Page 27 of California Love Songs
Crystal realized she’d been so fixed on imagining a different future for herself, she had been gazing past her mother and through the small kitchen window, which was framed by pots of trailing herbs. Now she lifted her eyes to her mother’s and was surprised to see they were wet with tears.
“Mama!” she exclaimed. “What is it?”
Sofia shook her head, smiling. “I know what you had to give up to help me with the mortgage, when instead it should have been me helping you find ways to pay your way through medical school. You kept the roof over our heads. You were a gift to me. The perfect daughter.”
Crystal shook her head, her own eyes filling. “No, it’s not your fault. Things weren’t easy for you and I wanted to help. You never asked me not to go to medical school. I chose to keep working.”
Sofia wiped her eyes. “You are a good girl, Crystal. You work hard and you are humble and kind. If you want to follow your childhood dream, you should. No one deserves it more than you.”
Crystal blinked to keep the tears from falling. Her mom’s encouragement was all she needed—the idea had been blessed. Damien was right. Maybe it was time to try something new, the way he was with jazz.
She stood and hugged her mom, inhaling her familiar scent and feeling reassured in a way she hadn’t realized had been missing. She headed for the bathroom to brush her teeth and fix her lipstick. As she did, she stared at herself in the mirror, dark eyes sparkling back at her with excitement. She was going to do it. She was going back to school.
Only then did she allow herself to wonder if Damien would really turn up at Ray’s tonight. And only then did she allow herself to admit that she was hoping beyond hope that he would.
For someone so used to an audience, Damien felt like he wanted to run and hide from all the sets of eyes following him around Ray’s. It was a small club, one he hadn’t visited since he was a teenager, and although it was buzzy and the music was incredible, it was clear that people recognized him. He felt deeply self-conscious. All he wanted was to find Crystal and dance with her.
He’d been dreaming all day about holding her in his arms again. The thought had made him hot, excited, and distracted. As soon as he dropped her at home after their hike, he’d longed to smell the scent of her skin again. She had looked so hot in her hiking gear, her face shining in the sunshine and her shorts accentuating those lean dancer’s legs. He wanted to be close to her—even if he didn’t know what he wanted beyond that. Talking about more serious things with Crystal today had reminded him how he cherished their friendship. No one else knew him like she did. He didn’t take that lightly. It was a precious thing, one he had to respect and treat with care.
But he also wanted her in every possible way. He wanted to kiss her, touch her, make love to her. And so the two ideas churned and swirled inside him all afternoon until he was overcome by the terrible mix of desire and caution and had gone for a swim to cool off.
Ray’s was heaving with vibrant energy and there was still no sign of Crystal. The dim lighting created an intimate atmosphere and he strained to find her familiar features in the crowd. The rhythmic sounds of salsa music and animated chatter filled the air. Behind the bar, the staff moved swiftly, serving drinks, though most of the serious dancers stuck to soft drinks and water. He asked the bartender for bottled water and pretended he couldn’t hear the two people next to him whisper his name.
He took a swig of water and glanced around the busy room again. Where was Crystal?
Was it possible that she’d forgotten their plan to meet here? Or had something held her up? For a flash he panicked at the thought that something might have happened to her. And then just as quickly, his heart almost stopped as he spotted her.
She was dancing in a flame-red dress, moving sensuously. She was the hottest woman in the room. And there was her partner, dipping and twirling her. Damien swallowed. The guy was a Latino stud doing things with his hips that Damien hadn’t known were physically possible. A wave of jealousy washed over him. It was an emotion he wasn’t used to experiencing and it jarred him. He needed to get a grip. This was Crystal. Crystal!
The song finished and Damien walked over, affecting a casual stride although inside he was dying to pry this dude away from Crystal’s hips.
As he approached, he heard them speaking Spanish to each other, and inwardly Damien cursed his rudimentary understanding of the language. But as soon as Crystal spotted him, she waved and ended her conversation. She hugged Damien hello and the guy took a step back and disappeared into the crowd.
Crystal looked incredible. He had to tell her. “You look… out of this world.”
She blushed a little and looked down at her dress. “It’s a fun one to dance in,” she said. “You look pretty handsome yourself.”
Damien, who never thought much about his appearance, had spent an embarrassingly long time choosing which white T-shirt he should wear with black jeans. He shrugged, mortified to feel that he was blushing too. This was so silly. He’d known Crystal forever and here he was acting like a goofy teenager. They stared at one another for a moment and he knew then that Crystal was feeling this new tension between them, too.
He was searching for the right words to tell her what was in his heart when she slipped a hand into his and said, “Let’s dance.”
She led him out into the middle of the floor, her sparkling heels clicking on the wood. A new track started and the music pulsed through his veins, the beat syncopated in a way that made it impossible to stay still. Their feet moved effortlessly across the floor, perfectly in time with the music. Crystal was a force of nature—confident, fluid, her body responding to the beat like it had a language of its own. Years of playing on stage, the pulse of the crowd, had taught him how to feel the rhythm in his bones. He knew how to move, but he didn’t have a patch on her style.
As they twirled and spun, their laughter and delight in each other’s bodies became their own private soundtrack. But beneath it, something else simmered. There was a pull between them, undeniable. He knew now he had been falling for her for years, and tonight, the realization hit him hard. He couldn’t ignore it anymore. Her eyes were full of a passion that engulfed him and he wanted her. Completely.
She twirled effortlessly, following his lead, then spinning back into his arms. For a moment, everything blurred—the club, the other dancers, the life outside. It was just the two of them, in sync, caught in the moment.
The song ended and he was about to tell Crystal that he’d just had the best dance of his life when a phone flashed in his direction. He turned around in anger. For the duration of that one glorious song, Damien had been able to forget that people knew who he was. He had lost himself in the music, happily anonymous except as Crystal’s partner.
He was feeling as though something precious had been stolen from him, when the man Crystal had been dancing with earlier stepped forward and spoke to the guy with the phone. “No,” he said forcefully. “We come here to dance. We’re not paparazzi.”
“Sorry, man. I’m just a big fan. I won’t tell anyone you’re here. Have a good night.” The guy pocketed his phone and sheepishly backed off.
Damien was relieved that Crystal’s previous partner had intervened. He nodded his thanks. Sure, being recognized and approached by fans was part of the territory, but he so wanted this night with Crystal to be all about the two of them and no one else.
“Do you want a drink?” he asked her.
“No. Let’s keep dancing.”
