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Even the man’s shins are sexy. I need air.
“What are you doing here?”
“Do you greet all new gym patrons with such hostility?” He smirks. “It can’t be good for business.”
“What do you mean, new patrons?”
MGM’s grin spreads. “Just got my annual membership.” MGM jumps up and stretches his shoulders, pushing his elbows out wide.
He got a membership to my gym? It takes me a minute to recover from the shock, so when he offers me a hand to pull me up from the floor, I distractedly accept.
Big mistake. For several reasons.
As soon as our palms touch, I feel like I’m getting grilled. Instead of blood, liquid fire courses through my veins. And once I’m upright, the momentum brings me almost crashing against the brick wall of muscles that is his chest.
Our eyes lock again, and all the merriment is gone from his. Instinctively, I take a step back and drop his hand as fast as if I were holding hot coals.
Note to self: skin contact with MGM is a big no-no. Avoid at all costs.
To enforce even more distance between us, I cross my arms over my chest. “Mr. Mercer, you take the ‘know your competition’ concept to a new level.”
“We’re not competitors, you’ve said so yourself.”
“Then why are you here?”
MGM shrugs. “Just wanted to see what all the fuss is about.”
It’s my turn to smile. “And you’re taking this class?” I point at the linoleum floor. “It’s a pretty advanced one.”
“I asked where to find you. They pointed me to this room.” He reaches with his left arm across his chest, pushing at his elbow with his other hand. “I can handle whatever course you’re teaching.” He drops his left arm and repeats the deltoid stretch with the other.
MGM wants to play? Let’s play.
With an open-arms gesture, I welcome him into the class. “If you’re sure you can handle it.”
The smile I give him is borderline evil, considering how MGM just walked into my advanced ballet class.
12
BLAKE
Dancing is how my passion for training started. I could’ve become a professional ballerina. By the time I was in the tenth grade, I was going to dance school every afternoon for several hours. I wanted to apply to Julliard. But then my mom got sick. She had myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart that arose as a complication of a viral infection and required her to spend several weeks at the hospital. The disease is curable, and we caught it in time. But while she was fighting the illness, she could no longer help my dad at the restaurant. Medical bills were piling up, and the dance lessons were so expensive given the number of hours I was putting in, that I quit.
When Dad asked me why, I couldn’t tell him it was because we could no longer afford it. That he needed me at the restaurant while Mom was recovering because we couldn’t afford to pay for the treatments the insurance didn’t cover on top of ballet on top of hiring help for the restaurant. Instead, I said the first thing that popped into my head, that I wanted to start a business and didn’t have the time for dance lessons anymore.
The next day, I recorded my first ballet-for-beginners video. I had no idea what I was doing, or that my amateurish videos would really turn into a business. But I was certain of one thing: no girl should ever miss out on dancing because she couldn’t afford the tuition. And that’s why all the dance courses on my platform are free.
Ballet lessons soon expanded into modern, then jazz, and then I developed the dance warmups I used to take at the local studio into more complex workouts that also included a bit of yoga, Pilates, and other techniques in the mix.
One reason my workouts became so popular is that they’re fast and don’t require any expensive equipment. Ever seen a ballerina’s body? They reach perfection with the weight of their own muscles and need nothing else. Besides not needing costly gear, my workouts are very accessible, with several variations for beginners.
But not this one. This class is the one exception, the one I don’t record or stream because it’s too advanced.
Ballet is an art. One that has a steep learning curve and requires years of training. Something I’m pretty sure MGM doesn’t have.
The man seems disoriented by my sudden switch to a welcoming attitude.
He turns around and frowns, probably noticing for the first time how the class is entirely made of women. His confidence further deteriorates as the ladies remove their overlarge tees and sweatpants to reveal leotards, sheer wrap skirts, and leggings. I tie my own pastel pink wrap skirt over my black leggings and study MGM’s attire.
