She let her clothes fall to the floor and stepped beneath the cascading hot water, luxuriating in the feel of it running over her head, down her shoulders, warming her, comforting her, driving out the chill of the evening. Lathering the shampoo into her hair, she wondered what she should wear. With everything the papers were saying about her it was important that she didn’t look cheap. She needed to be classy, to prove that the shimmering numbers she wore on the dance floor were just a costume and had nothing to do with her real personality.
She had some very nice high-heeled shoes she hadn’t worn yet and began to mentally flick through her wardrobe, deciding which outfit would complement them the best. Just before the last of the hot water ran out she ran a razor across her shins and then quickly removed the stubble from beneath her arms.
Five minutes later she emerged in a puff of steam, enveloped herself in a fluffy towel and wrapped another around her head. Lisa was still on the sofa, blowing on her fingernails. Sasha plumped down beside her.
‘What are you going to wear?’
‘The pink dress I got for the Christmas bash. What about you?’ She dabbed a fingernail with her thumb to check if they were dry. ‘Blast,’ she murmured. ‘Still tacky.’ She shook her hands in the air even more frantically than before.
‘I’m not sure. I did think about the teal dress that I wore for Sandra’s hen night. What do you think?’
Lisa got up, looking plumper than ever with her dressing gown tightly knotted about her middle. ‘That sounds fine to me. Mind you, I think that whatever you wear you will knock his socks off.’ Then, she marched toward her bedroom to get dressed.
‘Yeah, thanks Lisa, very helpful,’ Sasha called after her.
Lisa was right. Sasha did knock Andrei’s socks off. He arrived at the restaurant before the rest of the party and, ordered himself a Scotch and waited at the bar. His dark good looks and expensively sharp suit drew the eyes of the curious but Andrei was used to that and took little notice. This early, the place was almost deserted, just one or two couples dining quietly before the rush later on in the evening. He perched on a barstool, tapping his well-shod foot to the music and, every so often, checking his Rolex.
Sasha was always late. She had said seven thirty and it was almost twenty minutes to eight. Draining his glass he raised a finger to request a refill when he heard the street door open and Sasha’s laughter trickled across the room. He turned toward them with a smile of welcome and, as he watched her slip out of her coat, a dagger of desire thrust into his chest.
She was stunning. Her blue-green dress elegantly highlighting her figure by skimming her hips, hugging her breasts. Her eyes brimmed with affection as she looked at a man whom Andrei prayed was her brother, and she was laughing. He had seen her laugh before, of course, but not like that, not a relaxed, comfortable, happy-just-to-be-alive sort of laugh. With him she was always tense, as if she was keeping something back or as if she walked a tightrope, expecting him to lunge for her at any given moment.
When she saw him, the laughter in her eyes died a little although her lips remained tilted upward.
‘Andrei.’ She floated toward him, placed a hand on his arm, the touch seeming to burn through his suit jacket and his shirtsleeve to the skin beneath. Andrei kissed her cheek, subtly inhaling her perfume, longing to taste her skin. She pulled away, the smile still hovering on her lips.
‘This is my brother, Jack, and you know Lisa already, I think.’
Andrei reached out, clasped Jack’s proffered hand and looked into eyes that were just like Sasha’s but also, not at all like Sasha’s.
‘Pleased to meet you,’ he said and then turned to greet Lisa who was, as usual, plump and pretty in pink.
While they were ushered toward a table, Lisa walked backwards, blushing and mumbling something about being a huge fan and how she had always loved his dancing. When they were seated, boy-girl, boy-girl, around the table, the waiter handed out the menus and quietly disappeared while they bowed their heads and began to salivate over the dishes on offer.
‘Oh, blimey, there goes my diet up the spout.’ Lisa pulled a comical face making Jack laugh.
‘Why are women so obsessed with their weight? You are not fat. You are a real woman and look lovely.’
‘Gosh, and that’s just after one glass of wine.’ She giggled, making light of the best compliment she had ever had in her life. ‘What will you be like later? Next to Sasha I am a little piglet, I know that.’
