Dazzle Me (When You Dance Book 1)

by Juliana Haygert

The next week went by too fast. Between dance classes, rehearsals, and sneaked moments with Rayna, there wasn’t much time left. Because of preparations for the start of the upcoming performance season, her mother had several meetings after work, giving Rayna a little more time with me. We spent one evening with The S Team at the rooftop in Chinatown. We walked around Manhattan, making sure to take lots of pictures, especially in front of the university’s buildings. I took her to my apartment, where we had sex. We went to the movies, and we had dinner in a fancy diner.

  It was almost too fucking perfect.

  To my mother’s delight, the next pictures I sent her included Rayna. She agreed with me that Rayna was beautiful and that she had a great smile.

  “You look happy,” my mother said during one of her phone calls. “I don’t remember seeing you smile like that. Not in a long time.”

  After that comment, I browsed through my most recent pictures, the ones taken after Rayna and I became a couple, and realized my mother was right. I was smiling more.

  The hardest part was pretending Rayna and I were mere colleagues while at work. I was sure her friend, Alicia, knew about us, but no one else did. And, for now, it was better that way.

  “That move,” Rayna said, pointing to Robbie and Norah, who were showing the rest of the crew a new move for their dance. There was a competition coming soon, and they were rehearsing nonstop. I groaned. She laughed and elbowed me. “Watch it.” I didn’t want to. Being here, sinking into this sofa with half of her body seated over mine, my arm draped over her shoulder, and my head buried on her neck? I didn’t want to move ever again. “You missed it again.”

  Groaning, I lifted my head a little and watched as Norah stepped on Robbie’s cupped hands. He pushed her up and she flipped backward, but before she could fall, Robbie stepped to the side and caught her. He pointed her head down and she kicked with her feet, a series of fancy, rehearsed steps. Then he set her down, and they did a series of complicated shoulder and arm movements. The whole thing was similar to one common move of a ballet pas-de-deux.

  “That looks like a fish dive,” I said.

  She turned her face to me and wiggled her brows. “Exactly.”

  “What’s with the face?”

  Without warning, Rayna jumped off the couch, grabbed my hands, and pulled me up. “Come on.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “What are we doing,” she corrected me, smiling.

  I couldn’t help but smile too. “What are we doing?”

  “We are dancing.” Still holding my hand, Rayna rushed to where the crew was rehearsing. She squeezed past them, until we were standing in a corner. She flicked her flats away and turned to me, on her tiptoes. “Now we dance.”

  I put my hands on her waist. “To this song?” The techno pop music the crew was rehearsing to was still playing.

  “Just go with it,” she said.

  Shaking my head, I took off my shoes and kicked them to the side. And then, we danced.

  At first, the crew continued rehearsing as Rayna and I started dancing, improvising a mix of classical and contemporary moves. When we performed the classical version of the move Robbie and Norah had been showing the others, they all stopped and formed a half circle around us, cheering and gasping and wowed.

  After we repeated it all and ended it with the fish dive, Robbie stepped in and clapped my shoulder. “Man, if you guys ever want to join us for a dance, or even just part of one, let us know.”

  “Yup.” Norah nodded. “That was sick. We could use dancers like you two.”

  I waved them off and pulled Rayna to me again. “Just let us dance, freaks,” I teased.

  Rayna chuckled, Robbie snorted, Norah rolled her eyes, Chao and M.K. said something obscene, but all of them went back to rehearsing. I wrapped my arms around my girl and started moving side to side again. She smiled at me and a jolt of happiness filled me. This right here, this moment, with this beautiful girl looking up at me with such joy on her face—this was priceless.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Rayna

  It was my Sunday off, but I was up early and at The Dance Corner, working on the props for the winter recital. There was still over a month to go, but with my work schedule and everyone else’s, we had to make the most of the little free time we had. And I had this morning free—free from work, free for my mother and her extra practices, and free from Josh. He had wanted to sleep in for once and then go for a run, though we had agreed to meet up later in the day for a coffee or something.

