Chapter 12
Ledger
Iroll my head and neck like I’m about to enter a boxing ring. “I was born to do this lift.” I clap and then jab and weave with my fists.
She smiles. “If you say so.” She types on her phone. “Here, I’ll show you the lift one more time.” She punches through to the video sharing app on her phone. “Again, our version will be modified.”
“That’s so cool,” I say, in awe over her abilities on the dance floor.
She’s beautiful in the video in her sparkly dress and her hair in a shiny bun, but I don’t say that. I wish I could. I wish I could tell her that she’s been on my mind a lot lately. Should I? Should I just go for it and tell her how I feel and see if she wants to go out with me sometime?
I groan internally. Of course not. Not right now. We have a very limited time to perfect this dance. I’ve got to learn how to lift her in the air without hurting her or dropping her.
Nerves are like sludge in my middle at that thought.
After she shows me the video again, I smile, faking a measure of confidence I don’t feel. “It doesn’t look that hard. I’m just holding you off to one side?”
Her mouth twitches. “It’s harder than it looks.”
“If I’ve learned anything in these last few days, it’s that everything on the dance floor is harder than it looks.”
She tips her head back and laughs. “True. So very true.”
“But you know what? I think I can do it.”
She opens her mouth, regards me carefully, and then closes it. She presses her bottom jaw to one side as she stares into my soul. Then, she kicks her shoes off into the corner of the room.
“Get over here,” she commands with a slow smile.
She doesn’t have to tell me twice.
I step behind her, my mind going every direction. I’ve never gotten used to being so up close and personal with her toned, dancer’s body. It still has the power to upend me.
“I’m going to plie and then do a full send with my arms straight out like this.” She demonstrates in slow motion. “My leg is kicked back like so. Then, you wrap your right arm around my waist and lift, placing your other hand under my thigh.”
She tilts her head back to look at me, her blue eyes a little wary. “Ready?”
I have trouble speaking, her nearness and clean scent getting the best of me. I nod, my gaze taking her in.
“Grip me tight, Farm Boy! I don’t want to fall.”
“I won’t drop you,” I whisper a promise in her ear. My fingers dig into her waist and then with the other hand, I hold the back of her thigh.
“Four, and one and bend and around!”
And just like that, she’s in the air. Arm tight around her waist, my other hand under her knee, and I’m turning, like the guy in the video.
It only lasts a few seconds, but she gives a little shout while we spin.
“Don’t drop my torso. Drop my leg first.”
“I know,” I insist, remembering the way her partner had done it.
I let her down and she spins around. Her palms go in the air and we smack our hands together. “You did it! That felt…effortless!” She beams.
“It was kind of fun.” I know I’m grinning like a nerd, but I can’t help it. “Can we do it again?” I ask.
Kaisa places a hand at her throat. “You’re a natural.
” Then, she reaches out and touches my shoulders and biceps.
“I’m just…impressed. I mean, I knew you were strong.
But that was so smooth and secure. I’ve never felt like that in a lift before.
It’s always been kind of terrifying at first but—” She stops and covers her mouth with her hand, her eyes growing wide.
“Admit it. I’m better than Kale Hobbs.”
She giggles under her hand. “I mean, points for knocking it out of the park on the first try definitely go to you.”
I raise both arms in the air. “Take that, Kale!”
We both start laughing and as we practice the lift again and again, we can’t stop laughing, which weakens both of us.
“Whoa!” I holler as another guttural laugh makes me wobble in my footing. We finish the lift and she slides down my body. I swear, nothing’s ever felt as good as having her pressed so tightly against me.
“We should probably get it together before we try that again,” she says, still close, sucking in air and trying to curb the laughter.
“What’s the fun in that?” I finger a lock of her hair from her ponytail.
She inhales sharply. “Want to try something?”
Like kissing you again? Yes.
“Okay, so you’ll take the two steps in the lift like you’ve been doing, but on the third beat, I’m going to squeeze my whole body together in a ball and you’ll wrap your arms tightly around me. You’ll turn for two more steps cradling me, and then I’ll full send out to full extension again.”
“Huh? Sounds cool, but I can’t picture it.”
She stares into my eyes. “Trust me, okay? When I say ‘now’ gather me in to your middle. Tight. And then when I say ‘out,’ you slide your hand from my waist down to my knee and squeeze my waist hard with your other arm.”
I nod and before I know it, she’s in the air again, guiding me as I spin and hold her.
I finish a couple of rotations but as she gathers herself into a ball, the change in equilibrium throws me off. She slips in my grip, gasping.
“I got you!” I reassure her, hefting her closer to me before she flings her limbs back out to the original pose.
Whew. That could have been bad.
We both grow quiet after we’ve incorporated our new, more complicated lift into the rest of the dance. “Okay,” she says, wiping her face with a towel she retrieves from her bag. Am I just imagining the slight huskiness in her voice?
Because I know mine would sound the same if I tried to speak.
“I should go. You have to get up early.” She looks at me a moment, then gathers her shoes, pads over to the door, and opens it.
“But I’m all wound up,” I say. “I won’t be able to sleep.”
“Not my problem.” Her words are no-nonsense, but a smile flicks over her mouth.
I catch a glimpse out the window as snowflakes whirl around the streetlamps below. “It’s snowing, Kaisa.”
“Good. Maybe your flight will get cancelled and you’ll have to stay.” She drops her shoes on the floor and pushes her feet into them.
“You want me to stay, don’t you?” My gaze simmers into hers.
“Yes! I want you to stay. I don’t want you to go to San Antonio.”
“So stay with me longer now. Let’s go cool off outside in the snow for a minute.”
Her mouth twitches and she hesitates. “But it’s late.”
“We’re both kinda sweaty,” I counter.
She raises her chin. “Yeah, what of it?”
“I like a woman who can admit she sweats.”
She rolls her eyes. “Come outside. I need to push you into a snowbank right now.”