Deadly Dancing Read online

  “Mars?” Kym asked, her blonde hair falling loose from a lopsided clip. “Will Jim and I be happy?”

  I smiled at her. She already knew she’d be happy with him. And why wouldn’t she be? He was handsome, rich, and worshipped her.

  “You’ll be very happy,” I said.

  Several of the other girls nodded their heads in agreement.

  “You’ll be so happy, you’ll make all of us jealous,” Kym’s cousin said between her sips of margarita.

  Once the noise level from our party went from talking to laughter and then to all-out-noisy celebration, it was time to head to Longhorn’s.

  I had hired four limos to be ready at a moment’s notice for the night. The girls piled into the limos like boisterous, drunk circus clowns and tumbled out the same way when we arrived at the bar.

  Being the only sober one, I was flushed and on edge with the task of herding the riot of cackling women into the bar. When we poured into the bar, the entertainment was already in full swing. They ogled and called out to the dancing men.

  As I made my way to the bar to give Annie last-minute instructions, I peeked at the dancers as they removed dollars out of women’s cleavage with their teeth. I was closing in on Annie when a flurry of hands grabbed my arms, waist, and legs. The girls hoisted me up and weaved their way to the catwalk.

  “No!” I shouted. “Put me down this instant!” My frantic pleads were drowned by the heavy beat of dance music blasting from the speakers. I struggled to free myself.

  They heaved me up to the stage, dropping me in front of a gyrating dancer whose manhood pulsed in his flimsy thong. Mrs. Janowski flashed through my mind, and I couldn’t help but wonder what she’d think. I shook my head. This was not the time to think of Mrs. J. I looked up from the catwalk floor to see several men dancing their way closer to me. Their thongs stretched with dollar bills that fluttered as they moved. Their bulging muscles, slicked with oil, shimmered in the blinding stage lights.

  My face colored red as one of the dancers approached me. I could hear some cat calls and whistles.

  Kym, being the loudest, shouted to me, “Go on, Mars! Shake what you were born with!”

  I ground my teeth. This was Kym’s way of making me have a good time. I wouldn’t say I’m a prude, but I don’t get carried away at parties, and I’m always the designated driver. Plus, I will not dance with nearly naked men.

  Tonight, my friends were having none of it, and I was going to suffer for it. Kym, the instigator, always wanted what was best for me, but our ideas about what’s best for me are very different. I love her despite our gaping differences, but right now I wanted to leap off the stage and strangle her.

  Having been here earlier to decorate, I remembered there was an exit off stage left. I quickly turned tail and ran, carefully avoiding contact with the virile dancers. One dancer, with a mop of blond hair and leopard-print thong, reached for me. I flew through the curtain.

  Thud! I ran smack into a wall and landed on my behind.

  “What the hell?” A tall, muscular man turned around to glance down at me.

  My eyes snapped up to see him. It hadn’t been a wall after all. The heat in my face elevated to near sun temperatures.

  “Oh God, I’m so sorry!” I cringed. “I was coming from the stage and didn’t see you. Are you okay?”

  “A little thing like you can’t hurt me.” He smirked. “You’re turning red.”

  I’m always red, but little? I guess compared to him I would be. He stood about six-two. His golden muscles rippled everywhere the eye could see, and I could see a lot considering he was only wearing a cowboy hat, boots, and a gold thong that stretched against his extremely nice bulge. He had his chaps in hand, ready to be put on before he hit the stage.

  He pulled me onto my feet with little effort.

  “Why are you back here?” he asked.

  “Don’t ask.” I shook my head. “I’ll just get out of your way.”

  He examined me for a moment with his warm, cocoa eyes. I gawked back in admiration of the view standing before me. I bit my lower lip to keep from licking my lips.

  “Hungry?” he asked.

  “What?”

  “Sweet thing,” he said smoothly, but without a drop of the Texas accent I had imagined. “You’re looking at me like I’m the main entrée.” His dark eyes crinkled on the verge of smiling.

  “Um . . . no . . . I’m going to go.” I turned on my heel to leave. His firm hand held my arm.

