as he leans over me and I am enveloped in his scent. He gives my bag two solid tugs and it comes free.
I don’t reach for it, knowing he is going insist on carrying it anyway. He retrieves his own duffle bag and we wait silently and crowded up to each other to get off the plane.
Thankfully the benefit of first class puts us at the front of the plane and it only takes a minute for the crew to let us off. The pilot has come out to watch everyone disembark and winks at me as I walk by.
Julian and I walk side by side up the ramp and into the airport. Neither of us says a word, but every nerve ending in my body is aware of every cell of his.
The airport is fairly quiet, being an afternoon on a Wednesday, not one of the highest travel days. Julian slings his bag over one shoulder and wheels my bag behind him. He glances over to me as we walk down the tarmac toward the connection screens. I bite my lower lip to try and suppress the smile that wants to spring onto my lips.
“Gate B12,” Julian reads off the screen. “Other end of the airport. You hungry?”
Actually, I’m starving. I was too on edge to eat much last night and I completely forgot about food this morning. I nod.
“Map says there’s a café this way,” he says, nodding his head toward the end of the airport we need to be heading. “We’ve got an hour before the connecting flight.”
Silently, we once again set off toward the café.
“Hey,” Julian greets the worker at the register. “I’ll have the turkey club and an orange juice. And she’ll have…”
I didn’t expect Julian to combine our orders so it takes me off guard when he turns to me. “Uh, I’ll have the tuna salad and a water.”
“That all for you?” the worker asks and Julian pays him. Another employee hands me a tray with our order.
“Where you want to sit?” I ask him.
He’s already crossing the hall toward where there is a table looking out over the runway. I set the tray down and Julian parks our bags next to the chairs.
I’m hungry enough and Julian already knows I’m no real lady, so I take a bite before either of us gets the chance to say anything. Julian smiles and unscrews the lid of his juice.
“My brother is the king of OJ,” I say, nodding my head toward his drink. “He goes through a gallon almost every other day.”
“And the mystery of Sag
e McCain becomes slightly less shrouded,” Julian says before taking a bite of his own sandwich. “She has a brother.”
I realize my mistake in never revealing anything personal, but at the moment I am not too concerned. “Three of them, actually.”
“You’re lucky,” Julian says.
“You don’t have any siblings I take it?” I ask as I unscrew the lid of my water.
Julian shakes his head. This would be another of those moments to share personal information. But neither of us goes there for the moment.
“So, this trip is for business,” Julian says. “You’re an important employee with her very own assistant. Must be a big deal.” He takes another huge bite of his sandwich and then folds his arms on the table.
“It is actually,” I reply, my heart skipping a beat in nervousness at thinking about it again. “If I can close this deal it will be worth millions extra for my company.”
“Millions doesn’t seem like a whole lot to a company like Digit,” he scrutinizes.
“A month,” I clarify with a smile.
Julian does look impressed and his eyebrows rise before he downs more of his orange juice.
“This will be the biggest international deal we’ve done, as of yet, if I can close this,” I say as I swallow more of my sandwich.
“So your boss is going to be very unhappy with you if you don’t close it.”
“I hadn’t even considered it a possibility,” I say with a coy smile.
Julian smiles too, his head cocked to one side just slightly. “I love your confidence, Sage. It’s…refreshing.”
“Thank you. It’s refreshing to meet a man who appreciates it.”
“Hmm,” he mumbles, his lips forming into a thin line. “Shall we make our way to the gate?”
“That’s probably wise,” I say as I wad up the wrapper to my sandwich and let it roll onto the tray. I keep the rest of my water, tucking it into my briefcase, and toss the rest into the trash. Taking up our bags again, Julian leads me toward gate B12.