  A shiver ran down my spine as an image of what “something” could mean. I shivered again and put the brush down before I made a huge mistake on the big canvas. My painting skills weren’t that good to begin with and distracted? Even worse.

  By late morning, my stomach growled and I considered taking a break to go out and buy some lunch. I was setting one of the brushes down when a shadow caught my attention and I lifted my eyes to the door.

  Josh stepped into the classroom, a to-go bag from Panera Bread in his hands.

  My heart skipped a beat and a huge smile popped on my face. “Hi,” I said, sounding lame, but I was stunned. He looked so fresh and handsome in fitted jeans, a dark blue T-shirt, and sneakers.

  With a lopsided grin, he sat beside me. “Hey.” He leaned into me and landed a quick peck on my lips. “I thought you would be hungry spending all morning here and—” He placed the to-go bag between us. “—since I was missing you, I decided to bring you lunch.”

  Oh my …

  My heart skipped two beats and I stared at him, too shocked to say something coherent.

  “But … I thought you were having a lazy morning.”

  Josh took out one of the boxes from the bag and handed it to me. “I wasn’t sure what you liked from Panera, but I saw you ordering something similar from another place the other day.” I quickly checked the panini in the box and … wow, he had gotten me my favorite. He grabbed the other box from the bag. “I was having a lazy morning, until I went running and got too pumped up. So, after a shower, I thought I would surprise my girl.”

  My girl … I liked the sound of that.

  My cheeks burned as I leaned over the food, cupped his jaw—loving the scratch of the stubble—and whispered, “Thank you,” before brushing my lips on his.

  He inhaled sharply. Still not being good at being good, I pressed my mouth to his, hard, and kissed him for real. He groaned before pulling away and glancing at the door.

  “We have to behave, Miss Monroe,” he said in a low voice. “There are people in the other classrooms.”

  I chuckled and shifted my gaze to my yummy panini; its scent was making my mouth water. I took a big bite and let out a loud moan.

  Josh stared at me with wide eyes and I chuckled. “Sorry,” I muttered, not really sorry.

  “You and those sounds,” he said, his voice husky. “If someday I can’t control myself …” He shook his head. “Well, you’ve been warned.”

  If someday … I liked his words more and more. It was as if he was planning on sticking around, on being with me for a long, long time. I really liked that.

  I pushed the bag to the side and scooted closer to him. With a pleased smile, I leaned my head on his shoulder.

  “Thank you,” I said again. He probably thought it was for being here, for bringing me lunch and keeping me company, but oh, it was for so much more.

  He kissed the top of my head. “My pleasure, Ray.”

  ***

  Josh

  The weeks continued flying by and I blamed the great time I was having.

  Dancing was going great—after winning the competition, it was like Rayna and I had cemented our place in the studio. Best of all, it had finally shut Martha and her friends up. At least for a little while.

  My mother continued calling often and I continued to lie to her—that wasn’t necessarily good, but I shoved the guilt aside. I’d fight that battle when it came.

  As for things with Rayna … wel
l, they couldn’t be better.

  One Saturday, while her mother was traveling for work, Rayna invited me for a dinner at her house. The few times I had been there, we had sex and left soon after, because her mother could arrive at any time. Knowing that no one would walk in on us for the entire weekend, I was a little nervous and a lot excited.

  For the occasion, I donned black slacks, a dark blue button-up shirt—I rolled up the sleeves to my elbows—and casual black shoes. I considered applying some gel or mousse to my hair, but in the end thought it would be too much. My heart raced as I rang the intercom outside her building. Rayna answered less than five seconds later and rang me in. At the elevator, I checked myself in the mirror, making sure my clothes looked okay and that my hair hadn’t gotten messier on the way here.

  Then I shook my head. What the fuck? Rayna wouldn’t care what I was wearing and how neat my hair was. Would she?

  Still shaking my head, I stepped out of the elevator and turned toward her apartment.

  And halted.

