Unexpected Storms (The Unexpected Series Book 4)

by Stacy Eaton

  The routine was almost five minutes long, so I was going to have to learn a minute and forty seconds of it each day. On Thursday, I would run through the dance in its entirety over and over again until I had it down pat, and then on Friday, I would rehearse it with Clara at another site before the taped dance. At least this time, we didn’t have any outside influence like we did at the park. The dances would be filmed inside at a hotel using their ballroom.

  I ended up staying an hour later on Monday to keep practicing in a small room with Clara. My competition wasn’t coming in until five, so I was glad to have some extra time. On Tuesday, I practiced with Clara another two hours after we finished taping.

  I had asked her how the other guy was doing since she was also working with him in the evenings, and she said that he was picking it up quickly. Being the competitive person that I was, that answer frustrated me, but she told me that I had come a long way since we started.

  By the end of Wednesday, I thought that I had an excellent grasp on the dance, and I looked forward to going through the entire thing the next day. How strange it was that this dance—scratch that—this whole thing had consumed me. When I was at work, I had a hard time concentrating on anything, and I’d made Alice and Maggie dance with me on a few of the moves to make sure I had the footing right and wasn’t confusing the steps with something else.

  I was at the office early Thursday morning, sipping from my green smoothie when Jake stuck his head around the corner of my cubby. “You got a minute, twinkle toes?”

  I shook my head at him. “Yes, I can give you a minute. I can even give you a couple of minutes if you stand in for my training partner and help me with part of my routine.”

  “Not on your life, sweet cheeks! Meet me in my office in five, and put the coffee on.”

  “Coffee is already on,” I told him as he walked away. “You can pour your cup as you walk by it.”

  “Fine.”

  A few minutes later, I was taking a seat in his office. “You have something against dancing?”

  “What? No, not really. It’s not very masculine, but hey, whatever.”

  I laughed. “Jake, man, you should see the stuff that I have to do in this dance. I’m lifting the girl and spinning her around. I’ll be lucky if I don’t drop her or get puked on when I make her dizzy. It’s more of a workout than some of my trips to the gym.”

  “That intense?”

  “Yeah. You should come on Friday and watch it.”

  He grinned. “You’re going to let me have a front-row seat to watch you go up in flames?”

  “Ha! I don’t know why I invited you, other than I am working my ass off and could use some support. I’m nervous as hell on this one. The first one was relatively easy and fun. This one is a whole lot more work, and damn, it’s sexy as hell.”

  “What do you mean sexy?”

  “This girl is going to be in my arms, and there is probably nowhere on her body that I won’t be touching. I’m serious; it’s a really sexy song.”

  “Hmm, maybe I’ll have to come.” He paused. “Alice going to be there?”

  “Why? You want to try the dance out on her?” I smirked his way.

  “No, I’m not interested in Alice. Why does everyone think that?”

  “If you aren’t interested in her, then why did you ask if she would be there?”

  He shrugged. “Alice is not my type.”

  “Your type?” I barked out a laugh. “Dude, you two would be explosive together. It’s so funny that you both deny it, but all of us see it.”

  “You guys are making shit up. Can we focus on work now? I wanted to talk to you about a trip we will be making next month. Or are you going to be changing careers and dancing full time now?”

  “You’re a shithead. Talk.”

  Jake and I discussed business for about an hour, and we decided that I would head it up since it was another humanitarian mission to deliver more medical supplies. Greg and Maggie would be going with me—the first one that she would officially be going on—and Brett, Wyatt, and Drake would also be coming along.

  I glanced at my watch. “I gotta get going. Today is the dress rehearsal.”

  He shook his head as he laughed. “What time is this competition tomorrow?”

  “Not sure, but I’ll let you know.”

  “Go break a leg or something.” He waved me out of his office as his desk phone rang.

  I turned my computer off and grabbed my keys from my desk before I stopped by Maggie’s office. “I hear you are going with us on our next trip.”

  Her eyes sparkled. “Are you serious? Did he just tell you that?”

  “He did.”

  Maggie jumped out of her chair and threw her arms around me. “Thank you!”

  “Don’t thank me, thank Jake.”

  “Are you dancing with my woman again?” Greg asked from the door as I stepped back from Maggie.

  “I get to go!” she said excitedly.

  “Go where?” He looked confused.

  “On the mission next month.”

  “Ah, good stuff.” He grinned at her as she rushed past him and down the hallway.

  “How come you got a hug, and I got brushed past?” Greg asked as she disappeared down the hallway.

  I snickered. “Because I gave her the good news. What are you doing here? Why aren’t you teaching the class today?”

  “I had to come by and pick something up. Our handouts were missing. Alice made new ones for me.”

  “Ah, how is the class going?”

  “Probably better than your dancing.” He slapped me on the back as we headed toward the front door.

  “Hey, now! I’ll have you know that I’m a good dancer.”

  He chuckled. “How is it going?”

  “Well, I’m about to head out and do the dress rehearsal. So far, I have been doing pieces of it; now I’m going to do the entire thing a few times.”