  “I didn’t mean to embarrass you. You can stay back here if you want, but in less than a minute, the dancers on stage are going to come back. You might become dessert if they see you.” His hand traveled from my arm to my shoulder. His thumb traced my neck below my earlobe. Luscious heat waves traveled through my body at an alarming rate.

  “Why would they want me? I heard most of the dancers are gay,” Curtis, my coworker, had told me that. Now that I said it out loud, I had my doubts. It was probably just wishful thinking on his part.

  “Uh, no,” he replied with a laugh. “Some are and some aren’t. The ones on set now definitely aren’t. They’ll have a little too much fun with you if they see you back here.”

  “Are you?” I asked before I could stop my words. I mentally kicked myself.

  “You haven’t figured it out yet?” He leaned in closer. “I’m more than happy to answer your question with a demonstration.” A smile escaped the side of his mouth.

  “I’m going back out front. I like my chances better out there.”

  “Good idea.” He moved his hand off my shoulder.

  I turned to leave. Damn, I really wouldn’t have minded a demonstration from him.

  “I’m on set next. Want me to dance for you?” he asked.

  My mind raced and rendered me speechless. I made the most of my feet and fled.

  Ugh! I didn’t flirt or have a snappy comeback. He had me flustered and tongue-tied. I’ve failed womankind.

  I found Kym not too far from the stage. She was staring at the other side of the room.

  “There you are!” she scolded me. “I thought you might have ditched us after the stage bit. What took you so long back there?” Kym winked.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” I said. “What are you looking at?”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  I scanned the room and spotted her. Jocelyn was on the opposite side of the catwalk shaking her moneymakers at the blond dancer with the leopard-print thong. Dollars were pouring out of her hand and into the already-stretched thong. She had a backup supply of dollars that were wedged between her jumbo, silicone breasts.

  The song ended and a new one thumped its thunderous bass beat. Out danced the cowboy from backstage and two other guys. My mouth swung open and I had to force myself to close it. Even though his frame was carved with hard muscles, he was agile on his feet. His movements peaked perfectly with the heart-thumping music. The lights played with his hard angles and lines.

  “Oh, my God! He’s hot!” Kym yelled over to me. “If I wasn’t getting married, I’d be all over him.”

  I flushed as he ripped off his chaps to reveal the gold thong I had already had the privilege of seeing up close.

  Kym raised her fist of dollars and hollered, “Come over here and shake it, Cowboy!”

  His eyes flicked over to Kym. He started slowly dancing in her direction, picking up dollars along the way from drooling women. His eyes moved past Kym and registered me. A smile crept on his face.

  He danced his way closer and closer. Kym shivered with energy, bursting to give him all of her money. He gave her a brief, uninterested dance while she wedged bills into his thong. His molten eyes were glued to mine.

  Even though every hormone in my body was surging to pandemonium proportions, I was confident he wouldn’t come my way since I didn’t have money falling out of me like a broken ATM. In fact, the only money I had was a twenty-dollar bill that was earmarked for food. No man, no matter how gorgeous, was going to
earn it tonight.

  I blinked. He was in front of me in two strides.

  “Still hungry?” he rasped into my ear. Raw electricity radiated from him.

  I touched the corner of my mouth, praying I didn’t just drool. Our eyes locked. Sheer nervous panic made me reach for the twenty crumpled in my pocket. I shoved it in the front of his thong, snapping the elastic against him. My fingers burned at the touch of his skin. My face flared red. I needed air, fast. I turned and fled from the bar and didn’t look back. I didn’t want to think about how he probably laughed at my fleeing escape.

  I leaned against the outside wall. Breathing in the fresh air helped clear my head. I was still befuddled and hot from his touch but nothing a few days of self-loathing and a huge cheesecake wouldn’t fix . . . a turtle cheesecake with extra chocolate sauce. I slapped my hand to my head. I’d have to take a rain check on the cheesecake. I just gave the cowboy my last twenty and payday was days away.

