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“Good to know. Maybe we should draw up a contract and have it notarized.”
He blinked at her. “I beg your pardon?”
“Never mind. Lame attempt at a joke.” A laughing child squealed by, nearly colliding with Jess, and he didn’t get a chance to further inquire what she’d meant.
“If you’ll excuse me, I should tend to some of the other guests.”
Okay. He stepped aside. “Of course, I didn’t mean to dominate all of your time.”
She gave him a tight smile and walked away.
Had he insulted her somehow? For the life of him he couldn’t imagine how. Jordan took another swig of his beer and watched her back. Dressed in a cherry-red sundress with delicate swirly yellow patterns, she looked every bit the attentive elementary teacher. The one most of the boy pupils had a crush on. Definitely much sexier than any instructor he’d ever had. The dress cinched at her narrow waist, its skirt falling just above the knees. Very appropriate, very proper. So why couldn’t he stop imagining taking it off her?
Perhaps he would never really understand this woman or the way he reacted around her.
* * *
It was a mere business transaction he was offering. His assistant had to send her the details. They wouldn’t even have to run into each other aside from their respective events.
Jess blew a strand of hair off her forehead as she thought of the way Jordan had made his “proposition,” as he’d called it. He wasn’t even pretending he actually wanted to spend time with her. She should have told him no. That she’d rather go into the city alone. But that would have been a lie. As staid and cold as Jordan made his offer sound, the truth was she would rather attend the banquet accompanied by another person. To have that person be someone as charming and handsome as Jordan was just icing on the cake.
As far as spending the weekend in his New York City apartment, that would require some consideration. She wasn’t sure she was ready for that. Who was she kidding? It was more accurate to say she wasn’t sure she could handle it. Knowing he was so close, right within the same living space. With no one else there but the two of them.
She stole a glance at him as he chatted with some of the other parents. Correction—not parents. More specifically, he was surrounded by several of the moms. Each one of them seemed to be hanging on his every word whenever he spoke. He certainly had their full focus. He seemed natural and at ease in the group. Clearly, Jordan was used to female attention.
Before she could look away, he looked up and caught her eye. Great. He just had to catch her watching him.
A small tug at the hem of her skirt pulled her attention. One of her students, a little boy named Markey.
“Ms. Raffi. Would you dance with me?” He pointed over to the center of the yard where several of the children and a couple of adults had formed a makeshift dance floor and were doing a very silly rendition of the Chicken Dance to a bouncy hip-hop number.
“Why I’d be honored.” She answered the child with an exaggerated mock bow then took his hand to lead him to the group of revelers.
The music changed after a few moments and the dancers switched to the Electric Slide. To her surprise, from the corner of her eye, she saw Jordan join in the dance with his little sister. She could guess whose idea that had been. Sonya was really making large strides toward breaking out of her shell.
Her partner noticed them, too. Markey squealed when he saw his little friend and ran over to Sonya, leaving her standing there doing the Electric Slide by herself. With a laugh, Jess made a move to walk away. But a wall in the form of pure, hard muscle suddenly appeared in her vision.
“Looks like we both lost our dance partners,” Jordan said with a playful wink.
“I guess so. Little boys can be so fickle.”
Jordan bent at the waist in a mock bow. “May I have the honor of taking over for Mr. Markey?”
Jess had to laugh at his playful tone. “It would be my pleasure, Mr. Paydan. What would be your preference this evening? The Chicken Dance perhaps? Or maybe the Twist?”
“Uh. Neither?”
“Ah, free-form, then. I like the lack of structure.”
He threw back his head with a loud bark of laughter. “And people say I’m too rigid and unyielding.”
