She wrapped one arm around her waist and tipped her head to the side. The high ponytail that held up her pretty brown hair brushed against her shoulder. He reached out to touch the end of it. Her hair was soft.
“That’s why,” she said. “I’m starting to forget you are my boss, Nate. And I like this job.”
“Dancing with me isn’t going to compromise your job,” he said. “Luna Azul doesn’t have a fraternization policy.”
She wrinkled her brow. “I know that. But if something …”
“What?”
“It would be awkward and I really like this job,” she said, then turned and walked away. And he let her leave realizing that she was concerned and that he had no idea who she was beyond a pretty girl that he was attracted to.
Jen wanted to just dance into the night with Nate. To pretend that her actions would have no consequences and that she could give in to the powerful attraction and that everything would be fine.
But she wasn’t the young girl she’d once been. And she’d paid the price for making a bad decision based on her desires before. She wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice.
It didn’t matter how nice he’d felt when he’d held her in his arms. Or how right they’d fit together as they danced. It didn’t matter.
But it did. She was always looking for a man who made her feel the way that Nate had when they’d danced together. It wasn’t just the dancing but how he’d kept her gaze and how they’d just instinctively found the rhythm of each other. That kind of dancing was rare and she wanted to do more than just salsa with him.
She wanted to pull him close while the soul-sex sounds of Santana played in the background. Stop it.
She needed this job. This was the new Jen Miller. No longer a creature who was ruled by what felt good or right, she now followed the rules. Put family first and was a good girl.
She had to remember that. Marcia had given her a place to stay when she’d needed it and she had promised her sister that she’d changed. That she’d embrace … well, being someone new.
Marcia had always thought that Jen was spoiled and to be honest, she was. She’d had talent from the age of eight. She’d been a dance prodigy and everyone had expected great things from her. And for Jen, those things had come easily.
Crashing at age twenty-six hadn’t been in her plans and leaving the competitive dance world behind hadn’t been, either. If she wanted to dance—and let’s face it, she didn’t know how to do anything else—then she needed to keep this job.
And that meant staying away from Nate Stern.
“You okay?” Alison asked, joining her in the hallway.
“Yes. I’m just trying to catch my breath before we go on.”
“You and Nate …”
“I know. We have dance chemistry.” “In spades. I think you should capitalize on it,” Alison said.
Sure, it was easy for her to say. She didn’t have to go out there and dance a sensual dance with a man who was all wrong for her.
“How?”
“Have him come back every night.”
“I doubt he has time for that. He’s a busy man,” Jen said. “Are you ready?”
“I am. Are you going to hang around and wait for XSU to perform?”
“Probably. You?”
“Yes. My boyfriend is meeting me here.”
“How’s it going with him—Richard, right?”
She nodded. “Pretty good. It’s not a forever thing, but we have fun together.”
Jen wanted that. Some guys she could have fun with and not lose her heart to. But she’d never been able to do it. Maybe it was simply the way she was wired but she didn’t do casual. That’s why Nate worried her.
If she could be like Alison and just have fun with him … why couldn’t she?
She was starting over—why not start over with her attitude toward men? Why not have some fun?
“How do you keep from caring too much?” Jen asked.
Alison shrugged. “He’s not the one so it’s just fun. I don’t think about anything except having a good time with him. If he’s too busy to make it to something I’m doing, I call someone else.”
Jen didn’t know if she could do that. She wanted to.
“Why?”
“I … I wish I could be like that.”
“You don’t even date,” Alison said. “We’ve known each other for eighteen months now and you haven’t met a guy for coffee.”
“I know. I’m just not into the casual scene but maybe I should be. I mean, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life alone.”
Alison smiled. “Want to come and hang with Richard and me tonight?”
Jen shook her head, then realized that she needed to do something different. “Okay. I’ll do it.”
“Good. Richard always has his posse with him and there are at least two guys I know who will be interested in you.”
She swallowed. “What if I can’t do it?”
“Then it’s no biggie. They aren’t exactly looking for a commitment.”
She reentered the rehearsal room. Nate was standing off to one side, talking on his cell phone and she stared at him. And it hit her.
She didn’t want to just learn how to lighten up and have fun with any friend of Richard’s. She wanted to do it with Nate. He was the only reason why she was even considering changing her ways.
She wanted to spend more time with him but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that Nate wasn’t a long-term dating kind of guy. He always had a new woman on his arm and he was always in the papers. He was an arm-candy kind of guy and she’d never been an arm-candy kind of girl.
Wanting to be with him was understandable. He was hot and flirty. He made dancing feel the way she wanted it to. And he had the kind of dark eyes that she could lose herself in. But that didn’t mean that she should pursue this any further than on the dance floor.
Hell, for all she knew he didn’t want her for anything other than publicity for the club. Shaking her head, she put on “Mambo No. 5” and got the class ready to conga out into the crowd as she heard Manuel, the deejay for the open-air room, start warming them up.
“Everyone get ready.”
“I know I am,” Nate said. She felt his hands on her hips and she stumbled over her first step. She stumbled! That never happened.
But Nate caught her, and his hands on her hips as she led the way into the main room were all she thought of. She knew whether it was wise or not she wasn’t going to deny herself the chance to get to know Nate better.
Because he was exactly her kind of man.
Three
Nate glanced around the crowded balcony club area and spotted just enough A-listers to make the party interesting. Leaning forward, he whispered in Jen’s ear.
“That’s Hutch Damien over there. Let’s get him in this conga line.”
“I don’t know him.”
“I do. Head over that way,” Nate said.
He directed Jen as the line snaked through the tables. She had no microphone on, the deejay did all the talking in this club getting patrons