  The sun had dipped long ago, taking the blistering summer air away and replacing it with a refreshing cool breeze that had just a hint of lake. I breathed it in, forcing myself to relax.

  Next week, Kym will marry Jim. One more friend lost to marriage. My pool of single friends was starting to dwindle. Our friendships always ended the same—reduced to acquaintance status. Sure, they never mean to stray, but they do. The spouse takes priority, which he should, and then babies come next. In the blink of an eye, a year or more has gone by and I bump into them in the supermarket. Promises are made that we’ll see each other real soon. It never happens.

  I’ll miss Kym the most. Her infectious, happy attitude always cheered me. There was never a dull moment with her around. What will my life be like without her?

  Ugh! Shake it off. The party would be ending soon, and I needed to make sure the limos were ready to take everyone home. I also needed to take down all the party decorations. I’m sure the cowboy is done dancing by now. Hopefully I can finish my work quickly without becoming a sex-starved buffoon.

  Jocelyn strutted out. “I’m going home now. I gave the last of my money to the dishy cowboy.” She smiled deviously. “Get his phone number for me,” she said as she threw her deep-red hair back behind her shoulder and swung into her silver BMW. “Tah, tah!”

  Yeah, sure. I’ll get his phone number. Better yet, why not pimp him out to all of my friends, too? I glared at the BMW as it rounded the corner and drove out of view. I don’t know what dug itself under my collar, but I had a sneaking suspicion it was the cowboy smothered with a heaping scoop of Jocelyn.

  A dark town car pulled slowly to the front of the building. The windows were tinted, but the back window was rolled down a couple of inches. Small wisps of curling smoke floated out. The end of the cigarette lit up two narrow eyes. I shivered. The creep factor set my nerves on alert. I quickly surmised that being inside with the cowboy was a whole lot safer than standing out here. As I reached the front door, the limos pulled up, and the dark car slowly moved on.

  The final set had just ended. Kym was draped on a chair with her head slumped over on the cocktail table.

  “Kym?” I lightly tapped her shoulder.

  “Huh?”

  “It’s time to go home. Are you going to be okay?”

  “Yeppers.” She giggled. “Jimmy-pooh is waiting for me. He said he wants to make sure I get home okay. He really means he wants to make sure I’m alone.” More giggles escaped.

  I pulled Kym from the table. “Can you stand?”

  “Sure. No problem,” Kym slurred as she wiggled her way out of her shoes and stood up with a slight rocking motion.

  By the time I deposited all the jovially inebriated women into the limos and gave the drivers the addresses, it was nearly forty-five minutes later. I had stuck a sticky note on each woman’s shirt with my cell phone number so their significant others could text me when they arrived home safely. Of course, I wouldn’t do that at a normal event I was coordinating, but it’s different with friends. They don’t call me mother hen for nothing.

  I figured it would take me a half-hour to clean up the decorations. I don’t mind event cleanup. You don’t have to be fussy—just rip, tear, pull, and yank. Most of it gets tossed anyway. It’s just that in the wee morning hours, I’d rather be in bed.

  A warm breath tickled my neck as I pulled down glittery, pink streamers.

  “Hey, sweet thing.”

  “OMIGOD!” I screamed, swinging around to find the cowboy. He was standing so close, finding an escape route was almost impossible.

  He was now dressed in a gray T-shirt that tugged against his chest and biceps. His jeans were relaxed but had just the right amount of snugness to leave me breathless. He smelled like soap, spicy berries, and sandalwood. If I could nuzzle into his chest for all eternity, I’d die happy.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he said with a grin. “You’re very easy to rattle.”

  “I am not,” I said. “I’m just not used to men sneaking up on me.”

  “You need some help?” He looked around the bar.

  “No, I’m almost finished.”

  He was still close. His arms enclosed around, pinning me to the wall. His abs were rock hard against me.

  I cast a speculative glance over his face. I was startled to find he was the man I had seen earlier. He was the one standing across the street.

  “I saw you earlier today, didn’t I?”

  “Mmm-hmm,” he growled and nipped at my earlobe. “You were wearing a sundress that showed off your very fine curves.”

