by Cynthia Dane
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Keep Up
Lyrics to Starlight Samba
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Thanks and Connect
Also Available
Dances With The Rock Star
#2
Starlight Samba
Cynthia Dane
BARACHOU PRESS
Starlight Samba
DANCES WITH THE ROCK STAR, #2
Copyright: Cynthia Dane
Published: 22nd June 2015
Publisher: Barachou Press
This is a work of fiction. Any and all similarities to any characters, settings, or situations are purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.
Cover Design: Clarise @ CT Cover Creations
Keep up with Cynthia’s latest releases by joining her mailing list! Behind the scenes, first looks, and even some free snippets!
READING ORDER
1: Midnight Tango
2: Starlight Samba
3: Twilight Rumba
Lyrics to “Starlight Samba”
When I look at you
All I see are glimpses of paradise
Dancing beneath the canopy like a
Mischievous and playful nymph
Oh what if I say a prayer right now
Bringing you closer to me
Could I change the course of our fate
And help you see what I see?
We could be free…
For eternity…
Tell me what you like
So I can make you happy
A dance in the dark city streets
Or perhaps a night that is all our own?
Tell me why
You’re so shy
It’s not like
I haven’t tried to
Make you mine… with a simple dance
You’re the girl
In the world
Who tears me up
With another twirl
Like a comet come down… with a single glance
Don’t deny
The way we fly
Going up and down
We touch the sky
And see the sights of… starlight samba
And when we touch
Like young lovers
I can feel so hypnotized
Nobody knows me just like you do
So let’s throw all our caution into the wind!
Tell me why
You’re so shy
It’s not like
I haven’t tried to
Make you mine… with a simple dance
Don’t deny
The way we fly
Going up and down
We touch the sky
And see the sights of… starlight samba
You’re my love…
Tell me why
You’re so shy
It’s not like
I haven’t tried to
Make you mine… with a simple dance
Don’t deny
The way we fly
Going up and down
We touch the sky
And see the sights of… starlight samba
You’re my love…
Mi mariposa
My love…
1
“Are we going to practice the lift or not?” Rick paced around the practice studio, sweat pouring down his forehead and cheeks redder than his T-shirt. “We’ve got two days to get it right before we go on stage in front of thousands. No re-dos like in a music video.”
Olivia remained sprawled out on the nearest bench, her chest heaving up and down as she attempted to recover from the latest round of dance practices. Why are we dancing more in one shot here than we ever will on stage? José had them rehearsing every piece of choreography back to back when in the actual show there would be five, sometimes fifteen minutes in between sets. Well, for Olivia anyway. Rick would be on stage whenever he wasn’t changing jeans and leather jackets. Really, Olivia had it easier. “I guess. Give me five minutes, okay?”
Rick puffed his cheeks and turned toward the barre. Fine thing if he could keep going. Olivia wasn’t a robot, regardless of how talented she was when it came to dancing for hours on end. She was still human. Human bodies had limitations. One couldn’t wind her up and watch her go at it again. So excuse me if I sit my ass down for a five minute breather. What, did Rick want her in the hospital right before they left to go on tour?
Four days. That’s how long they had before they got on a bus for Los Angeles, the first stop on Rick’s world tour. They got the day before that off, which meant they had about three days, including that day, to get their shit together and lay down a flawless practice. They had done it before, but that was before the, well...
Olivia didn’t usually make a habit of sleeping with her dance partners, but when it did happen, it wasn’t often she found herself going on tour with said partner.
I thought this would be easy. She and Rick Rodriguez, one of the hottest male artists around, had knocked boots three weeks ago, claimed by the height of passion that erupted when they danced together too often. Nope. Not the first time something like that happened to Olivia. Except her partners didn’t usually last for months at a time. Nor were they quite as good looking as Rick, who always came to rehearsals wearing that winning smile and flashing her knowing looks in between sets.
At first she didn’t think much about it. As she told Rick on the phone, it had happened, and they shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Yet they also shouldn’t let it consume them to the point of errant distractions. Like it had become. Or maybe Olivia was paranoid. At least I’m not pregnant. Last thing she needed to be paranoid about before going on tour!
“All right. Let’s do this lift.” Olivia stood up, her knees buckling as her legs protested. “Don’t drop me.”
They stood mere inches apart, Rick’s hands on his hips as the corner of his mouth went up. “Have I ever?”
“No, thank God.” Olivia would have walked out of the studio the day that happened. Yet Rick was deceptively strong. Sure, he had some nice muscle in those arms, but he didn’t look brawny enough to lift up a woman and twirl her, dip her behind him, or flip her over his shoulder. Three moves they would have to do on tour every night. The sooner they got it down like it was second nature, the better. “And don’t start today.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Rick bent down, lifted Olivia by the knees, and flung her over his shoulder, making her shriek as if she were going to throw up. She probably was going to. Like Clara. There’s a great memory.