  My heart stuttered as my eyes focused on the beautiful, beautiful girl standing before the doorway of her apartment.

  Rayna’s cheeks reddened as my eyes raked her body—cleverly clad in a black dress that hugged her curves and opened up in a flowy skirt around her hips. To match, she wore black sandals that wrapped up to her knees. She had a little makeup on, focusing on her eyes and her red, red lips, and her shiny dark hair was a river of black as it fell loosely down her back.

  My mouth went dry. Holy shit, she was beautiful, stunning, dazzling.

  “Hi,” she said, breaking the silence. Her cheeks were still red.

  I jolted from my stupor and walked to her. “Hey there,” I whispered, before leaning over her and grazing my lips on hers. “You look beautiful.”

  She stepped back to let me in the apartment. “Thank you.” Her cheeks were now almost the same color as her red lipstick. I enjoyed making her blush and the color actually went well with her pretty face.

  I showed her the bottle of wine in my hands. “Here, I brought this for us.”

  She lifted one eyebrow. “How did you buy wine? You’re not twenty-one yet.”

  I shrugged. “Everyone has fake I.D. these days.”

  “That’s true.” Rayna took the bottle from me. “Come on.” She gestured for me to follow her.

  As we walked through the short entry hallway to the kitchen, I glanced side to side, to the walls filled with picture frames depicting Rayna and her mother dancing throughout the years, and once more I wondered how I had missed them that first night I came here. I blamed my blindness on two things. One, the apartment was dark, and two, I was too focused on the pretty girl taking me to her bedroom to look anywhere else.

  In the kitchen, Rayna opened the bottle of wine—I asked to do it, but she waved me off—and poured two glasses for us.

  I inhaled deeply as she handed me my glass. “May I ask what you’re cooking?” I could see there was something in the oven and something in a covered pan, simmering on the range.

  With a small smile, Rayna shook her head. “It’s a surprise.”

  I took a long sip of my wine, then set the glass on the counter and advanced on Rayna, trapping her between the kitchen cabinet and me. “I love surprises,” I said before claiming her mouth.

  Her lips molded to mine the same way her body did, and, damn, it was very, very hard to hold on, to be a gentleman and have a nice dinner with my girl before taking her to bed. But I liked her for so much more than great sex, so I would enjoy her company and appreciate the meal she had cooked for us.

  She had baked homemade bread and served it with some fancy cream cheese. Then came the salad with a pungent dressing I had never had before and really liked. I could hardly wait for the main dish—pasta with homemade five cheese sauce and bacon-wrapped fillet mignon. Everything was amazing and I had to force myself to stop eating before my stomach burst.

  “About dessert,” Rayna said from across the table and red spread over her cheeks. “We can have it now … or later.”

  One of my eyebrows shot up. “And what is dessert?”

  “Homemade brownies with hot fudge and store-bought ice cream.”

  Damn, she was killing me. That was one of my favorite things to eat, ever, and homemade? I didn’t deserve this girl.

  “We can have that dessert later.” I stood and offered my hand to her. “Come with me.”

  Her cheeks reddened again as she slid her hand in mine and I tugged her up. In silence and holding hands, I guided her to the little dance studio in her apartment.

  “This is such a cool place,” I said as I walked to the center of the room.

  Rayna scrunched her nose. “It’s small and simple.”

  “But it’s an in-home studio.” I pulled her into the circle of my arms. “I want one of these when I have my own apartment.” Rayna slipped her hands up my arms and rested them on my shoulders. I dipped her back. “So I can dance and do this with you anytime I want.” I felt the change in her body, as if the tension became a curtain and she pulled it all over herself. I brought her back up and she looked everywhere but into my eyes. “Ray? What is it?”

  She shook her head. “It’s nothing.” She glanced at me for two seconds before forcing a smile and stepping away. “How about we dance?”

  As if nothing had happened, Rayna went to the shelf along one of the walls and turned on the stereo. Don Quixote filled the room as she came back to me.

  I could still see the tension in her. Her steps were rigid, and she avoided looking into my eyes when she halted some distance from me.

