Page 33 of Pressure Point

“Buenos dias,” Dash said, winking at her as he approached.

Avery froze, trying to remember how to breathe. The closer he got, the more her heart started to race. Damn, was he hot. It was barely nine in the morning, but he already had his shorts hiked all the way up, showing off those thighs like this was his own personal bodybuilding stage.

“H-h-h-hi,” she stammered. Smooth move, Aves, smooth…

“Have your eyes always been green?” he asked, squinting at her.

“Since birth!”

“I’ve never noticed. They suit you.”

“Thanks!”

With a wink, he turned to join his teammates in the middle of the pitch. Avery felt her knees quiver just a bit as she watched him walk away. He’d noticed her eyes. It had to be the mascara. It worked. Her heart leapt at the thought, feeling like she could shout from the rooftops as if this were some major accomplishment. To her it was. No guy had ever commented on her looks that way. Other than Liam telling her that she didn’t need the makeup to make her stand out.

Liam.

She needed to tell him. He was the only one who would really understand how exciting this was after the day at the mall. Looking around, she didn’t seem him though. Actually, she didn’t see Diego Cardoza, the backup keeper either.

“Where’s Liam?” she asked Gunnar when he joined her on the sideline.

“He’s coming in later. I have a special session planned for the afternoon, and I wanted him blind to some of the plays we’re going to run this morning. Helps them think on their feet if we run things this way. Is there a problem? Did you need him?”

“No, I just didn’t see him and was curious,” she lied.

It was no matter, she would tell him later. The news would still be just as exciting this afternoon as it was right now. Maybe even more so if Dash talked to her more after training.

Except, now her mind was left wondering where he was and what he was doing.

* * *

Liam followed the music through the darkened restaurant, toward the special events room in the back. Bunz looked so different with the lights turned off, with only streams of sunlight pouring through the big windows in the front of the building. He was so used to this place feeling alive and full of people that this silence made it feel like a morgue.

The over-synthesized sounds of Chris Brown’s “Forever” pumped though a small speaker that was sitting on top of one of the tables that had been pushed to the side of the room, leaving the middle wide open. Liam leaned against the doorjamb, watching Link Weston, Bunz staff member and close friend to Felicity Sutherland, as he moved his body in time with the beat, each new movement or step just as precise as the one before. Link’s routine was obviously choreographed and probably not something he would ever just bust out on the dance floor in a club or something, but that didn’t make it any less impressive.

Spinning around, Link noticed Liam watching and gave him a wink, mouthing along with the song about watching what he could do with his feet. Glancing down at Link’s feet, Liam did just that, amazed at the speed they were moving and wondering how on earth he didn’t trip over himself.

“It’s not that I doubted it when Felicity said you were a professional dancer, but I guess I didn’t really think about what all that meant,” Liam said, after Link hit pause on his phone, stopping the music a few seconds later.

“Former professional dancer,” Link corrected him. “I spent a bunch of years on tour with Britney, but a stress fracture in my left foot put a stop to that.”

“Britney? As in, Spears?” Liam asked, taken aback by the casual name drop of one of the world’s biggest pop stars.

“The one and only,” Link confirmed, a wild look in his eye. “Now I just wait tables.”

“So why weren’t you warming up to one of her songs?”

“’Forever’ is the song I auditioned to Juilliard with. It’s been my go-to warmup routine ever since. Plus, it’s the song we’re going to get you moving to.”

Liam swallowed hard. Dancing had never been his thing. He’d always felt so clumsy, no matter how he was trying to move or how drunk he’d been, resulting in him just making the whole process anything but a good time. But Avery wanted to go, so he was going to learn.

“I’ll warn you, I might be a wee bit of a lost cause. There will be no step ball changing over here.”

Link barked out a laugh, shaking his head. “I'm impressed you know the term. But don’t worry, I’m not going to try to make you learn some routine or anything even remotely fancy. We’ll just get you moving, so that you know what to do at the party. You’re an athlete, so you have the agility. It’s just about making it work for you. I’ve seen you play; you have good footwork. Now we just need to get the rest of you loose enough to let it flow.”

Let it flow. Yeah, right. That wasn’t something Liam had ever been good at, in any aspect of his life. He could be easygoing enough, but he liked his routine. Liked knowing that certain things were always done a certain way. Orla had complained about it more than once, and even though she hadn’t said it, part of him still wondered if it was one of the reasons she’d fallen out of love with him.

“I can see the wheels turning in your head already. It’s not as hard as you’re thinking. I’ll help you get the girl.”