“Um….” Monroe gave me a panicked look and I let go of her hand so I could wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her close against me.
“We met on campus when I was bidding on a job in that area,” I answered for Monroe and I felt some of the tension release out of her body. “And actually, she’s starting to work for me at the office, come Monday.”
“Oh really?” Mamaw’s nose turned up slightly. “I wasn’t aware you were lookin’ for help. You know Tara could’ve probably done the job just fine.” Her eyes flicked back toward Monroe and she nodded her head. “Yes, Tara would’ve been just as good.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize Tara was looking for a job.” Monroe’s eyes darted back to me. “You could’ve hired Tara instead of me.”
“Tara doesn’t need a job,” I answered shortly. “And she will never work for me anyway.”
“You never know,” Mamaw replied in a singsong voice.
“Mamaw,” I said in a warning tone and she took a step back, her eyes dropping down to stare at the driveway. Good, I hoped she felt a little bad about how she acted. I just hoped that Monroe wasn’t catching on.
“Well, I need to get to the restaurant. I’ll catch up with you later, Miller. Goodbye, Monroe.”
I opened the door of my truck for Monroe just as Mamaw backed out of the driveway, glad that whole mess was over with, but we were going to have a talk later about it.
“So that went really well,” Monroe sarcastically mumbled as I slid behind the steering wheel. So, apparently she did notice Mamaw’s icy behavior. Great.
“Don’t worry about it.” I moved my hand to rest on her knee and she placed her hand over mine. “She loves Tara, if you couldn’t tell. Try not to take any of that to heart. She’ll come around.”
“If you say so, Miller.” She twisted away to look out the window, and I knew how much that whole situation back there had hurt her. Meeting Mamaw was just like meeting someone’s parents, anyone would want to make a good impression.
“Hey,” I pulled over onto a side street, trying to change the sour mood. This was our first date and I wanted to make it special, something that she’d want to remember forever and would be hard to top. I grabbed onto her hand and slid her across the seat so she was pressed against me, right where she belonged.
“Is this where we’re going next?” She looked around in confusion at the road dotted with houses, placing her hand on my thigh, which only led to distract me as I reached across her and into the glove box, pulling out a handkerchief that would be perfect. I wanted that hand to go higher, to finish what we started earlier out by the pond, what my body was yearning for right now, but then we wouldn’t have time for the surprise.
“Nope.” I reluctantly moved her hand, but I knew it was for the best. If it remained there, I would end up having to take her right in my truck and I wouldn’t give a fuck who saw us. I turned sideways to face her, tucking some of her hair back before I held the handkerchief up. “You aren’t allowed to see where we’re going.”
“Oh?” Her eyebrows shot up and she bit down on her lip as I covered her eyes. “Can you at least give me a hint?” she asked after I finished fully covering her eyes and then asked her how many fingers I was holding up. I was pretty sure she couldn’t see a thing, just like I wanted.
“Nope. I can do this, though.” I brushed my lips against hers and I could feel her own curve upwards before I slipped into her mouth, tasting her once again. I couldn’t get enough of her sweetness. She sighed as our tongues tangled, and I squeezed her thigh as her hips twitched and her body arched into me. I wanted to pull her onto my lap and take things further and it took everything in me to pull away, nipping her lip before I righted myself and adjusted the front of my pants.
“I’ll take that anytime,” she said with a smile as I started my truck back up. I turned onto the road that led to downtown, and once we arrived, pulled my truck into the parking lot behind a tidy row of businesses.
"We’re here.”
Monroe carefully placed her hand in mine, and I pulled her the rest of the way across the seat, and out my door. She hopped out of the truck and I caught her, setting her down gently and brushing a kiss against her forehead.
“I really didn’t want to rush this but since we ran into Mamaw, we kind of have to. So, we got your work schedule all set at the office.” I looked at her sideways and even though her eyes were still covered, I knew she was rolling them beneath the material, but she kept her mouth shut, which was surprising.