  All right, we were past this bullshit. It was time to talk.

  “Ray …” I took a step toward her and reached over, grabbing her hand in mine. “Talk to me. What happened?”

  She swallowed hard and then, finally, raised her eyes to mine. “You were talking about the future, about the distant future, and you mentioned having me there with you.”

  “And?”

  “That’s … that’s a long time. I mean, I don’t know, I wasn’t sure, I’m not …” She took in a deep breath. “I didn’t know we were that serious, that you’re actually envisioning your future with me.”

  “Does it scare you?” Sure seemed like it did.

  “A little,” she confessed. “My ex said I loved ballet above everything else, and that I would end up alone. He called me cold, frigid.”

  I let out an amused snort. “You, frigid?” She nodded and, holy shit, I could see that she believed it. Rage toward the guy swept over me and I let out a growl as I wound my arm around her waist and hauled her to me. “Let me show you how frigid you are.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Rayna

  Taking me by surprise, Josh pulled me up against him. On instinct, my legs wound around his waist. His hands cupped my ass as he positioned my hips right on his, so I could feel how aroused he was and—oh my—heat spread through me and I moaned from the pure bliss of knowing I made him like that.

  Josh walked to the wall and rested half of my ass on the barre while still supporting my weight. He trapped me between the wall and his hard, hard body and then slowly ran his right hand over my skin, from my knee to the inside of my thigh. My insides tightened and I moaned as his fingers left a trail of fire on me.

  He rubbed his fingers on me, over my panties, and I gasped.

  “Does this look frigid to you?” he growled in my ear.

  He bit my neck and slipped his fingers under my panties. I stopped breathing as fire spread through me, feeling his hot breath on my neck. His magical fingers rubbed my clit and slid inside me. Oh my … I was on fire. I was molten lava, not an ounce of cold in me.

  I came with a loud cry and went limp in Josh’s arms. He chuckled, his face still buried in my neck.

  He kissed my neck, my jaw, my chin, until his face was aligned with mine and his eyes were boring holes into mine. “See? You’re the exact opposite of frigid, Ray.”

  Somehow Jos
h managed to stand me on my feet long enough to slide down my panties. Then he grabbed my thighs and resettled me on the barre. I locked my feet together behind his back, leaned my chest on his, and reached around him to fish his wallet from his back pocket. I found a condom packet, and slipped my hands between us to quickly undo the button and zipper of his pants.

  Josh lifted one eyebrow at me and I grinned at him, suddenly feeling bold and confident. He helped me push his pants and boxers down a little, just enough.

  I ripped the condom foil and rolled it over him. He groaned.

  “I want you inside me right now,” I whispered, guiding him into me.

  His hands on my hips, Josh closed his eyes and groaned. “Ray … fuck, this is good.” He leaned into me and mashed him mouth against mine, taking me for a deep and very, very slow kiss, matching the pace he was moving inside me.

  It was too much, but still not enough. I needed more of him, I needed all of him. As much as I could, I lifted my hips and met him halfway, increasing the rhythm, taking him even deeper.

  Josh bit down on my lower lip and groaned. “Ray …” It sounded like a warning, but I didn’t care, I had to keep moving.

  Suddenly, Josh ripped me away from the wall and disconnected our bodies as he deposited me on the ground. Cold swept through me at the absence of his body against mine, but I couldn’t complain about the view as he took off his shirt and pulled his pants and boxers the rest of the way down—all the while devouring me with his bright blue eyes.

  Then, Josh was leaning over me again. I wrapped my legs around him when he hoisted me back onto the barre, and gasped as he buried himself in deep. With another groan, he tugged the straps of my dress down, until they were hanging below my shoulders. His tongue trailed the curve of my breast before dipping down. The dress slid down even farther as he closed his mouth around my nipple.

  Crying out, I arched my back and my hands gripped his hair. He lapped his tongue around my nipple and sucked on my breasts, still pumping into me, each stroke faster and deeper than the last.