Really, Olivia didn’t have much to worry about when it came to dancing with Rick. He knew what they were about at the end of the day. Even though Olivia often felt those fleeting feelings of attraction to him when they danced, she told herself that’s all it was: the dance. They got it out of their systems. Hot, unbridled sex that was certainly going into Olivia’s memory as some of the best she ever had. And that’s how it will remain. Yet sometimes, such as when Rick picked her up in such a way that she had to wrap her legs around his waist, she felt hot between the thighs and suddenly remembered what it was like to kiss that troublemaking mouth.
That’s w
hy the world gave her cold showers. She would assume that’s how Rick dealt with that thing in his pants every time it came to attention when they danced. Yeah, I noticed!
After practice, Olivia stood in the corner with a duffel bag, judiciously applying deodorant to tie her over until she could get home and take that cold shower. A towel mopped up the sweat on her forehead, but there wasn’t much to be done about the sweat in her hair. She supposed she would have to deal with the fuzziness until she got it under control later.
“That’s an interesting look.” Rick stood beside her, checking out his appearance in the mirror. “In some parts of the world they would even say it’s attractive.” He winked at her. Olivia snapped the cap back on her deodorant and tossed it into her bag. “Sorry. Too blunt?”
“Not at all. I suppose the same could be said about whatever you’re growing on your face there.” She gestured to the permanent stubble gracing Rick’s cheeks and chin. “I hear some women find that sexy. Me? It grates.”
She should have seen the response coming. After all, she had spent most of her days with Rick since they started practicing over a month ago. “You didn’t seem to have problems with it before.” He didn’t wink again, and for that Olivia was grateful.
Olivia finished zipping up her bag and hoisted it over her shoulder. “Even I get desperate sometimes.”
Although she didn’t mean it as an insult, it was possible that Rick took it that way, but he continued to smile like a class clown as he watched Olivia saunter out of the practice room and begin her trek home.
Banter like that kept them sane. Olivia was further grateful that Rick wasn’t the kind of man who brooded for too long. The first time we saw each other after we did it, I thought he was going to throw a fit. Quite the contrary. Rick acted as if nothing had happened. It almost disappointed Olivia, although she never said anything about it.
The deal was that they wouldn’t bring it up or let it get to them, but they weren’t going to pretend that it never happened. That was silly. As long as they were on the same page that it was in the past, Olivia didn’t care. And as long as Rick continued to treat her with the same level of respect as before, she had little to complain about. So why do I want him to bring it up? Olivia sat on the bus, aware that everyone else probably thought she smelled like crap, and admonished herself for continuing to think of Rick in that way.
He was hot. He was charming. He knew how to dance and make her tingle. Almost her ideal man. Minus the fame part. He could keep the fortunes. Yet Olivia wasn’t about to get involved with a superstar. Bad enough that they had sex. Now, as she got off at her stop and trudged home, she remembered the way his strong, powerful body thrust into hers against the wall. Shower. Cold shower.
Sometimes it was easy to lose track of why it wouldn’t work out between them. If it were any other dancer, she might give it a shot. Start something casual that centered on having a good time as opposed to making a lifelong commitment. “I’m home,” she called, dumping her bag by the door. Her mother was in the kitchen and gave her a courteous greeting as Olivia went upstairs, taking off her clothes before she even got into the bathroom.
The shower barely did its job. Sure, she smelled better afterward, but her brain was still on Rick, and something had to be done about that.
To the Internet. Or, in Olivia’s case, her smart phone as she curled up on her bed and dried off. The first thing she did was look up Rick’s name. Hey, it’s me! Sure enough, one of the first pictures to pop up was a still from the music video. That was a precious stroke to Olivia’s ego.
She wasn’t here for that. Olivia scrolled right by the picture of her and clicked the title of a website that was dedicated to chronicling the love lives of celebrities. She was taken to Rick’s page and nearly fell over from the long list of names that were attached to his.
“How many women can one man date?” Olivia had to laugh at some of the names, however. She somehow doubted that Sophie Mendez, one of the hottest actresses on television, had ever been in the same space as Rick, let alone openly dated him. But there were a few others she vaguely recalled seeing in tabloids that past year. One of them was Christina Spiegel, a young woman of humble origins like Rick’s. According to the website, they dated for two months. After that, there came a long line of names, each one lasting shorter than the one before. “Yep. I knew he was a player.” Olivia closed her browser and rolled over, wet hair slapping against her bed. “All the more reason to stay away from him, girl.”
No matter how hot she found Rick, it wasn’t worth it. Olivia was better off focusing on her work. She only hoped that her heart and body would let her.