Andrei, bobbling red wine into a glass, looked at her from beneath his lashes.
‘You want to lose a few pounds, come and have some sessions with me. Sasha’s wobbly bits are no longer so …wobbly as they were before.’
‘Sessions?’ Lisa quipped, before Sasha could pull him up about mentioning her ‘wobbly bits’ in public, ‘I hope you mean dancing.’
As Jack and Sasha fell about laughing, Andrei flashed her his best smile. Blimey, she thought, an alpha male on each side, showering me with compliments. I must be asleep and dreaming.
To her relief, talk drifted to other things. The two men seeming to get along fine and, when the meal came, the conversation dipped while they fell to and savoured the flavour of the chef’s skill.
Sasha, in seventh heaven to be at the table with the two men she loved most in the world, was aware of Andrei’s leg beneath the table. Each time he moved, his knee brushed hers, making her quiver. It was extraordinary how, even though she spent the larger part of each day in his arms, she was still not yet accustomed to his touch. She didn’t think she ever would be, even if she spent a lifetime dancing with him. It was as if his every contact marked her, imprinted on her soul, as if he was slowly taking possession, making her his – piece by piece. One day, she knew, he would touch her and she would be totally consumed, leaving nothing more of her to be had.
She watched him chewing his food, his jaw strong. He put down his knife and fork and turned to reply to something her brother had said, using his hands to punctuate his sentence. At that moment, in the circle of the candlelight, Sasha admitted to herself for the first time, that she was deeply in love with him. Seeing him there, in the company of her brother, surrounded by the soft music, the gentle laughter of friends, the whole affair between them seemed inevitable. There was nothing she could do to stop it. It would happen. She wanted him; he wanted her. She wondered why she had fought against it for so long.
Jack chewed thoughtfully, emptying his mouth, twitching his fork as he spoke.
‘So, Andrei, what are the chances of you two winning Celebrity Dance then?’
Andrei sat back, put down his knife and picked up his wine, his gaze warm on the back of Sasha’s neck.
‘If your sister works as hard as she has been up to now, we stand every chance.’
She blushed scarlet, took a deep breath before straightening up and turning to look at him. ‘Surely not, Andrei. I mean, I’m not that good and I make so many mistakes. What about Vanessa? She is so much younger, so much more …sprightly.’
‘You make it sound as if you are a million years old, my darling. It is not just about the steps, it is about feeling the dance, interpreting the music...’ His voice trailed off as he became aware that all three of them had stopped eating and were staring at him in some astonishment. Sasha’s face was suffused with colour, her eyes like lamps.
He shrugged, suddenly seeming more foreign, more exotic. ‘What have I done? What did I say?’ His eyes darted from Sasha to Jack and back to Lisa again, his brows raised, his face anxious, afraid he had offended them in some way.
Lisa put down her glass. ‘Nothing, Andrei,’ she said. ‘You did nothing wrong at all. You just called her your darling, that’s all.’
Blood rushed up to taint Andrei’s face and, to help him overcome his obvious confusion, Jack turned away and began to ask Lisa about herself, where she worked, where she went on holiday, if she had a partner.
Sasha, meanwhile, with her ears burning and her insides aflame, experien
ced Andrei’s every movement as if she made them herself. When he stroked his chin with his long fingers, her own fingertips tingled, when he lifted his glass it was as if she became the rim, when he dabbed his lips with a napkin it were as if she were made of damask.
Everyone noticed that she was uncharacteristically quiet but they were all too well-mannered to mention it. Everyone at the table realised that the thing that had been growing between them, threatening to swamp them both, was now inevitable. Even Sasha knew that now. Although she listened to the conversation, laughed gently in the right places, spooned up her dessert without tasting it she knew, without a shadow of doubt that by the end of the night her life would be changed forever. Whether the affair between them was short lived or lasted for the rest of their lives, it had to happen. She would deal with the problem of Yana when the time was right.