That had been one of the things we discussed while we fished. I knew Monroe was overworking herself by going to school, trying to keep up with exams and papers that were due, and then working at the club on top of that, still barely scraping by. She didn’t have classes on Friday, so I gave her that day off and Monday through Thursday she would work in the afternoons after she got out of class until six or seven at the latest. The real kicker was that I would to pay her a full-time salary. That’s what she wasn’t happy about and it confused the hell out of me. I was just trying to help her out a bit.
“I guess if you want to call it set,” she responded sarcastically. “More like you demanding and me needing to listen. Don’t forget you promised a hundred dollar pay decrease.”
“How could I forget?”
She argued with me for a while when I told her what I decided on for her hours and salary. I thought she would be ecstatic, instead she got pissed. She got even sexier when she was angry; her green eyes flaring, her plump lips turned into a scowl and her tiny fists on her hips. Finally, I agreed to a pay decrease, even though I doubted I would honor it, but if that’s what made her happy, then I guess I could live with it.
“Exactly where are we going?” she asked again when I placed my hand on the small of her back and ushered her through the back door of the business that sat on the end, and into a small office space.
“You’ll see.” I undid the handkerchief, tucking it in my pocket, and watched as her eyes darted back and forth, trying to figure out where we were. “This is partly why I gave you Fridays off. It’s your decision on what you want to do, but I figured you’ll probably go with it.”
“Miller! It is so good to see you,” Nina greeted from behind her desk. She jumped up and gave me a tight hug before turning to smile at Monroe. “And this must be the girl you told me all about. So nice to meet you, Monroe. I’m Nina Pierson.”
Monroe smiled, seeming slightly uncomfortable as Nina wrapped her in a hug. “Nice to meet you, too.” She looked around, the realization of where we were evident on her face. I could tell she liked the surprise.
“Nina was a friend of my ma’s. She was a couple years ahead of her in school, but they used to hang out all the time.”
“More like caused a whole lot of trouble together,” Nina piped in, patting my back as her smile faltered. “Fortunately, I grew out of that phase. Abby, on the other hand—”
“So, anyway,” I grabbed Monroe’s hand. “How ‘bout we give Monroe here a tour? She doesn’t know why she’s here.”
“Oh, Miller. Always such a secretive guy, even when he was a little boy. Well then, Monroe. Welcome to Expressions Dance Center. Let’s get out of this boring old office and take a look at the fun stuff.”
Monroe’s eyes lit up, just like I hoped they would, and I loved the way she beamed at me. I hung back as Nina showed her the three different rooms she had set up for classes, and the areas where the parents could watch from the other side without interrupting.
“I’ve actually been here before,” Monroe explained. “I used to come in for some of the studio time late at night.”
“Oh, really?” Nina asked, smiling over Monroe’s head at me.
When Monroe told me that she hoped to one day own a studio, I immediately thought of Nina, and then I just happened to run into her a couple of days ago at the corner market. I told Nina about the first time I had seen Monroe dance, here at the studio. She said she’d never met her before because there was a
night manager that ran things for the evening crowd. Then she mentioned that she was starting to set up dance workshops on the weekends, and though she was excited about the idea, she knew that it was going to be exhausting. I asked her if she needed an extra instructor and she looked at me like I was a saint when I suggested Monroe. Hopefully, she would want the job. I figured she would. Dancing was what she loved, anyone could see that. Even from just watching the graceful way she walked, like she was floating across the room or something.
I tuned back into Nina and Monroe’s conversation, just as Nina was finishing up. “So, why don’t you come observe a couple of classes and maybe start helping out, and then we’ll go from there. The dance workshops will start up about a month or so after the holidays. I would love it if you signed on to be one of the instructors.”
“That sounds amazing,” Monroe answered a little breathlessly. “I would love to! Thank you so much for the opportunity.”
