Page 189 of Forbidden Lessons

I’m briefly airborne until my ballet slippers land on top of his shiny dress shoes. He slides a hand to the small of my back, keeping me from falling off, and takes up my other hand with his.

“Ready?”

I don’t dare breathe, balanced on Bastian’s feet in the middle of the dance floor as I am, but I manage a gritted smile.

“Good. Follow my lead.”

He flows with the music.Weflow.

And fuck, it feels amazing.

I surrender, my body completely under his control.

I’ve never felt this safe before. This enraptured. This…free.

Now I get what all the fuss is about. I don’t want the song to end. I’d be happy to spend the rest of my life twirling around in Bastian’s arms, his strong hand wrapped around mine, the scent of his body wash and cologne hitting my nose.

“Shall we take a spin?”

My eyes snap open, and he’s staring at me so intently my mouth goes dry. “What?”

He grasps my waist, slipping me off his feet, and steps back until both our arms are outstretched. Then he tugs me back, spinning me along his arm until my back thumps into the front of his body.

The shock does something to my nervous system.

I can’t breathe. I can’t move.

His arm is wrapped around my chest, our hands still clasped. And I’m frozen in place as a frantic violin sequence plays out around us. All the other dancers are lost in their steps, none of them looking at us.

Bastian slides his hand over my stomach, urging me closer, until our bodies are flush.

I can feel every part of him.

Everyinchof him.

Because he’s hard under his tux.

And then he dips me, his other hand cradling the back of my head as he bends with me.

“Now that you’re not working for minimum wage anymore, you’ll have time to go for dance lessons,” he whispers, his eyes searching mine, a tiny smile playing on his lips.

A flash of fury makes it easy to snap out of the serotonin-induced haze he put me in.

“Are youkiddingme?”

I grab the front of his tux, hauling myself to my feet. I glance around, but now that the song’s over, the dancers are in a state of flux, either getting ready for the next song or leaving for refreshments.

His smile fades. “Miss Lee?—”

I slap his arm when he reaches for me and then charge off the dance floor in case someone pays too much attention. The lastthing I need is anyone remembering that I basically told them to go fuck themselves.

Bastian catches up with me on the way to the restroom, snatching my arm.

I spin, jerking out of his grip. “Don’t touch me.”

“Can we please just talk?” he says, glancing past me at the row of ladies waiting in line for the bathroom, giving them a wan smile as he readjusts the urgency on his face. “Please, Haven.”

Screw it. I’ll go pee in the bushes.

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