Tango & Lace

by Misty Dietz

  He’d returned to Colorado to help fix up Rosie’s house and keep an eye on her as she continued to heal. Her heart attack had been a wake-up call for him and the rest of his cousins. Rosie had always been a fixture in their lives—as strong and colorful as Mya.

  Someone you thought would always be there.

  Until they weren’t

  He’d also come back to Fort Collins to rest after two grueling years of international fieldwork.

  And maybe to finally face the ghosts of the past that still haunted the dark hours of the night when he awoke, reaching for Mya.

  He’d mentally prepared to see her with Arturo. The two had become dance partners shortly after he’d left for Israel. Gramma had been the devil, sending him pictures of the pair in their dance finery, accepting award after award. He’d poured over those pictures as penance for his part in their painful break up.

  For her part, Mya had viewed his decision to accept the Dead Sea Scrolls assignment as another abandonment. When she was fifteen, her police officer father had been gunned down during a domestic dispute gone horribly wrong, and two years later, her mother’s battle with ALS left her and Cole to not only fend for themselves, but also their two younger siblings.

  Coming home to Fort Collins, he’d prepared himself to be happy for her and Arturo. Prepared to finally accept that they weren’t meant for each other—regardless of how amazing he and Mya had made each other feel in the beginning, before her insecurities and his intolerance of her volatility got in the way. He’d hoped seeing Mya and Arturo together, happy, would finally let him move on.

  Jackson was a man of science, not emotion, but this morning when he’d watched them together, even he could sense that their connection wasn’t anything like what he’d shared with Mya. Doesn’t mean she doesn’t love Arturo.

  Mya and Arturo had so much in common, and that counted for a lot. Passion could only sustain a marriage for so long. He was beginning to wonder if that’s all he and Mya had ever had.

  He handed his business card to Officer Ramos, asking him to call if they developed any leads, since Mya was going to be staying next door. He looked over at her, standing on Rosie’s patio, drying off Nat’s hair with one of his grandmother’s out-dated pink bath towels. His chest squeezed when she glanced up. The layered emotion in her beautiful eyes made his walls rise another brick higher even as he wanted to yank her to him and feel her body ignite under his.

  Mya Carmen Castillo was still his kryptonite.

  Too bad he wasn’t Superman, capable of leaping over five-foot-four inch Cuban-American sirens in a single bound.

  Fuck.

  Mya wrapped another towel around Nat’s shoulders and walked directly toward them. “Can I at least go inside to get my purse and keys?” she asked Ramos.

  “Why?” “To go where?” Jack and Cole said at the same time.

  A familiar furrow appeared between her arched brows. “Must you two bellow? Where do you think I’m going? Someone should go to the hospital to check on Artie.”

  Ramos shook his head. “Sorry, no one can enter the property until it’s passed inspection. That means your vehicle, too.”

  Mya pursed her lips. “How long will that take?”

  “Have you called any of the remediation services on the list yet?” When Mya shook her head, Ramos continued. “I’d call as soon as possible. Those guys stay busy. You’ll want to get on their schedule.”

  Jackson ignored the shaft of jealousy over Mya’s obvious frustration about not being able to get to Arturo. “I can drive you to the hospital.”

  She turned to Jack with a strangely blank look. “I’ll take Cole’s truck. In case you don’t remember, I learned to drive when I was twelve.”

  An image of her sitting on a stack of pillows so she could see over the dashboard flashed through Jack’s mind.

  “I need my truck today, but I can drop you off,” Cole said from the doorway.

  Mya closed her eyes briefly as though praying for patience. “I don’t want or need either of you to babysit or shuttle me hither and yon. You heard them say this appears to be a standard break in, right?”

  “They don’t know much about anything yet.” Cole glanced over as Nat and Rosie approached them. “Let me call Ivy. She mentioned wanting to take you, Nat, and Andre to her parents’ house in Denver for some R and R before school starts next month. Her parents have a huge house with a pool.”

  “I’m in!” Nat said, refolding a faded and frayed pink towel.