“Great!” Nina clapped her hands together. “Let me go back out to the office and get some paperwork together and we’ll go from there. I’m sure you won’t mind hanging out in here for a bit.” She winked at me as she passed by and Monroe immediately kicked off her boots, doing a little twirl around the room in her socks before grabbing onto one of the wooden bars and stretching one leg on it.
“Don’t you just love the smell of this place?” She inhaled deeply, briefly closing her eyes before putting her leg down and grabbing onto the bar with both hands as she began bending her legs in weird angles that I didn’t know were possible.
Not that I minded watching.
“Um…I guess.” I smirked as she inhaled again.
“I love being in a dance studio again, everything about it. The creaks of the wooden floor,” she bounced slightly in place, “the music.”
“The music?” I questioned and she nodded her head before twirling around me.
“Normally it’s a whole lot louder than this, but still, it’s so much better in a studio.”
I strained to hear it and could just barely make out soft music playing through the sound system.
“This is awesome, Miller. Thank you so much. It’s crazy, I can’t believe you brought me to the same studio I used to dance at! I mean, it’s been months since I’ve been able to come here, but it’s great to be back. And now I’m going to be instructing.”
“Well, actually, there’s something I need to tell you.” Her feet stopped moving and she came to stand in front of me. “I knew you danced here before.”
Her eyes squinted and her brows twisted together. “What do you mean?”
“Sometimes I do odd jobs for Nina when she needs some help. I stopped in here one night and saw you dancing. I couldn’t stop watching, I was mesmerized by the way you moved. That day when you were on stage with Vanessa, I realized it was you.”
“How come you didn’t say anything?”
I shrugged my shoulders and she giggled before leaping across the room and spinning around in a quick circle on her tiptoes.
I watched her dance for a few more minutes, groaning when I looked at my watch and knew we needed to get going. “Monroe, I hate to interrupt you, but we need to get going. You think you can grab the paperwork from Nina and bring it back in?”
“Do we really have to go?” She pouted her lips at me and I felt like saying no. I felt like forgetting about the club just so I could watch her dance all night long, but I knew that wasn’t a possibility. She leaped across the room, laughing when she crashed into me, and I luckily caught her in my arms.
“Thank you so much,” she whispered before her lips landed on mine, brushing ever so slightly, she pulled back to purse her lips. “So you did call me your midnight ballerina the other night, didn’t you?” One eyebrow was raised and I couldn’t deny it, she’d caught me. “I thought so but I wasn’t totally sure. I like it,” she whispered, moving to brush her lips against my ear and I slid my hands beneath her tank top, sinking my fingertips into her sides and groaned when her whole body shook against mine.
“Good, I’m glad because you’re sort of stuck with it now.” She pulled back laughing, her mouth dropping open, and I took full advantage as my lips crashed against hers. My tongue darted past her teeth to tangle with hers and she whimpered, cinching her legs around my waist tightly as I backed her against the wall of mirrors.
We breathed heavily into each other’s mouths, my hands roaming across her stomach, down to her hips, even moving across the front of her jeans, rubbing ever so lightly. She bucked against me, moaning wildly into my mouth. I wanted her right there, so badly, I almost gave in, and then a throat cleared behind us and reality set back in.
“Oh my God, I’m so embarrassed.” Monroe looked down at the floor, clearly still flustered, as she tried to fix the mess that I made of her hair with my hands.
“Sorry,” I whispered into her ear, letting my lips brush against it, enjoying the fact that even with the embarrassment of being caught red-handed by Nina, I could still make her whole body shake with one simple touch of my lips.
“Oh, I bet you are,” Monroe answered with a roll of her eyes. “But I’m not. I’ll deal with being embarrassed any day if I can get kisses like that from you all of the time.”
“Be careful what you wish for, my little midnight ballerina.” I slapped her ass and she practically skipped out of the room, apologizing to Nina, who simply laughed.