2
Nothing prepared Rick for the insanity that was the opening night of his first world tour.
Los Angeles was a great starting point. It was big, it was famous, and it had appeal for everyone in the region to come see him perform. It also was in America, which was important for everyone still waiting for their new passports and visas to come in at the last minute so. What Rick never expected was the deafening roar of over 18,000 fans screaming his name and waving signs when he looked up at the monitor backstage.
He was dressed in his performing best: slick jeans, a thin white T-shirt, and his signature leather jacket that would quickly get too hot under the stadium lights. Who cared? Women loved it when he sweated.
“I can’t believe it’s happening.” Olivia stood beside him, staring at the monitor and the thousands of teens, young adults, and even some older adults filling the seats with their tittering and excited tears. “I never thought the day would come when I’m on a stage like…”
“Don’t do that.” Rick shook his arms out, careful to not smudge the makeup on his cheeks and eyes when he rubbed his nose. Olivia had even more makeup on. Smoky eyes. Body glitter. Lip gloss. Rick only needed enough to not look like a pasty mess. Olivia was contoured like a cliff side. “Don’t psych yourself out, because that’s exactly what you’re doing. Don’t get caught up in how many people are watching. Don’t…” He had to stop. He was starting to psych himself out. “Come on. We got a pre-show prayer to do.”
“A what?”
“Oh, you heard me.”
It was José’s thing. Before every show he gathered the staff into a giant circle and led them in a nice prayer that, as he put it, “Will make sure God intervenes if you decide to fall off the stage, jackass.” Even José was feeling the extra pressure tonight. He had choreographed big tours before, but this was his biggest opening night. Although he would never admit it, José had gone through five sticks of gum in the past two hours trying to settle his nerves. The wrappers poked out of his front pocket.
“Dear Lord,” he began, squeezing Rick’s hand, who in turn held Olivia’s as she was polite enough to close her eyes and smile, “thank you for giving us this opportunity to perform on a stage in front of so many people. Please give us the strength, the energy, and the tenacity to get through this night and all the ones to follow.” One of the other dancers got teary-eyed. This is gonna be a fun night. “And please, if you can find it in you to be so benevolent, don’t let these two over here fuck shit up. Thank you, amen!”
Olivia snapped her eyes open the moment Rick dropped her hand. “Was he talking about us?” she asked her dance partner.
“Uh huh.” Rick clapped his hand on José’s shoulder. “Thanks, bud. I have faith in you too.”
“Standby!” cried one of the stagehands. “Rick! Olivia! To your places!”
There was a mad scramble backstage as everyone said their final good lucks and waited in the proper locations. For Rick, this was on the lift that would take him up to the main stage. Even back there, with the reverberation of equipment, he could hear the throng of fans out in the stadium. They’re here for me. He took a deep breath and caught Olivia’s eye a few yards away. She smiled. Somehow, it made him feel better.
“Ten!’ The same stagehand stood only a few feet behind Rick. “Nine!’ His countdown made Rick’s h
eart beat faster in his chest. His palms sweated. His throat went dry. He wasn’t the type of man to get stage fright, but that night, when his career was about to hit new heights, he couldn’t help but wonder what the people of his old life would think of this moment.
Hope you’re proud of me, Ma. The lift rose, the countdown all the way to three. When the stage opened above him, he was blinded by the hot lights and deafened by the screams of thousands of people ready to watch him do what he did best.
Rick was of the opinion that concerts went by much faster than anything else in the business. The rush, the energy, the sheer amount of inflated ego that occurred in his mind as he put a mic to his mouth and gyrated from one end of the stage to the other was unlike anything else in life. This is why we live. Some people lived to cure cancer. Others lived to raise families and teach others. Rick? Rick wanted to dance, to sing, to entertain the masses. If he thought his first time performing on a stage years ago was life-changing, then he had no idea what to expect when his whole body shook from the thunderous applause and the bass of the music he wrote. Only with the help of his ear piece was he able to hear his own voice. Otherwise everything was a giant blur of sound.
Naturally Rick was ecstatic because of his current lot in life. He was one of the Western Hemisphere’s hottest acts. He sold more records than almost any other male solo act a year ago. Women threw themselves at him and let him have his wondrous pick. It’s good to be me. Even when he flubbed a lyric and turned the wrong way during a solo dance he was able to salvage the whole act as smoothly as he charmed his fans to begin with.
The best part was what happened whenever he took Olivia by the hand and brought her into his arms.
They had three dances together. The first was for “Midnight Tango,” the third song of the night. This was the song that required the lift at the end – the one that seemed so easy to do now that the both of them were on fire with the crowd’s cheers and the excitement of the night.