When the dirty plates were taken away, the cheese and biscuits reduced to a few crumbs on the table, the evening dwindled to a close. While Jack helped Lisa on with her coat, Sasha allowed Andrei to help her slip into her jacket before following him passively from the restaurant to the waiting limousine.
The city of London was flooded with life and colour, reminding Sasha of the night they had first met. She lay her head against the back of the seat and let herself remember, as she had so many times, the thrill of Andrei’s love making.
The limo drove slowly along the embankment, where revellers hooted and stumbled along beside the Thames that flowed, so steady and sure, unchanging through the transient city.
When the driver pulled up close to Andrei’s apartment, he got out. ‘Take them home, Bernard. I will see you in the morning.’ Then he turned back to wish them all good night.
‘Goodnight, goodnight,’ called Jack and Lisa as Andrei closed the door, waved a hand.
‘Wait.’
Sasha opened the door again, began to clamber from the back seat. ‘I want to speak to you.’
It was suddenly as if she was no longer in control of her own actions. She poked her head back into the car. ‘You two go on. I will get a cab. I –we – I need …’
‘Yes, we know, Sash. Now bugger off and have a good time.’
Lisa leant forward to slam the door before tumbling back against Jack’s shoulder and the limousine drove off, leaving Sasha and Andrei standing on the chilly pavement.
‘I forgot my bag,’ she said watching the tail lights of the limo disappear into the darkness.
Andrei shrugged. ‘Lisa will take it home for you.’
‘Do you think they are going home?’
‘Who knows?’
She turned to him and they looked at each other solemnly for a long, long moment. Then he took her hands, his eyes dark and bright at the same time, serious and laughing, joyous and afraid. Sasha reached up and lightly touched his cheek.
‘Andrei,’ she whispered, ‘would you mind kissing me again?’
***
Andrei lay back on his pillow, clasped his hands behind his head and smiled. Who would have thought that one kiss could change so much? Ok, it hadn’t stayed at just one kiss and the evening had lasted almost until morning. Time had flown while, locked in each other’s arms they had finally given in to all their desires. He had been right, she did want him; she had proved that, exhaustively.
Sasha had left at first light. He had made a show of reluctance when she left but, in all honesty, he had been grateful for the rest. He let his mind relive that one last glorious … what was it? A shag? No, it was more than that. It was more than Andrei had ever dreamed of. Better even than the first time. Sasha was a woman now and loving her was something he knew could satisfy him for a lifetime.
Are you in love, Andrei? he asked his reflection as he shaved before heading off for the studio, but his reflected image remained inscrutable, keeping secrets. His mind lingered on the delights of her body, her limbs wrapping so tightly around him, the delight of unveiling her breasts, feasting on her pink, distended nipples that were as tempting as exotic fruit. Feeling a familiar stirring in his loins, he headed for the shower, deciding not to have the water too hot.
Twenty minutes later, refreshed if not replete, he pulled on his clothes, collected his keys and his training bag and leapt into his car. For once he was looking forward to rehearsal. With the sexual tension salved he was sure things would go more smoothly from now on; now that they were no longer in denial they would dance perfectly together.
As he licked along the dual carriageway he smiled to himself, singing at the top of his voice as he thumped the steering wheel in time with the music. He had missed Sasha after she’d left and wished they could have spent the whole day relaxing together, making love and exploring all that was still to be discovered between them. But, consoling himself that a lifetime with her lay ahead, he looked forward to the next few days instead, some of which would undoubtedly be spent in her arms.
Chapter Seven
This week they were dancing the Charleston, which was a far cry from the smouldering passion of the Samba or Tango. This dance was light and cheeky. It should be fun. He had worked out a comic routine that she could handle easily but would showcase all the new skills she had mastered over the course of the competition.
He arrived at the studio way too early and kept jumping up, peering from the window, impatient for her to appear. As soon as the canteen was open he bought two cups of steaming coffee and took them with him to the rehearsal room but Sasha was still not there yet so, stripping off his outdoor clothes, he began to warm up.