  Cole took his phone out of his back pocket. “After I talk to Ivy, I’ll call your 911 dispatch supervisor and explain what’s going on, Mya, so don’t worry about work.”

  Mya crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not leaving town, Cole. I committed to coaching two middle school students who are competing in the National DanceSport Youth Championship. And I’m not leaving Artie.”

  “Fine. Then you’ll stay with Jack and Rosie. But first, come get some things from Ivy until you have access to your stuff.”

  She opened her mouth like she was going to protest, but Rosie put her hand on Cole’s forearm.

  “Do you think Ivy would mind if I tagged along to Denver?” she asked, “It sounds fun, and I could really use a diversion.” When she winked at Jack over her shoulder, his gut bottomed out.

  “No,” “No way!” he and Mya gasped simultaneously. If gramma went to Denver, that would leave him alone with Mya in a place that already bled too many memories.

  Cole held up a hand to silence them, but before he could speak, his phone rang. While Cole answered the call, Jack turned to Rosie, his pulse on hyperdrive. “I came back to Colorado to be with you, gramma. Plus you should be near your doctors.” Or I’ll have a heart attack myself.

  Mya nodded. “Yeah, Rosie, you need to keep things low key. We don’t want you to have another episode. You should stay home.”

  Rosie smiled serenely at both of them. “Aww, you two are sweet to fret, but Ivy’s mother is a cardiothoracic surgeon, so I’ll be in good hands.”

  Cole disconnected his call with a smile. “Ivy said everyone’s invited to Denver.”

  “I’m sure she did.”

  Cole ignored Mya’s sarcasm and turned to his truck. “Mya and Nat, come. Ivy’s packing a suitcase of her clothes for you. I’ll call Andre on the way. Rosie, if you want to get a bag packed, Ivy said plan to be gone about ten days.”

  “Ten days!” Mya squawked.

  Jack felt a similar panic bloom in his chest. Gramma and Nat giggled, clapped their hands, and hurried back into Rosie’s house to get her ready to bail.

  Traitors, all of them.

  Mya was pale and refused to look at him. Fantastic.

  She took a deep breath. “Cole, I’ll stay at your place while you guys are partying in Denver.”

  Her brother thrust a hand through his hair. “No, Mya. I’m only in Denver for two nights, and when I get back to town, I’ll be at the fire station for my twenty-four hour shift. The whole idea is for no one to be alone until the police figure out what happened.” He turned to look at Jack again. “In fact, I’m starting to think you should stay in the main house instead of the guesthouse, Whiteside. I’d feel better knowing Mya’s got eyes on her at all times.”

  Mya threw her hands up with a rude noise. “Now who’s overreacting? We might never know if it was random or otherwise,” she said.

  Jack mentally ran through a series of geologic terms to recenter his fractured emotions. It didn’t bother him that she seemed so hostile to the idea of being under the same roof as him.

  At least, it shouldn’t. “You’re right, they might never know, but it’s prudent to take precautions for now,” he replied when he was sure his voice would betray no emotion.

  Fifteen minutes later, Nat and a still-complaining Mya left with Cole, while Jack and Rosie followed soon after in his rental car to Cole and Ivy’s house. After pulling up to the tidy one story, Jackson walked around the car to help Rosie out before getting her luggag
e from the trunk, but she’d already exited the vehicle. A vibrant wreath adorned Cole and Ivy’s front door while pots of flowers every color of the rainbow vied for space on the small portico. It was clearly a well-loved home.

  Rosie grasped his arm to make their way up the sidewalk. “The easiest way to take care of Mya is to be her new tango partner.”

  Jackson froze. Whoa. What? “No way, Gramma. I haven’t danced in ages.”

  “Oh, hush. You’re such a brilliant man, except when it comes to matters of your own heart. You and Mya were magic on the dance floor and in each other’s lives. People can live to be a hundred and never once taste that kind of excitement. Now Artie’s injured, and the competition is in a few weeks. If you focus—and I know how focused you can be—the two of you could win that whole blessed thing.”

  “You know how we left things—”

  Rosie stopped just shy of Cole and Ivy’s portico and took one of Jack’s hands between both of hers. “She still loves you,” she whispered.