  I attempted to push him away, but I sabotaged my own efforts. The man was delicious, and he liked my ample curves! And, I was way overdue for a man. My mind argued with the rest of my body as he kissed my neck and shoulder. I wasn’t quite sure if my mind or body would win. I wasn’t ready to find out.

  Annie was still around somewhere. I could call out for help, but I wasn’t ready to put the encounter on ice yet. I’m weak, so sue me.

  “I really need to finish here,” I said.

  “So do I, sweet thing.” His lips curled with amusement.

  Amusement . . . at my expense. He wasn’t into my curves, he was toying with me. Dammit!

  I shoved him back with all my strength, producing a tiny fraction of space. Enough to allow my escape and give him a firm kick to the shin.

  “Ow!” He winced but recovered quickly. “You kicked me.”

  “That’s what you get for messing around in my head,” I said. “You can’t toy with me. I’m not your sweet thing nor am I hungry for you!”

  Cowboy gazed down at me. A smile formed on his face. He raised his hands to signal a truce.

  A sigh escaped my lips. “If you want to help, then take down the banners at the door; they’re too high for me to reach. Otherwise, go away or I’ll kick you again.”

  “You win this round. I’ll help you take down the banners, and I won’t try anything.” He looked me in the eye and leaned in closer. “But the next round is mine.”

  A delightful shiver ran through me. Cowboy sauntered over to the banners and ripped them down.

  “What’s your name? Or should I just call you Cowboy?” I asked.

  “It’s Levi Mann.”

  “I’m Mars Cannon.”

  “Yeah, I know who you are,” he said.

  “How do you know who I am?”

  “I make it my business to know.” He grinned.

  I looked at him with disbelief but shrugged it off. I’m not sure if I really wanted to know anyway.

  “I guess it’s nice to meet you,” I said.

  Actually, it was nice to meet him. He puzzled me. Not many men would stay to help me take down decorations after I’d kicked them. He had a relaxed, easygoing way about him when he wasn’t trying to mess with my head. His eyes were soft and his smile was wider, more genuine.

  We kept quiet, concentrating on getting the job done. With the two of us working at it, we were done in about fifteen minutes. We said goodnigh
t to Annie, who was still cleaning up behind the bar, and exited out the back door to the parking lot.

  The night air had dropped to a chilly temperature and the wind had picked up. I was freezing in my flimsy shirt. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, keeping me warm.

  I had to admit that walking next to Levi was nice. I usually walk by myself after an event or with one of the other coordinators, but they didn’t make me feel safe. Emmy was known as a fainter, and Curtis squeals at the sight of spiders. With Levi, I somehow understood I was safe.

  “Thank you for helping,” I said quietly, not wanting to make eye contact.

  Levi stopped and turned me to face him. His hand cupped my chin to lift my face toward his. “I was happy to,” he said softly. His mouth closed in on mine. Fire rampaged from my stomach and raced through my body. His tongue teased my lips until I couldn’t think of anything except wanting more. I parted to allow him in. He took advantage instantly. I let out a soft moan as he explored, playing with my tongue. My arms wrapped around his neck, and he pulled me in closer. I was dripping with need for him—and he knew it.

  He stepped back suddenly. His white teeth were framed by his playful smile. “Round two is mine.”

  “No way,” I said, still wanting more and befuddled from his touch. “That wasn’t yours. I let you kiss me.”

  Levi grinned and steered me to my car. He took my keys from my hand and unlocked the door, only handing them back in exchange for a smaller but equally tantalizing kiss. He helped me in, shut the door, and watched me pull away. Was I just dismissed? I tried to look back from my rearview mirror but he was already out of sight.

  I didn’t think to offer my phone number. I’m not sure I’d have given it to him even if he’d asked for it. Why didn’t he ask for it? I’m better off this way. Remaining strangers is better . . . if only I could make myself believe it.

  He was too smooth and yummy for my blood. I’m sure he took advantage of all the girls who ambled through those club doors. I was just another fly intrigued by his well-endowed web.