  “You think you have it down?”

  “Yeah, but I also think one wrong move and I could screw the entire thing up.”

  “You’ll do fine.”

  “I hope so. You coming to watch tomorrow?”

  “I don’t think Maggie would let me miss it.” He grinned.

  “Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

  “You got it.” I waved to Alice, and I was on my way. When I arrived at the hotel where we would be doing the filming the next night, I found myself almost as nervous as I had been last Friday. This was only a dress rehearsal, and I was a nervous wreck. What was I going to be like tomorrow?

  I changed into slacks, dress shoes, and a button-down shirt, then joined the crew in the ballroom. I stood there, staring at the dance floor, and my stomach did a flip. What made me think that I could do this, or that doing this would somehow show a woman that I was right for her?

  For the first time in almost two weeks, I began to question why I was doing this. Clara joined me, pulling my arm. “You are looking freaked out. Let’s just get out there and let the music flow. You know this, Harv, and you are going to do amazing.”

  “If you say so.”

  We took our places, and I could feel my knees shaking. I’d never been so nervous in my life. The music started, and we began. We had to stop and redo things the first couple of times, but by the fourth one, I was on a roll. It was smooth, and I was having fun. I could do this, and I just hoped that tomorrow when I did it with my new dance partner, I did it just as well.

  “I think you got it,” Clara held her hands up, and I gave her a high five.

  “I could not have done this if I didn’t have such a great partner. Speaking of partners, how is she doing with this routine?”

  Clara glanced around. “We aren’t supposed to talk about it, but I heard she really nailed it. Which is surprising because she’s not a dancer, but I guess she had some in her blood after all.”

  “Well, that’s good.”

  “I think you two are going to really do well together,” she whispered to
ward me. “My money is on you, by the way. I can see you two together and cannot wait to see you two dance this routine tomorrow. It’s going to be spectacular.”

  “Thanks for that, Clara. That means a lot.”

  She hugged me. “Don’t let me down now!”

  “I won’t.” My sister joined us, and Clara quickly said her goodbyes.

  “Well, how do you feel about all of this?”

  “I was nervous as hell when I got here today, but now that I have done the whole thing a few times, I feel a lot more confident.”

  “You looked good out there, Harvey. Surprised the hell out of me that you could dance.”

  I chuckled. “Yeah, I kind of surprised myself too.”

  “What are you going to do if she picks you after this?”

  “What do you mean, what am I going to do?”

  “I mean, are you going to go out with her?”

  “Sure. That’s what this is all about, right? You can only tell so much from dancing with one another. If she picks me, then I’d like to see what might be there.”

  My sister looked like she was about to explode with excitement. “Okay. Then you better go home and get your beauty sleep. You don’t want to scare her away tomorrow.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ali

  Work was nuts. Luckily Saturday night had been slower than usual because people hadn’t been sure we’d be open. People that did come in were either diehard customers or didn’t have any clue that we’d been under suspicion in the first place. A few customers asked how things were going, and what caused the shutdown, but Anton was able to brush all of that away.

  In the kitchen, we took extra precautions. We had sanitized everything with a deep cleaning and then gotten to work preparing for the night. Our menu was adjusted to fit what we could quickly cook without hours of extra preparation, and what we had in stock, along with a few recipes that we were introducing on a special menu that we called a testing menu. We tried to make the customers feel special by saying they were part of our surprise test group, and I was out of the kitchen on and off during the night to check on their opinions. I was also watching my staff like a hawk.

  Not that I thought any of them had done something wrong, but I couldn’t take the chance that it would happen again. By the time the night was over, I was exhausted. At midnight, I was walking in my door, and I was asleep on my feet.

  Sunday was more of the same, and it was another stressful night, but at least we were back to our regular menu, for the most part. There were a few things that we weren’t able to get in fresh, but we were back in business. I spoke to Randolph as soon as I woke and let him know how things were going. He didn’t seem concerned and told me that he knew I could handle it. That is why he had hired me as the head chef. That made me feel a little better, but it still irked me that we had been blamed for food poisoning when there had been no proof found.

  On Sundays, we opened at four instead of five, but we also closed an hour earlier. I was home and in bed by eleven, and while I was excited about this next week of dancing, I was also dreading it. I had never imagined that it would be so physically grueling.

  Did I seriously think just last night that the past week had been physically grueling? Holy crap! I stood in the dance studio, my jaw hanging open as I watched Clara and Victor move around the room. They expected me to do that? There was no way I could do half of what they were asking, and I sure as hell could not look even half as sexy as she did.

  I knew that Clara was the dance partner to the two men, and I wondered what she thought of them. What would they think of me after dancing with her? She was grace and style, and her body was so fluid and oozed sex. I couldn’t do that.

  I spun around and started walking toward the door. I heard Holly yell, “Cut!” and then a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me around.

  “Where do you think you are going?” Cal asked although he looked very concerned.