  His heart pounded furiously against his ribcage. Ridiculous. “When I told her my dream had finally come true, she slammed the door in my face. We haven’t spoken since. You’re letting your imagination run away with you.”

  His gramma’s eyes bored up at him. “You and that beautiful woman are two parts of a whole. Neither one complete without the other.” She patted his hand once more, then released it. “I’ve watched her for two years, trying to move on after you left. She is by nature a happy spirit and full of life, but she lost something that day you all but told her she wasn’t as important as your career.”

  “That’s not fair—”

  “You, hush.” She poked a finger in the center of his chest. “It’s the same with you, Jack. I’ve heard it in your voice every time you’ve called. I’ve even felt it in your emails. Now, seeing how you look at her and she looks at you even after all this time, it’s obvious that you’re both still miserable without each other. Love isn’t perfect. People aren’t perfect. But this could be your second chance.”

  He tipped his head back and ran a hand through his hair. “This is absurd.” Why was he even listening to this nonsense?

  “I’m too old for your sass to have any effect, young man. Now what do you say?”

  “About what?”

  Rosie rolled her eyes. “Kids these days. No attention span. Being her tango partner, what else?”

  When he cocked an eyebrow at her, she raised both of her silver ones right back.

  There was no way he could be Mya’s partner. No fucking way. “We’d end up hurting each other again.”

  “Stop letting your fear broker your choices. Aspire Athletic—it’s that new sporting goods store owned by a retired Broncos linebacker—will sponsor a new dance studio for her if she places in the top three. You left to follow your dream. Now, you could help her dream come true.”

  Rosie took the last few steps to Cole and Ivy’s door and knocked, leaving Jack more unsettled and unsure than he’d been in a couple years. Which should be a flashing sign to stay the hell away from Mya, right? She turned his life upside down without even trying. Months before he’d left the country, he’d grown tired of her empty flirtations orchestrated for the sole purpose of arousing his jealousy. She’d played games with both him and Arturo to try to ease her fear of loss, to make him up his ante—maybe even to make him propose—but he wasn’t sure he could ever reassure her enough that he loved her and would never leave her. He felt like she’d never trust his feelings enough to let go of her games.

  And that hurt.

  But in the end, he’d gone and left her anyway, confirming all her fears.

  Their whole relationship was messed up. They’d both made mistakes. Was it worth starting over? Would they be able to change their patterns or would they fall right back into their dysfunctional ways?

  When Mya opened Cole and Ivy’s front door, no one said anything as Rosie quietly entered the house. When Jack continued to stand there, Mya raised an eyebrow and stepped onto the portico, pausing between two enormous black pots that made her look small and alluringly feminine.

  “Well? What are you doing?” she asked.

  Thinking about how much I want you. How bad you are for my mental health. “Trying to clear my head.”

  “You have a clearer head than anyone I’ve ever met, Jack.”

  As Mya advanced on him, he focused on his breathing. She smelled like exotic flowers. Images of her satin skin, quivering as he buried his head between her legs, wove around him. She’d screamed for him that night—the night before they’d broken up—and he’d never, ever forget the sound. He shifted back a couple of steps until he was on the sidewalk, growing uncomfortable in his khakis. “Everyone getting ready to leave?” he asked.

  “Yes. Andre got here shortly after we did. He’s going to Denver, too,” she replied.

  Jack had noticed the extra vehicle in Cole’s driveway. “Not you though.”

  She smiled with her lips only. “The others can afford a week off. I can’t. Not with having to find a new partner and the clock ticking before the competition.”

  They stared at each other as a plump robin sang in the honey locust tree that spread its gauzy canopy on the yard.

  “Look, I don’t think I should stay with you…” She trailed off.

  That glimpse of vulnerability, fleeting though it was, surprised him. Made him want to wrap her up and tell her everything would be okay. He shoved his hands in his slacks. What did she want him to say? Did she want him to beg? “It probably won’t be for long. The police should have some answers soon, but in the meantime, I don’t want you to be alone anywhere. When you’re not at dispatch or at the dance studio, you can come to my office at the university. According to my assistant, it’s quite spacious.” He needed to stop talking. Now.

