by Diana Nixon
Will’s hand went to my hair, sliding his fingers through it. With the other hand resting on my lower back, he pressed me harder against him, showing me just how aroused he was for me. Holy hell, I would have given almost anything just to feel him thrust his member deep inside me. And I was almost ready to tell him that. But Will had plans of his own. . .
He stepped back, saying, “Next time you decide to break into my dreams, be ready to repeat them all for real.” There was not a trace that he was joking in his tone or eyes. He was actually a little angry, and I guess I knew why.
“I can’t control your dreams,” I said, sitting down on the chair behind me.
“Oh yes, you can.” He stepped closer, bent down and put his hands on the arms of my chair, hovering over me. “In any other situation, you would be on your back, aching for me, even before you had a chance to realize what was going on. And maybe it was not such a brilliant idea to live under the same roof after all, but I intend to get full compensation for every damn second I have to keep my lips and hands away from you, Louise. Is that clear?”
I almost laughed. “Crystal.”
“Good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to take a shower.” He turned to walk out of the room, but damn my inner demon, I couldn’t just let him go without saying something. . .
“Make sure it’s cold enough to cool you off,” I said after him. I picked up my book and pretended to read, even though I didn’t see a single word written in it.
“You are playing with fire, Louise. Aren’t you afraid it may decide to blow up?”
I didn’t look up at him, on purpose obviously. “I’m not afraid of anything, Mr. Blair. I would have thought that you have had enough time with me to figure that out by now.”
“That’s the problem, Miss Woods – no time with you will ever be enough.”
He then went out of the room, and shut the door behind him. For a moment, I thought the walls of my room shattered from the loud sound the door made when shutting.
Now that was interesting. . . How on earth were we going to keep coexisting in the same house, when neither of us were ready for it?
When I went downstairs to have breakfast about a half hour later, Will was already there, sitting at the dining room table, dressed and ready for the day.
“Coffee?” Christopher asked, entering the room with a silver tray in his hands.
“Yes, please.” I took the seat opposite from Will, which made Christopher smile.
“Trouble in paradise?” He asked quietly, while pouring coffee into my cup.
Will’s expression was as dark as ever, which only made him look even more gorgeous. He was wearing a dark-blue suit, with a matching tie and a show-white shirt. As bossy as always.
“I guess Mr. Blair had trouble sleeping last night,” I said.
“I’m right here, you know?” Will barked. “I can hear everything you two are saying.”
“We are well aware of that, Sir,” Christopher said, trying to hide his smile.
I giggled. “Do we have ice-cream in the house?”
“Yes, why?”
“It’s getting really hot in here...”
Will gave me a warning look, but I ignored it.
“Shall I turn the air conditioner on?” Christopher asked, pretending he didn’t know what the whole ‘this-mean’s-war’ thing was about.
“Maybe later. I’m leaving for class.”
“How many do you have today?” Will asked, as indifferent as ever.
Poker face professional.
“Three. And I have a meeting with the school's headmistress in the afternoon.”
Will and Christopher shared a look. They probably thought I wouldn’t notice it, but I did.
“Is everything all right?” I asked, looking from one to the other.
“Let Christopher take you to school and back,” Will said, ignoring my question. “I don’t want any stalkers to follow you again.” Then he wiped his lips with a napkin, put it on the table, and rose to his feet to leave.
“Will?” I called.
He stopped at the door. “Yes?”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For your patience.” It was not supposed to sound like a scoff, but he obviously misinterpreted my words.
“It is not infinite,” he said and quickly left the room.
I sighed. “Do you think he hates me?”
Christopher poured a cup of coffee for himself and took a seat on my right, saying, “I’m sure he hates himself more right now.”
“I didn’t want to come here and complicate his life.”
“I know, Louise. Your arrival didn’t complicate anything. It’s just that Will loves you too much to stay out of your life and pretend he doesn’t care.”
I didn’t have anything to say to that. So I asked about something else instead.
“Do you think we still have a chance to find Rea?”
“Why do you want to find her?”
“Well, first of all, to make sure that she’s okay. And secondly. . .she can help me find my mother.”
“If you want my opinion, Louise, I think you should wait for your father’s elections to be over. Personally, I don’t think he will be the next president, but if he does, you’ll have to be even more careful with anything that might threaten his reputation, including finding your mother and telling her the truth about yourself.”
“Do you think she might try to tell everyone about what he did years ago, when he took me away from her?”
“We don’t know how she might react to the news about her daughter being alive.”
“Sometimes I wonder if she had other children after me. . .”
“Would you like to have siblings?”
“Technically, I already have two sisters, even though they probably will never know I even exist.”
“But I’m sure your mom, whoever she is, will be more than happy to know about you. Now, how soon shall we leave?”
“I’ll be ready in ten,” I said, looking down at my watch.
