Page 16 of Dance With Me
He turned over, punching his pillows in frustration. Hopefully, a good night’s sleep would help put things into perspective so he could go back to how he’d been six months ago before he’d proposed.
He woke the following morning, surprised to see Clare in bed with him. He hadn’t heard her come in or get into bed, so he assumed it’d been late when she got home. He got up and headed to the bathroom to relieve himself and clean his teeth, getting ready for the day ahead.
He gathered his clothes for the day, noting how Clare had dropped her clothes as she’d removed them, a trail leading to the bed. He picked them up and laid them on the chair in the corner of the room. They smelt faintly of a fragrance he didn’t recognise. He brought her top to his nose and took a deep breath. It wasn’t Clare’s perfume, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was. It smelt spicy, musky even. A man’s fragrance? No, that couldn’t be right, could it?
After washing and dressing, Joe went downstairs. He prepared his coffee and a breakfast of yoghurt and fruit and scrolled through his phone whilst he ate. He browsed his emails; there were a few from Hazel, reminders of meetings he had scheduled for today. Thankfully, she’d kept his lunch break free so he’d have time for his session with Seb. He left the house, not bothering to wake Clare. She wasn’t due into work today, and he reckoned she’d need the day to recover from her hangover.
The morning dragged, each minute seeming to last an hour, but eventually it was time to leave. He left his office, telling Hazel over his shoulder that he’d be back around two thirty pm. He arrived at the studio just as Seb was going back in with what he assumed were their lunches in hand. He rushed to follow him and stumbled in his hurry to catch up.
“Easy tiger. I see you’ve brought your two left feet with you.” Seb laughed as he held the door for him.
Joe blushed. “Well, I couldn’t leave them behind, could I?” he replied, throwing a cheeky grin in Seb’s direction.
“Let’s have lunch, and then we’ll make a start,” Seb said, and he set the food and drinks down onto a nearby table, pulling up a couple of chairs.
“How long have we got?” Seb asked, handing Joe his salad.
“Mm, I can probably stay until about quarter past two. I have a meeting at three and need to be back and prepared for that.”
Seb gaped at him, open-mouthed. “It’s only twelve thirty now. Which boss did you sweet talk to allow you a long lunch?”
“Oh, he’s a great boss,” Joe said, looking serious. “Good-looking, kind, quite possibly the best boss around.”
Seb looked at him disbelievingly. “It’s you, isn’t it? You’re the boss!” He punched his arm, laughing. Joe was surprised by the strength behind it, and he rubbed his arm, feigning hurt.
“Yeah, I might sort of be a partner in the company.” Joe looked a little sheepish as they continued to eat.
“What is it you do?”
“I’m a senior partner with a firm of accountants—not boring, honestly. I know we have a bad rep for being tedious.”
Seb looked at him. “You don’t seem boring at all. Far from it.” His eyes never left Joe’s and seemed to drill right into him, as if he were trying to gauge what he was thinking. “Why don’t you tell me a little about you whilst we eat?”
Joe told him about his parents and his sister and how she had another baby on the way in September. He regaled Seb with stories of his niece and nephew and his job as an accountant. Before they knew it, lunch was finished, and time was ticking on.
Seb stood up, looking at his phone. “Wow, we’d better make a start, or else there won’t be enough time to do any dancing.”
“Is that such a bad thing?” Joe asked. “I can think of better things to do.”
Seb raised his eyebrow as he looked at him. “Really? Tell me what these better things are.” Seb’s voice had deepened, and Joe could have sworn he was flirting with him.
Joe blushed again. It seemed to be a regular occurrence around this man. What on earth had possessed him to say that he didn’t know?
He stumbled for something to say. “Well, you know… erm… other things like, you know…” Joe really didn’t know what to say, so in the end, he said nothing.
Seb took pity on him and walked over to the sound system, chuckling as he went.
Joe stood too and looked to the ceiling. Could he have embarrassed himself any more?
“Right, let’s get started from the top. Assume the position.” This time it was Seb’s turn to get embarrassed. “You know what I mean, starting position.”
They laughed at each other, and as Seb started the music, Joe went through the steps they’d learnt over the past couple of lessons. He stumbled, he froze, and he did an awful lot of sighing when he just couldn’t remember the steps.
“Oh my God,” he groaned. “I’m going to let her down so much; she’ll divorce me before we even leave the reception at this rate.”
“Hey, come on. It’s not that bad, and we have weeks yet to perfect this.” Seb rubbed Joe’s arm as he said it. “Don’t get disheartened. This is only your second proper lesson, and I think you should be proud of what you’ve done so far, considering how you said you couldn’t dance.” Joe trembled at Seb’s touch, relishing the sensation far more than he should.
Seb clapped him on the shoulder before moving away. “Do you still want to meet up tomorrow night, or will you be OK until next Tuesday?”