  “That’s kind of you, Jack, but I don’t plan to haunt your office.”

  Rosie stuck her head out the front door. “We’re almost ready to leave. Jack, did you ask her yet?”

  Jackson’s chest tightened. “Mind you own damn business, Gramma.”

  “Balderdash. When you’re seventy-eight, you get certain liberties. Now ask her.”

  He would not bring it up. Maneuvering the same living space with Mya was going to be torturous enough. Dancing with her, feeling the minute shifts of her muscles as they responded to his own…

  Down that road lay madness.

  Mya looked slightly ill. “Ask me what?”

  “You two would be magnificent tango partners,” Rosie said sweetly, before withdrawing back into the house, the door closing with a soft swoosh.

  Mya’s eyes widened momentarily, then bit her lip.

  Oh, shit. She couldn’t possibly be weighing the idea. A veil of sweat broke out all over Jack’s body as she opened that perfect mouth.

  “Well, that’s…interesting. It’s been two years, but we were good together.” Her lips parted, and he realized that he wasn’t the only one remembering his body joining hers—the wild passion, the slow loving—all of it.

  Mya blinked and shook her head as though dismissing the memories. “I know you probably have hard feelings. I do, too. But we could make it strictly about business. I really do need a partner.”

  Nothing with Mya was ever ‘strictly business.’ She was too passionate for that. He didn’t bother telling her his grandmother had already told him about her goal. Didn’t bother telling her he’d never forget her dreams or every little thing that mattered to her.

  He’d never forget. But he could let her talk, explain, try to convince him. All the while, he knew. Knew he’d never be able to tell her no.

  But he wanted to make her sweat it out—at least a little—because he’d have hours of sweating and subsequent cold showers of his own in the coming weeks.

  Son of a bitch.

  Chapter Five

  He’s gonna refuse. She could see it in those hypnotic gray-blue eyes, the likes of which she had yet to observe on another living sou
l. She could see his contrariness in the tensing of his stubbled jaw, the thinning of his lips with their ridiculously sensual curve. She must be mad to have even considered Rosie’s idea, much less practically asked Jack to do it. Still, who else was there? Octavian was a possibility, but he was no where near as in tune with her body as Jack had always been.

  Would their time apart make a difference? “We could try it. We’d know after an hour if it would work or not,” she said. His pupils expanded behind his tortoiseshell frames, his gaze warming instantly. Her belly twirled, her entire body restless with that one simple, dangerous look. She crossed her arms like a shield in front of her, but his eyes still emoted that dark craving. “W-well? Say something. You’re deliberately making this harder than it has to be.”

  “Nothing with you is ever easy, Mya.”

  His voice had roughened, raising goose bumps up and down her arms. “You used to like that,” she whispered.

  Neither of them spoke for long moments. Two years seemed to fall away as she lost herself in his eyes. A battle waged in his steady gaze. On the outside, everyone saw a wildly attractive, brilliant scientist. Very few got to know the ardor that beat inside the logical geo-archaeologist. The hunger behind his low-key exterior. She saw it for a brief moment under the blue Colorado sky.

  A breeze ruffled his hair. She reached up to smooth it back down, but he grabbed her wrist before her hand could make contact. “I can’t do this with you again, Mya.”

  She blinked hard as tiny spikes drove into the backs of her eyes. “I’m not asking for a relationship. I only need a dance partner. You make the most sense because we already know how to dance together.”

  “It wouldn’t be the same. We were a couple when we danced. In tune with each other. Now, we have all these unresolved feelings. And all of that will surely translate on the dance floor. You should know that better than anyone,” he said.

  “The tango is the ultimate dance for unresolved feelings.”

  He swore and started to move around her toward Cole and Ivy’s front door.

  “Wait! I’m sorry, that was insensitive.” When he paused on the sidewalk, she continued, “You took me by surprise. You always seem to have everything figured out. The thought that you still struggle with what happened between us surprises me a little.” More like a lot.