Page 26 of Blind Date with the Boss

‘It’s for a good cause, Logan said. ‘You’d be helping sick children like your nephew. The one with asthma. And many others who are much worse off. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have your childhood blighted by severe illness.’

It was a very good cause. Sally couldn’t deny that, but she couldn’t let go of her fear at the thought of dancing. With Logan. Her heart was racing. Her skin was bathed with perspiration and her throat had closed over.

Logan said, with a smiling shrug, ‘I’d be willing to pay you, of course.’

At the mention of money, Sally blinked.He should hire a professional.There had to be hundreds of professional dance teachers in Sydney and Logan could hire any one of them. They would provide him with the expert coaching he needed and the added bonus of complete anonymity. And she would be spared the ordeal.

But Logan’s sister might have suggested professional classes already. And even if she hadn’t, Sally knew that Logan’s request was a perfect opportunity to conquer her fear once and for all.

When she was eleven, she’d fallen from a horse. She’d been winded and hurt and even now, when she thought about it, she could still remember the pain of bruised ribs and the taste of red dust in her mouth. But despite her skinned knees and bruises, her father had insisted that she must get straight back in the saddle.

She’d sensed then, at that tender age, that if she hadn’t followed her father’s advice, she might have developed a fear of horses that could have turned into a debilitating phobia.

It’s the same now. I have to get back on the dance floor.

It would be silly to spend the rest of her life avoiding something she loved as much as she loved dancing. And after all, she’d come to Sydney to prove she’d recovered from that experience.

She could almost hear her dad urging her in that gentle, insistent way of his. Come on, kiddo.When you come a cropper, you just have to pick yourself up and ride the bruises out of your system.

Now I need to dance the bruises out of my system.

And of course, there was the rather astonishing fact that Logan hadaskedher.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

‘WHAT ARE YOU thinking?’ Her boss looked endearingly worried.

Sally let out her breath slowly. ‘I – I’m thinking that we’d need to find a suitable venue. Somewhere with space to move about.’

Relief spread over his face like a sunrise and Sally was suddenly very glad she hadn’t turned him down.

‘I’ve been giving the venue some thought,’ he said. ‘I wondered if the meeting room at Blackcorp would be suitable. We could push the tables and chairs against the walls.’

‘I – I guess.’

‘But we’d need to do this outside working hours, of course. There’s no need to advertise the lessons to the staff.’ He shot her a sharp, questioning glance.

‘I won’t breathe a word,’ she promised.

‘I hoped an evening might be suitable. Or some time at the weekend.’

Sally nodded. ‘Either time would be okay for me. I’m not especially busy.’

‘How about Thursday evening then? At about half past seven?’

Lifting her glass in a salute, Sally said, ‘It’s a date. I – I mean a deal. Make sure you bring your dancing shoes.’

He grinned. ‘Thanks for the reminder. I might have turned up in joggers.’

‘And we’ll need music.’

‘I’ll do a little research on Spotify. And I’ll to pick you up on Thursday.’

It was on the tip of Sally’s tongue to tell him there was no need. She lived very close to the Glebe train station. But this man was her boss. Surely she could trust him? Besides, he drove a very sleek black BMW.

As she drank some more of her wine, she finally began to relax. If she stayed calm, this could actually be fun.

She said, ‘You’ll have to decide what styles of dance you’d like to learn. How long have we got? I doubt I could manage to teach them all.’

---