Page 17 of Flirty Dancing

Sad.

The saddest.

Caleb says hi.

What? No, he doesn’t.

Fine, he didn’t exactly say hi, but he

asked me where you were.

Gross.

He’s hot.

Yeah, but…And psychotic.

Well, one out of two ain’t bad.

You go for it, then!

Maybe.

Archer laughed.Good luck.

It wasn’t until he woke up in the middle of the night and stared at the ceiling for a while listening to Caleb snoring that it occurred to him that Mateo must have asked someone which room was his.

5Blurry

Thursday was a blur. They ran throughRetroagain and also had to learn the hip-hop show. Mateo was all business, barking orders and nagging at him about his turnout. “It’s not ballet, Archer. You need to settle into your knees.”

“I am,” Archer muttered through gritted teeth, not quite loud enough for Mateo to hear. He wanted sexy, smoldering tango Mateo back, or the uncertain, fumbling Mateo who came to find him in his room, not the drill sergeant ragging on him about his knees.

They were taking a water break when Caleb approached. “Mateo’s extra pissy today, hey?”

“Mmm,” Archer replied, pulling his heel back for a quad stretch.

Caleb chewed his lip for a moment, looking uncustomarily sheepish. “Listen, I’m sorry about taking your clothes and stuff yesterday.”

Archer dropped his foot. “Thanks. I appreciate it, Caleb.”

“It was supposed to be funny.”

“Yeah. It wasn’t.”

Caleb shrugged. “Your body is scorching hot though.”

Archer took a drink of water, considering. “Are you hitting on me while apologizing?”

“Maybe.” Caleb’s normal mischievous grin crept back. “Is it working?”

Archer chuckled and shook his head. “No.”

“Damn it. Better try something else.” Caleb winked at him and sauntered away. Archer watched him go. Awfully cute, though. And, he had to admit, the attention was flattering, considering he had been rejected by everyone and everything the last five months.

“If you’re done daydreaming, Archer”—the drill sergeant was back—“we’re taking it from the top.”

Archer had another long, hot shower—this time his thighs ached—taking quick peeks past the shower curtain at the slightest sound in case Caleb decided it would actually be fucking hilarious to steal his clothes again. When he got out of the shower, he saw that Lynn had sent him a picture of the most beautiful engagement ring—gold with a pink teardrop diamond—and the captionI found it, Arch!!!

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