her body.
She gave him a pointed stare and he just grinned back at her. That was when she decided to show the annoyingly handsome man that she was made of tougher stuff than he thought she was.
She’d been dancing since she was thirteen. Let’s face it, she thought, there wasn’t a time in her life when men hadn’t been staring at her body. And tonight … well, tonight she wanted Nate to see her and to want her. She knew she was an okay-looking woman most of the time, but when she danced … she was beautiful.
“I’m not an athlete, T.J., so you will have to tell me, does baseball have its own cadence?”
He nodded. “It might, ma’am, but all I hear is the sound of the bat hitting the ball.”
She nodded, trying to think of another way to reach him. How was she going to make this work for him?
“Do you mind if I touch you? “
“Not at all,” he said with a grin.
She smiled back at him. Walking around behind him, she put her hands on his hips. “Just stay loose and let my hands move you.”
He nodded and she counted the beat of the music under her breath. And then she started to move his hips. He tried to move his feet but stumbled. “Just stay still and learn the beats.”
“I don’t think that method is working, Ms. Miller,” Nate said. “Let me show him how it’s done.”
She looked at her boss and then put her hands up and stepped back.
But instead of going to T.J., Nate came to her. He put his hands on her hips. “Move so I can feel the rhythm.”
His low tone was meant only for her ears and she responded to it. She counted the beat so he’d hear it as loudly as she did inside of her head and then she started to move.
Nate, unlike T.J., moved with an innate grace and natural ability that made dancing with him … well, not work. He put his hands in the proper position for the dance. One hand on her hips and the other holding her hand, his eyes met hers and the other people in the room faded away. In that one moment, Nate wasn’t her boss or some local celebrity.
He was her partner, her man, and she let the dance take over. Their gazes met and held as they danced. Nate understood sensuality, and in his arms she realized that she was more than the dance instructor.
The salsa was about heat and sex. It was a seduction, a promise of the evening to come. She felt the barriers she’d been trying to put into place to keep him back start to shake and then fall.
This man wasn’t going to let her keep him away if he wanted to be closer. And as the music faded and they stopped moving, she knew he did want to be near to her, or at least she knew that she wanted to be near to him. She wanted to feel his hands on her hips again. To feel his big hand holding hers and watch his dark obsidian eyes as they moved together to the music.
Nate didn’t know why he felt so possessive toward Jen. She was nothing more than a pretty face and an employee but when she’d touched T.J., he’d seen red. And he didn’t like that.
Once he held her in his arms, he knew what the problem was. He wanted her. And wanting her was complicating his rather simple plans for an enjoyable evening. But dancing together had also shown him that she was interested in him, too. She watched him, her gaze heated under his as they moved and when the music stopped, he started to pull her to a corner of the room.
But the applause stopped him and Jen bit her lower lip as she stepped back.
“That is what we need to see from everyone,” she said. “I’m going to observe you all dancing and then we will be ready for our big debut.”
“I don’t think I’m going to look like that,” T.J. said.
“Don’t worry about it,” Nate said. “I’ll take your place. Unless you have an objection, Ms. Miller.”
Jen flushed and shook her head. “You are a very good partner, Mr. Stern.”
“Call me Nate,” he said.
She nodded. She turned her attention back to the class.
“Why didn’t you tell me you had something going with her?” T.J. asked.
“I don’t. That was just a dance.”
“That was sex on a cracker, man. That was so much more than a dance,” T.J. said. “I guess there is no chance for me.”
Nate shrugged. It was a connection, and one that he didn’t feel all the time, but he knew it wasn’t rare. It was just lust. Tonight he was on the prowl. Ms. Miller was attractive and there was something about her that made him curious. Maybe it was her mouth with the full lower lip that he knew would feel right under his. Or her nipped-in waist and long lean dancer’s body that he sensed would feel right in his arms.
Hell, he already knew that it felt right here. That she felt right when she moved with him. He wanted to explore it further but he was aware that he was her boss and long-term relationships weren’t his thing.
Which could make working together in the future a little uncomfortable.
“What are you thinking, man?”
“That women are complicated.”
T.J. laughed. “Understatement of the year. I don’t think I’m ever going to figure them out.”
“The dances?” Jen said coming over to the two of them. “You should probably stop chatting if you want to master them.”
“Sorry,” T.J. said. “I think I’m a lost cause.”
“I’m not ready to give up on you yet. Maybe Nate can help you with the footwork. He seems to know his way around the dance floor.”
“I think I’d rather practice with a beautiful woman than with this retired pitcher.”
“Ditto,” Nate said.
“Well, I have other students who need my attention as well. And I’m not getting through to you,” she said. “Nate, why do you think that is? “
He realized she was being sincere. She wanted to help T.J. and that was the first time he realized that the dance lessons were important to her. He’d been too busy looking at her body and watching her sensual moves to pay attention earlier.
“I’m not sure. T.J. is used to using his body as a blunt instrument and dancing is more subtle, isn’t it?” “Yes, I think you’re right. How about a line dance?”
T.J. groaned. “No. My sisters have tried rather unsuccessfully to get me to Electric Slide with them.”
She laughed. “Does liquor help? Some people can’t let go of their preconception that others are watching them dance until they have a few drinks.”
“Not even a keg of beer could relax me,” T.J. said. “But I appreciate your trying.”
“It’s my job.”
“And you are very good at it,” T.J. said. “I’d put a good word in with your boss but I think he already knows how good you are.”
Jen glanced over at him. “Does he?”
Nate nodded. “You are very good.”
He realized she was flirting with him just a little and he silenced the voice in the back of his head that had said she was off-limits. Her interest was all the permission he needed to pursue her.
She went back to the front of the classroom and told everyone to take a five-minute break. Then they’d practice the dance they were going to do to open the show one more time.
Nate followed Jen out of the room. She stopped in the hallway when she realized he was behind her.
“I’m sorry that T.J. isn’t getting the dance.”
“That’s