Did I really need to leave her just to head into the club? It was funny how I had a whole new perspective on life after knowing Monroe for such a short amount of time.
I HATED LEAVING Monroe so I could go work at the club, but it was my business and I wasn’t going to let it fall apart now that I didn’t have Randy around. I pulled Bianca into my office as soon as I walked through the doors, making Mick stand in the corner so she didn’t try anything stupid. She plopped herself down in one of the chairs across from my desk, looking annoyed.
“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” She crossed her legs and then uncrossed them before leaning forward, giving me a sugary sweet smile. Too bad those didn’t work on me, at least not from her.
“You know that I fired Randy, right?”
She nodded her head, starting to fidget in place. “Yeah, I heard. That’s too bad. Randy did a really good job around here. He’ll be missed.”
“Really?” My eyebrows raised and she had the nerve to bob her head again. “Yup,” she replied with a pop.
“Well, do you know why he got fired?”
“No, I have no idea.” She shook her head a few times and I squashed down the urge to roll my eyes at her. Did she think I was a dumbass?
“Really? Because I’ve talked to a few different people that said you were the main culprit in his little scheme. Is that true?”
“Um…well…I don’t….” She sputtered and then stopped, sitting up straighter before she began talking again. “You know, Mr. Buchanan, you need to loosen up a bit. I was just having fun and making money at the same time. What’s better than that?” She leaned forward, this time making a point to shove her tits together. Great, I could see what direction this was going in and I really wasn’t surprised.
“That shit could’ve cost me my business and ruined my reputation if y’all got caught.”
She simply shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know what you want me to say. Sorry, I guess. I’m sure I can make it up to you somehow,” she added in a flirty tone.
“Really?” I groaned, briefly shutting my eyes before reopening them to glare at her. “You’re done here, Bianca. You are no longer an employee of Pure, and I sure as hell will make sure that nobody else in this business hires you because you’re bad news, simple as that.”
Her lips pursed together. “You’re seriously firing me? Is this really because of what happened with Randy or is this because of that new girl that you have a thing for? What exactly do you see in her?”
I ignored her question, not even wanting to waste my breath. “You can leave now
, unless you need to be escorted out by Mick here.”
She huffed loudly before standing up and throwing her hands in the air. “Ugh, no. I’m out of this place. See you later, asshole.”
“Bye,” I called after her cheerfully, glad that her and Randy were both out of here. Hopefully I could relax a bit and not have any more problems for a while. I checked the clock, seeing that I still had a few hours ahead of me, and I groaned. I never minded work before but after spending the day with Monroe, I would much rather be with her.
I had a feeling this was going to be a long night.
“I CAN’T BELIEVE all you did was kiss that man. Is there something wrong with you?” Amelia nudged my arm with her elbow as we walked through the food court at the mall, looking for an empty table so we eat our lunch. It was not a good idea at all to come this weekend because the place was packed. We ended up waiting for a table that was just finishing up and quickly snagged it.
“He said he wants to take things slow,” I explained, trying to keep the disappointment out of my tone. “And besides, I thought you said he was scary. Shouldn’t you be telling me to run the other way or something?”
She shrugged her shoulders before reaching across to steal one of my fries. “He just seemed like he could be a bit of a hard-ass, but with you, he sounds like the sweetest guy ever. Are you nervous to take things further? I know you don’t have a ton of experience in that department. Sounds like you and your boy toy Carter barely experimented with each other. If you need any tips, just let me know.”
“Tips?” I swallowed a sip of my drink and immediately began coughing. “I think I’m good, Amelia.”
“If you say so, Roe-Roe.” She leaned closer to me, talking in a hushed tone, and I could barely hear her. “But there’s a science to giving a good blow job and not to brag or anything, but I’ve had plenty of compliments.”
“Amelia.” My eyes widened and I slapped a hand over my mouth. “I can’t believe you just said that! I’ve barely ever heard you talk about sex. I thought you were too prim and proper for that.”
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