  “I can’t do that, Cal! There is no way I could do that dance. She makes it look so easy, but I can’t do that! The way she flips her hair and brushes her body against him. You expect me to do that with two men that I don’t even know? I cannot do that! Or—or trust them to flip me over their back, hold me as they spin in a circle, and lift me like that? There is no way!”

  Holly appeared at my side. “Ali, you can do this! This dance was made for you.”

  “Made me for me? Are you nuts? This dance was made for sexy and sophisticated. I am neither.”

  “Cal, can you give us a moment?” He nodded and stepped aside as Holly led me over to the corner.

  “I know you don’t think you can do this, Ali, but I know you can. I can picture you doing it. Now you need to picture it. Isn’t this exactly what you wanted—a dance to get you out of your comfort zone and show people that you are a sexy woman with more than your food?”

  I pursed my lips and hugged myself. “Holly, how the hell can I trust these men to hold me like that? Jesus, they are touching almost every part of my body. I don’t even know these men.”

  “I agree that it is a very touchy dance, but you can’t tell me that it didn’t intrigue you just a little bit. Put aside your fear for a moment, and picture those two men that you danced with last week. Don’t you think they are going to be afraid of not being good enough for you? Can you picture either of those men giving up?”

  I considered that for a moment. Both of those men had been determined and reliable and also fun. Would they be able to pull this off and add in the sexual and romantic elements? Would we all look like bumbling idiots? At least if we were I wouldn’t be alone in this.

  Holly took my shoulders. “I will promise you that both of these guys are going to be just as afraid as you are. But I know they are going to do it because they are both determined to make you happy and see if that connection grows. It’s going to be tough, but I know you can do this, Ali.”

  “There is no way I can look anywhere as sexy as she does.” I nodded toward Clara, who was chatting with Victor and Cal.

  “You will. I promise you. Once you get the hang of it and get comfortable with this dance, you will add your own sexuality to it.”

  I laughed abruptly, and everyone glanced my way. “I can’t believe I am going to do this.”

  “You got this, Ali.”

  “If you say so,” I muttered, and then she pulled me back to Cal and Tarin, who gave me more of a pep talk.

  “Alright, let’s go back to the end of the dance and get a new reaction from Ali,” Holly called.

  I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply, and shook out my arms, nodding toward Holly that I was ready. The music ended, and Tarin turned to me. “What do you think?”

  My knees were shaking, but I forced a smile. “I think I have a lot of work to do.”

  They left it at that, and we quickly started to learn the dance. Clara stayed around to help me, and we worked on ten to fifteen seconds of the dance at a time. I struggled with a few steps, but I forced myself to stay focused and work hard. By ten that morning, I had learned almost the first two minutes of the dance. I still had problems with some of the moves, but I knew what I was supposed to do.

  My cellphone rang a few hours later, and I glanced at the name to see it was Charlie. “Hey, are you back in town?” I asked as I walked into the small office in the back of the kitchen.

  “Yes, I am—what a whirlwind. I’m so sorry that I wasn’t there for you Friday. How did the dance go?”

  “That’s okay. It went well, and now I’m learning another dance for this week.”

  “Any idea which one of the guys you will choose?”

  “No, not yet.”

  “What are they like?”

  I chuckled. “I don’t know. They are both handsome. One has bright green eyes, and the other has blue eyes. One has dark hair, the other blond. Both are strong, although the second one is a bit more built. They both have fantastic smiles.”

  “Did either of them make your heart beat faster?”
r />   I laughed harder. “Charlie, we were dancing; my heart was hammering in my chest! The routine was super energetic, but holy crap, nothing like this week's dance.”

  “What song are you dancing to this week?”

  “Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud.’”

  “Oh, I love that song. That is a very romantic song.”

  “Wait till you see the dance.”

  “Is it romantic?”

  “It is, but it’s also very sexy, and the dancing is crazy. I’ve only learned a portion of it, and I’m kind of amazed that I can do some of what they are asking me to do.”

  “Come on, Ali, you know you can do anything you put your mind to.”

  “In the kitchen!”

  “Just think of it as a different kind of cooking.”

  “Very funny.”

  “Will I be able to watch this week?”

  “Yes, I put you on the list.”

  “Great, I can’t wait to see you and check out the two guys.”

  We talked a little more about it, and then they needed me in the kitchen. As usual, the night flew by, and before I knew it, it was Thursday morning.

  My body ached in every possible joint it could. I stood under the hot shower spray after I woke up, trying to get my muscles to relax enough to stretch. I only had to get through two more days of this, and it would be over.

  What would I have then? Would I find a man that I could build a life with? Or was this all just a colossal waste of time? What if I choose wrong? What if the one I thought would be good for me wasn’t the right one? I’ll never know. I signed a contract that said I would only date the man I chose for at least one month. Not that I had to stay with him that entire month, but I wasn’t allowed to be seen with any other men, especially either of the other dancers, until after the show aired.

  If I picked wrong, would the other man even be interested in getting to know me? Did I even want to date anyone?

  I sighed as I turned off the water. I needed to get through this and see what happened. If I picked wrong, then I chose wrong, and life would go on. Maybe someday I would find the right man.