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Grabbing her towel, she walked off the stage and took a water bottle from the mini fridge.Alina closed her eyes, sipping greedily, and that was when she smelled him.Warm and sweet, with a hint of spice that tickled her senses, Eduardo’s scent filtered into her nostrils.Her inner Tigress growled softly, that same infrasonic sound that paralyzed prey in the wild.Maybe she saw the Bruin as her target, maybe she was just tired of waiting.
“Alina,” he whispered, and her gaze flew to his.
“Eduardo,” she replied, swallowing the lump that seemed stuck in her throat.
So many emotions.Anger, joy, relief, need—all of these and more washed through her and Alina swayed slightly on her feet.
Damn it.
No, damn him for making her body betray itself.Alina was an athlete.An accomplished dancer whose precision and technique had been praised by her teachers.How this one man could knock her so off balance was inconceivable.Unless he was a wizard or something, but no.
Eduardo Valens was just a man.At least, that was what she told herself.Just a man and she was just a girl, but for some reason, he just wasn’t after claiming her.Alina just did not understand.
Unless, maybe, that was why he was there?To talk.To plan.
Please, yes.
“What are you doing here?”he asked, inky black eyebrows furrowed as he looked over her rehearsal garb.
“I am dancing,” she replied, stating the obvious.
“Not here, you’re not,” he said, aghast.
“Excuse me?”
“You are not dancing here.Konstantin will not allow this,” he said matter-of-factly.
“I don’t know why you think my brother would have any say over what I do.But just so you know, I will open the renovated wing with a performance Yasmin and I choreographed together tomorrow night,” Alina said coolly.
Eddie’s eye twitched.And wasn’t that interesting?Alina put the empty water bottle in the recycling bin, keenly aware he watched her every move.She might want the big Bear, but she would not be told by him or anyone else what she was going to do.Eyes narrowed, she watched Eddie war with himself, disappointment filling her when he simply nodded.
“As you wish,mi fiera,” he muttered, turning his back on her.
Unsure what her next move was, she left him there, returning to where Rosie and Marcella were waiting.Good thing they had done enough rehearsing for now, she thought, dismissing the two dancers with an agreement to meet the following morning for a final dress rehearsal.
“Speaking of which,” she muttered, changing her shoes and grabbing her duffle.
“You’re talking to yourself,” Eddie said, startling her.
“What are you doing in here?”
“My job,” he replied, eyes narrowed.“Some of us have to work.”
“In case that was a dig of some sort, I know all about working hard, Eduardo.Ballet is not all tutus and pink ribbons, you know,” she mumbled, hating the way he made her feel.
She wasn’t all that young.Well, maybe in years, but not in spirit.She had been dancing on stage since she was ten years old.She loved it, yes, but there were other things she wanted from life.
No more fear.No more hiding.
Happiness was within Alina’s grasp for the first time in her life.But was she brave enough to take it?
ChapterThree
Eduardo was so tense, he was liable to jump right out of his skin.Looking at Alina and the picture she made in her nude leotard and slippers had damn near stopped his heart.Such a beauty.Too fucking beautiful for him.
I don’t deserve her.
Her eyes cut into him, sharp and bright with intelligence.They gleamed like the palest of blue diamonds, slicing him with their laser like focus.She was poised and elegant, her cat-like grace prominent in her posture.Damn.Did she know she could bring him to his knees with barely a glance?
