Page 61 of Old Acquaintances

Ritchie chokes back a laugh and the rest of my friends fight to keep their expressions neutral.

Her jaw drops. “No, no, I didn’t mean it like that!”

Tucker runs his hand up my leg and pinches the back of my knee. “Ella’s only in it for the gratuitous touching.”

I scoot away from him. “There is no groping in ballet, Tucker, I’ve told you this.” I address Jen, “I’m very ladylike in the right setting.”

“Grace Kelly over here,” Callie jokes.

Serena covers a hiccup. “I’ve watched you shotgun a burrito.”

Tucker ignores them and argues, “You can’t tell me that the straight men you dance with aren’t in it to cop a feel.”

“Will you let that go?” I say. “We’ve been having this conversation since we were teenagers. Not everyone is as perverted asyou.”

Tucker jumps to his feet. “Stand up,” he orders.

“Why?”

“Because I’m going to show you.”

“I know what it feels like to be groped by you.”

“I’m going to demonstrate what a straight man is thinking with you in his arms,” he says. “Come on, stand up.”

I climb to my feet. “These people areprofessionals, Tucker.” He takes his sweatshirt and peels it off my body. My hair flies up, staticky. I insist, “That is not a ballet move.”

He spins me around in front of our amused friends. His hands settle on my waist, and I try not to think about it. I’ve felt him touch me there a million times, fleeting and antagonistic, except for the few times it wasn’t. Those times when I wanted his hand to become a permanent fixture on my skin.

I blink away those thoughts and say, “I don’t know what he’s doing but if he gets an erection, you guys put a stop to itfast.”

He puts his mouth beside my ear. “If I get an erection, then I’ve made my point.” He straightens up. “Do your little spinny thing.”

I look over my shoulder. “A pirouette?”

“Yeah, I guess, I don’t know.”

“And what are you going to do?”

“What you taught me.”

A smile sneaks onto my face. “Stop it. You remember that?”

His fingers move along my exposed stomach. “Sure. I remember a lot of things.”

The insinuation makes my insides float. There are a lot of moments between Tucker and I to remember. His eyes glide down my face, making me think he’s remembering something very specific.

Johnny laughs. “Ella used to make Tuck practice her ballet lifts and partnering stuff.”

Tucker slides his hands off my body and says, “Serena, hair clip, please.” She gives it to him, and he says, “Iwillget a boner if your hair whips in my face and I have to smell it.”

He gathers my hair in a ponytail, and I snort a laugh, nearly falling backward, when he clips it in place.

Serena says, “Why don’t you just let her put up her own hair?”

“Because he’sallabout the gratuitous touching,” I explain.

Tucker steadies me. “Okay.” He smacks my butt. “Come on, Beautiful. You’ve got all the attention, your favorite thing in the world.”

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