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“Champions aren’t late.”
“It does not matter. This a charity event, not a competition. And your dance card is empty, no?”
Ouch! Still, she lifted her chin, despite his low blow. “Not the point. People are still watching.”
“Not everything is work, Shan. Must you be so driven? Enjoy life a little.”
“I enjoy winning.” Her teeth hurt from grinding them together.
“Except for dance, you have no life. When did you last go on a date?”
“Are you keeping track?”
“I grow tired of your so-serious attitude. Maybe you need to go to Sneak Peek and um, how do you say, let loose like me.”
“We have the biggest competition of our careers in eight days, and you think I need to get laid?”
“Yes.”
Shanna tried not to see red—along with violet, crimson, and magenta.
Kristoff met her angry gaze squarely. “Until you smile and be nice, you are not fun to dance with. You will certainly make no money for the cause tonight in this mood.”
It might be uncharitable of her, but it was hard to think about someone else’s cause when her own was falling apart. And the fact that he took no responsibility for putting her in this mood really annoyed her.
“Go to hell, Mr. Palavin!” She made to stalk past him.
He grabbed her arm. “You are angry. I fucked up, yes. I am sorry. I know what this means to you. But no matter how much I apologize, no matter that we have become friends in the past year, will you forgive me? Stand by me? By tomorrow, I believe you will be holding auditions because everyone knows any partner who is a liability to your ambition is quickly replaced.” He grabbed the flash drive off the table. “There is a reason your dance card is empty tonight and everyone calls you the Bitch of the Ballroom. In the past, I have defended you, but now… Have a lovely time alone.”
“Are you staring at that ramera again?”
Alejandro Diaz ripped his gaze away from Shanna York and sent a rebuking stare to his dance partner. “Mamá, you’ve been listening to gossip. We do not know her well enough to know if she’s a bitch.”
But he’d looked at her enough to know he wanted her bad. Her soft blond hair shone under the lights like a halo around her face. Those blue, blue eyes projected a little-girl-lost quality that made him want to hold her close and whisper reassurances. But the fiery way she moved her killer body when she danced, like she performed sex to music, made him hard as hell.
Oh, he had fantasies about her—about taking her to Sneak Peek and melting away all that icy reserve by stripping her down, tying her up, filling her full of his cock…while she wondered if they were being watched. Would she get off knowing that others could see the rise of her pleasure and hear the gasps of her orgasms as he gave them to her, one after the other? The way Shanna danced lured men in, as if she loved having their eyes on her, as if she craved hot stares and knowing they had even hotter fantasies with her at the center.
How would she feel if she knew he harbored lots of fantasies about her?
His mother shook her head. “Hmm. You met her once. She was not polite.”
Not true. She’d been very polite, in an icy, reserved way. In retrospect, he’d come on too strong, been too direct. Clearly not the way to approach an independent woman who valued being in control.
“Tonight is another night.” He turned his mother around the dance floor in a gentle waltz. And he watched Shanna.
Her appearance lived up to her ice princess reputation in a short, silvery, barely-there costume of sequins and crystals. She was unsmiling and a bit aloof. He’d love to melt her.
“There are other single women here. Girls who are good. And Catholic. And yet you focus on the ramera rubia.”
“Mamá,” Alejandro warned. “You don’t know her personally. Just because she’s blond does not mean she’s a bitch.”
He sighed. He loved his mother and owed her much. As a single woman, she’d raised him with loving arms and a firm hand, since his father had left them just before Alejandro became a teenager. She hadn’t given him much in the way of luxuries as a kid, but she’d made up for it by providing all the affection and guidance he’d needed. As an adult, however, he realized she was incredibly old-fashioned.
“Spending too much time at that club of yours has confused your thinking, mijo. Nothing but putas there.”
Ali laughed. His mother didn’t disapprove of the club…but she only knew about the bar and pool tables, the dart boards and the dance floor. She had no idea what went on upstairs…. Better to keep it that way.
He made damn good money as Sneak Peek’s co-owner. Between that, his savings, and his other investments, he’d been able to buy his mother a condo and a new car, set up a trust for her, and give her a bit of luxury in the last two years. She just wanted him to settle down, marry, have babies. Mamá had made that very clear.
