Chapter Twenty-four #2
‘Fantastico,’ Chico exclaimed, once we’d all finished.
He clapped loudly to quieten the chatter, and Dahlia switched the music to ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ and turned the volume down.
‘Now, we have seen you can dance alone – some of you,’ he said, glancing at Brooke.
‘But dancing is really so much better as a shared experience.’
‘Twice as nice for pleasure,’ Catarina said, with an eyebrow raise.
‘Can you all find yourself a partner and line up here, in front of me.’
I scanned the room in panic. Dancing with Leo would totally give us away, but Brooke and Zach had bagsied a brother and sister – same nose – and everyone else was taken. I looked around for any spares, but Leo and I were the only ones left.
‘Quickly, quickly,’ Chico shouted. ‘Two by two here please: men this side, women on my left.’
Leo flashed me a smile. ‘Me and you then, huh?’
‘Not again,’ I said, but I couldn’t keep the smile off my face.
‘Whoever leads, needs to position themselves like this,’ Chico said, clutching Catarina to his chest.
‘And to follow, wrap your leg around your partner, like this,’ she said, lifting her leg thigh high and hooking it around Chico’s back. ‘If you cannot lift so far, then nuzzle in together, is OK.’ The velour tracksuit lady looked relieved.
‘Let’s stick with the PG version,’ I said, standing opposite Leo.
‘Are you sure?’ he murmured, making my insides melt.
The lights were shining in my face, and I was conscious of my sweaty palms as we held hands. We were the total opposite of Chico and Catarina’s hot, Latino dirty dancing, with at least a foot between us. We looked like we might start country dancing instead.
‘Okaayyy now everyone to follow us please as we lean nice and sloooow, then unfold, stay pressed together and GO; one two cha-cha-cha, three four cha-cha-cha.’ They were rotating their groins as one, in a never-ending circle.
I smothered a giggle at the thought of Leo and I dry-humping in public and had to really concentrate on the solemn-faced plaster bust over his shoulder to hold it together.
We stepped back and forth feigning disinterest, but the distance between us made it worse somehow.
A palpable vibration fizzed through our bodies as they connected and the space between us was alive with energy.
We were like two magnets attracting, and no matter how hard I tried to keep my distance, I kept getting closer.
I couldn’t resist him. It was excruciating.
‘You might need to come forward a little,’ Leo whispered, trying to follow the steps. He moved towards me and put his hand on my back. His hands were soft and cool, but the heat between us was interfering with my chi. I hadn’t danced cheek to cheek with a man like this in… well, in forever.
‘You two get closer, much closer please,’ Chico called over, squeezing his hands together to make his point. ‘This is your holidays, enjoy yourselves, fall in love all over again. Brrrrrrrrr, reeeeeee,’ he screeched over the music. Like Speedy Gonzales on speed. Was Speedy Gonzales on speed?
It was pointless trying to explain that we weren’t on holiday together and had never been in love. Chico didn’t care, he was already on to the next couple, suggesting they sniff each other’s necks to activate their pheromones.
Leo’s back felt smooth and solid through his shirt, and he flinched as I accidentally scraped my nails against him.
‘Sorry,’ I breathed in his ear.
‘I liked it.’ He held me close as our bodies moved to the cha-cha rhythm, his heartbeat next to mine.
If Brooke or Zach looked over, they’d instantly know there was something going on.
It was impossible to hide it while clinched together like this and I ached for us to be alone, feeling almost dizzy with desire as he held me up.
My breathing grew shallow as I looked everywhere but in his eyes to try and distract myself.
Catarina clapped loudly, breaking our moment. ‘Now we do the conga! Everyone in a line.’
‘Thank fuck for that,’ Leo murmured as he held my waist. ‘You’ll have to go in front of me I’m afraid.
’ I grabbed the nearest person to join the human chain, running to catch up with the others who were concertinaed together.
Leo crashed into my back, his grip strong and firm on my hips and it felt even more intimate him holding me from behind. I was having a hot flush.
‘Take it to the floor!’ Chico cried, once we’d circled the room, kicking out our legs in awkward unison.
The Latina version of ‘Oops Upside Your Head’ started blaring from the loudspeakers and we sat in two lines.
I was mortifyingly conscious of sitting so snugly against Leo’s crotch in public as two exuberant Irish sisters led the moves.
This was the weirdest dance class I’d ever been to.
They chose side-to-side floor slapping to start with, followed by the front to back wiggle and I had to use every muscle in my inner core (of which there were none) to stop myself lying back in Leo’s lap.
And I was sure he was shuffling himself forward –
he felt so close.
The music eventually stopped, and the public torture was over.
‘Let’s get out of here,’ I whispered in his ear and he nodded.
A sweaty Brooke came over, out of breath, with Zach in tow, but Leo and I were a different kind of hot and bothered.
‘Wow-weeee! That was more like a spin class than a dance class,’ she said. ‘I haven’t crawled around on the floor like that in years!’
Leo laughed. ‘This is what all the activities have been like. You’ve had us jumping through all sorts of hoops.’
‘The ultimate test of resilience,’ I said with a grin. ‘Not that we can’t handle it, of course.’
‘Well, I can’t deny it, I do like to be entertained – it’s the only child in me, I reckon.’
Leo gave me a knowing look. He was good at this people thing.
‘Nothing wrong with checking how much we want your business,’ Zach said, pointedly.
‘There’s no doubting any of you in that regard,’ Brooke said, dabbing her sweaty brow with a tissue. ‘Excuse me while I run to the little ladies’ room and freshen up.’
‘You still want their business then, huh?’ Zach pushed, his tone suddenly much less professional. ‘After all these years?’
‘We’ve already got it, remember?’ I replied, good-naturedly. ‘Which is why it’s impossible for Heidi and me to compete with your level of—’
‘Client service?’ Leo interjected.
‘No.’
‘Creative excellence? Financial acumen?’ he tried again.
‘No and no,’ I said with a smile. ‘Your level of desperation. It’s difficult for us to be hungry for something we’ve been eating every day for years.’
‘I’d rather be a pick-me than past my sell-by date,’ Zach snapped, walking off.
‘Did I hit a nerve?’
‘Possibly, but I back Zach entirely – we are both proud to be desperate and getting Brooke’s sympathy is key to our pitch plan.’
I rolled my eyes. Idiot. ‘Good luck with that strategy. I’ve been waiting to get you on your own to talk about this morning – what on God’s green earth were you thinking bowling up for breakfast at the hotel?’
‘Oh yeah, sorry about that. I saw Zach on my way back and panicked, then had to pretend I was up early, on the hunt for custard tarts.’
I laughed. ‘Obviously – what else would you be doing?’
‘It was the best I could do on the spot – my sleep-deprived brain wasn’t the sharpest – and it was the only hotel I could think of to suggest.’
‘Hmm. I suppose it almost sounds plausible,’ I said, chuckling at the thought of him bumping into Zach on his walk of shame. ‘I’ll miss that big hotel bed tonight.’
‘So will I,’ he said, wistfully. ‘Among other things.’
‘You can always sneak over when Zach starts snoring. I’ve got the whole room to myself.’
‘The whole room, eh?’
‘All two metres squared.’
‘Sharing a child-size bunk bed with you instead of Zach, you say? Now there’s a proposition.’
I giggled at the thought of us wedged in a single bed together. There wouldn’t be much sleep happening in that tiny space either. ‘It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,’ I said, from under my lashes.
‘Then how can I say no?’ he whispered, sending a shiver down my spine.