Page 25 of Flirty Dancing

Beau’s gaze shifted sideways at Ben. “Ben’s having a great week.”

Ben sighed, eyes rolling. “I was not checking him out.”

Beau smiled a tight smile and patted Ben’s leg. “Of course not, love.”

“Um.” Archer froze, fork hovering. “Checking who out?” He instantly regretted asking, of course, but it was too late.

Now Ben had a tight smile of his own. “Beau thinks I was checking out Gage.”

“He’s stone cold,” Beau said, stabbing his chicken with a fork. “Why wouldn’t you check him out?”

“Yeah, he’s hot, but just because I happened to be looking at him—”

“So you admit he’s hot?” Beau’s eyebrow arched dangerously high.

“I—” Ben shut his mouth with a snap and gave Archer a desperate will-you-help-me-out-here? look.

Archer chewed slowly, looking between the two. “Nothing wrong with noticing someone is hot, right?” he ventured.

Beau studied him for a moment. “Of course not, Archer.” He took a delicate bite.

“Speaking of hot,” Archer continued, “I’m so excited for the show tonight.” Sadly, in all his time in New York, focused as he was on auditioning and saving money, he hadn’t seen much drag.

“Oh my God, we saw Eva in New York last fall!” Beau announced and, happily, the subject was changed.

Ben flashed Archer a grateful look.

Eva Stiff was a marvel. She was at least six foot eight with her platform heels and towering pink wig, wrapped neck to ankle in shimmering gold fabric. The dancers were allowed to watch the show from the wings, so Archer crowded in with the rest of the troupe, except Mateo, who was not there.

“Isn’t she fierce?” Dominik whispered in awe as she took the stage to the utter delight of the crowd.

“Amazing.”

Eva opened with a Cher song, and the audience ate it up. She was funny and smooth, pulling assorted guests up on stage as the show went on. The first participant was a small, delicate-looking elderly woman who was wearing a lilac dress with a matching hat, but she bounded up onto the stage with the alacrity of someone half her age and hugged Eva like they were old friends. She came up to the drag queen’s rib cage.

“Give it up for Ms. Eileen Lamb!” Eva cried.

So they did know each other. “Who is Ms. Eileen Lamb?” Archer whispered to Caleb as Eva wrapped a feather boa around Eileen’s shoulders.

“She’s basically a resident guest, been coming for years and years,” he replied. “She’s here all summer, and she almost never misses a show. She hits on the other elderly lesbians.”

“Oh, nice,” Archer replied, watching Eileen shimmy along to the music.

Eva was fabulous—upbeat, whip-smart, and a little naughty. Archer could see why she was starting to make it big.

“Archer, you coming?” Betty asked when it was over. “We’re gonna go grab a drink with Eva before the second show.” She bobbed her head at the greenroom.

Mateo would be waiting for him. “Nah, I told my parents I’d call them.”

For some reason, he didn’t want Caleb to know where he was going. He ran back to his room to change and grab his duffel, then made his way down to the cabin.

Mateo was leaning on the railing, hands loosely clasped,gazing out over the lake. There were a few employees drifting here and there, but most were either working or at the theater.

Mateo turned his head when the step creaked under Archer’s foot.

“Hi,” Archer said. “You didn’t want to see Eva Stiff?”

“Nah. Not in the mood for a crowd.” He turned back to the water.

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