Letting his mind drift away, he closed his eyes and breathed in deeply before releasing it slowly, focussing on his body, stretching his muscles, awakening his metabolism. He was so engrossed that he didn’t notice when Sasha quietly slipped in through the door and carried on stretching and bending, only slowly becoming aware of her he. Then he turned and saw her, standing like a lost child near the wall uncertain of how it was to be between them now that they were lovers again.
A charge of excitement stabbed his loins. He straightened up, crossed the room in three strides and scooped her into his embrace. ‘Sasha,’ he murmured, his lips on her face, his stubble rasping her cheek. When her arms snaked around his neck he groaned ecstatically and buried his face in her neck.
Sasha closed her eyes, hugged him tightly to her, praying that it would all work out for the best. It seemed an age since she had seen him but now, with his mouth fastened on hers, their tongues dancing, it felt as if they had never been apart. When his hands slid down to her buttocks and he pulled her tight against him, his burgeoning erection digging hard into her groin, she caught her breath and pulled away a little.
‘Andrei, we must try to be professional ...’ He ignored her and, deprived of her mouth, his lips latched instead onto her throat, his tongue sending shivers through her body, his hands squeezing and kneading all her most sensitive places. ‘Andrei …’ she repeated, ‘please, someone might come.’
He broke away, a muscle in his jaw throbbing as his eyes skated about the room. ‘If we make love first, we will concentrate better.’
She snatched her hand away, half laughing. ‘What here? You are joking?’
The walls were glass, anyone walking along the corridor would be perfectly able to see in and the mirrored wall opposite made any hiding place impossible. ‘Don’t be silly.’
He stepped closer, knowing she wanted him as badly as he wanted her.
‘But I missed you, Sasha ...’ He backed her against a small table, stroked a finger up and down her arm, his nail rasping gently across her inner elbow, where her pulse quickened. She bowed her head, closed her eyes, her breasts seeming to swell as the heat in her loins built into an undeniable itch that just had to be scratched.
He continued to work a way up her arm to the nape of her neck and down her back, tracing circles that burned through her thin clothes, swathing her in goose pimples. She closed her eyes, tilted her head back, exposing her throat.
‘Don’t,’ she murmured
without conviction. Andrei, using two hands now, continued to stroke her, teasing her, skimming her breasts, brushing lightly across her nipples, knowing by the way she arched her back and leaned into the contact that his seduction technique was working. Slowly, he kissed her shoulder and, almost unnoticed, slid the strap of her leotard down, exposing one perfect, rounded breast.
There was something incredibly erotic about the situation. Although she knew she should stop him and was terrified of someone coming, her body seemed to have a taken on a mind of its own. When he lowered his mouth to the burning tip of her breast, she entwined her fingers in his hair and let her head fall backward. His hand crept down and fumbled for the fastening in the gusset of her leotard, wrenching the poppers open.
This is so wrong! She thought, but it was too delicious to call a halt. She could deny him nothing. Keeping one eye on the corridor, Sasha lay back and raised her knees, giving him better access, gasping as his finger slid against her sopping clitoris, working back and forth, bringing her climax unbearably close.
She could barely breathe, she wanted him, she no longer cared that they were on public view and that any time soon the studio would begin to fill with people. A small, high-pitched mew escaped her throat, demanding him to hurry and, needing no further encouragement, Andrei released his bobbing erection and eased slowly into her.
For a few moments, he paused inside her, biting his lip as he fought back the urge to release his seed into her straight away. But Sasha wriggled, demolishing his restraint and, gripping her bottom, he drove into her with deep, wet thrusts. She squealed and gripped his hair just a little too hard, her internal muscles clenching, pulling him in and driving him until they spilled over the edge together …into infinity.
Their passion temporarily spent, reality began to flood back and Andrei jumped away from her, hurriedly pulling up his trousers, one anxious eye on the corridor while Sasha wriggled back into her more inaccessible costume. Then, still flushed and panting they burst out laughing. ‘That was the quickest ever!’ Andrei, with one hand on his hip, threw back his head, lifting the rafters with his huge laugh.
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