“Okay. I’ll be waiting outside.”
Christopher put the dishes on a tray and left.
I stayed sitting at the table, thinking about all the secrets my life consisted of. Drew didn’t call me back, apparently he didn’t have any information to share with me. But I still hoped he would be able to find out more about the mysterious Debora Griffin.
I stood up, grabbed an apple from a platter on the table, and went to get changed. I didn’t want to be late for my classes. Besides, I needed to grab a few things just in case Mrs. Cormac wanted to see one of my dances. For today, meeting with her was the most important thing to focus on.
***
“Louise, can you come help me with these costumes?” Leslie, one of my groupmates said, trying to pull a huge rack filled with clothes into the classroom.
“What are all these for?” I asked, running to help her.
“We need to choose the costumes for our ballroom dance competition on Friday. Do you have anything to wear?”
“Shoot, I totally forgot about the competition.” With all the crazy things going on around me, it wasn't surprising that I didn't remember. “Can I borrow one of these?”
“Yep, but don’t forget to return it. Mrs. Henderson will be pissed if even one of her precious dresses disappears.”
I looked through the dresses and found one that reminded me of my show in Le Papillon. It was bright red, with small shining crystals decorating its sleeves and skirt. And there was a matching mask to go with the dress.”
“What part of the competition are you going to participate in on Friday?” Leslie asked, looking at my choice.
“The tango.” It was one of my favorite dances, sexy and full of passion.
“But you can’t perform it alone. You know that, right?”
“I am hoping I can get one of the guys to agree to dance with me.” Unlike trainings, during competitions, we always needed to dance with a partner, and fortun
ately, there were a few guys in our group who were really good at ballroom dancing.
“Ask Gale to help you. He loves the Latin-American program.”
“I’ll keep him in mind.” I thanked Leslie for the dress and went to the headmistress's waiting room. It was almost two, which meant it was time to meet the famous Sabine Cormac.
“Louise Woods, right?” The secretary asked.
I nodded in response. I was a little nervous about meeting Mrs. Cormac, I wasn't sure how to act in her presence. It was going to be the worst fangirl moment ever.
“Follow me, please. Mrs. Cormac is ready to see you.”
Wordlessly, I followed the secretary into a spacious room, decorated in shades of ivory and blue. One of the walls was covered with mirrors, reflecting everything in the room – I would have expected nothing less from a world famous dancer.
I walked over to one of the chairs across from the headmistress’s desk and took a seat.
A few moments later, I saw a door on my right that I hadn’t noticed before, as it opened. Sabine entered the room, smiling brightly at me and saying, “Well, hello, Louise Woods. I finally get the chance to meet one of our best students.” She looked exactly like she did on all those pictures I could stare at for hours, imagining myself being as professional as she was one day. Sabine was around forty, with short sandy hair, and big blue eyes that I could swear could see right through me. She was wearing a knee-length, dark-green dress, with a thin golden belt outlining her small waist. The woman was in perfect shape. No doubt, she spent a lot of time training and dancing.
I was so taken aback by her words, I could hardly make myself say anything in response.
“It’s an honor to be here and meet you in person, Mrs. Cormac.”
“Oh, the pleasure is all mine, Louise. I have heard so many great things about you. Your teachers are very happy to see that even a first year student, like you, can be so well-trained and talented.”
“There are students who dance much better than I do,” I said, feeling my cheeks reddening.
Sabine took a seat in her leather chair, and smiled at me. “I saw a video with one of your performances. Very impressive, I must say. Was it your idea to combine cabaret and ballet styles in one dance?”
“Yes. I used to work in a cabaret club. I’ve learned a lot from there.” I was not ashamed to tell her about my previous work. It was not like I danced for money or slept with the men watching my shows. Besides, I was too grateful to Kate for everything she had taught me to ever belittle her lessons.
“I really loved your dance. We should include it in the program of our Spring show next year.”
“Oh, my God! I don’t know what to say. . . Thank you!”
“Thank your parents for raising such a talented daughter, not me. I only help talents shine.”
I smiled sadly. “I wish I could do that. But I don’t have parents.”
Her face suddenly saddened. “Oh. . . I’m sorry, Louise. I didn’t know that.”
“It’s okay, I have never had a family. I grew up in an orphanage.”
“It must have been hard for you.”
“I try to not think about it. I’m still young, and I have a whole life to live and make new memories.”
“I’m happy to hear that you don’t look back, Louise. Sometimes it’s better to focus on your future than to let your past bring you down.” More sadness crossed her beautiful face. I wondered if there was something in her past that she wished she could change too.
“I couldn’t agree with you more, Mrs. Cormac. I bet your children love dancing more than anything else in the world.”
She shook her head, lowering her eyes. “I wish…but my husband and I don’t have children.”
