Page 1 of The Dance Deception
Chapter 1
When you spend several hours pressed up against the muscular torso of a drop-dead gorgeous professional dancer, I promise you it will cross your mind how it might feel if there weren’t two layers of clothing separating your bodies. And that’s exactly what’s going through my mind now, a couple of hours into my first training session with Merle Picard, the ridiculously attractive French dancer from theFire on the Dance Floorteam, as he walks me through our first routine together.
I imagine running my hands over his rock-hard abs, trailing my fingers across his smooth, tanned skin and working my way down …
It sets off a light tingling sensation between my legs and an involuntary sigh escapes from my lips.
‘Ça va?’ Merle asks.
‘Oh yes, sorry, all good.’ I snap back to attention. ‘I was just … never mind. You were saying?’
He goes back to explaining what his various hand signals mean – a double shoulder tap for a body roll, a lowered hand to prep for a turn – but despite my best efforts to stay focused, I slip back to picturing us getting more intimately acquainted.
This time when he asks if everything is okay, I reply, ‘Oh,oui,’ with a shy smile.
‘How about now?’ he asks, taking both my hands and pressing them firmly against his chest.
I glance up and see the intense look in his dark brown eyes.
‘Um, better.’
He takes my hands and moves them to his hips, curling my fingers round onto his taut buttocks.
‘And now?’
‘Very good.’
He puts one of his hands over mine and slides it round to the front so I can feel him getting hard through his gym tights.
‘And now?’
My cheeks flush as my brain scrambles to formulate a response that won’t sound corny, but he saves me by planting a kiss firmly on my lips, his tongue pushing into my mouth to find mine …
‘Kate, are you still with me?’ the real Merle asks. ‘I know it’s a lot to take in on your first day. We can go a little more slowly if you’d like.’
‘Sorry, sorry, sorry,’ I babble, blushing. ‘I’ve got this, I promise.’
‘Why don’t we take a few minutes to regroup? Grabyourself some water, use the bathroom if you need to, nip out and get some fresh air. Let’s get back to it in ten, fifteen minutes. Okay?’
‘Good plan,’ I agree.
A splash of cold water might help me focus. In five days’ time we’re going to be dancing in front of a live studio audience, as well as however many millions of people are watching on the telly, so I’ve got to pull myself together and start getting to grips with our routine. I’m here to learn, not to lust after my instructor. Even so, I can’t help hoping he’s into redheads.
‘All set?’ Merle asks when I head back into the studio. And I nod, because I don’t trust myself to speak. I just can’t get over how achingly handsome he is.
He walks towards me and places his hands on my shoulders, giving them a squeeze.
‘Just try to relax,’ he says. ‘To be a good dancer, you need to release all this tension you’re carrying up here.’
But it’s hard to relax when his fingers feel so warm and inviting against my skin. I fight the urge to close my eyes, tip my head back and sigh with pleasure.He’s just trying to help me become a better dancer, I remind myself. But what I really want to do is tell him I know the perfect way for him to relieve any tension.
‘Let’s try some breathing exercises,’ he suggests, stepping back and turning to face the mirror. It’s not exactly what I had in mind.
‘Take a deep breath in and raise your arms up above your head, like this,’ he says, showing me the move, then watching me to make sure I’m following his direction.‘Then exhale as you bring them back down in front of you, like this. And again …’
I can’t stop looking at his sculpted biceps as he repeats the exercise, and I notice he doesn’t take his eyes off me, either. And it feels like something changes between us in that moment, because afterwards he reaches for my shoulders again, to see if I’ve loosened up, and this time I’m certain his hands linger for longer than is necessary.
But just as I’m convincing myself this is not just wishful thinking on my part, he steps away again.