“Oh. . . Sorry, I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay. We all have something that we prefer to not talk about, right?”
I nodded, feeling as silly as ever. I should have thought twice before saying anything about her family. After all, I had never read anything about her personal life, most of the articles talked about her dancing career and the things she’d managed to achieve as a professional dancer.
“Why don’t we talk about something more pleasant, instead?” Sabine said. “Do you like your classes with the kids?”
“I do, a lot.”
“I hope they don’t make you regret becoming a dancer.” She laughed.
“No, not at all. Rather on the contrary – I look at them and remember being their age. I always loved dancing. Don’t know why. Maybe one of my nonexistent relatives was a dancer, who knows?”
“Anything’s possible. Personally, I do believe that the genes of talent pass from one generation to another. It’s just that sometimes we get interested in something different than what our parents and grandparents were found of. So tell me, Louise, what plans do you have for your future? Are you going to keep dancing after the graduation?”
“I hope so. I really hope I’ll be able to travel and learn more about the dancing traditions of different countries. And, of course, I want dancing to be my future.”
“Would you like to stay here, I mean after the graduation, and join our dancing troupe?”
“Are you being serious? To join the Balero troupe is. . . Oh, my God! It’s like the best thing to ever happen to me!”
“They travel a lot, they always learn something new. I’m sure you would love being a part of the team.”
“But. . . Do you really believe I can become as good as the people from the troupe are?”
Sabine smiled. “I have an eye for talent, Louise. I’m never wrong when it comes to recognizing the true ones.”
“Then yes, I would be happy to join the troupe one day.”
“Great. That means we will have one more talent in the team.”
Three years. . . I only had to wait for three more years to live a dream that I could have never imagined would come true.
“Of course, you will have to work a lot,” Sabine said.
“That is not a problem at all.”
She laughed under her breath. “You know what? I look at you, Louise, and I see myself twenty years ago, when I just started my dancing career. I didn’t see anything or anyone around me, I was focused on new ideas for my shows, I hardly had time to breathe.”
Uh, if only she knew how well I understood what she was talking about. I spent five months training like crazy. And, of course, if it were not for Will and my wild desire to see him again, I would probably take a break and enjoy my life outside school, but I needed a distraction from missing Will and dancing felt like a perfect one.
I never stopped thinking about him. Every new dance I created was for him. And every time I was dancing, I imagined him watching me, just like it was the very first night we met in Le Papillon.
“I hope we will have more time to talk, Louise. I’m planning on staying in the States for the next couple of months, so I’ll see you in one of your trainings.”
“Sure.” I said, rising to my feet. “And again, thank you for your offer, Mrs. Cormac.”
“Have a good day, Louise.”
Chapter 8
Simple words couldn’t describe how happy I was after my meeting with Sabine Cormac. Not to mention the excitement I felt at the mere thought of dancing with Balero’s best graduates. It was even better than the best of my dreams coming true. For a child from Paradise, like I was, it was something beyond understanding, too good to be true, but so real at the same time. And I was not going to let that reality go or give up on it.
“You can’t seem to stop smiling, Louise,” Cristopher said, watching me through the rear view mirror. “Did I miss something?” We were on our way home, but I was so lost in my thoughts about the day, I didn’t immediately realize he was talking to me.
After a few moments, I said, “Remember I told you about the meeting with the headmistress that I was supposed to have today? Well, it went better than I could have ever expected. Sabine is a wonderful person. And a very beauti
ful woman, among other things.” Too bad she didn’t have any kids to carry on her legacy or pass her beauty and talent to.
“So you liked her?”
“Oh, yes, I did. Actually, I never thought it would be so easy to talk to someone famous. Not even for a second did she make me feel like I was somehow less educated or less experienced than her. She talked to me as if I were an equal, a friend even.”
“Well, that’s great, isn’t it?”
“I guess so. I mean it’s not like we are suddenly best friends, but something tells me that I can trust her. You know, there aren’t very many people I trust.”
“I’m sure you can trust her. I did a little research on her. . . Even before you received an official letter saying that you had gotten accepted to Balero.”
I frowned. “You know, Christopher, it’s almost offensive to know you are always one step ahead of me. How on earth do you do that?”
“I like to be sure about those people I have around. As well as those people I care about.”
His words made me remember something else.
“I guess that was one of the things that you and Will’s father had in common,” I said. I knew he would immediately understand if I tried to find out something about the accident that happened years ago, but I could at least try to make my questions look like simple curiosity.
Christopher sighed. “He and I had a lot in common. He trusted me and I knew I could always rely on him, no matter what. He was a man of his word, honest and very responsible. He never fired anyone without a good reason to do so. And even if he did, he made sure the person had another job lined up first.”
“Will didn’t tell me much about his family. Why did his mother decide to move to Europe?”